Macbook A1286 cannot boot

[komatsu]

Macbook A1286 cannot boot. The Apple logo comes up withe the progress bar but it only ever gets to around 35 per cent.

Here is what I have tried:

-HDD in perfect condition
-Ran Disk Warrior on disk - corrected a few errors
-Changed HDD cable from logicboard to hdd for a brand new one.

Still the same problem however.

Any suggestions or ideas would be great?

 

[grahamperrin]

First use Terminal in Recovery OS to arrange one boot that will be both verbose and safe:

nvram boot-args="-v -x" ; sync ; shutdown -r now

If FileVault 2 is used: when prompted, unlock the OS X startup volume.

If the resulting boot successfully progresses to the login dialogue, then you can lazily reset NVRAM (at the time of the next startup chime), or more carefully:

sudo nvram boot-args="-v"

If the safe boot does not work around the problem then please share additional details such as:

• the model identifier – http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords=A1286 matches twenty-two models
  
• the version and build of the OS
• whether the internal drive is hard disk or solid state.

around 35 per cent

That's a familiar symptom, but I should not offer an explanation without additional details from you.

 

[komatsu]

First use Terminal in Recovery OS to arrange one boot that will be both verbose and safe:

nvram boot-args="-v -x" ; sync ; shutdown -r now

ok thanks for your input.

This just brings system to a white screen (totally white screen)

now what?

 

[grahamperrin]

OK. As it can not begin to safe boot, you might try – probably in the following order:

• reset NVRAM
• reset SMC
• Using Apple Diagnostics - Apple Support.

 

[komatsu]

hi graham, unfortunately, none of these worked!

Going to go down OS re-install route.

What would be a good OS for the A1286?

 

[grahamperrin]

Smart. With Recovery OS booting, it's reasonable to assume that a re-installation of OS X will boot.

A1286: I don't know enough about the twenty-two models or the spec of your model. Moreover, I lack experience with everything after Mavericks. You'll probably find a few OS recommendations scattered throughout the sub-forums; for what you seek, a Google search of the forums.macrumors.com domain will probably be more fruitful than the search that's integral to XenForo (the software that's used for MacRumors Forums).

 

[komatsu]

Ok, Just tried istalling with El Capitan on extern hdd. Looked promising at start, progress bar for 10 minutes and then white screen.

Looking like a GPU issue.