Install Snow Leopard problem

I have recently purchased an iMac with 10.5.8 on it and would like to update to mavericks but in order to do that I have to install snow leapord. After purchasing the disc in the states and having it shipped down (I live in panama) I tried to install and my very ungrateful iMac does t want anything to do with it. It spins for abit and spits it out. I tried other DVDs and it seems to read them fine so I would would like some advise on how to install from maybe another Mac or............ I don't know

Any help would be great

Cheers

Yeah I did that. Intel core 2 duo... Is this enough?

An iMac running OS 10.5.8 is obviously an older model. As "ferrarr" points out…if this older iMac has a G4 or G5 cpu…then it cannot run OS 10.6 Snow Leopard (Snow Leopard requires an Intel cpu). And if it does have an G4 or G5 cpu…then OS 10.5.8 is the maximum/newest OS version it can run.

- Nick

monkeytrot said:

Yeah I did that. Intel core 2 duo... Is this enough?

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Almost enough. How much installed ram does it have?

- Nick

It has 4 GB

Good deal. An iMac with an Intel Core 2 Duo cpu, 4gig of ram, and currently running OS 10.5.8…should have no problems installing & running OS 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Why the computer is not reading the Snow Leopard disk properly (and other discs fine)…is confusing. Unless the Snow Leopard disc is scratched, damaged, or dirty in some way.

- Nick

Disc came straight out the box. Just tried the hold c deal but nothing happened. I have tried the disc on my wife's laptop and it reads it fine so I'm guessing its a problem with the disc drive but why would it read other disc? Is their a way of doing it remotely from another computer?


Thanks guys

monkeytrot said:

Disc came straight out the box. Just tried the hold c deal but nothing happened. I have tried the disc on my wife's laptop and it reads it fine so I'm guessing its a problem with the disc drive but why would it read other disc?

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That test proves that it is something to do with the iMac's optical drive.

monkeytrot said:

Is their a way of doing it remotely from another computer?

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Is your Wife's laptop a Macintosh? If it's not too new…you can use "Target Disk Mode":

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661 You will also need a firewire cable to do this.

You could also do this install with a Mac compatible external optical drive.

- Nick

I have tried the disc on my wife's laptop and it reads it fine so I'm guessing its a problem with the disc drive but why would it read other disc?

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The Snow Leopard install DVD is a double layer disk. Some drives that are semi-operable can read a single disk OK but not a double layer one.

^^^ that.

If you can, use Target Disk Mode. If not, get or borrow a USB external DVD drive and use that to install the Snow Leopard DVD.

Try cleaning the lens 1st - shoot 3-4 quick bursts from a can of compressed air inside the slot - while the machine is turned off.

Tried a USB drive but it didn't even recognize it.... Tried cleaning with compressed air...I'm starting to believe it isn't supposed to be

Of course I out a disk in it

I have a really strong feeling that there is an important detail or two missing from this conversation (if the install disk is good).

There really should not be an issue reinstalling the OS to get the utilities apps back. And if the optical drive is working fine with other disks…then maybe this Snow Leopard install disk is defective in some way (it can happen).

And of course…if an external USB optical drive has been tried…AND there are still problems when the Snow Leopard disk is inserted…AGAIN…this points to a bad OS install disk (proven two different ways)!

- Nick

What about using his wife's computer, if it is a mac, to download mavericks and create a maverick flash drive installer (since Leopard does not have App store.) Back up the iMac using TimeMachine. Start the mavericks install, go to disk utility within the install, erase the drive and install mavericks. Then restore data from TimeMachine. Of course it is a mute point if his wife's computer can not download the mavericks installer.

Or use the wife's computer (if it is a mac) to create a Snow Leopard flash drive installer then download and install mavericks.

Just some ideas.

I just did this on a 2008 macbook (white). Worked great.

Lisa

lclev said:

What about using his wife's computer, if it is a mac, to download mavericks and create a maverick flash drive installer (since Leopard does not have App store.) Back up the iMac using TimeMachine. Start the mavericks install, go to disk utility within the install, erase the drive and install mavericks. Then restore data from TimeMachine. Of course it is a mute point if his wife's computer can not download the mavericks installer.

Or use the wife's computer (if it is a mac) to create a Snow Leopard flash drive installer then download and install mavericks.

Just some ideas.

Click to expand...

This is a great idea…and would certainly work (especially since the OP mentioned wanting to upgrade to Mavericks).

These are the important things for this project:

- Wife's computer must be capable of downloading Mavericks.
- OP's computer must be capable of running Mavericks.
- OP needs to make a bootable USB stick installer of Mavericks.

Definitely a perfectly acceptable solution to the situation…assuming the above conditions are met.

- Nick

I agree. Just a few small hurdles to jump

Lisa

thanks guys.. gonna try it today

Ok. Did everything you recommended and got a little further. Downloaded mavericks install onto a USB drive restarted the iMac from the USB.... All good so far. Start the install process until I'm asked which disk I would like to install to then it simply says "you can't upgrade this version of OS X". It seems I have hit yet another dead end.

Oh ok. How do I do that? And what if I still can't install ? Then I'm left with a blank disk