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My Macbook won't boot up past the logo and loading wheel. Help please?

Okay, I am new to this but I am getting rather desperate.


I have read on multiple forums about people who have had the same problem as I am experiencing but none of the advice has worked.

My Macbook Pro won't load, It gets to the grey screen and the apple logo with the spinning wheel below it and goes no further. It doesn't shut off, It just doesn't load. Last time I used it, it was on the screensaver playing my music and the music suddenly stopped. I went over, and the white light was still flashing, indicating it was still on. I jiggled the mousepad and nothing happened. I briefly pressed the on button and the screen still didn't turn on, and So I shut it off to reboot it. Now here we are. Oh, and my battery is fully charged.


I have not had any updates the past few weeks, I have not changed any settings and it all seems quite unexpected.


I have tried COMMAND + S and typing in Fsck -fy and other similar lines. It says the HD is ok and when I continue to type EXIT to the reboot, it says there's an error and does nothing.

I have tried booting it into safe mode, pressing SHIFT and my hopes were running high when a loading bar appeared below the spinning wheel, It loaded a little and then dissapeared.

I have tried putting the installation disk in, in order to re-install OSX (I don't even know what specific one) however, nothing appeared and now It won't eject and I am stuck with it trying to read the disk everytime I turn it on now too.


Please, please, please help me. I have a lot of work in for college which isn't backed up. My own stupid fault, I know and I can't afford to take it in to be looked at.


Thank you.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 12, 2012 9:18 AM

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Posted on Feb 12, 2012 9:21 AM

You need to reinstall OS X.


If you are using Snow Leopard:


Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive


Do the following:


1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions


Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.


If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.


2. Reinstall Snow Leopard


If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.


Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.


If you are using Lion:


Reinstalling Lion Without Erasing the Drive


Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.


Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.


When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.


Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.


Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

25 replies

Feb 26, 2012 3:01 PM in response to Heathertron

I think this might be solved by reinstalling Lion (assuing you have downloaded Lion before this trouble.

Hold down the Command and R key while pressing the power button. You should get into a number of options then including "restore from OS Lion."

You will also be asked to reconnect to your internet by wifi (use your existing password when you have searched for and found your local connection).

Lion will start to download and be installed.

It should take about 45 mins depending on your connection speed.


I had this trouble and after days of research found the above solution which works a treat.


The OS LIon which you have now installed is the latest uptodate version which patches the problem which led to the system not starting up.


Good luck

Jul 10, 2013 8:27 AM in response to hilgersharpe

hello all, i've just encountered the same problem this afternoon. my macbook won't get past the apple logo (plus the rotating stuf and the loading bar stuff).


  • i tried to boot while holding cmd+F, cmd+S, etc but all to no avail.
  • oh well, i went past the black screen where you can do the "fsck -fy" thing yet still to no avail (fyi the screen said that my disk could not be repaired; tried the fsck for a couple of times more still the same result).
  • I also tried inserting OSX disk (which is from my previous MBW 6.1 OSX Snow Leopard, what i have now is secondhand MBI 7.1 OSX Lion) but after a couple of minutes, the screen shows the "You need to restart to computer..." sentence – those written in 5 languages.

so i'm stuck as well. i hope anyone would still help us, those who still encounters the same problem with no avail, by replying to this thread.


Thank you very much!

My Macbook won't boot up past the logo and loading wheel. Help please?

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