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Trouble installing OS X

Alright it seems as though the old HDD was probably okay on my neighbor's MacBook(white). But guess what... she got an upgrade anyhow.

I have owned three Macs, an iBook G4, a Macbook(white), and an aluminum Macbook(2009).

Three startup disks were used for trying to install the operating system several tries and one problem. All of them result in the error message: "Mac OS X can not be installed on this computer."

I used OS version 10.4, disc version 1.0 from an iBook G4, no dice.

I used OS verson 10.4.6 from the white Macbook vintage 2006 AHT version 3A104, no good.

I used OS 10.5.6 from the aluminum MacBook, disc version 1.0 and that did not work.

This MacBook is maybe a 2008 vintage and am I using the wrong startup disc?

How many versions are there and why is it so particular about which one I use? Is there any way to configure this so I can install the Leopard?

Thanks

Frank

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Thanks everyone. I never knew that about the startup disks being custom for the specific machine.

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Can you clone the old Disk?

'''from an external case or target booted laptop?

'''

With non-generic install disks are hardware specific, they do not include all drivers (e.g. some video drivers are not included-as that particular box doesn't need them) and that's why they won't install.

Good Luck,

N.

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Thanks, I am at the apple store right now having them install a generic OS.

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Because the hard drives are shipped unformatted from the manufacturer, you need to format the drive for Mac OS in disk utility before installing the OS on the drive. If you have done this step and are still experiencing the issue, it may indeed be a faulty or incorrect install disc.

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are you trying to install the OS using grey discs that came with one of your other machines? if so that may be your problem - the grey OS discs are usually for a specific model. as machead3 mentioned, there may be model-specific drivers that are necessary for any particular machine to operate.

can you confirm which model MacBook this is? if it is a 2008 vintage MacBook, then it probably came with OS X 10.5.2 or later - so that's probably why 10.4.x wouldn't install for you

if you can get the specific install disc that came with the machine, use that - otherwise use from the generic Leopard install disc

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Thanks for the model ID link, however on a teenage girl's computer it's long ago worn off. I have a request in to get the disk from her.

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funny how teenagers seem to wear stuff out so quickly :) oh well, I see above you're getting a generic OS disc at the Apple Store, glad they were able to help you out.

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