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poncho167

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 18, 2015
22
1
For about a month I have not been able to boot my MacBook up. I don't recall the OS but it was either Mojave or Catelina.

The last time it worked I received a message saying it was not shut down properly and displayed a screen with view error message (or something like that) which I did and it showed a lot of information including kernal, and fix. I should have chosen the fix.

I have tried a lot of commands at bootup but Safe mode using shift key at startup does not work.

In letting it boot by itself it will load the Apple and slowly start to load the HD with the line advancing to the end but not loading. I have even let it sit overnight but still not loaded. It gives the typical music sound when attempting to load though.

When I use the Option key at boot up I get three options: The original HD which when I click on will not load after sitting a long time. It is also showing my attached external Apple HD from a previous MacBook which I can go into and use to access the internet but it has old software and is limited, and a Recovery HD which does nothing but go to another screen and show a circle with a line through it.

Option + Command + R at start up says entering Recovery Mode.
-gives the spinning globe
-choose network
-and then shows a small clock 0.02 minutes, moves to 0.01 minutes and then finished.
-goes back to the Apple with line trying to load but does not complete.

Option + D at start up
-spinning globe, choose network
-starting internet recovery, "this can take awhile."
-blank screen, choose language
-"Checking your Mac 2-minutes remaining
-No issues found ADP000
-Then a screen that says for Mac information to determine your support and service options Apple would like to collect your serial number and reference code (shows). Your Mac will start up in Macs Recovery
-restarts and back to the Apple screen with line and never loads HD

Any ideas on what to do? As mentioned above I can boot to an external HD and use that drive to go onto the internet but cannot access the MacBooks HD on this Apple.
 
Which MacBook model do you have?

Have you tried SMC and PRAM resets?
 
Which MacBook model do you have?

Have you tried SMC and PRAM resets?
MacBook Pro 2013 early. Did the SMC last night and it did not resolve the issue. Boots to the Apple screen and slowly loads the line which takes 30-minutes, then it never brings up the desktop. I removed a memory chip last night as well to see if that made a boot difference but again nothing. I removed and reinstalled the HD a couple weeks ago but that didn't make a difference either.
 
do you have another Mac you can use? if so, try making a bootable macOS installer usb drive and try to boot to that.

I do not have another Mac to use to create the boot drive. My cheap back up Dell is also shot with a power supply issue so no one to download boot drives as work laptop has security to prevent downloads. Would the boot drive work on a Mac that does not recognize the drive? As mentioned, I have an external Mac HD from a previous Mac Book Pro that was ruined with a spilled Dr. Pepper, and can boot to that and go in the internet, but the HD Recovery disk also does not work and gives an 0 with a line through it.
 
I do not have another Mac to use to create the boot drive. My cheap back up Dell is also shot with a power supply issue so no one to download boot drives as work laptop has security to prevent downloads. Would the boot drive work on a Mac that does not recognize the drive? As mentioned, I have an external Mac HD from a previous Mac Book Pro that was ruined with a spilled Dr. Pepper, and can boot to that and go in the internet, but the HD Recovery disk also does not work and gives an 0 with a line through it.
but wait it boots fine to that other drive? you can make a usb installer using that macOS yeah.
 
but wait it boots fine to that other drive? you can make a usb installer using that macOS yeah.
Good point, I hadn't thought of that as the old Mac HD is really dated with old software. I am not sure it will work but I will look into it. One issue that may give that a snag is no website that has attachments will open with this old HD. If clicking on an item on a web page opens another web page it will be blank and I am not sure how to fix that. I could also burn it to CD if that option would work. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372 has the bootable installer download. I am really not sure how this will work as the instructions say to go into the applications folder, open terminal and type some commands. The only applications folder I could get into is the external folder.
 
Is there a bootable installer that will install the missing files automatically? I am not too sure how to do it otherwise as I am not a technology person.
 
My previous and current external HD has either Yosemite or El Capitan. My current one is either Mojave or Catalina.
 
boot to it and from there you can make the usb installer
This didn't work. I was able to boot to it but I had to update the "Lion" version on the external drive in order to possibly create a boot drive. In doing so one version at a time until getting to Yosemite it failed and no longer booted even though each one said it loaded successfully. Ultimately, I took it into an Apple Store and a Genius did a bench test to determine it was shot. I ended up getting a new HD installed with Catalina which the bad drive previously had. I am getting a docking station to image my bookmark favorites and pictures I have on the drive, otherwise Best Buy would charge $150 to image the drive. BB gave me the advise about the docking station as they could see the files.
 
Let's assess your current situation.

You can boot from an external drive, is this correct?

And you want to "get things off of" the INTERNAL drive, is this correct?

You have a USB3/SATA docking station? One that can accept "bare drives"?
Or, do you mean some other kind of "docking station"?

If you have a USB3/SATA dock, I'd get a bare drive, put it in, and then use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper) to clone the contents of the internal drive to the drive in the dock.

That drive will mount on the desktop like ANY external drive.
In fact, you might even try booting from it, once the clone is done.
Perhaps there is some kind of "hardware problem" with the internal drive/connection, but the data is "good enough" -- you won't know until you try.
 
Let's assess your current situation.

You can boot from an external drive, is this correct?

And you want to "get things off of" the INTERNAL drive, is this correct?

You have a USB3/SATA docking station? One that can accept "bare drives"?
Or, do you mean some other kind of "docking station"?

If you have a USB3/SATA dock, I'd get a bare drive, put it in, and then use CarbonCopyCloner (or SuperDuper) to clone the contents of the internal drive to the drive in the dock.

That drive will mount on the desktop like ANY external drive.
In fact, you might even try booting from it, once the clone is done.
Perhaps there is some kind of "hardware problem" with the internal drive/connection, but the data is "good enough" -- you won't know until you try.
As mentioned the other original drive was beyond bootable, and then my old MacPro external drive also became unbootable after updating the Lion software that was on it. Apple installed a 1TB drive and all is working great. I will be receiving a Insignia 2-Bay HDD docking station tomorrow from Best Buy that will enable me to extract files from that junk HD. BB confirmed that this will work for my needs as they were able to see the files in their lab, and save me over $100 for if they were to doing it for me. The total cost for this docking station was $53.74, which is better than what they would charge me for doing it for me. I don't need anymore trouble shooting or other steps to spend hours on. This will likely solve my issue with recovering pictures and bookmark favorites. Also, the Geek Squad technician said I could use it and then return it for a refund!
 
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