Macbook Pro spits out Snow Leopard install disk

gavspen · Post by **gavspen** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:11 pm

Hi All:

I have a Macbook Pro with Lion. I want to downgrade it to Snow Leopard. When I put my Snow Leopard install disk in the drive, it churns for a while and then spits it out. It never appears on the desktop. The drive accepts every other disk I have tried in it, so it would appear that there's nothing wrong with it, and the Snow Leopard disk is recognised normally by every other computer in the house, including another laptop with Lion on it.

What the heck is going on here? Anyone got a clue?

Thanks

bad andy · Post by **bad andy** » Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:27 pm

Where did you get the SL disc? Is it a boxed retail version or did it ship with another of your computers?

gavspen · Post by **gavspen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:42 am

bad andy wrote:Where did you get the SL disc? Is it a boxed retail version or did it ship with another of your computers?

Boxed retail.

I should also mention that the macbook isnt new so it doesnt have whatever hardware/firmware I've read is in the latest machines, making them somewhat harder to downgrade.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:54 am

I'd make an appt at the Apple ingenious bar.

theaks2002 · Post by **theaks2002** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 5:59 am

How old is the Macbook? If it's a 2011 model, that might be the problem. I bought a new iMac and tried to downgrade and had similar issues. The new Macs do not want to be downgraded due to the hardware architecture of the machines.
If you want to install SL, you'll need to: put in target disk mode/firewire to another computer (older mac that does recognize the disk)/wipe the drive on the macbook (or perhaps partition)/install SL/ get the 10.6.8 updates (10.6.3 is the lasted boxed version).
This is what I had to do on my new iMac. **Of note: I recently ran Geekbench and performance dropped 50% when moving from Lion to SL. I inquired about this and John from GB explained that would happen. Interesting. Anyway.. hope this helps...
John (Windsor Ontario)

FutureLegends · Post by **FutureLegends** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:57 am

You're lucky it's just the SL disc. My Macbook Pro spits out EVERY disc. Even blank ones

gavspen · Post by **gavspen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:19 am

theaks2002 wrote: If you want to install SL, you'll need to: put in target disk mode/firewire to another computer (older mac that does recognize the disk)/wipe the drive on the macbook (or perhaps partition)/install SL/ get the 10.6.8 updates (10.6.3 is the lasted boxed version).
This is what I had to do on my new iMac. **Of note: I recently ran Geekbench and performance dropped 50% when moving from Lion to SL. I inquired about this and John from GB explained that would happen. Interesting. Anyway.. hope this helps...
John (Windsor Ontario)

It's a 2008 macbook pro, or there abouts. Actually I had tried that method already. It looked like it was going to work and I was quite pleased with myself for think to do it that way, and then I got some error message which this minute I cant recall. I'll try again later and report back.

I could wipe the disk with disk utility and then try installing, but I'm a little afraid that I'll wind up with a blank HD and no way to get a system on it. Not funny.

Gavin

rhythm_kitchen · Post by **rhythm_kitchen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:45 am

I have a pre Unibody 08 on SL 10.6.8. Tried to re-install clean the SL retail disk then gave up. I then tried target disk mode and it failed. The new ADMIN password did not work. I then thought to use the previous owners ADMIN password... as a firmware password to allow the install Disk to boot, but if didn't work either.

So what I did. Try first putting the original Leopard installer that came with the machine and hold the 'c' key. I did that and found I could have re-installed Leopard over SL. A bit hazy on the order, but after that the firmware password changed to my new admin password and let the SL disk boot.

The previous owner did not go to terminal and add a firmware password. Neither did I, so this is why I gave up for a few months, literally.

Why did you downgrade from LION? I am reading here some are staying with 10.6.6 not 6.8 is that to run and earlier version of DP? I have the new boxed version 7.24... but reading about Kontact and errors with memory server or whatever. I am holding off installing K-7 just in case. I'm using a Sonnet Tempo express 34 card dual eSATA... will need the proper LION driver from Sonnet (written by Silicon Images) ..well the driver for SL off Sonnet's website was a Silicon Image driver.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:16 am

Your only other option is to install the disk, do a hard shut down and then Command-C to see if it will boot from the DVD.

gavspen · Post by **gavspen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:02 am

mikehalloran wrote:Your only other option is to install the disk, do a hard shut down and then Command-C to see if it will boot from the DVD.

Been there done that. Doesnt work. Spits it out the same way.

rhythm_kitchen · Post by **rhythm_kitchen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:43 pm

Is this a pre-unibody '08? Core 2 Duo?

Since you don't have the 2 DVD leopard set it shipped with new, and are not prompted for a firmware password to boot off the SL DVD, there is probably a firmware issue.

Go to startup disk and change it to DVD at prompt put in admin password. Then try booting of retail SL DVD. Or take it to Genius Bar to reset firmware.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:54 pm

How many dual layer DVDs have you tried?

Are there any smudges on the original?

Your machine should be able to read that disk; older ones might not. Some years had an issue with the internal drive. Mine is a 2007 and it can't read dual layer drives. FW and usb externals are no problem. It was diagnosed as a drive problem - I currently have three externals that work with it.

I will now give you my secret "not even I believe this sometimes works but when it does it does" trick: Make sure the disk is clean and smudge free. Put it in a freezer for a few minutes. This sometimes works.

rhythm_kitchen · Post by **rhythm_kitchen** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:02 pm

Do you have the former owner's admin password?

Duh. Startup Prefs won't work as it spits out disk and won't mount.

There is a firmware reset. I won't post it here. Actually simple if you don't mind handling Dimms. Search Apple support if they post the reset and it's the same as older machines.

Mine locked to previous user's admin password. Despite having admin privilege and reseting the former users admin password. Firmware password stayed unchanged.

So even on SL to SL this would occur on an '08 non unibody.

You need the firmware password or to reset it to open, or Genius bar to reset it.

So I was fortunate to have the original 2 DVD set. I could change the password half way through installer agreements and then cancel out after changing password (that prompted me for firmware password). Hard reboot with 'c' key (new firmware password -- changed via the Leopard original disk) and voila a clean SL install.

GUID partition and don't split partition with HFS+ OWC tech support says don't do it.

I ruined my GUID partition mounting it via 1394 to a PPC Leopard G-5. Auto reformat as soon as the drive mounted. Lost 200 gigs. Now it's inbetween GUID and HFS+, meaning many files won't copy from the HFS+. So, listen to OWC TS's advise. Despite being able in Disk Utility to mix these they warned me away, naturally I didn't listen. Of course that partition needs rebuilding but to do this one needs Drive Genius 3 (to not lose data archived on 2 other HFS+ partitions).

If you have a bootable external drive and hold option key to boot off USB or Firewire will migration assistant allow it?

gavspen · Post by **gavspen** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:24 am

rhythm_kitchen wrote: There is a firmware reset. I won't post it here. Actually simple if you don't mind handling Dimms. Search Apple support if they post the reset and it's the same as older machines.

I found instructions on Apple's site. It didnt mention Dimms, whatever they are.

Firmware restored, disk recognized, downgrade underway as we speak.

If it fails at some point, you'll be hearing from me, but let's hope not! Thanks for your help.

Gavin

rhythm_kitchen · Post by **rhythm_kitchen** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 12:15 pm

You really don't want to be handling Dimm memory sticks anyway.

Also you'll notice iLife is not installed with a clean install of retail SL DVD.

But if updating from original Leopard 2 DVD set Garage Band is Logic lite and perhaps if one could slave it via rewire, waves 9 supports Garage Band above a certain version. New it came with iLife, Leopard version MBP '08.

Leopard is a beautiful animal too bad it is attached to that OS.

The other option for those with this issue is holding 'option' key while booting. You'll see your boot OS in a square box, then stick in DVD and click the rescan button on left (curved arrow) if it then doesn't spit out retail SL DVD then try clicking the down arrow to boot off the SL DVD.

You should be prompted for a firmware password.

As long as you didn't dual partition GUID and HFS+ for SL and Leopard/Tiger compatibility you should be good to go. Turn on Firewall. Sharing off. In sharing prefs pane go to advanced, turn on Stealth, block UDP, ignore logging. Turn if off.

Never heard that about the freezer and DVD repair. I know you can use Hair Spray as in Spinal Tap, but just to remove sharpie ink, as the big hair days are over... thanks to the Clash.
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But first deal with Spotlight indexing. Set it quickly to ignore most everything except sys prefs. Or I drag my drives into the privacy window in spotlight, indexing is then off per drive or folder (threads appear as MDS in Activity Monitor).

Are you updating to 10.6.6 and stopping there or going to 10.6.8?

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