2006 MacBook, not booting

Patrickglen

Hi, I got a present of a 2006 MacBook 1.1 [a1181] which won't boot, it only shows a 'flashing file' symbol and it chimes once. I tried an official "i Mac Install Disc 1 Ver 2.1.5[94]"with Mac OS Ver 10.4.7. An Apple symbol appears on a blue screen. It reports:- "this software cannot be installed on this computer". So the MacBook appears to be alive, so what disc do I need to get it working and where would I get them?

Thanks,
Apple newbie

morritty

You'll need to get the correct disks for that model Macbook, unfortunately an iMac disk wont help at all.
This may be what you need http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-MacBook-2009-A1181-Software-Install-DVD-Discs-OS-X-2Z691-6531-A-/222553577798?hash=item33d13a1946:g:qk8AAOSwVL1WCROB

Same model number, but they do mention 2009, maybe someone else can confirm this?

ZENER

I think Leopard (10.5) or Snow Leopard (10.6) is as far as that machine will go - have a look here.

If you can find the retail version on eBay or the like you should be able to install it assuming the DVD-ROM is still working. Nice machine to play with but not much use for any modern software. It's limited to 2GB RAM officially but in reality it can take 4GB I seem to recall.

Ken

morritty

ZENER wrote: »

It's limited to 2GB RAM officially but in reality it can take 4GB I seem to recall.

It's limited to 3GB*, but i remember test being done which showed better performance from 2x2gb stick vs 2x1 gb stick. *It might be something to do with the maximum being 3.3gb or something along those lines?

Patrickglen

Thanks for the help so far. Does this mean that I can load Snow Leopard/10.6.8 on an empty hard disk or do I need to load it with 10.4.6 first? Thanks

PropJoe10

That'll run up as far as OSX Lion. I'd recommend doing a clean install of Lion, if you can lay your hands on an install disk.