Did my Fall 2008 MBP go belly up?

[Razeus]

I'm not sure what's going on with my Mac, but about a week ago it started acting funny and I was forced to do hard shutdowns. When rebooting, it would take forever to get to my login screen. I've Google and done the whole clear PRAM (or whatever) thing, fix permissions, checked disc, safe mode, etc. etc. After some time I was able to get it up and running and thought nothing of it.

So today, I was working with it just fine and then it started acting up again (programs slow to open, transferring files taking forever, appear to freeze and then resume and finally just froze all together), resulting in forced shutdowns. Now, when I try to boot up, I get to the gray Apple screen, with the spinning gear and it stays there. And after a while I get a no entry symbol (circle with a slash through it). What gives? This is a $2000 machine (Fall 2008 dollars) and I don't expect my machine to fail just a month after the 1 year warranty is up. I never thought to get Apple care so I don't have it.

What should I do?

edit: also, when I was working the screen suddenly turned blue while ejecting a SD Card and got the spinning gears and it just say there forever until I forced shut down.

 

[Moocher]

Will it boot and run from the original disk? Put in the disk, restart, hold down the c key. Or, if the machine is off, power up and hold down the option key then insert disk. There is a hardware test program on the original disk, but if things seem fine, then you probably need a hard drive. If you don't have a backup, then do so if you can before it's totally gone.


Mooch

 

[Razeus]

I'll try that method with the DVD soon. I was able to get it to boot and seems to be working smoothly ATM, but I'm backing up my files as we speak, just to be sure I am not about to suffer a hard drive failure (it's a new drive, less than 6 months old, 500GB 7200RPM). All 150GB of my music is on here and about 20GB of general photos, so I am praying I can make it through without some issue popping up again. I'm backing up with the drag and drop method because, for some reason, my MBP isn't picking up my Time Machine drive.

 

[Razeus]

Took it to the Apple store. The ran diagnostics and whatnot and then did an Archive & Install. Still booting slow. They are chalking it up to some software error (getting something wrong with the Core something or other) and doing an Erase & Install. Sigh...

 

[goMac]

Sounds like a dead hard drive to me.

 

[ayeying]

it's a new drive, less than 6 months old, 500GB 7200RPM

Just because it's new doesn't mean it won't fail. I'm guessing it's a Seagate drive since those were really popular. However, for me personally, I found seagate drives to be somewhat hit or miss. My former 17" uMBP had a 320GB 7200RPM seagate drive and it wouldn't stop clicking or freezing for days on end.

I'm also suspecting a dying hard drive. Back up as fast as you can and get it replaced.

 

[Razeus]

Just because it's new doesn't mean it won't fail. I'm guessing it's a Seagate drive since those were really popular. However, for me personally, I found seagate drives to be somewhat hit or miss. My former 17" uMBP had a 320GB 7200RPM seagate drive and it wouldn't stop clicking or freezing for days on end.

I'm also suspecting a dying hard drive. Back up as fast as you can and get it replaced.

The Apple store (and I) went through all the harddrive diagnostics and everything was fine. No hardware issues. Something was wrong in the OS.

 

[J the Ninja]

The Apple store (and I) went through all the harddrive diagnostics and everything was fine. No hardware issues. Something was wrong in the OS.

Yeah right. Could have been, but I doubt it. The hardware test probably just checks the SMART status. That doesn't necessarily predict a mechanical failure. Keep your back up up-to-date. If you don't have the necessary screwdrivers for the hard drive swap, I'd go track them down.

 

[Razeus]

Yeah right. Could have been, but I doubt it. The hardware test probably just checks the SMART status. That doesn't necessarily predict a mechanical failure. Keep your back up up-to-date. If you don't have the necessary screwdrivers for the hard drive swap, I'd go track them down.

I'm going to get a new drive to date, that's NON Seagate. Perhaps Hitachi. I'm still getting slow boot ups (over a minute) and I left my computer on overnight to transfer my music back over and this morning, I tried to click on something and it beachballed forever, forcing a hard shut down.

 

[Razeus]

I'm going to get a new drive to date, that's NON Seagate. Perhaps Hitachi. I'm still getting slow boot ups (over a minute) and I left my computer on overnight to transfer my music back over and this morning, I tried to click on something and it beachballed forever, forcing a hard shut down.

UPDATE:

Switch out the Seagate for the Hitachi and no everything is running smooth and appears to be running fine. Boot ups are normal now. No beachballing.

I was beginning to wonder why my MBP was so slow, yet when I go to the store and play with their demos, everything loads lightning fast. Now I know why. Seagate is off my radar.

 

[HBOC]

i just installed a Hitachi 500GB 7200 i bought yesterday from Frys. Good drive, a lot faster than my 250GB 5400...