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SepiaSky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2015
3
0
Hi. I purchased a 2009 White MacBook Model A1342 in 2010 (I don't know if it makes any difference but I purchased it at an Apple store new in the box). I've never had a single issue with it in all the years that I've owned it. I have always done the regular updates whenever they've come up. I haven't installed anything recently or made any changes. But last night, I opened it up, signed into my account/login, and once it loaded up, I opened Mozilla Firefox. From there it just went completely frozen up: it wouldn't open anything, do anything besides the rainbow wheel, I couldn't quit or force quit any programs, etc. I ended up having to hold the power button in and shut it down. Then I rebooted it and it wouldn't load past the screen right after login. Three tries later, it finally got past that screen and then the same issues as before were happening. I shut it down for the night and left it. I found someone else's thread on here about a similar issue and the person who responded recommended booting it into safe mode for them. I tried that today and it still won't load past the screen right after login. I'm a single mother and I just recently moved out of state, I cannot afford a new computer right now nor can I afford to spend a bunch of money on having this one repaired. But I need my computer for work. This is my first MacBook or Apple computer of any kind, but I was quite good with all the PCs I had before this computer and am very hands on. If someone can direct me as to what I need to do to repair the issue and get this thing running again, I'm sure I can handle it. I just need to to know what to do.

You are welcome to email me if that is easier. Or comment on this thread. Absolutely any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 

spadz93

macrumors member
Nov 24, 2009
72
2
Hi. I purchased a 2009 White MacBook Model A1342 in 2010 (I don't know if it makes any difference but I purchased it at an Apple store new in the box). I've never had a single issue with it in all the years that I've owned it. I have always done the regular updates whenever they've come up. I haven't installed anything recently or made any changes. But last night, I opened it up, signed into my account/login, and once it loaded up, I opened Mozilla Firefox. From there it just went completely frozen up: it wouldn't open anything, do anything besides the rainbow wheel, I couldn't quit or force quit any programs, etc. I ended up having to hold the power button in and shut it down. Then I rebooted it and it wouldn't load past the screen right after login. Three tries later, it finally got past that screen and then the same issues as before were happening. I shut it down for the night and left it. I found someone else's thread on here about a similar issue and the person who responded recommended booting it into safe mode for them. I tried that today and it still won't load past the screen right after login. I'm a single mother and I just recently moved out of state, I cannot afford a new computer right now nor can I afford to spend a bunch of money on having this one repaired. But I need my computer for work. This is my first MacBook or Apple computer of any kind, but I was quite good with all the PCs I had before this computer and am very hands on. If someone can direct me as to what I need to do to repair the issue and get this thing running again, I'm sure I can handle it. I just need to to know what to do.

You are welcome to email me if that is easier. Or comment on this thread. Absolutely any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Have you tried resetting the SMC and PRAM? http://www.macworld.com/article/2881177/how-to-reset-your-macs-nvram-pram-and-smc.html
 

SepiaSky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2015
3
0

I'm trying it right now. Curious: can I hold the power button down to shut it off and then perform these tasks? I tried a few times after shutting down that way and there was no second startup sound. I then waited for it to load the login and chose "shut down" but it's still on the blue screen with the little wheel of dashes spinning away. It's been doing that for about ten minutes straight now without any change.
 

spadz93

macrumors member
Nov 24, 2009
72
2
I'm trying it right now. Curious: can I hold the power button down to shut it off and then perform these tasks? I tried a few times after shutting down that way and there was no second startup sound. I then waited for it to load the login and chose "shut down" but it's still on the blue screen with the little wheel of dashes spinning away. It's been doing that for about ten minutes straight now without any change.

yes, you can do whatever you need to do to get it to shut down to perform these
 

SepiaSky

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2015
3
0
yes, you can do whatever you need to do to get it to shut down to perform these

I've tried both of those things several times. Now it will open, login, and let me open Safari but once I try to load any other page on Safari, it pops up with the rainbow wheel and goes into that weird traction thing again. Any other ideas?
 

Bomb Bloke

macrumors regular
Feb 12, 2015
222
6
Tasmania (AU)
This sounds an awful lot like an old Snow Leopard bug.

Try disconnecting your system from your internet (turn off your modem, if you have to), then see how it performs. Does the beachball go away?

If so, head up to the Apple menu (very top left of your screen), and select About this Mac. What version number are you getting? 10.6.8?
 
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