My name is Gordo

So uh, what does it mean if I boot my Intel Macbook from USB and it gives me a light grey screen with an Apple logo (no ⊘ symbol, but also no loading bar or spinny animation). Do I assume that it's doing something? lol

Probably doesn't matter but it's an A1286 MBP 15" mid-2010.

#macbookpro #intelmac #Marchintosh

Mar 7, 2025 at 7:01amWeb
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Oh and the fan is a-spinnin up, so it certainly *feels* like something's happening, but I kinda feel like it does the same thing when I get the ⊘ screen, so whotf knows?
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
So I walked away for about 20 minutes, and when I came back it was off. Somehow the battery drained in that time, although I'm going to assume that's due to it not being calibrated yet. Anyway, turned it back on and imagine my surprise when I got a Windows blue screen!?? I wrote a new partition table to the drive, but I only did a quick format before then. Did the OS X install USB recover the original partition table or something? Lmao
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Turns out I accidentally wrote "Boot Camp.iso" to this thumb drive. Still confused. Wouldn't expect it to do anything at all to the internal drive after zero user interaction.
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Ok, now booting 10.8.4 Mountain Lion InstallESD via USB. Got Apple logo again. Hopefully soon followed by a progress bar or something? Worst case scenario, I did find my blank DVDs, but I'd rather not have to do that lol
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Ok I've burned a copy of Leopard to a DVD (only have blank single layer disks and that's the only image I could find under 4.7GB lol), and uh... should the drive be working this hard?
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Okay it stopped seeking, but nothing has happened quite yet. Still on frozen boot screen. Fan still whirring away. I'll give it some time though.
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Okay apparently I'm supposed to hold C to boot from the optical drive, not Option. It is once again furiously seeking, though this time on a blank grey screen. Sounds like it's doing the thing to me.
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
Okay yeah. I think I'll pick up some dual layer DVDs tomorrow and see what kind of luck I have with a retail image released during this laptops actual lifetime. What I would really love is if I could get an install going in a VM, and then just write a disk image of a working OS X install to the internal drive, and call it a day.
Show threadDavid NelsonMar 7, 2025
@gordoooo_z Generally the ⊘ symbol indicates it was attempting to boot an incompatible or broken OS.
Show threadMy name is GordoMar 7, 2025
@dmnelson Yeah that much I do know. It's the complete lack of any kind of feedback that's frustrating.