Uh-Oh, MacBook won't boot!

[dsnort]

I woke my Black MacBook from sleep, but all I could get was the beachball, nothing would respond. So I figured it needed a reboot,( I had a lot of programs running), so I held the power switch down until it shut off. Then I restarted it. It chimed and went to the white screen, then just stopped. After about a minute this gray folder icon with a question mark started flashing on the white screen. I've never seen that before, but it can't be good.

Anybody know what to do next?

 

[Luigi239]

I would try booting of of the OS X install disk to go to disk utility and repair permissions. (Probably won't do anything but it can't hurt.) If that doesn't work, do an Archive and Install.

 

[plinden]

It's likely to be a dead hard drive. The original beach ball was probably due to Finder being unable to find the hard drive. The icon with the question mark means it can't find the startup disk.

Do you hear any clicking on booting?

If it is a dead hard drive, there's nothing you can do about it except to replace it. I hope you have a backup.

 

[MatthewCobb]

After about a minute this gray folder icon with a question mark started flashing on the white screen. I've never seen that before, but it can't be good.

It means the computer can't find your system. Sounds like a mega-SNAFU. Try rebooting from disk. Or better still, from Applecare if you have it.

Good luck!

 

[weckart]

Don't panic. Just boot from your install disk and repair the volume.

9 times out of 10 it will boot fine from that. If not, get the disk looked at.

 

[dsnort]

Don't panic. Just boot from your install disk and repair the volume.

Oh, how I wish I could. The hard drive is not showing up when I boot from the install disk. I fear it's a goner.

So, anyone know a way to get info off of a dead HD?

 

[robPOD]

ok if you do have a dead hard disk i know that sometimes if you put the hd in a freezer for a couple of hours (in a sealed bag or something so water dosent get in) then pop it back in it should work for about 20mins before it will die again so you can take your data off, just look in google for the details, my friend did this a while ago and managed to pull all the useful stuff off it onto his iPod. good luck