[wardoggie]

Hi all,

I adopted a late 2006 Macbook Pro with a broken display. I want to wipe the original owner's data and make it mine with a fresh install of SL, but I can't install anything on it and was hoping someone here might have some ideas.

The MBP works with an external display (my LCD TV, connected via VGA-->DVI adapter), but I can't get the installer DVD to recognize it. When I boot from the DVD using the normal method, I just get the standard Milky Way desktop picture on the TV. I've tried hitting F7, which should do something with the built-in and external displays (swap or mirror, I forget which), but it didn't work. Then I tried running it in clamshell mode with a USB keyboard and mouse attached and the TV just gets a gray screen.

I have a newer MBP and was thinking of booting the old one in target disk mode then installing it over firewire, but the newer MBP is running Lion so the installer app for SL won't run. I also have an old G4 PowerMac and thought I might try installing Leopard, but it wants to reformat the HD in Apple Partition or something like that which, upon further investigation, won't boot an Intel Mac.

FWIW, I was also thinking I could ask the original owner for her password, create a new admin acct, then delete her stuff. But I'd rather start with a fresh install. And I'm not even sure if that would work

I've hit the wall as far as ideas go. Can anyone think of anything else I might have missed?

[bastion]

wardoggie, on 25 June 2012 - 09:14 AM, said:

Hi all,

I adopted a late 2006 Macbook Pro with a broken display. I want to wipe the original owner's data and make it mine with a fresh install of SL, but I can't install anything on it and was hoping someone here might have some ideas.

The MBP works with an external display (my LCD TV, connected via VGA-->DVI adapter), but I can't get the installer DVD to recognize it. When I boot from the DVD using the normal method, I just get the standard Milky Way desktop picture on the TV. I've tried hitting F7, which should do something with the built-in and external displays (swap or mirror, I forget which), but it didn't work. Then I tried running it in clamshell mode with a USB keyboard and mouse attached and the TV just gets a gray screen.

I have a newer MBP and was thinking of booting the old one in target disk mode then installing it over firewire, but the newer MBP is running Lion so the installer app for SL won't run. I also have an old G4 PowerMac and thought I might try installing Leopard, but it wants to reformat the HD in Apple Partition or something like that which, upon further investigation, won't boot an Intel Mac.

FWIW, I was also thinking I could ask the original owner for her password, create a new admin acct, then delete her stuff. But I'd rather start with a fresh install. And I'm not even sure if that would work

I've hit the wall as far as ideas go. Can anyone think of anything else I might have missed?

Is it a retail Snow Leopard disc?

[wardoggie]

bastion, on 25 June 2012 - 09:52 AM, said:

Is it a retail Snow Leopard disc?

Yes. FWIW, the Leopard DVD I tried was also retail.

[Typhoon14]

Running in Clamshell mode should always route the video to the external display, so I'm wondering if this is a video issue at all, as opposed to an invalid disk.

- Firewire target disc mode installing should work as long as your retail disc is newer then the machine you're trying to boot it with. You can't launch the installer directly from a Lion system, but it may well work if you simply reboot the newer machine from the DVD by holding down "C" at startup, then select the firewire-mounted drive as the install target.

- Any reason you don't want to install Lion on this machine? A 2008 MacBook Pro will have no trouble running it.

[wardoggie]

Typhoon14, on 25 June 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

Running in Clamshell mode should always route the video to the external display, so I'm wondering if this is a video issue at all, as opposed to an invalid disk.

- Firewire target disc mode installing should work as long as your retail disc is newer then the machine you're trying to boot it with. You can't launch the installer directly from a Lion system, but it may well work if you simply reboot the newer machine from the DVD by holding down "C" at startup, then select the firewire-mounted drive as the install target.

- Any reason you don't want to install Lion on this machine? A 2008 MacBook Pro will have no trouble running it.

I can't rule out a video problem, since the main screen doesn't work and I don't have the tools to verify why it won't work. But I can run in clamshell mode when it boots from the HD, just not when it boots from the installer DVD. I just get a gray screen. I will try booting another mac from the DVD and installing via target disk mode. Thanks!

As for installing lion, this 2006 macbook pro is not worth upgrading. I just want to see if I can use it for anything besides parts on eBay

[wardoggie]

Typhoon14, on 25 June 2012 - 05:21 PM, said:

- Firewire target disc mode installing should work as long as your retail disc is newer then the machine you're trying to boot it with. You can't launch the installer directly from a Lion system, but it may well work if you simply reboot the newer machine from the DVD by holding down "C" at startup, then select the firewire-mounted drive as the install target.

Hey, just wanted to let you know that this worked. Thanks a lot!