[feng]

Hello,

I've been a long time lurker and my mini 9 has been working flawlessly since I got it.
However, I've hit a snag while attempting to install OSX Snow Leopard on my machine, so I decided to register, here goes to a first post!

I have a Dell Mini 9 with 2 GB RAM, (came with XP but installed Ubuntu), and 8 GB SSD (OEM).

After a year of using Ubuntu, I purchased an iMac and loved the new machine. I decided to install OSX Snow Leopard on the Mini 9. I followed the instructions on MyMacNetbook.com (Sorry I can't post links yet) and got stuck at one point.

The copying the 30 dollar OSX Snow Leopard disk from the CD to the Samsung 80 GB Hard Drive went flawlessly. However, when I plug in both of the USB plugs into the left side of the Mini 9, and attempt to boot from the USB, I do not see an option.

USB Legacy Support is ON. I tried disabling and enabling it again.
BIOS version is A04 (the current one)
I have the option of changing the boot order (I set USB to the front, and booted it but it went to my Ubuntu installation)

Any suggestions? I am about to go out and purchase an 8 gb USB thumbdrive and start over. Maybe the computer cannot boot from a USB hard drive?

I also plugged the hard drive into the mac to see if the hard drive worked, and the hard drive pops up on the desktop asking me to install snow leopard so I guess it works.

Again, any suggestions? I've tried Googling the problem, but no dice.

Thanks in advance!

[underwhelmed]

Welcome to the forum.

I looked at the guide on that site for installing OS X onto a mini 9 and don't see any glaring issues with the procedure, so it should work fine.

You might try disabling the SSD in the BIOS. I had to do that once in order to boot from my USB drive. Are you pushing the 0 key and selecting to boot from USB, because if you just set it in the BIOS it doesn't always do that.

Just to verify, you did run NBM and select the external hard drive as the target, right?

Also, which NBM version did you use?

[feng]

Hello,
I am using Netbook Boot Maker 0.8.4 RC1

I tried disabling the SSD, CD, Network boot and only enabled the USB boot in the BIOS. When I do this, the computer says "No Operating System Found"

When I press the "0" Key and the Boot options pops up, I do not see boot from "USB Drive" It shows everything except that one.

When I ran NBM, there was only one option and that was the external Hard Drive.

What is puzzling is that asforementioned there is no option after pressing 0 to boot from the USB drive. BIOS version is A04 so it should support it.

[underwhelmed]

It may not matter, but did you try it with USB wake support enabled as well?

The only other thing I can think of is if the mini isn't able to supply enough power, but that really shouldn't be an issue.

I use a SanDisk 8 gig USB thumb drive for my installer, but others have used external hard drives as well with success. If you go out for a thumb drive, try and find a SanDisk as others have had issues with other brands where an 8 gig stick isn't really 8 gigs.

[feng]

Do you think it matters if I use the upgrade version vs. the retail version?
I think I am using the 30 dollar upgrade version that I used to upgrade my iMac from 10.5.x to 10.6.x

[underwhelmed]

Nope, that version works fine. As long as it is a retail copy, even if it's an upgrade it will work.

I would also recommend using NBM 0.8.4 Final instead of the RC1 if you end up starting over.

As it is 1:30 A.M. my time I'm going to have to sign off now, but I'll check back later.