I woke my Macbook from sleep and immediatly I get a Kernal Panic. I Quickly Restart and the computer does not startup. It stops at the grey/white screen that first appears, (no apple logo), then three clicks are heard; waiting a min or so the clicks repeat again. The tone sounds intentional as if it is telling me there is a problem. The computer is unresponsive. I have not installed any software resently and am running Mac OS 10.5.2. I have recently verified the disk which was ok and recently repaired permissions so I'm not sure this could be a HD (disk) issue. Could this be a hardware problem? What should I do?
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Macbook Pro won't Startup
- Thread starter kunze50
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Yes, this could be a hardware problem.
There are a couple of things you can do to test this. You will need the original disc that came with your MB. Insert the DVD disc into the optical drive as soon as you power on and hold down the option key until you get to the blue screen. At that point see if your internal disk drive appears. If not, select the Apple Hardware test and run the extended test writing down the exact (if you get an error) error message.
If your drive does show up in the blue screen, launch the installer and after you select English stop. Go to the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. Run disk verify on your internal Mac volume. if it picks up errors, run disk repair. When complete, quit Disk Utility and hold down your power button until the MB shuts off.
Power up and again hold down the option key until the boot loader (blue screen appears). See if your drive is there. If it is, eject the DVD and power off the MB.
Now power it back on and hold down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on the grey screen (then you can let go). This is starting a safe boot and takes a lot longer (10 - 15 minutes perhaps) than a regular boot as it is removing some cache files (hardware for one) and running a file system check/repair. When you get to your login screen you will see "Safe Boot" in red. You can then hit the back button and restart normally.
It is very possible that your internal hard drive has failed. The apple test can confirm this in most cases.
I found this article in Apple KB:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=95052
It says its for the Power G4, but it's the same 3 beeps you're referring to. Says the RAM has failed at testing
It says its for the Power G4, but it's the same 3 beeps you're referring to. Says the RAM has failed at testing
clicks or beeps?
Just because your said clicks and not beeps, and I think that error codes coming out of the Mac are more like beeps, I'm guessing that this might possibly be a case of stiction. I had another (Toshiba) laptop that would often suffer from this when it got hot. A way to get past stiction during startup is to give the drive a solid rap to unstick it, during startup. Bang away at your own risk!
Just because your said clicks and not beeps, and I think that error codes coming out of the Mac are more like beeps, I'm guessing that this might possibly be a case of stiction. I had another (Toshiba) laptop that would often suffer from this when it got hot. A way to get past stiction during startup is to give the drive a solid rap to unstick it, during startup. Bang away at your own risk!
It is more like a popping sound, that sounds 3 times. It is not a beep. It sounds like tapping on a plastic lid then the light blicks 3 times. thanks for the suggestion.
I don't know what to say except check the RAM just in case?
If worst comes to worst, you'd have to get it check out by Apple.
Well I tried a PRam restet and I tried a hardware test from the Macbook Pro disc (holding down the D key) and nothing. The disc does nothing. Now it it stuck in the drive
hmmmmm..... This is really killing me. The disc does not come out w/ mouse button held. Has anyone ever seen this behavior before? It has worked perfect up untill this point. I have read of grey screen issues that are caused because of screen problems. Also white screen problems on startup with Boot Camp and a XP partition. I don't use Boot Camp... Another thing, would a restart before a Kernal Panic message fully appeared do anything more to a system?
ok I think I finally found the cause: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303083
It is Ram related. I suppose I will try to reseat them.
It is Ram related. I suppose I will try to reseat them.