Spinning Wheel Of Death Problem?

[conor l]

Hi,

I have a 15" macbook pro running OSX 10.6.6, and recently I have started to get the SWOD of death shortly after turning it on and loading up the OS. Its usually fine for a couple of mins and then if I try run a program the SWOD starts and wont stop, and my only option has been to do a hard reset with the power button.

Ive so far booted into safe mode and ran disk utility where I verified the disk permissions, repaired them and then verified the disk, which seems to help a little on the next boot into regular mode, but it usually only extends time frame before the SWOD reappears.

Ive also booted into single user mode and used the fsck -yf command multiple times, all of which have said in the results that the HDD appears to be ok.

Is there anything else I can try or what is likely to be the issue here?

I dont use the machine for browsing, only for music production and have 100GB free of a 250GB HDD. It has 1GB RAM

 

[t0mat0]

Is your data backed up?

 

[conor l]

Is your data backed up?

No. Am I likely looking at worst case scenario here?

 

[CoastalOR]

Sounds like a failing HDD or internal drive cable.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

No. Am I likely looking at worst case scenario here?

Yes it sounds like a failing hard drive, I would also say how old is your machine with only 1GB of Ram?? None of the macbook pros came with less than 2GB as far as I know...

A quick upgrade to 4GB of RAM and an SSD to replace the HDD will make it better than new for you.

 

[maflynn]

No. Am I likely looking at worst case scenario here?

Yes, as people have mention it definitely sounds like the drive is going south.

 

[conor l]

Yes it sounds like a failing hard drive, I would also say how old is your machine with only 1GB of Ram?? None of the macbook pros came with less than 2GB as far as I know...

A quick upgrade to 4GB of RAM and an SSD to replace the HDD will make it better than new for you.

Its my girlfriends old laptop and Im pretty sure she got it in 2006.

I replaced the HD myself 2 years ago when i took it off her. If replacing the HD, even if I back the existing contents up, am I going to have to reinstall all programs from scratch or is there a way around that?

 

[snaky69]

No. Am I likely looking at worst case scenario here?

Most likely your hard drive is dying.

Seeing how old it is, it's not surprising.

Now go give yourself a sharp whap at the back of the head for not keeping a backup, since I can't come over and do it myself. Hard drives all eventually fail, it's a matter of when, not if. If you value your data at all, not keeping a proper backup is like playing russian roulette. You know you'll eventually fire the gun, you just don't know when.

 

[t0mat0]

150GB of files, inc. OS. If your laptop fell into an ocean, which files would you most want back.
Go get those backed up first. (It's probably worth getting decent advice on how best to backup files form a failling drive) Then get a Backblaze or other subscription.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Its my girlfriends old laptop and Im pretty sure she got it in 2006.

I replaced the HD myself 2 years ago when i took it off her. If replacing the HD, even if I back the existing contents up, am I going to have to reinstall all programs from scratch or is there a way around that?

9 Years old?? Not worth any more money being spent on it put it towards a new one and applaud an excellent machine that nearly doubled the average replacement age of a laptop.