Mac won't start
- Started
- Last post
- 27 Responses
- CyBrain
I have a 3 year old Mac Pro that won't boot up and continually gets the ? icon when starting. I booted from the installer and when I go to Disk Utility the main drive isn't even recognized.
If I install the OS all over again, will I be able to bring everything back with Time Machine or will I have to get my programs back with installers? Aside from that how screwed am I?
- Boz0
Time Machine will bring EVERYTHING back.. it's that great..
You will however have to probably reactivate or reinstall apps anyways because your activations might be wacked if you change the hard drive nad stuff...nothing to do with a mac and more to do with copyprotection.
You can take a different empty drive now and start OSX installation and you can pick restore from TIme Machine and it will be restore your OSX to the point of a crash.. maybe few minutes prior.. it's amazing really..
- did it twice, with new new hard drive + new macbook pro. FANFUCKINGTASTIC!ntimm
- Boz0
also.. you might have problems logging into your main user account on the startup screen.. I don't know if they fixed it in Snow Leopard but I know when I restore Time Machine backups to an empty drive it wouldn't let me log in even with the right password.. I think that keychain thing gets corrupted or something..
You will have to get into disc utilities and reset that account in order to boot.. so don't panic if you restore stuff nad you try to login and the login dialog starts shaking as if the password is wrong.. that happens.
- you can fix it like this:
http://support.apple…Boz - this is the problem I was describing:
http://discussions.i…Boz
- you can fix it like this:
- ernexbcn0
Your hard drive might have died.
- gattocerber0
your hard drive have died.
same thing happened to me, you just lost everything you had there. unless you pay more than a thousand dollars to have a company save the data inside.
sorry, i know the feeling..- I have Time Machine backups, so that's not a problem. I'm more pissed I'll have to reinstall all the software.CyBrain
- oh good. i didn't have backups, it was bad.gattocerber
- akrok0
time for a SSD...woohoo. :-) unless you need 1TB.
- SSD 120GB around $250akrok
- macsales.com ;-)akrok
- the new 27 inch iMacs are nice because they have 2 drive bays, ideal for a SSD+1TB setupernexbcn
- Apple's SSD are quite old tech and you cannot replace drives in new iMacs yourself like you could in older ones.raf
- doctor0
Yes, it sounds like your HD died. They don't last forever. Have you noticed any unusual noise from it lately? It might also be that the boot sector on your HD is corrupted, in which case you should reinstall OSX.
Good thing you got a back-up, right... Right?
- akrok0
my HD in my old G4 (867) was made 2001 and lasted 6 or 7 years. and it was used daily. i think that was pretty unsual.
anyway, always backup. cause some last only a 1 or 2. damn.
- ernexbcn0
I had the same issue with my 3 yeard old iMac, and it won't even let me boot through USB or DVD drive, it seems that in under certain hard drive failures the particular model I have enter into a "coma" state when the HD dies.
I read dozens of message boards with people that had the similar problem and determined it was hard disk failure (people that took the iMac to servicing). I bought a new 1TB sata drive and proceeded to open the whole thing, including removing the whole LCD panel because the drive is behind it.
With the new drive in place the iMac booted the Snow Leopard install disk with no problems and I'm using it ever since.
What I did later on was acquiring a sata box where you can put the old drive in it and plug it with USB, I ran Disk Utility on my old disk and managed to get all my user folder, but the drive was definitely fucked up, some files could not be copied and it made clicking noises.
Hope this helps.
- As I wrote in note above, the new iMacs' drives are harder to access, much easier to damage the glass.raf
- CyBrain0
I left Disk Utility running over night. It ran through my music and backup drives and found no problems. Then it finally listed my startup (internal) drive.
In the First Aid tab all the buttons are greyed out. I can however go to the Erase tab and erase the disk. There are several Volume Formats to pick from:
Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which is the default,
Mac OS Extended,
Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive Journaled),
Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive),
MS-DOS (FAT).Should I go with the default Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?
Or is there something else I should try before erasing?
- Mac OS Extended (Journaled)ok_not_ok
- See if Disk Warrior can fix your issues.
http://www.alsoft.co…ok_not_ok
- Atkinson0
if you got it in the UK look at buyers rights, theres a law that protects you for around 5 years on electrical items. Apple will have to repair it for you but you should go through the retailer. I've been through this - it's all on moneysavingexpert.
- mrghost0
i have a disc polarity issue that causes my 2006 macpro to do this sometimes. The solution that I've found is when it doesn't boot, turn it off and try again. It has taken up to five cycles before for this method to work but as long as I backup my data everyday I am comfortable with the weirdness.
it may be time to upgrade to solid state.
- DoktorDavid0
"It is not a matter of if, it is only a matter of when"
I've had numerous drives subscribe to that little anecdote over the years. Have been successful in saving quite a few too. This is bad news, sorry; save as much data as possible then put a bullet in it.
- CyBrain0
I've installed Snow Leopard onto my external drive and Disk Utility still has the buttons greyed out on the First Aid section. There's no option to verify, repair disk or disk permissions.
I have Disk Warrior, but it repeatedly quits every time I start it.
- oh f*ck... looks like the drive is unreadable - typically a hardware failure - sorryDoktorDavid
- CyBrain0
Also, I just notice in Safari or Chrome that these windows can be resized with a doohicky in the lower right corner of the text field. It won't work in Firefox where I usually exist.
- CyBrain0
I am erasing. God help me.
- CyBrain0
From bad news to worse.
Disk Erase Failed
Disk Erase failed with the error:
POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed.
Cannot allocate memory- well, that's it - fold your tents, go have a drink or three and chill - she be dead, captainDoktorDavid
- CyBrain0
Thank you Doktor McCoy.
For now, I can work off my external drive until I get a new internal drive. I don't even know what that will cost. It was a 500 GB.- sorry, man - wasn't trying to be a smartass - 500 GB's are pretty cheap these daysDoktorDavid
- CyBrain0
No, I know you were joking around. I'm not too freaked out about this. I've had an external drive with all my portfolio site work die on me the week I got laid off. I had a drive die and take all my music with it.
This isn't nearly as bad.
- It'll be a lot cheaper than you think. Cheers.doublespaced