Macbook pro hang on startup

[llcjenkins]

Hi everyone -
I have a MacBook pro about a year and two months old. It had been working very well until about a month ago when it started hanging all of the time (at least once a day, probably more). Today, as I was using Firefox, Skype, and iPhoto, it hung again. So me being my impatient self, restarted using the power button. Unfortunately, my computer can´t seem to make it past startup.
When it turns on, it does the chime and shows me the grey apple and loading screen. Then it goes to blue (for a while) and then shows one (or more - i´ve seen at least one and up to 4 in various startup attempts) error messages. The messages are telling me that ´spotlight as quit unexpectely´(one time it was Airport Base Station?) and then gives me the usual ignore, report, or relaunch options. However, regardless of which one I click, the computer freezes and does nothing.
I tried starting in safemode, but nothing happens after me seeing the space screen and then logging in. It goes to space and then to blue and back to the login screen.
Unfortunately, I´m living in the UK right now and don´t have my startup/install disk. Any ideas on how to fix this?
I´m running OSX 10.5.9 (I think) and have everything backed up in time machine.
Thanks,
Leslie

 

[spinnerlys]

If you bought the MBP 14 months ago, it should have come with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, or at least a CPU drop in DVD with Snow Leopard. Btw, Mac OS X 10.5.8 is the latest Leopard version.


Can you get your hands onto a Snow Leopard DVD (29 USD) or maybe even as torrent?

Maybe some of the links have an answer for you:

Mac doesn't boot
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on​

 

[llcjenkins]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

Thanks for the ideas. I tried fsck thinG from the mac website, but it didn't seem to work. Also, I bought my mac (and then proceeded to leave the country) two weeks befor Snow Leopard came out, so I am in fact sure that I've got 10.5. Anyway, two follow-up questions:
could I use theis as an excuse to upgrade to snow leopard, meaning will installing the new operating system fix my startup problem, or will it just confuse my computer even more?
Secondly, could I borrow a 10.5 install disk from a friend or does it have to be the disk that came with my computer?
Thanks very much for your help!
Leslie

 

[spinnerlys]

could I use theis as an excuse to upgrade to snow leopard, meaning will installing the new operating system fix my startup problem, or will it just confuse my computer even more?

As the Mac OS X 10-6 Snow Leopard Upgrade DVD for 25 £ is a Retail version of Mac OS X, you can either use the Upgrade option (standard) or do a Clean Install of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Your MBP will not be confused, and if the error is lying in the software and not the hardware, the probability of repairing via this way, especially via a Clean Install, is very high.​

Secondly, could I borrow a 10.5 install disk from a friend or does it have to be the disk that came with my computer?

You can only use a grey Restore DVD for the exact same model with the exact same OS version on it.​