Help with unresponsive MacBook Pro

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Level 1

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Help with unresponsive MacBook Pro

I got up this morning to turn on my MacBook Pro, and it was unresponsive, stuck at the gray screen with the spinning circle. There's also a loading bar beneath the circle that disappears after a few seconds. I already had a similar encounter about a year ago with the same computer, and took it into the Apple store where they eventually had to replace the hard drive.

It's a 15" MacBook Pro that I got about 3 years ago, currently running OS 10.6. I don't have the OS disc with me but I do have a time machine backup on an external drive, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to boot from that. I also have access to my girlfriend's MacBook Pro, which I'm posting from. It's newer and came with 10.7 installed, which it is currently running. I read online about being able to create a 10.7 boot disk by re-downloading the installer from the purchases section of the app store. I was going to try this, but since this MBP came with 10.7 already installed and was never purchased, I can;t find any way to access the 10.7 installer since they have removed 10.7 from the app store entirely it appears. I would just go ahead and download 10.8 for the $20 on here and create a disk from that if I knew there was a good chance it could fix my problems.

I'm no expert, but following what others have posted about similar problems, I booted using CMD + Shift + V, and the last few lines contain things such as:

Keys out of order (4,7898)

Rebuilding catalog B-tree

The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired

This is where I get lost and don't know what, if anything, can be done from here. I was just hoping there was maybe something else I could try before taking it into the Apple store, as the nearest one is about 100 miles away. Any help is greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Nov 11, 2012 2:02 PM

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Answer 1

sanjampet

Level 5

7,982 points

Nov 11, 2012 2:09 PM in response to kasscampbell

Try boot command R, recovery boot. Then follow the prompts.

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Answer 2

kasscampbell Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2012 2:30 PM in response to sanjampet

I think I tried this, but I'll give it another try. Does OS 10.6 have the recovery boot feature?

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Answer 3

sanjampet

Level 5

7,982 points

Nov 11, 2012 2:39 PM in response to kasscampbell

No, I apologize as I must have misread your post, my kids were going nuts, and I was typing stupid. You will need your original install disk, then do all the updates. Very, very, sorry for the incorrect info, and any inconvenience. Power down, put the install disk in the slot, and power up holding the C key, if this does not take you to the the language pane, you might have a failing drive. If it does boot try to a back up, and take it to the Apple store for a diagnosis.

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Answer 4

kasscampbell Author

Level 1

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Nov 11, 2012 3:14 PM in response to sanjampet

No problem. I thought that was the case, but was just checking to make sure. I'm in college and stupidly left my boot disk at home some 800 miles away. My girlfriend's computer has 10.7, so doesn't have a boot disk and I was going to follow something I found and make my own, but hers came with it installed, not purchased, so I can't find anyway to access the 10.7 installer on here. Anyone have any ideas if there's any way I can get around this? If not I already made a genius appointment for tomorrow if nothing works by then.

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Answer 5

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Nov 11, 2012 3:52 PM in response to kasscampbell

kasscampbell wrote:

I'm no expert, but following what others have posted about similar problems, I booted using CMD + Shift + V, and the last few lines contain things such as:

Keys out of order (4,7898)

Rebuilding catalog B-tree

The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired

You have directory damage. If you continue to use your computer you will have further damage which only the repair shop can repair.

You will need to get hold of your system discs that came with your computer and do the following -

Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.

Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.

Select your language.

Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.

Select Disk Utility.

Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.

Click Repair Disk.

Restart your computer when done.

Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963 and restart your computer.

If repairing the disk does not work, you will need a stronger utility. Here are a few -

DiskWarrior Highly recommended for *directory damage* repairs.

TechTool Pro Multi-functional utility.

Drive Genius Multi-functional utility.

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