macbook won't start

[Shyguyyy]

macbook displays grey screen with message: "you need to restart your computer..." in several languages at startup. same message when attempted to start up in recovery mode. mac osx installer (from CD) says "can't be installed on this computer". repaired HD with disk utility, still nothing. any way to do a full restore from my time machine backup, or otherwise fix this problem?

 

[Shyguyyy]

"restore system from backup" does not show up under utilities when booting from installation DVD. i've dealt with a similar problem before by restoring from a backup this way but it won't let me now.

 

[Weaselboy]

macbook displays grey screen with message: "you need to restart your computer..." in several languages at startup. same message when attempted to start up in recovery mode. mac osx installer (from CD) says "can't be installed on this computer". repaired HD with disk utility, still nothing. any way to do a full restore from my time machine backup, or otherwise fix this problem?

What OS version are you on? If you are on Lion 10.7.2 or later you can option key boot to your local Time Machine backup and restore from there.

The larger question though is why did this happen? Were you just using the machine and this started all on its own? Sounds a bit like maybe your drive is on its way out.

If you can option key boot from the TM backup, try starting Disk Util and repairing the internal drive and see what error messages you get.