Snow Leopard Install Failure
DaveC
I have tried every way I can think of to install SL:
With iMac booted from install disc;
With iMac as Target Mode drive.
Always the result is that OS X Failed to Install (paraphrasing, there...)
When I look at the installer log, the last line says "Install failed: The
installer could not copy the necessary support files."
I've tried installing from the original and backup copies of the SL install
disc.
I've booted the iMac from an external HD with Leopard installed. It boots
normally.
I've tried installing Leopard on the iMac; it too fails (although I didn't
note the reason in the Log.)
I've run RAMTEST (from Single-User Mode) overnight and no errors are
reported.
Using Disk Utility: First Aid I've Verified the internal SATA drive; it says
it's OK (and the SMART predictive diagnostic reports nothing amiss).
Using Disk Utility: Erase I've erased the drive, including a secure Erase
pass (that took 12 hours).
The drive, from all attempts to test it, seems fine.
Yet the installer fails.
This same OS X Install Disc installed SL onto an aluminum iMac just prior to
my attempts at this white iMac.
Any ideas? I'm just about ready to go and buy a replacement SATA drive even
this one tests OK.
Thanks,
Dave
Suze
<0001HW.C97D9A1A...@news.eternal-september.org>,
DaveC <inv...@invalid.net> wrote:
Sounds like you may have a computer-specific version of the OS instead
of a generic version..
--
Start every day with a smile and get it over with.
Doug Anderson
(snip Twister like sequence of install attempts).
> Yet the installer fails.
>
> This same OS X Install Disc installed SL onto an aluminum iMac just prior to
> my attempts at this white iMac.
>
> Any ideas? I'm just about ready to go and buy a replacement SATA drive even
> this one tests OK.
Don't do that.
This question comes up roughly every 5 days.
The version of Snow Leopard that comes _with_ a machine is not the
retail version. It will only install on the model machine it came
with (or maybe machines that are very close).
It sounds like your copy of Snow Leoard was designed for the aluminum
iMac you installed it on and is not the retail version.
Quite likely the dvd will say on it what model it is for.
Alan Browne
> White Intel iMac, 24-inch (model MA456LL).
>
> I have tried every way I can think of to install SL:
> With iMac booted from install disc;
> With iMac as Target Mode drive.
>
> Always the result is that OS X Failed to Install (paraphrasing, there...)
>
> When I look at the installer log, the last line says "Install failed: The
> installer could not copy the necessary support files."
>
> I've tried installing from the original and backup copies of the SL install
> disc.
>
> I've booted the iMac from an external HD with Leopard installed. It boots
> normally.
>
> I've tried installing Leopard on the iMac; it too fails (although I didn't
> note the reason in the Log.)
>
> I've run RAMTEST (from Single-User Mode) overnight and no errors are
> reported.
>
> Using Disk Utility: First Aid I've Verified the internal SATA drive; it says
> it's OK (and the SMART predictive diagnostic reports nothing amiss).
Use a non Apple SMART utility. The Apple crap doesn't go the distance.
There are a couple sharewares that give you 1 month without needing to
pay. I had an Apple declared "good" drive (SMART okay), but the SMART
utility showed the drive as failing.
>
> Using Disk Utility: Erase I've erased the drive, including a secure Erase
> pass (that took 12 hours).
>
> The drive, from all attempts to test it, seems fine.
>
> Yet the installer fails.
>
> This same OS X Install Disc installed SL onto an aluminum iMac just prior to
> my attempts at this white iMac.
>
> Any ideas? I'm just about ready to go and buy a replacement SATA drive even
> this one tests OK.
I had issues with the last upgrade - resolved with format and re-install
from the SL disk.
--
gmail originated posts filtered due to spam.
Jolly Roger
> White Intel iMac, 24-inch (model MA456LL).
>
> I have tried every way I can think of to install SL:
> With iMac booted from install disc;
> With iMac as Target Mode drive.
>
> Always the result is that OS X Failed to Install (paraphrasing, there...)
>
> When I look at the installer log, the last line says "Install failed: The
> installer could not copy the necessary support files."
>
> I've tried installing from the original and backup copies of the SL install
> disc.
What color is this disc?
--
Posted from my iPhone.
Howard S Shubs
Doug Anderson <ethelthelo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The version of Snow Leopard that comes _with_ a machine is not the
> retail version. It will only install on the model machine it came
> with (or maybe machines that are very close).
Note that this holds for ANY operating system disc which comes in the
box with a system, not just SL.
--
May all your good dreams and fine wishes come true! - The Wizard
May joy be yours all the days of your life! - Phina
David Ryeburn
Doug Anderson <ethelthelo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The version of Snow Leopard that comes _with_ a machine is not the
> retail version. It will only install on the model machine it came
> with (or maybe machines that are very close).
>
> It sounds like your copy of Snow Leoard was designed for the aluminum
> iMac you installed it on and is not the retail version.
>
> Quite likely the dvd will say on it what model it is for.
People have been known, when installations fail for this reason, to
clone an existing installation from a computer onto which the software
*can* be installed to another non-matching computer. Depending upon
whether or not the existing installation has software incompatible with
the computer being upgraded, and whether or not the computer being
upgraded needs software not present in the existing installation, this
may or may not work.
Of course it would violate the license provisions so I would never
advocate doing this. If it were done, with a successful result, the
proper thing to do would then be to buy an upgrade DVD. They're less
than 30 dollars, so doing the illegal installation and then buying the
DVD, just to verify that the 30 dollars would not be wasted because of
some incompatibility, might be justifiable.
I'll point out that I bought my upgrade DVD for 10.5 when 10.6 seemed
soon to appear, since I knew that once 10.5 was unavailable from Apple
after 10.6 was released, the price of 10.5 on eBay would soar (and it
did). For the same reason once 10.7 seemed to be near, I bought a 10.6
upgrade DVD -- we'll see if the price of 10.6 soars similarly.
David
--
David Ryeburn
david_...@telus.netz
To send e-mail, change "netz" to "net"
Doug Anderson
> In article <eq39nra...@ethel.the.log>,
> Doug Anderson <ethelthelo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The version of Snow Leopard that comes _with_ a machine is not the
> > retail version. It will only install on the model machine it came
> > with (or maybe machines that are very close).
>
> Note that this holds for ANY operating system disc which comes in the
> box with a system, not just SL.
True 'dat.
DaveC
Snow Leopard installed without complaint.
Life is good (today)...
Thanks to all who chimed in on this discussion.
Cheers,
Dave