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(MBP not booting)Looking for ADVICE AND HELP

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Freebiscuits3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2012
10
0
Boy do i have a problem for you macrumors to help me with,

Lets start from the top:

I purchased a Macbook Pro 13" from the apple store in may 2010. Didn't buy apple care. It has worked fine 'til today, got Lion last year, wonderful.

Fast forward to this afternoon, I decided to buy Mountain Lion. It downloaded and installed all normally - until it said it was time to restart. It tried, and it wont boot. It wont go past the grey screen with the apple and spinning thing.

It just spins to no end. So I took it to the genius bar, and the young lady turned my computer on its side, and ran a test (command+V). She then informed me that i had I/O (input output errors I guess) errors and needed to replace my hard drive entirely($215).

naturally, I was like "wth, why did mountain lion crash my hard drive". She told me that I had "overstressed" my hard drive by installing an OS and killed it. Me, suspicious of bs, then booted windows in boot camp and it ran perfectly. then I asked her to explain. She told me the mac partition was the effected area, and it could spread so I needed to buy the new HD soon.

This is where I need you help. I need to know if I even need to buy the new HD. apart from those errors it seems fine to me.

Cant I just reformat my HD?

If it is really broken, how can I try to salvage my files?

The fact of the matter is, according to her, Mountain Lion killed my beloved MBP (and im not under warranty or apple care). So would it be worth going after apple?

Thanks in advance. I will be refreshing the page like mad waiting for your insight.
 
Yes you can reformat your hard drive.

You don't have your data backed up? You could probably access your HFS+ partition from windows if you installed the right software(I've used something for this in the past, but I've forgotten what it's called).
 
So I got most of my files off it via copy an pasting in windows.

But it's bad. I tried to reinstall mountain lion, via the disk utility (in that bootcamp menu) and now it can't boot into anything. I can't get it to do anything besides get to the grey screen. I can't get to the boot camp menu by holding down option(or even command+v or just c).

Is my comp broken for real?
 
Freebiscuits3 said:
So I got most of my files off it via copy an pasting in windows.

But it's bad. I tried to reinstall mountain lion, via the disk utility (in that bootcamp menu) and now it can't boot into anything. I can't get it to do anything besides get to the grey screen. I can't get to the boot camp menu by holding down option(or even command+v or just c).

Is my comp broken for real?
Click to expand...

It isn't broken, but it sounds like your HD may actually be shot.

I suggest you find your original restore discs and boot from the one containing the Apple hardware test. Usually you hold down command+D to access this.

Run the hardware test and if it finds any problems, it'll give you an error code.
 
Buy an external HDD case.
Buy a new hard drive or SSD.
Install the new HDD/SSD. Literally, you open up the bottom case, pop out this black bracket, take out the SATA connector and stick the HDD/SSD in. It's the easiest thing ever, don't let Apple rip you off like that.
Take the external HDD case, plug it into your computer and see what files you can salvage. Copy whatever you can over.

If you don't feel like opening your laptop, you can install the OS on an external hard drive too. Just plug it in and run the CD.
 
Sounds good, I'll test these when I get home later. If I do have to get a new hd, what solid state options do I have(price wise)? .... I'd rather get off this hard drive boat.
 
Freebiscuits3 said:
Sounds good, I'll test these when I get home later. If I do have to get a new hd, what solid state options do I have(price wise)? .... I'd rather get off this hard drive boat.
Click to expand...

SSDs aren't as cheap as standard HDDs, but you can get a 256GB model for around $200 now. You can get a 750GB 7200RPM HDD for around $100. Just find a drive that works for you in your price range and buy it!
 
geoffreak said:
I've heard good reviews about the Intel 510 series as well as a number of other drives. Be sure to read plenty of reviews and see what SATA version your Mac supports.
Click to expand...
I'm running an intel 510 perfectly now. It's the best of the series, 520 swap to sand force and you get BSOD/kernal panics, 300 series get 'beach ballings.'
Crucial M4 is a hit or miss, some people have great results others fail.
The best SSD IMO is Samsung 830. ;)
SATA is backwards compatible
 
"It will spread to Windows" riiight... I'd try booting into Recovery with CMD-R and try repairing disk permissions in the Disk Utility first.
 
I did just notice that the OP hasn't tried repairing disk permissions or repairing disk. Reformatting the drive should also be attempted if these two fail. Creating a ML boot drive may be necessary if you cannot access the boot partition.

These approaches are certainly much cheaper than buying a new drive.

Also give fsck a shot if nothing else works.
 
Ok all day today it wouldnot respond to any keys at boot (to pull up tests, or bootcamp or anything else, just went to the grey apple). but out of the blue, it eventually it did... so I got to disk utility. In disk utility I repaired it (it said the hd was fine) and I tried to just reformat it.

But disk utility won't let me touch the bootcamp partition. I formatted the Mac portion though, and then opened u the leopard installer( via the original disk from the boot amp menu). But when I go to select what I want to install osx on, it has a yellow triangle and says the Mac hd cant.

It won't reformat the mac hd, bootcamp, or both at once for a clean wipe.

It's stuck in this weird windows only limbo that's annoying the living crap out of me.

Any way I can just force format the whole thing without taking it out?


Heres a picture of the snow leopard install problem.

IMG_0208.jpg
 
Last edited:
From Disk Utility on the Leopard restore disk, click on the "Partition" tab. You should be able to click a little "-" button and delete the partition. Now you can reformat the drive and then you should be able to reinstall your OS.
 
Im not going to get a solid state

what do you guys think of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148903

I am on a crazy tight budget, thats why im not going bigger (although im not opposed to it if you recommend it)


T5BRICK said:
From Disk Utility on the Leopard restore disk, click on the "Partition" tab. You should be able to click a little "-" button and delete the partition. Now you can reformat the drive and then you should be able to reinstall your OS.
Click to expand...


That button, as well as the disk permission button are pushed in and i cant click them. Why would that be?
 
Freebiscuits3 said:
Im not going to get a solid state

what do you guys think of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148903

I am on a crazy tight budget, thats why im not going bigger (although im not opposed to it if you recommend it)





That button, as well as the disk permission button are pushed in and i cant click them. Why would that be?
Click to expand...
Seagate is alright, make sure it's a 2.5" drive though.

Copied of SD
TigerDirect has 128GB Samsung 830 Series 2.5" SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7PC128B/WW) for $99.99 - $10 off coupon code GHJ68314 = $89.99 with free shipping. Thanks calistyle
 
Xerotech said:
Seagate is alright, make sure it's a 2.5" drive though.

Copied of SD
TigerDirect has 128GB Samsung 830 Series 2.5" SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7PC128B/WW) for $99.99 - $10 off coupon code GHJ68314 = $89.99 with free shipping. Thanks calistyle
Click to expand...

I believe it is 2.5, at least thats what it says.

-

128 isnt enough for me with that price, although ireally really want to - quit tempting me already geez

Im laughing over how apple wanted me to buy another 250 5400rpm drive for 220 at the store, i cant believe it :eek:
 
Freebiscuits3 said:
That button, as well as the disk permission button are pushed in and i cant click them. Why would that be?
Click to expand...

I was just doing a little reading on the Apple discussion boards and came across a problem similar to yours:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3893720?start=0&tstart=0

Basically, Lion and/or Mountain Lion create a restore partition that Disk utility in Snow Leopard doesn't understand. Your best bet is to use another Mac to create a bootable Mountain Lion USB drive, boot from that, and use the newer version of Disk Utility to delete your partition and re-create it.
 
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