2008 Black MacBook-Can't Read Restore CDs

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Hey all! I want to restore my MacBook back to it's factory settings, but it won't read my original Install/Restore CDs! It is currently running OSX 10.7.5, so I believe it won't read them because the CDs were made during the PowerPC to Intel switch era, and Lion doesn't have Rosetta like Snow Leopard did. The install CDs are for 10.5.2.

What can I do about this, if anything? I'm at sort of a loss here... thanks!
 
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phalanx
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MacBook Specs:
Model: 4,1
CPU: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4 MB
 

pigoo3

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Hey all! I want to restore my MacBook back to it's factory settings, but it won't read my original Install/Restore CDs! It is currently running OSX 10.7.5, so I believe it won't read them because the CDs were made during the PowerPC to Intel switch era, and Lion doesn't have Rosetta like Snow Leopard did. The install CDs are for 10.5.2.

What can I do about this, if anything? I'm at sort of a loss here... thanks!

If these are the original gray discs that shipped with the computer:

- boot the computer from the CD #1 (hold down the "c" key when rebooting the computer)
- then reinstall the OS.

Good Luck,

- Nick
 
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phalanx
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They are the grey disks, however whenever I put the disk in and hold the 'C' key at startup it spins in the drive for a minute and the computer spits it right back out. It then proceeds to boot normally to Lion/current operating system =[
 

pigoo3

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They are the grey disks, however whenever I put the disk in and hold the 'C' key at startup it spins in the drive for a minute and the computer spits it right back out. It then proceeds to boot normally to Lion/current operating system =[

Maybe the problem is a busted or dirty optical drive...or dirty/scratched/damaged disks.

- Nick
 

cwa107


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Are they the original discs, or did you borrow/buy them used?
 
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Success! I used an external disk drive and it worked flawlessly. What a fluke, I wonder what's wrong with my internal drive... thanks for your help Nick.
 
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chas_m

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The internal drive on the Black MacBooks was prone to failure, particularly after a period of heavy use.
 

bobtomay

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Take a can of compressed air as a first round of troubleshooting a slot loading optical drive and shoot 3-4 quick bursts in different directions in the slot - while the machine is powered down and unplugged preferably. And do make sure the discs are clean - and no scratches.

While slot loaders seem to be more prone to failure based on the number of posts we see, the above action about once a year has restored the slot loader in my 6 yr old MBP every time it has quit reading discs - at least so far.
 

pigoo3

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Success! I used an external disk drive and it worked flawlessly. What a fluke, I wonder what's wrong with my internal drive... thanks for your help Nick.

Congratulations!:) As bobtomay suggested...blow it out with some canned air. Let's hope it is just dirty. But as chas_m mentioned...the slot loading optical drives can be less reliable then the tray loading optical drives that used to be found in all desktops...so there is the possibility that the drive may have failed.

Fingers crossed that it's just some dirt.:)

- Nick
 

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