Help with old MAcbook Pro - how do I make it boot up?

Cheers again - using the info in the first link, the MCP would then boot from the USB drive. Using 10.7 and 10.8 builds, it gets to the point where it says "Checking with Apple for installation" or similar, then says there was an error and to try again. Rinse and repeat! Getting closer though lol!
I would look at the installer logs and see what the specific error is; menu looks something like, make sure you select 'Show All Logs' -

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Once you've got the error then you can find out what the exact issue and solution is.

Edit - Going off rusty memory, there was a date time (expired cert) issue with older installers which you needed to fix prior to installation; this may help - https://gist.github.com/pjobson/56208d5f34faef25b1aebf5f2981ea7c.

Edit 2 - This thread on Reddit (found by doing a search around expired OSX certs) may further help and links to the gist above - https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/1ai27nz/macos_doesnt_install/.
 
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Going off rusty memory, there was a date time (expired cert) issue with older installers which you needed to fix prior to installation; this may help -
That's a good thing to remember, yes, I remember that. I don't recall which version of OS X it was but you had to set the system clock back prior to the certificate date to be able to reinstall it.
 
Still couldn't get it to work with the official Apple OS. Got a version of 10.8 working, only to find Youtube won't play on that version of Safari, and it wouldn't install Firefox. The Win 10 install has no audio. I was going to put a Linux distro on it, but to be quite honest, I cba! I've scavenged the ssd out of it, is the unit any good to anyone on here as a spares or something to tinker with? FOC obvs.
Thanks for the help thus far though, it's just not to be!
 
Still couldn't get it to work with the official Apple OS. Got a version of 10.8 working, only to find Youtube won't play on that version of Safari, and it wouldn't install Firefox. The Win 10 install has no audio. I was going to put a Linux distro on it, but to be quite honest, I cba! I've scavenged the ssd out of it, is the unit any good to anyone on here as a spares or something to tinker with? FOC obvs.
Thanks for the help thus far though, it's just not to be!
Oh yes please, if just for the challenge.
 
Still couldn't get it to work with the official Apple OS. Got a version of 10.8 working, only to find Youtube won't play on that version of Safari, and it wouldn't install Firefox. The Win 10 install has no audio.
If you've got 10.8 then you should be able to upgrade to 10.11 by downloading and mounting the (official) installer and then just running the El Capitan package file. As for Firefox, you'll need v78.15.0 for 10.11; latest versions require 10.15 min which isn't officially supported on that hardware unless you go down the OCLP route (Monterey would work i would have thought, given the USB1 issues in Ventura) etc.

Will be interesting to see what @Feek can do with it; although i feel he should build the boot media using a Windows system to keep the challenge fair :cry:
 
I have a 2008 first gen unibody macbook 13.3 - the original pro before they then released it the same the next year with the word pro on in exactly the same spec :cry::rolleyes:
I always use the links I've given you above, because they are direct links from Apples servers, so legit and clean/safe, and I have never had a problem doing it from USB, I threw away my discs years ago.

I do remember there was an issue with a newer firmware being written onto the machine itself, which would prevent certain older installations not appearing when you held down option, due to the previous firmware being upgraded to support newer OS', but I TBH never saw a reason to go back lower than the last supported version, of which still works, even when you've put an unsupported newer OS on (which I won't discuss on here as it probably violates the rules) but despite this I was still able to go back to the last legit supported version.

Maybe try using the last supported version for that model, of which you can look up easy enough :)

Hope this helps, oh and if you haven't already chucked an SSD in it/maxed the ram, do it, it will fly for what it is, even my SATA1 2008 is rapid compared to having a HDD, on the last supported OS it would boot to desktop in 14 seconds, as I was sad enough to time it one day haha, obviously without a login password enabled, but still impressive for an old girl on SATA1!
 
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Feek or paradigm, would I be able to grab 10.9 Mavericks and 10.15 Catalina from either of you please?

Can you get them from here? I think Catalina is still on the App Store.
 

Can you get them from here? I think Catalina is still on the App Store.

Thanks, Feek. I have Catalina but Mavericks doesn't seem available.
 
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