Okay, I have a serious problem with my macbook. I'll begin from the start. My macbook has never had a single problem until today. I bought os x leopard today to install for the first time on my laptop. I restarted... everything was normal and I came to the screen which checks the disk to see how compatible it is with the computer. After about an hour, it was around 50% complete and I received a message telling me to clean the disk and try again... Anyway it wouldn't allow me to access the disk, it only rebooted itself and then returned to the installing process. Again, which took around 3 hours to install, which I've heard isn't normal. I went out for a walk to kill the time and came back to find my macbook with my previous wallpaper and mouse icon and no applications. I clicked around and eventually everything began to show up. The os x leopard intro movie played, not full screen... if that matters?, and after it had finished I tried to click on some things on the desktop but they would be open. Apps like safari opened and worked fine, but I could not shut down my macbook or restart. I downloaded upgrades and clicked on the "Restart Now" button, the thin bar on top with the apple logo disappeared but the system did not restart nor shut off. So I held the power button until the system went off. I turned it back on to find the computer boot up and bring me to a registration screen. After filling out the registration info slots and clicking "Done" the registration screen would load up fresh again. There were no other applications and I couldn't restart or shutdown the computer. I had to enter safety mode and click the back button and restart that way. Then the computer opened and worked like a charm... until I tried to partition 25 gigs for boot camp. The partition process was taking around 2.5 hours, which again is not normal, so I exited the program and guess what? 25 gigs are missing on my harddrive now and no the partition was not fully installed. So... I realized that there are new software updates available... I download them and click restart... and guess what? Neither restart nor shutdown work. I run tech tools and it tells me the volume structure has failed. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this, and I am very... VERY grateful for anyone who can help me. Please.
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I have a BIG problem (MacBook in trouble after Leopard install)
- Thread starter sapienza9068
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If you haven't backed up any data, now would be the ideal time to do so. I would recommend you get an external hard drive large enough for all your data and use time machine to back up. Then wipe off your Leopard disc with a soft cloth and reboot from it. You will then select erase and install and proceed to install Leopard with a clean slate. At this point, if your disc is still having problems, take it to the Apple store you bought it from or call Apple if you bought it online. If the install proceeds without problems, when the computer restarts after the fresh install, select to transfer data from a time machine backup at the appropriate time. That should get your computer to good working order. Leopard updates differently than Tiger, just so you know. Leopard will often download and install updates that require a restart after the computer has logged you out and prepared to shutdown and restart. Do not force your computer off during these installations as it will mess things up.
Okay, first off, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! Another question. I don't really have any important files on my macbook. Should I still do a backup? If so, why? And to wipe everything clean from my macbook and start with factory settings... what exactly do I need to do? What do I hold while booting up the system? And should I use the discs that came with the macbook to wipe it clean and start fresh and then install leopard? thanks!
Then again, if everything else is functioning so poorly, Time Machine may be affected as well. You may want to resort to a manual backup, if feasible.
Is this the first time you've used this leopard disk? If so, it maybe defective.
Hopefully you had a recent update before the OS reinstall, in which case you can take this mess straight to a Genius bar and have them work it out.
Is this the first time you've used this leopard disk? If so, it maybe defective.
Hopefully you had a recent update before the OS reinstall, in which case you can take this mess straight to a Genius bar and have them work it out.
Manual backup? I can't really backup... I don't have an external hard drive or anything large enough to hold the info.
Yes, I'm thinking that the disk is defective myself... if the disk damaged my computer then will apple pay for the damages?
I did not update before... it slipped my mind. And where might a genius bar be?
If you don't have any important files or anything you wish to keep, then you can absolutely just start over without a backup (if you're willing to lose everything).
You could use either the original system disks or leopard disk to accomplish this. Just pop in the disks and power up.
It's very unlikely that the disk permanently damaged your computer; everything will be reversible.
You can find a Genius Bar inside any Apple Store. You can locate an Apple Store using this site. How old is your macbook, and did you purchase the extended warranty?
The macbook is less than a year old and yes, I purchased the warranty. Also, I thought there was more to it than popping the disks in and rebooting the computer?
If you have an Apple Store nearby, by all means take it in.
Yes, you're right - you may need to hold down the "C" key upon rebooting.
Update
I started backing up a few files via dvd. I deleted a few from my macbook and went to shutdown... I was going to give it one last try before I wiped it totally clean and started fresh again. This time it shut down... I sat there in awe like a monkey seeing machinery for the first time. And after a few minutes, I turned it on and it loaded like normal. I ran tech tool and the volume structure passed. Perhaps I had a virus attached to a program that I deleted and that cured it... One final question is this. Am I out of the clearing? And should I still take it to the mac store and get a different piece of soft ware? Also, the 25 gigs from the failed boot camp partition have been restored. Thank you.
I started backing up a few files via dvd. I deleted a few from my macbook and went to shutdown... I was going to give it one last try before I wiped it totally clean and started fresh again. This time it shut down... I sat there in awe like a monkey seeing machinery for the first time. And after a few minutes, I turned it on and it loaded like normal. I ran tech tool and the volume structure passed. Perhaps I had a virus attached to a program that I deleted and that cured it... One final question is this. Am I out of the clearing? And should I still take it to the mac store and get a different piece of soft ware? Also, the 25 gigs from the failed boot camp partition have been restored. Thank you.
It definitely wasn't a virus (there are no viruses for OS X), but it could have been a rare software bug. Only time will tell if it's gone for good; for now, I would just wait and see.
I thought you might want to know. I took it to the apple store today. The guy ran some machine with it. He confirmed that I had a failing hard drive and that it should be replaced. So he replaced it and installed os x leopard and it works fine. Thanks for all of your help!
Yes, thank you very much for letting us know; it's always helpful to provide a solution in case another user is experiencing similar problems and comes across this thread through a search.
Glad it all worked out for you. Have a great time with Leopard!
I didn't know either until I went to the macstore and let one of the technicians there look at it. He connected it to this thing, and diagnosed it as a hard drive problem. Because I was under warranty he replaced the hard drive free of charge. That's the only advice I have. But I feel your pain man. I hope they fix it.