Macbook Pro High Sierra won't finish booting

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Level 1

4 points

Macbook Pro High Sierra won't finish booting

Macbook Pro A1278.

I'm in a retirement village and trying to help a resident who knows even less than I do about computers.

I have a Macbook Pro running Monterey and when starting from shutdown, it boots and then asks me to log on. This High Sierra machine asks me to log on and then boots - is that normal?

Anyway, the boot bar moves VERY slowly until it reaches the end and then no matter how long I wait, it does nothing else!

What to do next? Of course the owner has no backup (doesn't understand the concept) so I need to try to preserve their data.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Sep 1, 2024 2:20 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 4, 2024 6:37 AM in response to AlanLH

put that drive back in the Mac it came out of. then use the entire computer as an external drive, by enabling Target Disk Mode.

the requirements for Mounting the drive to copy stuff are FAR lower than the requirements to boot up properly.

in addition, Target disk mode is in the computer's ROM, so it does not need to be bootable to use target disk Mode.

Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Sep 1, 2024 8:45 AM in response to AlanLH

A1278 looks up to MacBook Pro 13-In 2006 through non-retina 2012.

That model has a rotating magnetic drive inside, unless it was replaced.

Read errors on rotating magnetic drives can cause a re-read. if still no good data, another. Up to literally 1,000 re-tries, worst case. That many re-tries takes up to a quarter minute worst case for EACH marginal block. That is where the very long boot times are likely coming from.

You can try booting into Safe mode, (hold shift at startup) which does a Disk [directory] repair as it starts up. It will not be any faster, but if it makes any repairs, the Mac could complete booting up later.

the simplest way to make a backup is to obtain an external drive at least as large as what needs to be saved (preferably 2 to 3x) and once booted into macOS, enable Time machine. It will take half a day to overnight of Awake and not too busy time to complete its first full backup.

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Answer 3

kaz-k

Level 9

50,250 points

Sep 1, 2024 6:30 AM in response to AlanLH

Hi,

Try to start up in Safe mode if start up process finish.

Use safe mode on your Mac – Apple Support (AU)

If it doesn't help, try to start up in Recovery mode, then run FirstAid of DiskUtilities on startup drive if it reports something error.

Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac – Apple Support (AU)

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Answer 4

PRP_53

Level 10

91,921 points

Sep 3, 2024 1:17 AM in response to AlanLH

AlanLH wrote:

As I mentioned in my initial posting, I'm asked to login BEFORE the boot bar appears. To get into safe mode, do I hold the shift key until the boots bar reaches the end (around 20 mins)?

The sequence and order of events you describe seem to indicate there is a Firmware password involved

Set a firmware password on your Mac

It does not matter, as long as you Know the Password or have it written down and kept in a safe place

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Answer 5

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 4, 2024 1:36 AM in response to BDAqua

I have removed the SSD from the Mac and I want to see if I can clone it to another SSD but I only have 1 HD enclosure. Any thoughts on how I might achieve this?

I have an old Mac, but newer than the problem one, I put the problem SSD in the enclose, attached it to this other Mac and told it to boot from the enclosure drive. It does the same thing. When the boot bar reaches the end, there is still lots of disc activity going on and on and on…..So, no change and it seems to confirm that the drive has a problem.

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Answer 6

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 4, 2024 4:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I was thinking of using this other Mac I have, a mid-2014 running Big Sur. I would set it back to factory specs, initialise as for the problem computer, attach the problem SSD as an external disc and move all files across. The person I'm helping can then have my old computer and scrap their old machine.

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Answer 7

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 5, 2024 11:34 PM in response to AlanLH

I reset the Big Sur Mac and migrated from the problem SSD. It boots up and all LOOKS GOOD but I need to have the User check that their data is there and OK. Unfortunately she has a cold and I don't want one, so it might take a few days before I know.

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Answer 8

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 2, 2024 9:23 PM in response to kaz-k

Thanks guys. We have had power & phone blackouts - will be trying your suggestions soon.

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Answer 9

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 2, 2024 9:48 PM in response to AlanLH

As I mentioned in my initial posting, I'm asked to login BEFORE the boot bar appears. To get into safe mode, do I hold the shift key until the boots bar reaches the end (around 20 mins)?

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Answer 10

AlanLH Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 2, 2024 10:02 PM in response to AlanLH

I can get into Recovery Mode and First Aid doesn't show any errors.

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Answer 11

BDAqua

Level 10

245,507 points

Sep 3, 2024 3:26 AM in response to AlanLH

You can use Drive DX to possibly get a better view of Drive health…

https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

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