MacBook Pro stuck on 10.6.8

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KiwiTT

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#208907 4-Mar-2017 19:38

I have received as a gift and old MacBook Pro (id- MacbookPro4.1) 17" - Core 2 Due / 4 GB Ram / Nv8600M 256Mb video / 750 GB HDD

I tried to get my iPhone SE to connect to iTunes and that is when I discovered the MacOS 10.6.8 and iOS 10.2.1 were not compatible. No problem I thought, upgrade the MacOS to a later version. A little investigation I discovered that the MacBook Pro would only upgrade to 10.11.x. So once again I did some research and then found I could download 10.11.x from the App Store. Many hours later it was downloaded.

Then that is when I tried to install 10.11.x. It said the HDD needed (journaling enabled), but I could not do that on the running OS.

I then tried multiple times to create a MacOS bootable install drive with 10.11.x on it. Once it was there no matter how many times I tried to boot up - it would only give me the HDD OS as a boot option and not my USB drive.

I then took it to a Mac specialist who after looking at it (and not charging me), said it is likely a hardware fault.

There is no recovery partition as that is a feature of 10.7.x or later I believe.

I did manage to install SeaMonkey 2.4 which allowed browse youtube and other more modern websites. Chrome, Firefox will not install and Safari do not work with 10.6.8.

Short of being a boat anchor what can I do with it.

Desktop: Playtech Core i7-920 / Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Laptop: IBM T41 Pentium-M / Windows XP 32-bit Professional
Smartphone: Apple iPhone 5 64GB / iOS 6.1.0

tdgeek

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#1730073 4-Mar-2017 19:43

Quick check https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7678883?start=0&tstart=0

What model number is the MBP? You need to check if its compatible. It has Snow Leopard which is quite old.

Behodar

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#1730078 4-Mar-2017 20:02

The message about journaling is very strange; that's been the default option since OS 10.3 way back in 2003, and it's extremely unlikely that it wouldn't be enabled on any Intel machine.

How did you create the USB drive? The supported method is to use the "createinstallmedia" command-line tool.

toyonut

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#1730110 4-Mar-2017 21:30

I will start by saying that I am not an Apple expert, but it sounds like you are caught out by the 32/64 -> 64 bit only bit transition Apple did. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5556011?tstart=0. If you have video drivers or CPU that don't support 64 bit, you are out of luck. From the link, it might only be the gen after yours that has 64 bit support and can upgrade.

The booting from USB may simply be because the Macbook is so old it can't boot from USB. That seems unlikely although The laptop is about 9 years old at this point. You could try and create a bootable DVD if possible.

**EDIT** maybe try things from here: http://lowendmac.com/2016/macos-sierra-on-low-end-macs/ - looks like you may need some tools to trick the installer into thinking you have a slightly newer Mac.

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CYaBro

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#1730183 5-Mar-2017 00:10

If it is a core 2 duo system then it is 64bit.
That 750gb hdd isn't original so whoever put it in must have formatted it without journaling.
Can you partition the hdd and install 10.11 on the 2nd partition, leaving the old OS as is?

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KiwiTT

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#1730228 5-Mar-2017 09:18

Behodar:
The message about journaling is very strange; that's been the default option since OS 10.3 way back in 2003, and it's extremely unlikely that it wouldn't be enabled on any Intel machine.

How did you create the USB drive? The supported method is to use the "createinstallmedia" command-line tool.

createinstallmedia is a 10.7.x command. So that does not work.

Desktop: Playtech Core i7-920 / Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Laptop: IBM T41 Pentium-M / Windows XP 32-bit Professional
Smartphone: Apple iPhone 5 64GB / iOS 6.1.0

Behodar

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#1730231 5-Mar-2017 09:24

createinstallmedia is supplied with the OS download - if you've downloaded 10.11 from the App Store then you'll have createinstallmedia; you don't need to install 10.11 first. On the phone at the moment so can't provide a link, but Apple has a document describing how to launch it from inside the 10.11 install bundle.

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froob

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#1730255 5-Mar-2017 09:31

Do you know anyone who has a Mac you could use to make the bootable USB? That is really the easiest option here.

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KiwiTT

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#1730339 5-Mar-2017 13:11

Behodar: createinstallmedia is supplied with the OS download - if you've downloaded 10.11 from the App Store then you'll have createinstallmedia; you don't need to install 10.11 first. On the phone at the moment so can't provide a link, but Apple has a document describing how to launch it from inside the 10.11 install bundle.

Ok look forward to that

Desktop: Playtech Core i7-920 / Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Laptop: IBM T41 Pentium-M / Windows XP 32-bit Professional
Smartphone: Apple iPhone 5 64GB / iOS 6.1.0

CYaBro

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#1730432 5-Mar-2017 16:01

https://support.apple.com/en-nz/HT201372

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KiwiTT

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#1730564 5-Mar-2017 21:23

yep ... tried that and it failed.

Desktop: Playtech Core i7-920 / Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
Laptop: IBM T41 Pentium-M / Windows XP 32-bit Professional
Smartphone: Apple iPhone 5 64GB / iOS 6.1.0

sir1963

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#1730592 5-Mar-2017 22:15

If you can boot from something else (even another Mac in Target mode)

try reformatting and zeroing the disk. For what ever reason I have had machine that will do nothing until the

whole disk has been zeroed, then then install fine.

Other issue are faulty RAM

Try booting holding down the "D" to go into Diagnostics mode

https://support.apple.com/en-nz/HT201257

You can do a hardware test from here.

A MBP 4,1 should be able to go to 10.11.x, make sure you get a new download off Apple, Apple has

voided their old signatures, so you will need a version with a recent digital signature.