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Macbook: Can't Reinstall OS X!!!

D

dalvin200

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 24, 2006
3,473
69
Nottingham, UK
I need some advice please..

Yesterday I was watching some vids on VLC on Macbook, and suddenly everything just froze up.. spinning beachball etc.. couldn't do anything apart from using the power button to turn it off..

Tried to turn it back on again and its just the grey screen with question mark folder icon!!!

There's nothing much important stored on my HDD anyway, so I tried to reinstall the OS this morning from the DVD's, but I get to the part where it asks "select a destination volume to install the OS to", but there is no volumes available.. like it cannot see my hard drive at all!

I also did the hardware test from the DVD on boot, and the tests were all OK.. but I'm not sure if it does a hard disk test.. just hardware as in RAM etc..

Any advice on what I can do?

I still might be under Applecare - is there any other way to obtain the serial number etc.. as I obviously can't boot into the OS to find out.

Thanks
 
dalvin200 said:
I also did the hardware test from the DVD on boot, and the tests were all OK.. but I'm not sure if it does a hard disk test
Click to expand...
From the OS X install/restore DVD, open Disk Utility to check on the status of your HDD. If DU sees it try running Repair Disk. If DU can't even see the drive it might be toast.
 
dalvin200 said:
I still might be under Applecare - is there any other way to obtain the serial number etc.. as I obviously can't boot into the OS to find out.

Thanks
Click to expand...

If you've still got the box for your MacBook the serial number will be on that.
 
apfhex said:
From the OS X install/restore DVD, open Disk Utility to check on the status of your HDD. If DU sees it try running Repair Disk. If DU can't even see the drive it might be toast.
Click to expand...

How do I run DU from the DVD?

I mean.. I put the disk in, switch on the macbook, hold down "C" (for install) or "D" for hardware test..
I couldn't find how to run Disk Utility.. is there another keypress?

gavd said:
If you've still got the box for your MacBook the serial number will be on that.
Click to expand...

Gavd - i bought it second hand, and it didn't come with a box.. although i did register it with Apple.. so they should have the details on their system..also, I have been informed that the serial number is also under the battery bay..


UPDATE:
I just called Applecare who said that they are unable to offer telephone support as I'm out of the 90 day period.. but Applecare is still valid up to June 2007!!!

Nice and helpful :(

Any help appreciated as usual..
 
I would guess HD is bad

We have 48 MacBooks 13" white and I have replaced five hard drives. It makes me a little worried, but I just remind all users to do regular backups. All of the drives I have replaced have made a clicking noise at startup.
 
apfhex said:
From the OS X install/restore DVD, open Disk Utility to check on the status of your HDD. If DU sees it try running Repair Disk. If DU can't even see the drive it might be toast.
Click to expand...

OK.. I'm in the Disk Utility and it's still "Gathering disk information" for the past 5 minutes..

I'm guessing it should of found the HDD by now if it wasn't busted :(

What are my options?

1) Return to Apple for new HDD (will cost £35 as 90 day phone support is expired, but I'm still under Applecare

2) Buy myself and new HDD? (cost a lot more than £35 i guess..)

??

Thanks
 
dalvin200 said:
<snip>
UPDATE:
I just called Applecare who said that they are unable to offer telephone support as I'm out of the 90 day period.. but Applecare is still valid up to June 2007!!!

Nice and helpful :(

Any help appreciated as usual..
Click to expand...

The standard warranty you get from Apple is for a year, but you only get phone support for the first 90 days of that year.

I would try to run disk utility following the instructions from I]apfhex[/I]. If that doesn't work then you'll have to arrange for it to be sent back to Apple.

Edit: Just seen your post. If the HDD is faulty then I would send back to Apple.
 
gavd said:
The standard warranty you get from Apple is for a year, but you only get phone support for the first 90 days of that year.

I would try to run disk utility following the instructions from I]apfhex[/I]. If that doesn't work then you'll have to arrange for it to be sent back to Apple.
Click to expand...

lol.. see my post just above .. i already tried that :)
 
Edit: Just seen your post. If the HDD is faulty then I would send back to Apple.
Click to expand...

If it is a MacBook then Apple can send the hard drive to you. Call them and explain everything that you have done and they should send it to you without any cost. If they insist on charging you then tell them there isn't anything else to do but replace the hard drive.

If the computer is still in its 1 year of hardware coverage then there shouldn't be any charge.

EDIT: added quote
 
U are lucky u don't have important data on it, and u are lucky its still under warranty, but it is worrisome the hard drive fails in such a short time.

since u don't have any import data on it, I would just stop working on it and carry to apple store or call applecare for a repair #.
 
I called Applecare again, and spoke to a very friendly guy who helped out ..

He gave me a number to call for a local Apple authorised repair centre.. and they have booked me in for repair - for free of course, as I'm still within warranty.

They said the HDD is the most likely point of failure after i told him what happened.

It is a bit worrying really.. and I never expected it.

I dont tend to keep a lot of important info on my macbook to be honest.. it's mostly used to read data and email/web over wifi.. with a bit of video editing on the fly..

I'm a bit curious, as it was only the first time I tried playing 720p content and I was using VLC (latest version) as QT couldn't open the file (??).

Half way thru watching, everything just froze and crashed!!

Is the macbook capable of playing HD content? I thought it was.. weird.. just don't want to try again in case it fries the new HDD when I get it back next week!!

Can someone confirm whether the macbook does or not?

Thanks for your help again guys..
 
It's quite possible that the drive itself is okay, but that the freeze which occurred while you were playing the video produced a hard disk directory error. A heavy-duty disk recovery application (e.g., Disk Warrior or Tech Tool) might be able to fix it, but since you're still under warranty, probably this is the best route for you to take.
 
Some hard drives just fail early. Most keep chugging along for more than three years with no problem. Sometimes you just get unlucky. It's likely unrelated to what you were doing at the time.
 
This sounds exactly like what happened when my Macbook's hard drives failed (I've gone through two failures, on the third drive now). Does it make a clicking sound at startup? Like lesbarn, mine made clicking sounds both times the drives failed.

If the drive is dead and you are near an Apple Store, take it in and ask them to replace it in store. Both times I had to push a little bit -- they wanted to send it out to the repair depot, but the hard drive is user-replaceable and they can do it right there. The only reason they can't is if they don't have the right drive in stock at that store. For my second replacement, they didn't have it in stock, but they called another Apple Store nearby and I was able to go over there and get it done the same day.
 
New HD Installed

OK, so just got my MB back from a repair centre, and they put a new HD in..

So i've got home, and ready to put the OS on.. only to find, the installer can't find the volume to install it on!!! huh?

I go into Disk utility, and I can see it there no problem.. but when it comes to installing the OS.. for some reason, it won't pick up the HD :confused:

Any ideas?

Do I need to do anything? Erase?

Repair options are not available...

EDIT:

Derrr.. I didn't realise the HD was not formatted, so the "erase" option formats it too.. OS is now installing
 
can't see hard drive

IJ Reilly said:
It's quite possible that the drive itself is okay, but that the freeze which occurred while you were playing the video produced a hard disk directory error. A heavy-duty disk recovery application (e.g., Disk Warrior or Tech Tool) might be able to fix it, but since you're still under warranty, probably this is the best route for you to take.
Click to expand...

my macbook won't start up. i get the flashing question mark and have tried all the options, but i can't see the hard drive in disk utility or system profiler. does that mean my hard drive has failed? i'm not under warranty any more...
oh, and it did fail after watching a video -but not during. it just can't find a local boot volume. help!
 
thanks
anyone know what my chances of data recovery are or best route to go with data recovery?
also, how do i fornat before installing the OS -i thought installing the OS was formatting
 
mieliepp said:
my macbook won't start up. i get the flashing question mark and have tried all the options, but i can't see the hard drive in disk utility or system profiler. does that mean my hard drive has failed? i'm not under warranty any more...
oh, and it did fail after watching a video -but not during. it just can't find a local boot volume. help!
Click to expand...

I'm a little confused by this, if only because System Profiler requires your Mac to start up, which you say it can't do. So how do you know that the drive isn't seen by Disk Utility?
 
Yeah...

What you were doing at the time of your hard drive crash had very little to do with what happened.
 
mieliepp said:
thanks
anyone know what my chances of data recovery are or best route to go with data recovery?
also, how do i fornat before installing the OS -i thought installing the OS was formatting
Click to expand...

Was hoping to mention this before you had your drive removed, but unfortunately I'm a little late.

However, if you are comfortable reinstalling the bad hard drive back into your MacBook, and have/know someone who has a mac, you can try doing Target Disk mode (Instructions here: http://lifehacker.com/343850/target-disk-mode-turns-your-mac-into-a-firewire-drive ) to try and recover files off the drive.
 
the bad disk is still in. i've tried target mode on my imac, the target mode icon appears on the macbook screen, but only disks in the macbooks optical drive arrear on the imac desktop. ie the the hard disk of the macbook does not appear.

I used system profiler from the OS install disk. Same with disk utility.
Unless i'm doing something wrong in disk utility, the only volume available is my optical drive, with the OS install disk in it. It does not seem to notice my hard drive.

The hard drive is making a clicking noise on startup, more evidence to support the dead HDD theory.

One thing i'm not sure about, is that the hardware test i ran from the OS install disk shows no faults. I think this may be because even hardware test can't find the HDD, so doesn't see anything wrong with it.
 
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