Help! MacBook Pro won't boot!

Can you boot to the single user mode? (command-s during boot)

I think when I had that problem, I had to delete com.apple.loginwindow.plist and com.apple.windowserver.plist and the only way to get at them, if you don't have a secondary partition to boot into, is through the single-user command line.

Try booting in verbose mode by holding command-v at boot time. That might let you know where it's getting stuck during boot.

I had to replace my MacBooks mobo last week at the Apple Store.

Type

cd /

and then

ls -la

to see if the file directory seems to be there.

Be patient, this might take a while to resolve.

Can't type? You may have a hosed system there. When you boot from the CD, can you do an Archive and Install of the OS? It won't erase anything, and that to me seems to be the next step.

Not being able to type in single-user means something is torqued at the Darwin level. I think. Anyway, Archive and Install does not delete anything; it just puts the old system aside and installs a new system. Your apps, documents, and data are not touched.

Ask away if you are not sure how to reinstall.

i have just had the same issue. scaring the crap out of me i can tell you!

i get the same problem in verbose mode, but cannot start-up from the cd. it just sits there.

but i can get the hosed macbook pro to start in firewire disk mode so am copying important files from it first. then going to try again.

any ideas if holding down the c key at start-up doesn't force start by cd?

starting with alt held down to select boot options does not bring up the OSX 10.4 install DVD, only the hard disk

er...

is the only way to erase the drive, then when i start it (with a cd in the drive) it will install osx again?

i am so busy with work and i really need to be able to do an archive and install and not have to reinstall all my apps!

How did you solve this Logan?

Here is the issue... I have the same problem. I've tried booting from the startup disk, however the installer will not allow me to select my OSX partition to install OSX onto... so I can't do an Archive and Install.

Thanks for the thread. I went trough all the proposed solutions and ended up doing an archive-install from the MBP installation DVDs.

This inability to boot-up came right after I did a software update. Very weird.

Thanks again.

I experienced the same problem one day, wouldn't boot up and would stick on the grey screen with the apple logo and spinning spindle.... I thought I should share my experience with you all, although its not a happy story I assure you

so once it started happening I very quickly found this (excellent) thread and tried everything suggested:

single user mode would hang
ditto verbose
archive and install reported there were errors, try again
tried target firewire mode, which although I could see the folder hierarchy of the laptop's hard drive, was insanely slow to even navigate through

I then tried to create an image of the disk usig disk utility on an external firewire hdd, which didn't work, reporting input/output errors.

by this point I'm extremely worried. I can in no way whatsoever access any of the information on the hdd, to back up my data and wipe the hdd and reinstall (which of course would have been impossible because.....)

the read/write heads of my drive were failing. a nine month old laptop, treated with care, and the hdd fails. It's now in the hands of data recovery specialists, who are going to charge me somewhere in the region of £400 to recover my data..... and this process has taken over a week and a half already! In the meantime I can't get the hdd replaced under my warranty because its with the data recovery people, and to top it all off, of course, Apple Care wont compensate me for the costs incurred trying to recover my data.

Lesson to anyone reading this: back up your data, often.

Johnny,

I was reading this and have gotten to the point where I can do an archive and install --
can you tell me how to do this so I do not loose anything.

My disk seems fine -- I went through the disk repair facility -- but when I boot in single user it fails.

so it seems to me what you suggested to this gentleman is what I need to do.

Anne

Are you able to boot the system CD? I'm confused. When you say you have gotten to the point, what point?

I am glad his issue was resolved. I am having the same problem and am a little confused at the remedy. My macbook pro wont boot into Apple but botts into Vista just fine. When I try to boot to the Apple I get the Apple logo with the spinning wheel. The wheel just continues to spin and the OS wont load. Can anyone offer any assistance?

Had to take the mac into an Apple store and have them reload the os. I tried to reinstall the os with the disks but the mac would not boot from them. This is the primary reason why I switched to the mac. I am not happy and this does not bode well for the future. Looks like I will use Vista on the mac exclusively from here on out - runs better on the Apple anyway.

Congrats. Teaches me a new way to handle this problem if it ever comes to my Mac.

I first bought my 13 MBP a few weeks ago. In three days it wouldnt boot. Just a gray screen and a spinning wheel. Apple store couldnt save my data (I had migrated from a 15) and had to put in a new 500 GB hard drive. Three weeks later it happened again. I have a Apple outside consultant trying to get my data, but so far it hasnt worked. Are the 500 GB hard drives just bad-- should I op for a 320? R the new 13 MBP just screwed up? Been a Mac guy for decades and never had an experience like this.

Hi, I'm a devout Windows user converting to Mac. I've had my 15 inch pro for almost a week and its been fantastic! My friend, a fairly experienced Mac user, upgraded the software, and since that, it refuses to boot, getting stuck at the loading circle after chiming. I've tried all of the key combo's listed here and several others, it can't boot into safe mode, verbose, single user, hardware test, etc. . . and it won't boot off the OS CD either, so I can't reinstall. I'm taking it to the store tomorrow to get it repaired, but in the meantime, anyone come across this or have ideas on how to fix it? Thanks in advance!

The kind people at Genius Bar fixed it- the Software Update didn't write properly. . . which threw off the OS. They had to do an archive/install to repair it, but it took twice as long as it was supposed to, so who knows- could that be a potential warning sign of problems to come? dun dun dun. . .

I am having the same problem with mine right now. However, I am able to boot to the CD I just can't figure out how to get my files off to do new install. One thing I did do is put in a 32GB memory stick and installed Leopard on that. I have not rebooted since it is up and running because I can now copy files from the original HD to that, but I am limited on space. So now I am stuck with trying to find another stick or usb HD to copy files to so I can do a clean install of the OS.

The system just did an upgrade to a bunch of stuff to include software and the bios or firmware or whatever it was. I am a fairly new MAC user so some of this is just really new to me. The actual problem did not start until I ran a program called ONYX which helps noobs like me clean up cache files and stuff and it always does a S.M.A.R.T. check and then a drive check. Upon doing the drive check it alerted me to a drive problem and suggested that I use my MAC OS install disk to run the disk utility program to fix any errors. Well, that couldn't fix the errors and since then I have been unable to reboot only ever getting to gray screen with spindle then computer shuts down EVERY time. That's when I got the idea to instal OSX on the memory stick. Once I get my files copied I will try to boot from the memory stick to see if that works. I am curious if that will work, but I think it will. I was able to boot to LINUX from it on my other windows laptops. I guess so long as Apple lets me select that as a boot image option it would be okay plus it installed there and is running now.

I also just ordered my Snow Leopard upgrade and when it comes in I guess I will have a nice clean HD to install to unless there are problems with the actual HD. I hope it's just a file corruption or something like that. I am a bit disappointed right now with my MAC, but part of the problems are mine for leaving it on all the time and not doing the battery maintenance like I should. My battery only lasts about 5 minutes so I had to order a new one of those for $129. Take care of your battery!!!!!!!!

Hello,

Would someone help me please: This is what I have:

Macbook Pro 17" 2.53 i5
I did an upgrade and installed winebottle and now I turn on the computer. Its stuck at the grey screen for hours (I left it on and came back) with Apple Logo but NO spinning timer.

Here is what I've tried so far:

1. Restart and hold down C with original cd
2. Restart and hold down C with Snow Leopard
3. Option+command+P+C and power on and release at second beep
4. Plug the hdd using firewire cable to my imac and use disk utilities to erase. Verify disk and status was "ok"
5. Removed the HDD and plugged in an HDD adapter and used Superduper to clone and boot up. It would boot up in my Imac but when I installed back in my macbook pro and its not recognizing
- I have also used Carbon Copy cloner and still won't boot


6. acccess SAFE mode using Command S and here is what i recieved:

Efiboot loaded from device: Acpi (PNO0A03,0) Pci(1fl2)/SATA(1,0)HD(Part3.MBRType=20,SigType=00)
boot file path\\\system\\library\\Core\\Services\\boot.efi
.Loading 'mach_kernel"...
.................................................. .......
Root device uuid is "C32323-2323-XXX-XXXXX
Loading drivers..
Loading System\\Library\\Extesions.mkext...........





So the screen above stuck there for hours as well. I'm not able to delete or type anything. I'm exhausted and need your help!!!


Thanks

--Evan

Try booting holding the shift key down. I'm not sure if you meant WineBottler is what you installed. The program may have installed a kernel extension it doesn't like. I would have assumed the iMac wouldn't have liked it either though. Booting holding shift should disable kernel extensions and allow you to go in and delete the offending one.

Once in safe mode. it won't let me type anything. I'm stuck at the last line. will replace the rams work?

You shouldn't get any text in safe mode. Booting holding command-s gets you to single user mode, which has text. Holding shift at boot should boot the system without extensions.

My Macbook Pro crashed for the first time after 10 months and it went to the grey screen with the loading circle and just hangs there.

Inserted the orginal leopard OS X disc and held down C. Then restarted.

It detected the disc... I selected "archive and install".

Seems to be working, install is at 89%.

2 thumbs up, hope this helps the others