# Mac broken forever?



## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

here's whats wrong with my macbook A1181. It originally had os x 10.4 tiger installed in it. My friend said that he could beef up the computer so i gave it to him for a weekend and when he returned it, the computer is an ubuntu!!! i do not want my macbook to be an ubuntu and i cannot revert it back to a mac. i have a tiger OS disc. i talked to a genius at the apple store and he said that there is a way to put the disc in, the press down certain keys and then completely wipe the harddrive of the computer and load everything from just the disc. is this true? How would i do this? 

Thanks


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Yes. Put your original OS X DVD in the drive, boot the computer while holding down the 'c' key.

Once booted, look in the Utilities menu item for Disk Utility. You will need to re-partition/erase your hard drive.
Once complete, quit Disk Utility and follow the instructions of the installer. (which you should be in after quitting Disk Utility)


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

okay, i have inserted the CD and booted the computer while holding down the C key. what do i do after that? here's a link to a video to show you the exact screen i have. (ignore the sound)


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

If you hold the option key while booting (CD still in), do you get the Mac OS selector screen?

If not, it appears grub was installed on the MBR of disk and will need to be removed.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Firmware_Restoration_CD_1_4
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213?viewlocale=en_US

We'll have to use the GRUB command line to boot the DVD. (searching for commands, been a while since I used)


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

when i hold down the option key i do get the mac OS selector screen. right now im actually using a friends pirated disc. so that might also be part of the problem. but my own mac OS X 10.4 disc's but they will not come in the mail for another week or so im not sure what i should do


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

If you get the Mac OS selector, you should be able to run that CD. When it gets to the installer, go to the menu and pick Disk Utility and re-format you HD. (make sure in options section you are using GPT partition type), after that you should be able to re-install OS X.


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

okay, i have received my discs in the mail and i have booted up my mac while holding down the c key. what happens is an apple symbol loads and then a prohibited symbol loads shortly after... then it boots ubuntu. what can i do?


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Where'd you get the discs? Sounds like you might have machine specifics discs.

If it's not that, GRUB is causing the issues. You going to have to remove it from the Master Boot Record.
You'll have to google for that since I haven't used the newer GRUB.


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

the discs were shipped from apple and they new the computer model and whatnot. Do you think you could find a step by step process on how to remove grub??? thanks


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

If all elses fails, take your friend and the laptop to an apple store with the genius bar and get your friend to pay for the reinstallation of your OS back and the pain and suffering.


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

elbow_sock said:


> Do you think you could find a step by step process on how to remove grub??? thanks


I'm a little hesitant to say because I'm not 100% everything your friend did.

The fact that when you hold the option key on boot you don't get the OS X selector, worries me that maybe he/she messed with the open firmware also.

To remove GRUB should be as simple as running

```
fdisk -u /dev/disk0
```
 in Terminal from an OS X boot CD.

You can do it under Linux also, I believe the code would be:

```
fdisk -u /dev/hdc or fdisk -u /dev/sda
```
I can't say 100% what device names Ubuntu and Linux are using now, but if you let it boot in verbose mode, you should see the internal HD listed as something like hdc or sda.


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

when i try the code in the terminal it says "unable to open /dev/hdc" also, i do get the mac os x selector when i hold down the option key


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## Juli007 (Feb 22, 2010)

Couriant said:


> If all elses fails, take your friend and the laptop to an apple store with the genius bar and get your friend to pay for the reinstallation of your OS back and the pain and suffering.


That's the best solution ever!


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

elbow_sock said:


> when i try the code in the terminal it says "unable to open /dev/hdc" also, i do get the mac os x selector when i hold down the option key


So when you get to that, you can't use the arrow keys to select the DVD to boot from or when you do, you can hear it booting from the DVD and gives you the "Stop" circle?


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

i can select if i want to boot from the harddrive or the disc and when i do, the apple symbol loads with a grey screen. and then still on the grey screen a prohibitive symbol shows up and then it just loads ubuntu


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Sounds like post #10 is looking good right now...  sounds like the mac install is corrupt now and you are no longer able to install from CD.


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## elbow_sock (Jul 23, 2011)

so how would i fix my mac???


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

if you cannot run the Mac OSX install disc, or able to do anything that the others have mentioned so far, your best bet is to take it to the Genius Bar at the Apple store, or any pc technicians that deal with Macs to get them to wipe the drive and start fresh or reinstall for you.


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Your answer to my question about booting from the DVD wasn't so clear.
When you select the DVD, you hear it reading from the DVD and still get that error? (circle with slash thru)
If it's not booting from the DVD it will switch to booting from the HD and that error will appear, so need to know whether it is loading DVD or HD.

Do you have a second OS X machine in the house or have a friend that does?

If so you could use a Firewire cable and start your computer in Target Disk Mode and completely erase the hard drive.


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