Cannot make Startup manager work

Question

Level 1

0 points

Cannot make Startup manager work

Hi,

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533

I tried all the options mentioned in the above link and could not bring the start up manager to show up. I have a early 2011(March) Macbook Pro(13'') and wanted to upgrade the HDD to 500GB from 320 GB, used the same manufacturer Hitachi for this. The 500 GB HDD is brand new. I have time machine back-up. Plan was to get it started with a USB drive and the restore from time machine.

I tried all combinations like holding option button before starting the mac, holding the option just after the mac started or pressing option just after I hear the Chime. Nothing working and it brings the internet recovery screen, when I give the credential to connect to net which works else where either it hangs with loading symbol there or gives -1004 saying it cannot connect to Apple.

I was using snow leopard and backed up the start up disk into a USB drive, but it is simply not givng me the option to select the recovery drive(USB) which comes in the startup manager and just going to the internet recovery screen which is not working in any network(as long as I tested).

Please help, already wasted too much time in it.

Thanks,

Amitabha

MacBook Pro, Snow leopard is the OS I had.

Posted on Sep 4, 2012 11:00 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 4, 2012 11:18 AM in response to Amitabha808

Have you tried inserting your 10.6 DVD and using the Startup Manager?

Have you tried holding Shift at Startup to do one pass of Disk Utility "repair Disk" and enter Safe Mode?

Reply

Answer 2

Amitabha808 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2012 11:36 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks Alder for you response.

Yes I tried with shift key and all combinations mentioned here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533

When I press shift(with or without the recovery disk attached), it comes with that ? mark blinking screen and nothing happens.

Actually I fotgot to keep the start up disk with me and made the recovery disk mounted from a DVD backup I kept before in an external HDD. Unfortunately the startup options are not coming and I am not being able to bypass the network screen.

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 4, 2012 11:42 AM in response to Amitabha808

What drive is now inside your Mac, and what Mac OS X is on it?

What drive is external, and what is on it?

Reply

Answer 4

Amitabha808 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2012 12:22 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Inside: Hitachi 500 GB HDD, nothing in it, even not formatted

External: USB flash drive with GUID and partition 1, DVD1 content from Snow leopard installtion disk is mounted on this. I have done this in 2 flash drives, one with 4 GB and another with 2GB space.

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 4, 2012 1:08 PM in response to Amitabha808

The boot-up process is really convoluted. It depends on having a few things pre-placed in magic locations so that they can be accessed and loaded long before the File System is loaded and active.

Even if you have exactly the right components, you may not have them in those magic locations, referred to as "Blessed", that makes them available at Boot Time.

At this point, you need a trusted source of Mac OS X software to boot from. If you ever had a 10.6 Installer/Utilities DVD, that would be the thing to turn to.

Booted from the Installer/Utilities DVD, you can get access to Disk Utility and initialize the new drive and repair the USB flash drives in hopes of installing from them later.

Reply

Answer 6

Amitabha808 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2012 1:32 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Okay, if you are saying I need the installation disk which had the utilities app such as the disk utility, then even I have that, how do I boot from that disk, holding option is not bringing the startup manager or something so I can choose the media to boot from. How do I run disk utility?

I have utility disk copied in my back up external drive as well.

Reply

Answer 7

Sep 4, 2012 1:46 PM in response to Amitabha808

Boot from the 10.6 Installer DVD. (hold C at Startup or hold Option at Startup, once the DVD is in the drive).

Answer only the "What Language" question, and wait a quarter minute while the MenuBar is drawn.

Choose Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu

Look at what drives are available.

"Repair Disk" all that it can see.

If you wish, Partition the new Internal drive with GUID partition Map and create a Volume.

If there is a visible "Recovery_HD" you could try copying that to the new drive, but I am not certain it would be functional. The approved method is to use:

OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant

Reply

Answer 8

Amitabha808 Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 4, 2012 6:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I was planning to burn a installer DVD for this but then thought better I visit a mac store.

I went to a apple store today and they patched an image which was shipped with the mac I bought. Now I am taking backup from time machine and also will make a recovery drive first after running it.

Thanks for your response. Much appreciated.

Reply