Problem loading OSX on Mac A1181?

Hey guys, this mac is showing a ? on startup, I am trying to load Snow Leopard from an apple disk but when I insert the cd into the drive, I hear a few weird noises and the cd is then ejected? Do you think there is some physically wrong with the drive? If yes, Can I load the OS from an external drive somehow?

Are you using the Snow Leopard disks that came with the machine ?
You need to use the correct set of disks that came with the machine or use the retail version of Snow Leopard.

Cheers ... McBie

I have the disk which was purchased directly from Apple and not from Ebay or any other source so no, not the disk which came with this machine.

Make sure the disc is clean - also shut down the machine, take a can of air and a few quick blasts through the slot to clean the lens.

The disc is new. I sprayed the cd slot, it accepted the disc [thanks] and I can hear the disc working but after a little it ejected with an icon of a circle with a slash across it appearing then went back to the ? icon.

Actually I pushed in the disk a 2nd time and this time it stayed in and I saw a tiny spinning wheel type icon which lasted maybe 5 minutes but then ejected, does this mean maybe the HDD is shot? If yes, does this mac carry an IDE or SATA type HDD connector and can I use any universal laptop HDD or would this require a specific HDD please?

No, this does not necessarily mean the HDD is shot. I had a similar issue on a MacPro using a factory Snow Leopard install DVD 10.6.3. Turned out to be a bad DVD drive that was hit and miss with what discs it wanted to read. Replaced the drive and it was quite happy again.

But if your hard disk is having issues, it should have a SATA drive if it is a MacBook 1,1 designation. Any SATA drive would work, but it will only operate at SATA I speeds, but a likely replacement will be SATA II or III. Will work just fine, conventional or SSD.

You do need to figure out though if it is the cd-drive or something else. Do you know anybody with a bootable external drive or somebody that might be able to test the install disk for you?

mikehende said:

...I saw a tiny spinning wheel type icon which lasted maybe 5 minutes but then ejected, does this mean maybe the HDD is shot?

Click to expand...

Same answer as "Dieter3" mentioned. If you were booting the computer from the optical drive (with the OS disk)...the computer should have booted fine (even with a bad hard drive). It should not have ejected the OS disk.

Sounds to me after everything you tried...that the optical drive is the problem. It is still possible that the HDD is bad as well. But the optical drive is the first hurdle to overcome.

To test the HDD separately. You could remove it...and test it with another computer.

- Nick

Ok, I guess I can try removing the drive to test on another mac but just for the knowledge, any reason why you can't boot off an external HDD?

No, no reason you can't do that at all, provided the boot OS is compatible. If you could do that, you could at least see if the internal drive is seen/mountable and attempt to repair any issues with Disk Utility. If the disk can be seen, go to System Prefs and select it as the boot up drive and restart, see what happens. I've had the occasional issue with machines somehow losing the startup disk preferences and they display the ?/Folder icon when there isn't anything wrong. Booting from an external source and then doing the above worked. Hey, you might get lucky!

Well, I tried the disk from the external and it did the spinning wheel thing for a while so I decided to leave it to see what would happen then it started loading the OS, now it's at the install screen where you are asked to select the drive where you want it installed but no drive is showing up in the white box so HDD dead?

Certainly sounding more suspicious! You should have access to Disk Utility on the install DVD - see if that can find the hard drive - if it can't, yeah - you might have a bad drive. If DU can see the disk, you might not have much of an option but to attempt to format it and install OSX again.

I am seeing 3 items listed in the Disk Utility, internal optical drive, external drive and mac OSX install dvd so no HDD

Assuming you can disassemble the external drive case and that it is a 2.5" drive, put that drive into the laptop to definitively prove it is the drive - if it can't see the drive at that point, you could (but not likely) have a bad connector. Drive is more likely in my experiences.

Thanks, tomorrow, I will get my macbook back and will replace the drive to know for sure, will get back to you.

Ok, I switched HDD's and works fine with mine from my mac and the problem mac dvd works "choppy" but still works, I am guessing this rules out both the optical drive and controller on the mobo so it has to be the HDD at fault? If yes, problem, the HDD caddy's screws are hex, I have a full set of tips including hex but none of my hex heads fit this **** thing, my smallest is too small and the next size up is too big, I tried using a needlenose pliers to turn the screw but doesn't work, any ideas please?

Is it hex or torx? In any case, I bought a "Smart Phone Repair Kit", see here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CLO7Q2/?tag=macforums0e4-20

I have been able to disassemble many Apple laptop models with this kit and do needed work inside, including hard drives. It does not include hex bits, just torx bits and fine phillips, and even the special bit to remove batteries from more recent laptops that you could still get into reasonably! The screw driver in this kit is great, and so far, the bits have held up well. (In fact, just had to use one of them to remove the stand from a 24" iMac to install a VESA kit made by Apple, that provided CRAP for tools that did not fit properly! (Thanks Apple...))

If yours are hex, one of the torn bits might actually fit. I honestly can't recall what was in my MBP, but I used this kit to replace the HDD in mine, and a few other "aluminum" models.

Otherwise, time to hit the hardware store, or maybe a hobby store.

Sorry, I used the wrong term "hex", it's torx with the 6 pointed tips, are you sure your set you linked to has a tip which will remove the screws from this caddy?

I'd be surprised if it didn't. The set includes T4, T5, T6, T8, and T10. I don't know the exact size of the screws, but it'll be one of these. You should be able to hunt down the actual size on Google or something like that jus to assure yourself, but I would be STUNNED if this kit did not work out for you.

Alright thanks, I will try to contact Apple to get the size of the screw to know for sure, get back to you.