[blt50203]

I have searched with no luck to solve this problem. I managed to copy tto the Snow Leopard image from the disk to the usb stick. I also copied the NBI file onto the 2gb stick. When I boot up the mini the Apple logo comes on followed by the spinning wheel which freezes after two minutes. I never get to the progress bar. I ordered another Snow Leopard dik from Amazon to make sure the disk wasnt corrupted, followed the steps in the guide, and got the same problem. I am on a03 bios. Any assistance would be appreciated as this process has stretched for a week on and off.

Thanks

BillH

[Cruiseman]

Originally Posted by blt50203

I have searched with no luck to solve this problem. I managed to copy tto the Snow Leopard image from the disk to the usb stick. I also copied the NBI file onto the 2gb stick. When I boot up the mini the Apple logo comes on followed by the spinning wheel which freezes after two minutes. I never get to the progress bar. I ordered another Snow Leopard dik from Amazon to make sure the disk wasnt corrupted, followed the steps in the guide, and got the same problem. I am on a03 bios. Any assistance would be appreciated as this process has stretched for a week on and off.

Thanks

BillH

Hi BillH,

Are you using the guide from Mechdrew site? OS X | mechdrew
Pleasse check out. Many thanks.

[blt50203]

This is the guide I am using. The usb sticks load fine but when attempting to boot into the Mini it hangs

[jonasfor]

To me it sounds like you didn't format your HDD in GUID partition
before installing Mac OS. My computer would act exactly like yours
in that case.
/J

[blt50203]

Actually I never got to the part to partition the drive. I booted the mini with the USB sticks, chose SL install disk from the options, the screen went grey and showed the Apple logo and spinning wheel. After about two minutes the wheel stopped spinning.

[jonasfor]

The USB-stick must also be GUID-partition formatted. ;-)
(The best way is to use the Disk Utility on another Mac) J

[jonasfor]

Originally Posted by jonasfor

The USB-stick must also be GUID-partition formatted. ;-)
(The best way is to use the Disk Utility on another Mac) J

WRONG! the first installer USB-stick should be Master Boot Record-formatted
I have to but hate to correct myself! Sorry!

the first time I followed Gizmodo's guide it it worked out quite well
(apart from the track-pad as mentioned in another thread)

/J

[blt50203]

Yes I couldn't do the Gizmodo method as I don't have another Mac, which is why I was/am following mechdrew's guide for installing without a mac. I dno't want to have to resort to buying an external dvd drive but that may be the only way if this method continues to not work.

[minimalpc]

Try booting with just the small USB key (the one with NetBook CD on it) installed. Does it boot into the Netbook CD interface? Is that what it normally does before hanging? If not, it sounds to me like you are booting straight to the SL install disc image on the larger USB key. I don't think that works. You need to get to NetbookCD first THEN select the Mac USB Install item. I believe that the guide recommends that you boot with only the small USB drive (NBCD) inserted then immediately insert the large one (SL) in order to ensure that NBCD is booted first. I.e., it is a timing issue. I found that wasn't necessary in my case (possibly because I used 1 flash drive and 1 USB HDD) but could be in some cases.