Macbook will not start - Continuous CD-ROM ejecting noise

[Shanghai]

I recently installed a required Intel firmware update from the apple site. When finished, it prompted that I restart the system to complete the update. When starting, now it makes a continuous ejecting noise from the CD-ROM and the screen stays black and will not boot up.

I have tried the following after reading similar post, but no luck

> disconnecting all power -- removed and reinstalled the battery
> hold down the power button until the light flashes, then released
> inserted disk into cd-rom. when doing so, the macbook would start up but would not run the cd. the screen stayed black and now the the light flashed.

Any suggestions.. Thanks

 

[mad jew]

Do you have any USB or Firewire peripherals connected? Hopefully you won't need to restore the firmware.

 

[2nyRiggz]

Take the macbook in to be check by apple....its your safest bet if you revert back to the recent firmware and still.




Bless

 

[tyr2]

Did the firmware update appear to apply ok? I.e. did the progress bar make it all the way to the end?

If not you could try the firmware restoration CD http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/firmwarerestorationcd12.html

Might be worth a try even if it did complete. I'd see what others suggest first as there may be an easier resolution.

 

[Shanghai]

All - Thanks for the quick response / suggestions. Pls see my comments below:

> no usb or peripherals are connected to the macbook
> it did not complete the firmware update. when i first rebooted the system, there was a grey bar that showed the progress of the firmware update, but then shut down.

Thanks again..

 

[mad jew]

Yeah, sounds like you need to restore the firmware and start again. Sorry mate. If possible, try to back up your data with Target Disk Mode and another Mac, unless you did that before the upgrade anyway.

 

[blitzkrieg19]

i had the exact same issue yesterday

I had the exact same issue yesterday. I was performing an Intel firmware update and the computer was restarting but shut down. When I try to start it keeps making the same CD ejecting noise all the time. I tried all the things that Shangha had done with no luck. For a while I thought the HDD might have crashed. But now, it looks like it is a common issue. I tried calling up Apple tech support, but were very unhelpful.

I will try restoring the firmware like you guys suggested. I wanted to check if Shanghai did this already and if the machine is working fine. Also, I did not back up my data earlier. So if I have to restore the firmware, does tha mean that I wil lose all my data. In that case is there anything that I can do to backup the data before restoring the firmware ? Please advise.

 

[mad jew]

Restoring the firmware shouldn't lose any of your data but it would be a good idea to back up beforehand if possible.