MacBook Crashed Hard Drive

[Tyvokka501]

I've got a friend's MacBook and am trying to fix it for them after it crashed last night.

On start up nothing shows other then a plain grey screen.

I managed to get the install disk to show up by holding Option while turning on the comp. Though this took quite some time for the comp to process.

After finally pulling up the install screen I noticed that there was no hard drive to select as a location for the install to go.

So I went through Disk utility to see if I could repair the hard disk; however, this has resulted in only a list of errors:

Invalid Volume Header
Invalid B-tree node size
Volume check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
​

Any ideas of how to get the hard disk to read, or will this take an installation of a whole new hard drive?

 

[brandone]

I've got a friend's MacBook and am trying to fix it for them after it crashed last night.

On start up nothing shows other then a plain grey screen.

I managed to get the install disk to show up by holding Option while turning on the comp. Though this took quite some time for the comp to process.

After finally pulling up the install screen I noticed that there was no hard drive to select as a location for the install to go.

So I went through Disk utility to see if I could repair the hard disk; however, this has resulted in only a list of errors:

Invalid Volume Header
Invalid B-tree node size
Volume check failed
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
​

Any ideas of how to get the hard disk to read, or will this take an installation of a whole new hard drive?

Sounds like hardware failure, what is the drives S.M.A.R.T status?

 

[MagicBoy]

Sounds like hardware failure, what is the drives S.M.A.R.T status?

Agreed.

 

[Tyvokka501]

Sounds like hardware failure, what is the drives S.M.A.R.T status?

Ya, I'm thinking that my friend will need a new HD.

As for SMART status, I haven't a clue. I don't even know how to check that.

 

[MagicBoy]

You can check the SMART status in Disk Utility. Startup off an OS X CD you get no joy off the hard drive.

Verified = Good
Anything in Red = Bad

 

[Tyvokka501]

Sorry for the long delay, I was just now able to get the Mac from my friend so that I could check.

The SMART status is "Verified"

 

[brandone]

Sorry for the long delay, I was just now able to get the Mac from my friend so that I could check.

The SMART status is "Verified"

The best way to test a malfunctioning computer is by swapping out its parts one-by-one. You won't know for sure if the HD is the issue until you switch it out.

 

[Tyvokka501]

The best way to test a malfunctioning computer is by swapping out its parts one-by-one. You won't know for sure if the HD is the issue until you switch it out.

Ya... There's no way for me or my friend to do that.

 

[Corbin052198]

Linux???

Someone may point this out as a stupid suggestion, but it may be possible to do this:

1. Boot a Live CD Linux distro (examples - Ubuntu, Debian, etc.) from CD.
2. Try to format it as FAT or something that the Mac Disk Utility will reconzie.
3. Save the changes and boot back into the OS X Install DVD.
4. Format it as HFS+ (Journeled) and continue with install.

I once recovered a USB drive with something like this, you could try it too.

 

[Tyvokka501]

Ok, new problem to add to the list... The comp will not accept an eject command, so OSX install disk is now stuck in the disk drive.

 

[brandone]

Ok, new problem to add to the list... The comp will not accept an eject command, so OSX install disk is now stuck in the disk drive.

Hold down the trackpad when the computer is starting up.

 

[Tyvokka501]

Sorry for the major long delay, life has been very busy.

Hold down the trackpad when the computer is starting up.

Thank you, that worked.

Now I'm still stuck with the original problem.

At this point my friend is getting rather stir crazy being without a comp. We need to figure out rather quickly if this is even fixable or if they need to either replace the HD or replace the whole comp.

 

[MagicBoy]

You could also try running the Apple Hardware Test, to give you peace of mind that the hardware is working OK. It'll be included on one of the OS discs that came with the unit, you can run it by pressing D when the Mac starts up.

It's most likely to be a faulty HDD. It's user swappable, the replacement part is off the shelf and around £30-40 depending on capacity over here.