Reinstalling OS X on Macbook. Help Please.

derv

I have a a 2006 macbook that is running OS X 10.7.5

It has been giving me a lot of problems recently : hanging, freezing, running slow etc

I want to do a re-install but I am struggling.
When I try to boot using CMD + R it does not work. I have tried more than 20 times.
I don't have the discs because I bought the laptop 2nd hand a few months ago.

I can't download Mountain Lion via the App Store because it says it's not compatible with this laptop (too old I assume)

Can anyone help? It is driving me mad!

anonanymore

Hi
I've a 2006 Macbook Pro Intel Core Duo, max system it will run is OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. Trying to run Lion might be your problem.
Download Mactracker to get info on all Macs. http://mactracker.ca/

derv

thanks for the advice, Lion was on it when i bought it,
i'll give that a go if i can get my hands on the discs.

do you know if i can use a time machine back-up from Lion when i install leopard or snow leopard?

anonanymore

Sorry, I don't know, I don't use Time Machine.
If you have a large external hard drive you could use Disk Utility to make an image and then you might be able to use some items from Lion.
You'll have to do a clean install of Snow Leopard.

Duck Soup

I've a MBP 2007 vintage and a newer (2011) MBP. Obviously Lion & Mountain Lion let you re-boot from the recovery partition, but I can't imagine that working for my 2007 MBP. How the previous owner of your MacBook got Lion up and running amazes me. Obviously, that doesn't mean it can't run it, but it does suggest that it's the reason it's not running it very well.

Re-installing Lion is probably likely simply to bring back all the problems because the machine can't handle the software adequately. It seems to me that the better option is to get hold of a 10.6 start-up disc and put in a OS that will run smoothly. Get hold of a Snow Leopard install disc, start it up from that and do a erase and install.

ZENER

While you're at it get yourself a SSD. Recently put one (120GB OCZ Vertex) in my MBP of the same vintage as yours and the difference in performance is amazing ! Boots in under 22 seconds and apps open almost instantly or at least a lot quicker than with the 160GB 5400rpm SATA drive that was in it !

Ken

derv

i managed to get a copy of snow leopard installed on it and it's running much faster now, and the fan is not going 100 mph all the time,

however, many of the programs now will not open,
iTunes, mail, etc

'iTunes cannot be opened because of a problem.
Check with the developer to make sure iTunes works with this version of Mac OS X. You may need to reinstall the application. Be sure to install any available updates for the application and Mac OS X'

I have tried to un-install the reinstall several times.

Duck Soup

Might be worth running the inbuilt Apple hardware test on the machine - Command + D when you're booting up.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

ZENER

I'm going to guess you didn't do an Erase and Install but just installed over the old system. The apps cannot work if this is the case. You need to do a complete erase of the drive then re-install everything from scratch. Alternatively Just reinstall all the apps on the current system. The latest version of iTunes (10.7 I think? ) won't work on anything under 10.6.8. Did you do a software update after the re-install ?

Ken

Somecrimesitry

First off what version of SL did you get hold of? Is it a physical disc from a totally different Mac or is it a random copy from the net?

The only version of SL you should be clean installing onto a 2006 MacBook is the retail 10.6 build 10A432. So make sure you first of all have the correct OS version. If you get that version then boot up the disc but before kicking off the installation launch Disk Utility and erase the entire hardisk then proceed with the install. Running Software Update will bring it up to 10.6.8.