MacBook Pro - mid 2010 - Reinstalling Snow Leopard

[Dave_R]

I have a 2nd hand MacBook Pro with High Sierra.

I want to go back to Snow Leopard.

Hard drive with 2 partitions - one empty.

Trying to boot from disk gives:-

You can’t use this version of the application “Install Mac OS X” with this version of macOS.
You have “Install Mac OS X” 23.1.1.

Restarting with C key held down ends up with light grey screen with apple in centre but no menu bar with utllity options.

Can anyone show a way of reinstalling S L? I'm quite happy to erase/reformat disk.

 

[IWT]

You cannot install an OS which is earlier than the one with which the Mac shipped.

So if your 2010 shipped with Lion or later, you can’t put Snow Leopard on it; but it did ship with SL, you could.

I’m not near my Mac just now to check this out, but I’m fairly certain that mid 2010 Macs shipped with a later OS.

Ian

 

[Dave_R]

Hi Ian,
Thanks for the reply. Lion wasn't released until July 2011 so that shouldn't be the problem.
David

 

[IWT]

Thanks for that info, David. I should have been giving you that, not the other way round; but as I said I'm away from my reference lists etc.

 

[Dave_R]

No worries Ian. Do let me know if you can think of anything.
David

 

[ferrarr]

What drive type is in the MBP, SSD or HDD? If it's an SSD, you will have to format the partition before you can install 10.6.

Restart into Recovery and run Disk Utility > First Aid, on the Start up drive partition.

 

[mrkramer]

Are you using a retail Snow Leopard Disk or is it the one that came with the computer? the Mid 2010 models at the earliest would have shipped with 10.6.3 and will be unable to run anything below that. The retail disks will have 10.6.0 with the expectation that you will use software update to get it up to the latest point release.

 

[chscag]

The retail disks will have 10.6.0 with the expectation that you will use software update to get it up to the latest point release.

The Apple retail Snow Leopard disk currently being sold by Apple is 10.6.3. ($19.99)

 

[pm-r]

I want to go back to Snow Leopard.
Hard drive with 2 partitions - one empty.

What format does the empty partition have??
And yes, those MBPros shipped with X 10.6.3.




- Patrick
======

 

[Dave_R]

Thanks for all the replies.
HDD - Mac OSX extended
Installation Disk is current Apple retail Snow Leopard disk. 10.6.3.
First Aid run on both partitions.
Erased & reformatted both partitions
Restarted into recovery - Restore option only offers High Sierra
Installation Disk is recognised
Disk Utility doesn't offer a installation option

 

[MacInWin]

Disk Utility doesn't offer a installation option

I don't think Disk Utility is the installer. As I recall, if one boots from the CD, a menu of options shows up, one of which is to install. The Disk Utility is only needed to format the drive. So you boot from the CD, format the drive (if you want/need to) and then install the OS from the menu. Recovery will NOT install SL. SL came before recovery partitions.

 

[ferrarr]

You may want to install Snow Leopard first, onto the second partition. If you do want it on the first partition, that may present issues because of the Recovery partition.

 

[Dave_R]

Thanks again.

My problem all started with trying to install Snow Leopard on a 2nd partition and getting :-

"You can’t use this version of the application “Install Mac OS X” with this version of macOS.
You have “Install Mac OS X” 23.1.1."

Since this Macbook originally came with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (which I have ) and all other things are OK, I wondered if anyone knew how why this was happening and how to get around this.

 

[MacInWin]

You have to BOOT from the install CD, not boot from anything on the internal drive. Even the Recovery partition will be newer than the installer and will result in being blocked. If you BOOT from the install CD, then the version on the CD will be the old version and the installer will be able to complete.

 

[ferrarr]

Thanks again.

My problem all started with trying to install Snow Leopard on a 2nd partition and getting :-

"You can’t use this version of the application “Install Mac OS X” with this version of macOS.
You have “Install Mac OS X” 23.1.1."

Since this Macbook originally came with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (which I have ) and all other things are OK, I wondered if anyone knew how why this was happening and how to get around this.

If you put the install disc in and hold either "C" or "option", you should be able to install from the Snow Leopard disc.

 

[mrkramer]

The Apple retail Snow Leopard disk currently being sold by Apple is 10.6.3. ($19.99)

Good to know, A little googling came up with this thread on Apple's discussions which indicates that for any machine that shipped with 10.6.3 or higher (which would include the OP's MBP) even the 10.6.3 retail disk will not work and you need the disks that originally came with that model.

Use the correct 10.6 disk to install Snow Leopard



Use the free MacTracker to find your model of Mac, you can gleam the model from your Apple Menu > About this Mac > More information and look for something like "MacBook Pro 3,1" and punch that into MacTracker.



There are basically two types of 10.6 install disks, the gray or black machine specfic ones that came with a new Mac (free iLife) or the 10.6.3 retail disks (no free iLife).



You can't use another model of Mac's 10.6 machine specific disks with another Mac, there isn't hardware drivers on those disks that will work on other Mac's.



If a Mac came pre-installed or from the factory with 10.6.3 or later, you cannot use the 10.6.3 retail disks (no iLife) from Apple online, you have to call Apple for your 10.6.3+ machine specific install disks (free iLife included)

That document indicates that you can request the machine specific disks from Apple, but it is also 5 years old so I'm not sure if you can still do that or not. If Apple can't provide them anymore I bet you could ask around either on here or search ebay and find them.

 

[pm-r]

That document indicates that you can request the machine specific disks from Apple, but it is also 5 years old so I'm not sure if you can still do that or not. If Apple can't provide them anymore I bet you could ask around either on here or search ebay and find them.

So if the SL disk and/or image isn't working for that Mac model, give Apple a call for the correct one.

The last time I had to do that for my mid-2011 27" iMac, they sent me a special "non-retail" 10.6,6 or 10.6.7 Snow Leopard disk. But that's also a year later than your Mac model.

I'd be very surprised if they couldn't provide a compatible SL install disk.




- Patrick
======

 

[Dave_R]

Thanks for the reply.
I should have expanded in my first post since I did say that startup whilst pressing C, ended up with just a light grey screen with the Aoole logo. Even after holding C down for a long time.
I also started with OPT held down, I got the install disk showing but choosing that gave the same result as the C option. A light grey screen with the Apple logo - even after holding the OPT key down for a long time. I did try this several times.

 

[Dave_R]

Thanks pm-r & mrkramer.
Wrote my last post before yours came through - I'll call Apple. I'll post the result.
Thanks again

 

[Dave_R]

Well, I did call Apple and we went through everything that has been talked about here. The disk I had bought from Apple is the correct one so should not be a problem. Theoretically it should install on my MacBook.

Eventually the advisor suggested a remote boot from my iMac via Firewire.

So did that both to a second partition and also to a completely erased disk with a single partition.

In both cases, SL seemed to install quite normally and was quite accessable from the host.

However, in both cases, after closing both computers down & disconnecting the cable, restarting the MacBook directly wouldn’t work. The pale grey screen with the Apple logo came up, but there it stopped. No small circle of flashing lines – no nothing.

Same thing happens when restarting with OPT held down. Target disk appears as the option but ater choosing it, same result as before.

I haven’t recontacted Apple yet but feel it’s a hopeless case.