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Help! I put a strong magnet on my MacBook Pro!

O

oopsiedaisy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2013
7
0
I have (stupidly) put a strong magnet right on top of the hard drive of my MacBook pro. It was a little wireless speaker and forgot it had a magnet on the bottom. now I can't turn it back on! it just gives me the white start up screen with the apple logo. am I screwed? please help! cheers! :eek:
 
If the magnet was strong enough, it could have wiped the HDD and yeah, you'd be screwed if you don't have a back up. But a small wireless speaker, I wouldn't think, would be strong enough to do that. Define small magnet BTW.

Is your MBP the kind that you can remove the battery? If so, I'd say shut it off, remove the battery for a few minutes and then put it back in and see if it comes back up. <-- No scientific basis for that, just an uneducated thought
 
no, the battery doesn't come off. let it die though and tried again, still the same. the magnet was definitely strong, it was bought to stick to the roll bar of a 4x4, so it meant business. already starting to accept that I probably lost my music (aaaah!!!) but hoping I can at least get it working again, even if it means starting from scratch on iTunes. :) cash is of the essence. :)
 
I recommend that you implement a simple back up solution like Time Machine for any future mishaps so you don't have to start from scratch again.
 
someone just texted me that I can put in the startup disk and hold down command and c while I turn it on...made some extra whirring noises but still the same. haha thanks, I will...not gonna learn the hard way twice!
 
Hard drives are magnetic media, meaning the data is written to the platters with magnetism and if a magnet or electromagnet are powerful enough, they can get through the shielding of the laptop shell and the HDD casing and erase the data on the drive.
 
oopsiedaisy said:
someone just texted me that I can put in the startup disk and hold down command and c while I turn it on...made some extra whirring noises but still the same. haha thanks, I will...not gonna learn the hard way twice!
Click to expand...

Try it with "C" alone to startup on a CD/DVD.

Once you are booted on the disc, run Disk Utility First Aid on your internal drive. You might get it bootable, but there's still a chance some files are corrupted.
 
Last edited:
tried it with just c, held it down till my fingers got tired, still just the apple logo and the swirling loading thing, it's squeaking away sounding like it's trying, nothing changed. no longer really care about the stuff I've lost, now just worried I lost the whole laptop itself. jeepers.

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gr8tfly said:
Try it with "C" alone to startup on a CD/DVDA.

Once you are booted on the disc, run Disk Utility First Aid on your internal drive. You might get it bootable, but there's still a chance some files are corrupted.
Click to expand...

tried it with just c, held it down till my fingers got tired, still just the apple logo and the swirling loading thing, it's squeaking away sounding like it's trying, nothing changed. no longer really care about the stuff I've lost, now just worried I lost the whole laptop itself. jeepers.
 
Hummm.

If it got to the Apple logo, it means it's well into starting up on some volume.

Try starting up holding down the "opt" key (also immediately after the startup sound). You should at least get the option of selecting the CD/DVD, and possibly the Recovery partition off the HDD.

Just to clarify, the disc is one that shipped with the machine or a retail OS X disc for the factory version or later? If the disc is for an older machine or an old version of OS X, it won't be able to startup on it.

(Also, it might be helpful if you could tell us the exact model MBP you have - for instance Early 2009 17".)
 
Chances are you wiped not only your data but also the servo tracks written onto the disk by its manufacturer. If so, the drive is irreparably damaged and you'll need to purchase a new drive, then restore from backup. ...You DO have a backup, don't you?

If not, then you can re-download any software purchased from the App Store, and perhaps salvage your music from there and from your phone or iPod if you have one.

Sorry.
 
gr8tfly said:
Hummm.

If it got to the Apple logo, it means it's well into starting up on some volume.

Try starting up holding down the "opt" key (also immediately after the startup sound). You should at least get the option of selecting the CD/DVD, and possibly the Recovery partition off the HDD.

Just to clarify, the disc is one that shipped with the machine or a retail OS X disc for the factory version or later? If the disc is for an older machine or an old version of OS X, it won't be able to startup on it.

(Also, it might be helpful if you could tell us the exact model MBP you have - for instance Early 2009 17".)
Click to expand...


i'm working on this suggestion, but now the power button is useless, so waiting for the battery to die, pretty quick I think. the startup disk I have in is the os x one it came with. pretty sure it's late 2010, and it's 13". u guys have been very patient, I seriously have to learn more about my computer than iTunes and facebook :eek:
 
Power button should not be totally useless. Press, and hold the button in for several seconds - until the system powers off.
 
well, battery finally died, tried restarting holding option + c and no change. pretty sure I killed it...:( one last probably dumb question: will the guys at the genius bar charge me if I just bring it in with the same questions? or just if I need a new hard drive?

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Big-TDI-Guy said:
Dear original poster: Your name = Win. :)
Click to expand...

haha cheers! seemed fitting.
 
oopsiedaisy said:
well, battery finally died, tried restarting holding option + c and no change. pretty sure I killed it...:( one last probably dumb question: will the guys at the genius bar charge me if I just bring it in with the same questions? or just if I need a new hard drive?
Click to expand...

Make an appointment; they will look at it and give you advice for free; they will charge you for work that is actually done. They'll probably try to start from an external drive which would prove that your Mac is fine except for the hard drive. Replacing the hard drive would be easy. If your Mac doesn't start from an external drive, then you've got a serious problem.
 
ok, tried everything I could for now, gonna have to take it in and cross my fingers. thanks so much guys!
 
oopsiedaisy said:
will the guys at the genius bar charge me if I just bring it in with the same questions? or just if I need a new hard drive?
Click to expand...

They will diagnose the problem and provide any software level fixes/repairs at no cost. If the hard drive does need to be replaced then they will give you a quote for repair.
 
Is this a newer MacBook or one that you can take the hard drive out? If you can easily get the hard drive out, try putting it in a USB enclosure and see if you can read any data from it on another computer. If you can't even do that, you might be out of luck.
 
HDD heads and mechanism probably damaged if it was a reasonably strong rare earth magnet, so HDD probably will want replacing
 
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