BleepingComputer.com: Macbook - how to install OS

Hello everyone,

I recently came upon a Macbook. Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you as far as specs go. From what I learned, this Macbook started to have the dreaded "spinning wheel of death" after an update some time ago. After that, the person

let various people look at it, and now the Macbook starts up to the flashing folder with question mark. I have come across a Tiger 10.4 install, but the Mac will not boot from it. The disc spins for about three minutes or more, then the computer

just shuts off, not restarts, turns off. I recently learned that some macbooks came with Intel, and the Tiger install I have may not be compatible, does this sound right? Also, I cannot tell what specs the Macbook has as stated earlier. It was

bought in either '05 or '06. So, it probably came with Tiger, right?

I was thinking maybe there is a way to install OS from a pc to the mac? possibly thru firewire? you'll have to excuse me I do not know much about mac other than they are good systems and have never had a virus.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

put in the tiger install and hold down the "c" key while booting and it should boot from the cd. from there you can run disk utilities to detect and repair some drive issues to possibly repair the system or you can install a new system. Diskwarrior is also a very good program for recovering messed mac systems.

If its a retail version of Tiger, itll only boot on a PPC Mac, which a Macbook is not. You either need a copy of Tiger that comes with that model, or a copy of Leopard.

If you have another Mac, you can boot the Macbook into Target Disk Mode by holding the T key on boot up. Then connect the 2 Macs via Firewire. The Macbook will show up on the second Mac as an external drive. You can then use Disk Utility to verify and repair the disk.

The flashing folder with a question mark means that either A) there is no startup disk set, or there is no OS installed.

Try holding Option on boot up. It should show you any bootable disks available.

Ok, so the tiger version for powerpc is what I was afraid of Luckily I got my hands on a leopard disc and everything worked perfectly Thanks for your timely responses, although mine were not. Thank you guys.