Macbook won't start! Please help!

[LotusoftheLeaf]

I upgraded to Mavericks last month. Things ran fine at first, but then my Macbook seemed to be slowing down and freezing up every other day. It started doing this again just now. I restarted since nothing was responsive. The machine took longer than usual to boot up, and when it finally did I was greeted with the OS X Utilities screen. I tried running Disk Repair and got some message about EFI partition map needing repairing or something.

Using my brother's laptop I Googled the problem and found out this is some kind of bug with Mavericks. I tried to reinstall the previous OS I had (Snow Leopard) but no HD will appear when it asks what I'd like to install onto. I decided to try running Disk Repair from the installation disk and got a message about B-tree node size and that the disk cannot be repaired. Now the Snow Leopard disk doesn't seem to want to eject from the Macbook.

I don't have any files backed up. I have over 700 songs downloaded and I'd really hate to lose them, but it seems like there's nothing I can do to save my files. Am I completely SOL and need to get a new MacBook or is there something I can do to save this thing, even if I have to lose what's saved on it?

 

[Twimfy]

I upgraded to Mavericks last month. Things ran fine at first, but then my Macbook seemed to be slowing down and freezing up every other day. It started doing this again just now. I restarted since nothing was responsive. The machine took longer than usual to boot up, and when it finally did I was greeted with the OS X Utilities screen. I tried running Disk Repair and got some message about EFI partition map needing repairing or something.

Using my brother's laptop I Googled the problem and found out this is some kind of bug with Mavericks. I tried to reinstall the previous OS I had (Snow Leopard) but no HD will appear when it asks what I'd like to install onto. I decided to try running Disk Repair from the installation disk and got a message about B-tree node size and that the disk cannot be repaired. Now the Snow Leopard disk doesn't seem to want to eject from the Macbook.

I don't have any files backed up. I have over 700 songs downloaded and I'd really hate to lose them, but it seems like there's nothing I can do to save my files. Am I completely SOL and need to get a new MacBook or is there something I can do to save this thing, even if I have to lose what's saved on it?

Sounds like a hard drive failure.

BTW you can eject the DVD by holding down the mouse button on boot.

If you install OS X to a new hard drive there might be a way to save your files by connecting your existing drive via a USB Sata connector. It may still be partly intact.

If not you can usually get a bit more life out of it by popping it in a freezer bag and then in the freezer for around 30 minutes and then plugging it in while it's still cool (sounds mad but it does work sometimes).

That's assuming it's all down to a HDD failure, but it sounds like it is.

 

[LotusoftheLeaf]

BTW you can eject the DVD by holding down the mouse button on boot.

I tried doing this. The disk ejected but now I have a grey screen with a flashing folder with a question mark on it. I've never seen this screen before and don't know what it means. I'm guessing something not good.

 

[Twimfy]

I tried doing this. The disk ejected but now I have a grey screen with a flashing folder with a question mark on it. I've never seen this screen before and don't know what it means. I'm guessing something not good.

That means there is no hard drive or bootable partition found.

AKA your hard drive is dead.

 

[LotusoftheLeaf]

It seems everyone who has updated to Mavericks has had their hard drive damaged. My laptop was running perfectly fine until I upgraded so I'm assuming Mavericks is the cause of my problems.

Is Apple doing anything about this?

 

[Twimfy]

It seems everyone who has updated to Mavericks has had their hard drive damaged. My laptop was running perfectly fine until I upgraded so I'm assuming Mavericks is the cause of my problems.

Is Apple doing anything about this?

Oh dear. There are millions of people who have installed Mavericks who are doing just fine, please don't believe that this is the cause, it's pretty much impossible for an OS to actively damage hardware. At the very most the more advanced features of 10.9 have put more strain on your hard drive causing it to fail faster but the fact that you were running on Snow Leopard means one thing...your hard drive is a few years old and they don't last forever.

It would have failed eventually no matter what OS you were on the problem was likely pre-existent and 10.9 just pushed it over the edge.

Moral of the story is...always have a backup.

 

[LotusoftheLeaf]

I actually saw lots of people saying they had their hard drives corrupted after upgrading to Mavericks when I Googled my problem. Maybe it's just a coincidence that I and apparently many others had HD failure after Mavericks but I think I'll be staying away from it whenever I get a new laptop.

 

[Twimfy]

I actually saw lots of people saying they had their hard drives corrupted after upgrading to Mavericks when I Googled my problem. Maybe it's just a coincidence that I and apparently many others had HD failure after Mavericks but I think I'll be staying away from it whenever I get a new laptop.

I understand your concern but you can't stunt your own progress by being paranoid over a few reports given out by a total of maybe 0.5% of users. Staying with an older OS which will eventually become prone to risk of security breaches and poorer driver support is more likely to do damage to your machine than doing a clean install of a newer version and a good back up system in place.

I read on the news once that someone once died in a car accident so I'm going to sell my car and and go back to horse and cart. It's just too risky.

Lastly if you eventually opt for a new Apple Machine, you won't have a choice but to be on a newer OS. The newer machines aren't backwards compatible with Snow Leopard.

 

[LotusoftheLeaf]

You're right, but I still think I'm going to hold off on Mavericks until they release a new version of it just in case the current one does have some sort of bug.

Would buying a new machine be my best option here? My current one is from late 2009, I think, so would buying a new hard drive for such an old machine be kind of a waste? To be honest, it was the first MacBook I ever owned so I have no idea what their longevity is supposed to be.

 

[DmbShn41]

09 Macbook isn't too bad. Put a new hard drive in. Try a solid state drive and that will lengthen the life of the machine. A decent one will run $150 or so, new laptop around $1000.

Hard drive failure had nothing to do with Mavericks, like others have said. There really isn't any bugs with it either, millions and millions of people are using it everyday.

Replace your hard drive, install Snow Leopard on it, then upgrade to Mavericks. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Twimfy]

You're right, but I still think I'm going to hold off on Mavericks until they release a new version of it just in case the current one does have some sort of bug.

Would buying a new machine be my best option here? My current one is from late 2009, I think, so would buying a new hard drive for such an old machine be kind of a waste? To be honest, it was the first MacBook I ever owned so I have no idea what their longevity is supposed to be.

My 2009 MacBook is my main work horse and I use it for EVERYTHING and I do more than the average user (Xcode, Photoshop etc).

Just because it doesn't sport the latest specs churned out at each Apple Keynote doesn't mean it's not a capable and valued machine. I assume you're talking about the white plastic one too??...have you had a look to see how much they still cost to buy in good condition? They're not cheap as a lot of people like them and want them.

So it's definitely worth saving. If you're going to buy a new hard drive, buy an SSD and upgrade the RAM if you haven't already. There's still at least another 2 years of use left in it if looked after properly. Hard drive failures are extremely common and are an expected part of any computers upkeep over the years.