Cant start up on my Macbook pro. All I get is a grey spinning wheel. Tried all the Startup key combinations and nothing works. I reset the NVRAM and nothing. I booted with start up disk , ran disk repair and all is ok. Tried to re-install OS but when I ge

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Cant start up on my Macbook pro. All I get is a grey spinning wheel. Tried all the Startup key combinations and nothing works. I reset the NVRAM and nothing. I booted with start up disk , ran disk repair and all is ok. Tried to re-install OS but when I ge

Can not start up on my Macbook pro. All I get is a grey spinning wheel. Tried all the Startup key combinations and nothing works. I reset the NVRAM and nothing. I booted with start up disk , ran disk repair and all is ok. Tried to re-install OS but when I get to designating drive its blank. When I go to startup disk there is a "?" mark. When I restart under startup disk search for a drive it still comes up with nothing. Before I got the grey spinning wheel I had a locked screen. Could not move curser or click on anything. Finally just shut down. Thank you in advance for any help!

MacBook Pro, iOS 6.0.1

Posted on Dec 13, 2012 2:34 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 13, 2012 2:41 AM in response to Brueklynite

OK - so, with your installation disc, you can boot and 'see' your hard drive in Disk Utility and you ran Repair on it and the volume appeared to be OK? But you can't install OS X on the drive? Did you try erasing and formatting the internal drive as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"?

Clinton

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Answer 2

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 2:49 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

I'll try but I would rather not erase and loose whats on that drive. If I format as "mac OS Extended (journaled)" will I keep whats on that drive? Sorry if this seems like a newbie (ingnorant ?). Thanks.

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Answer 3

Dec 13, 2012 2:52 AM in response to Brueklynite

No - if you format the drive, you're going to lose all of the data on it - do that only as a last resort (I'm assuming that you don't have a backup of any kind?).

Did you run Disk Utility from the disc in the optical drive and verify and, if needed, try to repair your internal drive?

Clinton

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Answer 4

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 3:02 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Yes, ran Disk Utility from disc on optical drive and all came out fine. No need to repair.

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Answer 5

Dec 13, 2012 3:07 AM in response to Brueklynite

OK - now try booting while holding down the option key and see if your start-up drive is mounted: if it is, select it and boot from it.

Clinton

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Answer 6

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 3:24 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Ok- held down option Key and drive is mounted . Selected and same thing. Spinning wheel for about ten minutes now. Could it take a while? or? Thanks!

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Answer 7

Dec 13, 2012 3:37 AM in response to Brueklynite

Shouldn't still have a 'beachballing'... if the drive is being found and the system is trying to boot from it but is having problems, I would suggest looking over ds store's user tip - Step by step to fix your Mac.

It's likely either something corrupt in your system files or a failing hard drive. But follow ds's steps until you find the cause of the problem.

Good luck,

Clinton

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Answer 8

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 4:10 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Yes maybe corrupt file. I ounce booted while pressing down the eject key and it booted but it was completely locked. Could not click or move curser. I ran a extended hardware test and everything thing comes up o.k.

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Answer 9

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 5:08 AM in response to Brueklynite

Anyone else have any ideas? Thank you

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Answer 10

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 5:14 AM in response to Brueklynite

If it is a corrupt file. How do I fix that? Norton? or ? Thank you.

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Answer 11

Dec 13, 2012 5:16 AM in response to Brueklynite

No, for God's sake - don't even mention Norton!

Did you go, step by step, through ds store's user tip? Find anything useful there?

Clinton

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Answer 12

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 5:35 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Hi Clinton,

Yes, I went through it. Nothing. Most of the things I've already tried but I tried again. Sorry about the Norton , true sign of a newbie.

I mentioned in previous post that It did boot once when I booted and held the eject button but the screen was locked. It seems as though something won't close. Even when I power down it's more like putting it to sleep rather than a full shut down. Although no glowing light like in sleep mode.

Thank you.

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Answer 13

Dec 13, 2012 6:02 AM in response to Brueklynite

Looks as though it might be time to make an Apple Store (or AASP) visit. We've pretty much exhausted what you can do on your own. Make an appointment with one of those 'geniuses' and see if they can diagnose and fix the problem.

Sorry we couldn't have been more help...

Clinton

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Answer 14

Brueklynite Author

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Dec 13, 2012 11:35 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Thank you very much for all your help.

One more question. I've tried to created a New Image with disk utility to back everything thing up to an external drive but about five minutes into it I get a " Unable to create Backup.dmg" (input/output error)

Thanks again.

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