Trying to install snow leopard but 3 beeps

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Hey guys, this imac has el capitan, I am trying to reinstall snow leopard but I am getting 3 beeps. Researching this, I came across info suggesting either bad ram or I will need at least a 10.6.7 on a flash drive, I have the original disc from apple with 10.6.3. Any way to use this disc or would my only option be to try to get a 10.6.7 OSX on a flash drive please?
 
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Hey guys, I just found the 10.6.7 here: http://mac-os-x-10-7-2.en.softonic.com/mac/download
I have on my windows desktop. I am guessing my next step should be to install that on a bootable flash drive? If yes, I have a 16gb flash drive I use for windows, would I need to reformat for mac first then copy the downloaded dmg file to it?
 

Slydude

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Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
AFAIK that version of Snow Leopard was never released as a download by Apple thus I am suspicious of the source. Add to that the fact that this site has become somewhat notorious for packing other surprises (malware/other unwanted software) into their downloads. Personally I'd avoid that download like the plague.

IIRC the three beeps are more often indicative of memory module issues.

BTW which Mac (model/year/specs) are we dealing with here? Also, Is this a retail (white) dis of gray one. The gray ones will not work if they are from a different machine.
 
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Oh, I see so I will delete that version from Softsonic [thanks]. The guy took back the unit a few minutes ago as he needed it in a hurry and will contact Apple for the proper disk. It's a 2012. My disk seems kinda between white and gray color. I am confused as to why this same disk worked on other macs before? Could it be because on those macs it had worked on either came originally with 10.6.3 or older osx?
 

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Your Mac's Specs
M1 MacMini 16 GB - Ventura, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 2015 iMac 16 GB Monterey
That's certainly possible and maybe likely. I was just looking at the specs for some of the 2012 MacBook Pro for example. Those machines shipped with at least 10.7. Usually when a machine this with a newer OS you can't use the older OS discs to start it. The more time that elapses the less likely it is that older discs will boot the newer hardware. So, for example, models made within a few months of the release of 10.7 might boot with a 10.6 disc but my 2015 iMac won't.
 
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Those machines shipped with at least 10.7. Usually when a machine this with a newer OS you can't use the older OS discs to start it. The more time that elapses the less likely it is that older discs will boot the newer hardware.

Got it now, thanks but for my knowledge and future purposes anything I can have on hand to be prepared for whenever I should come across any osx later than 10.7?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
A 2012 model came with either Lion OS X.7 or Mountain Lion OS X.8 depending when in 20-12. With Macs there is no going back to an operating system released before the computer. Snow Leopard is an older system, released back in 2009.
 
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Then you can create USB installers for them. Or install them onto an external drive.

Appreciate the links! When I purchase lion I am not understanding what you mean by the above, would I need to create a bootable flash drive with lion on it or simply copy lion from the disk into the flash drive please?
 
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Cool! That tutorial will be very helpful, thank you very much for the help!
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2011 27" iMac, 1TB(partitioned) SSD, 20GB, OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
I'm a bit late here, but a 2011 iMac is the last model that could run SL OS X 10.6 and they needed 10.6.6 as a minimum.

I have such a model.
 
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