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Hard drive failure??

Last night when I was using my MacBook, it froze. I couldn't move the cursor and everything else locked up. I was switching from Safari to Mail, I just clicked on the Mail dock icon from Safari and everything froze. I then did a force shut down (holding down the power button for 10 seconds). When I tried to turn it on I just got the grey screen, no Apple logo. I also heard a clicking noise to the right of the trackpad. I know that this is where the HD is so could this be a hard drive failure? So, I decieded to shut the machine down again by holding the power button for 10 seconds. I let it sit overnight. When I woke up the morning I tried to boot it up again, this time, no clicking noise, but still no Apple logo. I felt the area to the right on the trackpad and there was no vibration like there normally is when the HD is running. So the HD dosn't seem to spin anyomore. I don't know what is wrong? Please help!!!

MacBook 2 Ghz Intel Core Duo, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Aug 15, 2007 8:50 AM

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Posted on Aug 15, 2007 9:24 AM

Really disturbingly, I've had the same problem with my Macbook ! I was switching between messenger and Firefox and waiting for Firefox to do something... next thing, I couldn't even force quit Firefox. I restarted by holding down the power switch, switched back on and got a gray screen.

After much panicking (including checking the the hard drive hadn't popped out of the SATA connection!) I decided to put the recovery DVD in. After about a minute of being on the gray screen, the recovery DVD boots and the installation routine kicks in but finds no hard drive! However, now I can't eject the recovery DVD!

I'm guessing the drive is stuffed and have ordered a replacement from ebuyer which should arrive on Friday.

Message was edited by: Dave Adamson
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Aug 15, 2007 9:24 AM in response to anagan

Really disturbingly, I've had the same problem with my Macbook ! I was switching between messenger and Firefox and waiting for Firefox to do something... next thing, I couldn't even force quit Firefox. I restarted by holding down the power switch, switched back on and got a gray screen.

After much panicking (including checking the the hard drive hadn't popped out of the SATA connection!) I decided to put the recovery DVD in. After about a minute of being on the gray screen, the recovery DVD boots and the installation routine kicks in but finds no hard drive! However, now I can't eject the recovery DVD!

I'm guessing the drive is stuffed and have ordered a replacement from ebuyer which should arrive on Friday.

Message was edited by: Dave Adamson

Aug 15, 2007 9:22 AM in response to anagan

Boot from your OS X Installer Disc One that came with the computer. After the chime press and hold down the "D" key until the diagnostic screen appears. Run the diagnostics. If you get an error that means a hardware failure. If you are unable to startup from the installer disc then that likely means a hardware failure.

Aug 15, 2007 9:36 AM in response to anagan

There's been a lot of this apparently. Happened to me, I was using Safari, my MB froze, couldn't force quit, held the power button to shut down & on reboot, got the folder w/ the blinking question mark. There are a couple topics dealing with this, but so far I haven't seen anything saying that anyone has been able to get the drive to work, or to recover any data.

I'd suggest looking at the following thread "MacBook hard drive failure epidemic" ( http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=960977&start=0&tstart=0) for more background.

I was able to bootup from the install DVD but when I tried to run Disk Utility, it couldn't see my drive. I replaced the HD, put the old one in an enclosure and tried running Data Rescue II, but it couldn't see the drive. Some others weren't even able to get their install DVD back out of the MB. If it's under warranty, Apple will replace the HD but they'll keep the old one, so you have no further chance to recover any data, but so far I haven't seen much success with that anyway. Best of luck, and if you do have any success, please share your technique.

Aug 15, 2007 9:44 AM in response to anagan

I'm not sure what to suggest. I'll know on Friday whether it is the HDD when my new one arrives and I install it.

Everything in the diagnostic utility appears to be there, just no hard drive, so I'm guessing it's not the logic board (but I could be wrong!)

I'm going to leave the recovery DVD in the drive (as holding the trackpad down doesn't eject it), at least I'll know where it is for Friday 😀

Aug 15, 2007 9:55 AM in response to anagan

Inasmuch as you can boot from the Installer Disc One, then do that. After the Installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. As soon as the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads see if your hard drive appears in the left side list. If so, then select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size.) In the DU status area look for the SMART status information. If it doesn't say "Verified" then the drive has failed.

If you cannot feel the drive starting up (spinning up) when the computer starts up, then that's the sign that either the drive has failed or there's some other hardware failure that is affecting the drive.

In these events replace the drive or take the computer in for service. The latter may be a good idea in the event it's not actually the drive that has failed.

Aug 15, 2007 3:01 PM in response to anagan

Hi anagan,

Sorry to break this to you just like someone broke this news to me 2 days ago.
Basically your hadrdive has gone safari and got killed by the african heat. 2 days ago I had the exact symptoms took it to the apple store and after thorough testing they told me my harddrive was gone.

I ordered a new one from ebuyer yesterday arrived today but I had to return it becasue it wasnt SATA. Am hoping to get the proper one in the next few days.

I know this doesnt help you but its the fact and ull have to face it today or tommorrow.

Apple must sort this problem out why doesnt only accur so much with macbook. I lost a whole year work on that harddrive but its my mistake for notbacking it up.

God luck my freind

Aug 15, 2007 5:56 PM in response to anagan

I just got back from the Apple store and they said that it is the HD, but possibly also the logic board. The Mac Genius tried to boot my MacBook off of an external firewire HD, but he couldn't get it to. He said that the HD and possibly the logic board would be replaced at no cost to me because I have Apple Care.

Hard drive failure??

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