Help - cannot install OS X on new hard drive.

[prosonman]

Hi,

I replaced the hard drive in my iMac 24" 2.16ghz core 2 duo when it died.

I have tried reinstalling from the original 10.4.7 disks but the wheel under the apple logo freezers after around 1 minute.

I have cleared nvram and the hardware check says everything is normal.

I bought a new retail copy 10.6.3 and this stops during install asking me to turn power off to reboot.

I have tried installing holding the left shift key and then I get the following message:
unable to find driver for this platform "ACPI"

Any help appreciated please.

Thanks.

[LeoTheLion89]

try only install the base system no other extras. also do u have a intel mac?

[prosonman]

Yes it is an intel based system, core 2 duo. Using original install disk but it won't go past grey apple screen before if crashes.

[jbarley]

try only install the base system no other extras. also do u have a intel mac?

core 2 duo = Intel

[LeoTheLion89]

make sure your harddrive is proply seated and secured with SATA HDDs i spec off will make a difference

[prosonman]

Hard driver is properly seated, trying to work out if I can access it in Single user mode to confirm it working.

It does sound like it spins up and it works ok in my external housing.

Not sure if there is a problem with graphic card, it seems that the iMac freezes just when install is about to launch.....will keep trying but I think it's heading for the bin.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

I bought a new retail copy 10.6.3 and this stops during install asking me to turn power off to reboot.

Was this a retail version bought, in a box, from the Apple Store? Or was this something advertised as "full, retail version" that you got from somewhere like eBay?

In other words, what color is the disk? If it's gray-colored, then it's a system-specific disk and will only work with the Mac model printed on the front of the disk. It will not boot any other Mac successfully. Retail versions are typically black in color (for earlier versions), or white (for later versions -- Snow Leo, I believe)... gray color indicates you may have been sold a system-specific disk under the guise of a retail disk.

[prosonman]

It was the full retail version bought from Apple, it has the Snow Leopard picture on it so it's not the grey version that comes with the mac. I have the grey disks that came with the mac but both these and the retail version seem to stop installing while the apple logo is on the screen.