Stop Sign, Mac won't boot up

[Xyberz]

I've tried searching for fixes and can't find any. Hoping someone here can help walk me thru.

We're running Bootcamp on our Mac and typically use Windows on it 99% of the time. All of a sudden when my children's mother wants to Facetime our daughter, the Mac boots up into the "stop sign" symbol and won't start. I've tried to boot it into safe mode with both just holding down the shift button and also hitting the keyboard power button then immediately holding down shift after the bootup chime, and still the same results.

Stuck in the original CD inside the box and also the applications CD and nothing starts.

Now I don't know what else to do.

 

[Xyberz]

I've tried searching for fixes and can't find any. Hoping someone here can help walk me thru.

We're running Bootcamp on our Mac and typically use Windows on it 99% of the time. All of a sudden when my children's mother wants to Facetime our daughter, the Mac boots up into the "stop sign" symbol and won't start. I've tried to boot it into safe mode with both just holding down the shift button and also hitting the keyboard power button then immediately holding down shift after the bootup chime, and still the same results.

Stuck in the original CD inside the box and also the applications CD and nothing starts.

Now I don't know what else to do.

Dang, 225 views and not 1 person has any idea on how to fix or what could be wrong? It worked perfectly fine with Windows 7 right before I switched it to Mac OS on BootCamp. Odd because I never messed with the Mac files while in Windows and it's on a separate partition so I dunno if or how anything could be lost or deleted accidentally.

 

[dan1eln1el5en]

Stop sign isn't good, it can't find a bootable OS.
I would suspect a faulty harddrive.

what happens with the CD in ? hold down C while booting.

 

[Xyberz]

Stop sign isn't good, it can't find a bootable OS.
I would suspect a faulty harddrive.

what happens with the CD in ? hold down C while booting.

I wouldn't understand why immediately right before I booted into Mac that Windows was working perfectly fine.

I tried holding down "C" while booting up on the wireless keyboard but the same thing happens. Having a wireless keyboard may seem great when you're using it but when it comes to times like this, you have no clue whether it's connecting to the computer which makes it an incredible pain.

Isn't there a recovery disc that can fix the bootup files? Seems ridiculous that Mac can't be fixed if one or two files are corrupt or go missing mysteriously. I wish I could just boot back into Windows and screw the Mac side all together. We never used it and the one time we do, it messes up and dies...

 

[kpgh554]

I wouldn't understand why immediately right before I booted into Mac that Windows was working perfectly fine.

I tried holding down "C" while booting up on the wireless keyboard but the same thing happens. Having a wireless keyboard may seem great when you're using it but when it comes to times like this, you have no clue whether it's connecting to the computer which makes it an incredible pain.

Isn't there a recovery disc that can fix the bootup files? Seems ridiculous that Mac can't be fixed if one or two files are corrupt or go missing mysteriously. I wish I could just boot back into Windows and screw the Mac side all together. We never used it and the one time we do, it messes up and dies...

have you tried holding alt key down at start up you have to hold down the sec you hear chime as only very short mo to catch it.i found once if put system disc in start then went made myself some coffee and a sarny came back and it had started. found that if prob comp can sort out itself if left long enough. do you know someone that will lend you a wired keyboard to try.Have also found windows will not recognize wireless keyboard or mouse until it has started up.have you tried smr by removing power lead from comp when turned off for about 3 mins then plug in and try

 

[Xyberz]

have you tried holding alt key down at start up you have to hold down the sec you hear chime as only very short mo to catch it.i found once if put system disc in start then went made myself some coffee and a sarny came back and it had started. found that if prob comp can sort out itself if left long enough. do you know someone that will lend you a wired keyboard to try.Have also found windows will not recognize wireless keyboard or mouse until it has started up.have you tried smr by removing power lead from comp when turned off for about 3 mins then plug in and try

You're a lifesaver! Holding down the ALT key allowed me to have the option which OS to boot-up. I finally started Windows up and I'm in again. Sucks knowing that the Mac side might be screwed up permanently but it's ok. Like I said, we don't use Mac anyway so I'll leave it to continue booting up Windows and get an external HDD and back everything up then restore.

 

[dan1eln1el5en]

good you got it fixed.

but...why where you holding in Shift-key ? I thought you had just written wrong, since it's Alt-key usually (Alt = Alternative). I don't think Shift does anything.
You wrote you put the CD in, holding down C while booting will boot to CD/DVD holding down "ALT" will give you options, including the DVD, where you can fix the broken files in OS X.

I think it might be related to the wireless keyboard only being registered late in the boot sequence.

Next time use a USB keyboard..any kind

 

[Xyberz]

good you got it fixed.

but...why where you holding in Shift-key ? I thought you had just written wrong, since it's Alt-key usually (Alt = Alternative). I don't think Shift does anything.
You wrote you put the CD in, holding down C while booting will boot to CD/DVD holding down "ALT" will give you options, including the DVD, where you can fix the broken files in OS X.

I think it might be related to the wireless keyboard only being registered late in the boot sequence.

Next time use a USB keyboard..any kind

Found out the "Shift" key thing thru a Google search. Go figure right? Strange though, out of all the views, only 1 person came up with the "Alt" key option. I'll try to use the stock DVD included in the box to hopefully repair the Mac OS.

Thanks once again!