MacBook wont start up

[Bloodyrockgod]

Hi!

Allright i have this lovely problem today that my macbook wont start up.

This all happend while my macbook frozed up, i was running vmware and a bunch of other applications. So i managed to force quit everything and gave it a good 15 min but still it was laggy and stuff...
So i decided to hit the powerbutton and reboot.

Then it got stuck and the apple logo screen with the loading thing under it....
Ive tryed to different stuff allready pram and scm or something.

Now tho... i get the apple logo, the rotating loading thing and under it there is a loading bar.... it gets to 1/3 full untill it hits a black screen and shuts down......

Help what can i do ?? i dont want to lose my data....

[blueroom]

How old is your MacBook?

You may be able to get your data off in target disk mode from another Mac.

PS always backup your important data.

[justperry]

Why you start a new Thread again, you already started 3 Threads about the same problem, ask there.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1518330

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1518316

[Bloodyrockgod]

Sorry man, those are different questions.

----------

Originally Posted by blueroom

How old is your MacBook?

You may be able to get your data off in target disk mode from another Mac.

PS always backup your important data.

2 years old or something.

How does this target disk mode work ?

----------

I just tryd to do a install of SL with the disk.

That diddnt work... it could not install on my HD it said.
It showed my HD with a yellow tryangle... so i think it might be damaged/corrupted in some way...

Now i try the internet recovery menu by boothing with cmd - R pressed. to get into disk utility and try to repair the disk.. hope that works...

[blueroom]

You need another Mac with FireWire (and a FW cable). Press T when booting the target Mac (your MacBook). The other Mac will see yours as an FW drive.

This may allow you to backup your data before reformatting / reinstalling OSX.

Your HDD may be duff, since you can't get to your recovery partition. It could also be the HDD cable (this happened in a friends MacBook) about a $60 repair from Apple.

Another option. Get an SSD, and put your old HDD in an external USB enclosure.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Hmm i got the message that repair is not possible...
And that i should try to recover my data etc....then format the disk...

what is my best option here if i want to keep my data ?
What if i dont care about my data ? how do i format it and get it running again ?

Is it a option to buy a new HDD, replace it with the old one and do a install of osx.
Then use the old HDD as a external disk and try to recover some files that way ?

[blueroom]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Is it a option to buy a new HDD, replace it with the old one and do a install of osx.
Then use the old HDD as a external disk and try to recover some files that way ?

That.

It could also be a duff HDD cable (it's happened to a friend of mine)

Get an SSD if you can afford it. Any SATA to USB 2 enclosure will work.

[justperry]

From the other thread, I said the following:

Originally Posted by justperry

Start up in Safe mode by holding Shift at startup.

Repair disk and permissions by holding down the Command-R buttons at startup .

You replied:

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Nah dssnt work for me, cant install on the HD for some reason.
Also it trys to installa mountain lion , but i never bought that version only Lion so nope :/

And then you write this:

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Sorry man, those are different questions.

----------



2 years old or something.

How does this target disk mode work ?

----------

I just tryd to do a install of SL with the disk.

That diddnt work... it could not install on my HD it said.
It showed my HD with a yellow tryangle... so i think it might be damaged/corrupted in some way...

Now i try the internet recovery menu by boothing with cmd - R pressed. to get into disk utility and try to repair the disk.. hope that works...

So you didn't even try it before!!!
Odd man you are, if you need help ask but don't fool around, anyway, I had enough.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

Odd man you are, if you need help ask but don't fool around, anyway, I had enough.

woa relax...

That wassnt a reply on you, that was for something else.

Now the safe mode. i will try it right now.

yes your right i did make too many topics, sorry about that. were good ?

Edit: Ok the save mode. i get the process bar. it gets 1/3 full then i get a blackscreen and it just dies...

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

woa relax...

That wassnt a reply on you, that was for something else.

Now the safe mode. i will try it right now.

yes your right i did make too many topics, sorry about that. were good ?

Edit: Ok the save mode. i get the process bar. it gets 1/3 full then i get a blackscreen and it just dies...

No worries, next time just ask in one thread, we will help you out, just explain what's going on in one thread, there's plenty of people here helping although sometimes it needs a bit of time.

Edit: If you hold Command-V at start up it will show text, see where it hangs and report here.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

No worries, next time just ask in one thread, we will help you out, just explain what's going on in one thread, there's plenty of people here helping although sometimes it needs a bit of time.

Edit: If you hold Command-V at start up it will show text, see where it hangs and report here.

Cool appreciate the quick help!

hmm it hang for a wile at: checking catalog file

then there was some text verry quick and it died...

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Cool appreciate the quick help!

hmm it hang for a wile at ** checking catalog file

then there was some text verry quick and it died...

This means your disk needs repair, the Catalog file is needed by the system, it's a directory file, similar to an index in a book(that's more or less I know about it).
If this file is corrupt your Mac won't startup from it.

Forgot if you tried to startup in Single User Mode, if not do so, it will repair the disk if it's possible to fix.
You can read more about it on Apple's site:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

DiskWarrior would actually be the better option to repair a disk but it is not free and you need a second bootable System to boot from.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

This means your disk needs repair, the Catalog file is needed by the system, it's a directory file, similar to an index in a book(that's more or less I know about it).
If this file is corrupt your Mac won't startup from it.

Forgot if you tried to startup in Single User Mode, if not do so, it will repair the disk if it's possible to fix.
You can read more about it on Apple's site:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

DiskWarrior would actually be the better option to repair a disk but it is not free and you need a second bootable System to boot from.

Ok yes i did this.

It says:

The volume could not be verified completely.
/dec/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Ok yes i did this.

It says:

The volume could not be verified completely.
/dec/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8

Is this in Single User Mode?

You could also type the next command in Single User Mode, try it 2 times:

/sbin/fsck -fy
Hit Return

To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse pointer to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:

Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt type:

/sbin/fsck -fy

Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).

When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

Is this in Single User Mode?

You could also type the next command in Single User Mode, try it 2 times:

/sbin/fsck -fy
Hit Return

ok i did it 2 times.

It says:

The volume could not be verified completely.
/dec/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8

[blueroom]

Sounds like hardware. Make a Genius appointment and see what they say.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by blueroom

Sounds like hardware. Make a Genius appointment and see what they say.

hmm verry strange... its not verry easy for me to make such an appointment.
I wanted to upgrade to a SSD sometime anyway, do you think its still worth the shot to try to replace the HDD ? or your saying its probably something else ?

[justperry]

Originally Posted by blueroom

Sounds like hardware. Make a Genius appointment and see what they say.

Are you sure?

Sometimes these can be fixed with Diskwarrior, but as I said before you need an external bootable disk to run DW from it and it is not free.

[Bloodyrockgod]

So you guys think that if i remove the HDD with a new SSD, i can just do a clean install and it should be good ?

Or is it possible i will still have the same problem then .... ?

BTW if i do that i still need the disk, thats in my mac but wont eject... how can i fix that issue ?

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

So you guys think that if i remove the HDD with a new SSD, i can just do a clean install and it should be good ?

Or is it possible i will still have the same problem then .... ?

BTW if i do that i still need the disk, thats in my mac but wont eject... how can i fix that issue ?

Yes to your first Question.

I don't think you will have the problem again, you might be able to repair the old HD once you installed the OS on the SSD and put the Hd in an external casing (With Diskwarrior), you can get an external casing for little money.

About your last point, do you mean the CD/DVD drive, if so there is a command to force eject the cd/dvd but before you do just try to eject it the normal way, like holding the mouse button or eject key at start up.
The Command in terminal to eject a stuck CD/DVD is:

drutil tray eject

Force Eject a Stuck CD or DVD

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

Yes to your first Question.

I don't think you will have the problem again, you might be able to repair the old HD once you installed the OS on the SSD and put the Hd in an external casing (With Diskwarrior), you can get an external casing for little money.

About your last point, do you mean the CD/DVD drive, if so there is a command to force eject the cd/dvd but before you do just try to eject it the normal way, like holding the mouse button or eject key at start up.
The Command in terminal to eject a stuck CD/DVD is:

drutil tray eject

Force Eject a Stuck CD or DVD

Thx.

Do i need a 2.5" Sata-300 or sata-150 or ATA ? or doessnt that matter ?

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

Thx.

Do i need a 2.5" Sata-300 or sata-150 or ATA ? or doessnt that matter ?

Shouldn't really matter, yours is about 2 years old, I guess it's a SATA 2.

If it's a USB 2 it should not matter at all, USB 2 is slower than SATA 1.

And, if it's a USB 3 enclosure I guess they are all minimum SATA 3 now otherwise it would not make sense, they are backwards compatible though.

[Bloodyrockgod]

Edit: figured it out.

Now ill just wait for my external HD case, and hope my old one still lives...

[Bloodyrockgod]

Originally Posted by justperry

Are you sure?

Sometimes these can be fixed with Diskwarrior, but as I said before you need an external bootable disk to run DW from it and it is not free.

ye so it was the Harddisk itself.

Everything works fine now with the new one installed.

I hooked up the old one. It said something like: 'this disk is damaged, please backup and reformat"

So ive backed up some important files, but not all of them.
After a few min's it will just not be showing in the Finder anymore.

Is there a way to truely repair this, without losing all the data ?

[justperry]

Originally Posted by Bloodyrockgod

ye so it was the Harddisk itself.

Everything works fine now with the new one installed.

I hooked up the old one. It said something like: 'this disk is damaged, please backup and reformat"

So ive backed up some important files, but not all of them.
After a few min's it will just not be showing in the Finder anymore.

Is there a way to truely repair this, without losing all the data ?

Did you try to repair it with disk utility or Diskwarrior, if you didn't with DW I would give it a try.