Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Very long start-up time..

I

i0Nic

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 17, 2006
1,456
68
Sydney, Australia
Hey guys, my macbook first gen takes a really long time to boot up. the grey screen is there for quite a while, and then a blue screen for even longer time before it actually gets to the login screen.

I'm worried if there's a problem, specifically with the hard drive as I had to get that replaced about 8 months ago. I'm concerned that the macbook eventually won't boot up at all.

I leave my macbook on all the time, it doesn't go to sleep mode either just the screen goes off. Am I doing damage to the hard drive or other components?

cheers.
 
i0Nic said:
Haven't timed it but at least 4 or 5 minutes. Maybe longer.
Click to expand...

that is way too long.....

Have you done simple maintenance on the hard disk - repaired permissions - though it does sound like your replacement disk is failing....
 
uh oh. You must have caught that virus that installs Vista without your permission.
 
Is it not safe to leave your laptop always on? Hm makes me rethink having a laptop as a primary machine. I don't want my hard drive to fail every 10 months or so.
 
i0Nic said:
Is it not safe to leave your laptop always on? Hm makes me rethink having a laptop as a primary machine. I don't want my hard drive to fail every 10 months or so.
Click to expand...

I leave mine on all the time, I just always put it to sleep if I am going to be away from it for a little bit.
 
i0Nic said:
I leave my macbook on all the time, it doesn't go to sleep mode either just the screen goes off. Am I doing damage to the hard drive or other components?

cheers.
Click to expand...

Why does it not go to sleep ?

Does it go to sleep when you close the lid ?
 
well 4-5 minutes is quite long, I just would run system diagnostics, and if you have tech tool deluxe, then you might as well run a few checks with that too, also in system profiler see the diagnostics and check the power pane in the profiler and see the battery cycle count; it should be more than 300, however, if everything is fine and the general working of the laptop is fine then.... maybe you wanna take it to an expert at a mac store.
 
OP are you running Leopard or Tiger. are there any peripherals attached during startup. I've had similar issues with Leopard when certain peripherals are attached.
 
Eliminate Desktop clutter then go to System Prefs > Accounts > Login Items and ensure nothing unnecessary is loading.

Download Onyx for MacOSX and run the Complete Automation (Repair Disk/Permissions/Maintenances/etc)
 
ntrigue said:
Eliminate Desktop clutter then go to System Prefs > Accounts > Login Items and ensure nothing unnecessary is loading.

Download Onyx for MacOSX and run the Complete Automation (Repair Disk/Permissions/Maintenances/etc)
Click to expand...

I don't think that will help, as the user is not even getting to the login screen.

OP, I'd suggest also turning off Time Machine (if it is enabled) and seeing if the problem persists.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back