I have a 13" white macbook with leopard on it that I got about 2 years ago. Anyway, the other day I was cleaning stuff I didn't need anymore off it and I somehow accidentally moved the "library" folder that's in the "system" folder in to the trash. I tried removing it but it wouldn't let me, then my mac froze and I restarted and it just showed the Apple logo while flashing an anti-logo and a folder with a question mark on it. I took it to the Genius bar and the guy asked me if I had my files backed up and I said no, but he told me a way I could back them up on my girlfriend's mac using a fire cable and then just reformat it myself. So I bought the cable and put the files on my girflriend's mac. However, now when I'm trying to reformat it from the installer disk, it doesn't seem to be working. It shows the Apple logo and the loading gear underneath and then it switches to that anti-logo (circle with slash through it) and the loading gear continues. I let it run like this all night but still no change. I tried resetting the PRAM and other things. I've held C and held D to run a hardware test and it says there are no problems. I've held Alt/Opt and it recognizes the disk but it doesn't seem to load anything from it. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Trying to Reformat Macbook from install disk
- Thread starter matthew34
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Yes, I tried that. When I do that, it shows the Apple logo and the loading gear for a minute, then the Apple logo switches to that anti-logo and the loading gear underneath it and it just stays that way. I don't get any prompts or anything.
You need to boot from your OS X DVD. After inserting the DVD, hold down the "C" key until you see it booting from the DVD. Once it boots from the DVD, you'll need to launch Disk Utility from the menu. With Disk Utility you can reformat the internal Hard Drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). When that's completed you can quit Disk Utility and return to the install of OS X from the DVD.
You need to keep holding down the "C" key until you're sure it's booting from the DVD. It'll be like a normal bootup but will take longer since the optical drive isn't as fast as the internal hard drive. You should be able to hear the optical drive making sounds as it's accessing the DVD. Once it completes bootup from the DVD it will want to install the OS which you can do choosing to erase the internal hard drive as part of it OR you can go to the file menu at the top of the screen and access Disk Utility directly and reformat it before returning back to the installer.
How long do you think I need to hold it down? I held it down for at least 5 minutes and nothing. I hear the DVD drive making noise and it sounds like it's reading the disc but that stops after about a minute and it just goes back to the anti logo with the loading gear underneath.
It shouldn't take that long something is out of whack here. What do you mean by "anti logo"?
By an anti logo I mean a circle with a slash through it. Like a no smoking symbol, minus the cigarette. (\) <-- Kind of like that.
Okay, I learned something new, according to this Apple Doc:
it means this:
Circle with Slash - could not load boot.efi, or some other issue
I don't know what to do in this situation. Sorry.
Okay, I learned something new, according to this Apple Doc:
it means this:
Circle with Slash - could not load boot.efi, or some other issue
I don't know what to do in this situation. Sorry.
It's okay. I made another appointment at the genius bar for tomorrow so hopefully then it will all get sorted out and won't cost too much. Thanks everyone for trying to help!
I just had another idea, do you still have access to your girlfriends Mac and the Firewire cable? If so, you could boot your MacBook into Target Disk Mode and then install Leopard on it from her Mac. You just need to be careful that you select your MacBooks hard drive (and not her Mac's hard drive) from within the OS X Leopard installer.