Theres something wrong with my mac! Help! It said that it had a virus and then the browser wouldn't open! I tried to restart my computer but it wouldn't work, so I held down the power buttron. The startup screen is there but nothing else happens'!

Question

Theres something wrong with my mac! Help! It said that it had a virus and then the browser wouldn't open! I tried to restart my computer but it wouldn't work, so I held down the power buttron. The startup screen is there but nothing else happens'!

So yesterday I went to do some work on my laptop.

My laptop is from about 2005-2006 so it's pretty knackered. Everything was going just fine but then my Avast! Security software notified me saying "VIRUS DETECTED" so I tried to go on the avast application but it wouldn't open. I tried to open my browser but the icon just bounced and stopped and them nothing happened after! So i clicked on the apple sign and clicked shut down. Then the system wouldn't shut down. So i held down the power button causing it to shut itself off. The next day I opened the laptop and turned it on. It made the healthy turning on noise and I can hear the fan working perfectly fine. The startup screen is showing. This is an all grey screen with the Apple logo in the middle and a spinning circle in the middle, the circle has been spinning for over 10 minutes now and I do not know what to do. I use this laptop for literally everything and I cannot possibly afford to replace this . I am hearbroken as I know that there is a possibility that I will no longer be able to use this laptop.

I would be extremely grateful if someone helped me as I am truly devastated. :(

HELP PLEASE

Mac Pro, iOS 6

Posted on Mar 10, 2014 10:05 AM

Reply

Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Mar 10, 2014 11:16 AM in response to TheRainWanderer

First, note that Avast has a serious problem with false positives, often even identifying legitimate (and important) system files as malicious. If Avast did this, and if it also tried to remove the "infected" files, it could have damaged your system. For this reason, I strongly recommend against Avast!

As for the problem, if Avast damaged the system, you'll need to reinstall it, and that should get you up and running. However, there's also a chance that this is really not related to Avast, and that something else has gone wrong with your system... for example, the hard drive could have died.

For more information, and more troubleshooting steps to try, see:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

Reply

Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Mar 10, 2014 12:29 PM in response to TheRainWanderer

Startup - Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar

Startup Issues - Resolve

Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

Avast! Uninstall

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 11, 2014 10:17 AM in response to TheRainWanderer

Thankyou for this helpful comment. I have now got to the stage hen my laptop has finally worked! YAY

But, sadly it has not been fully restored. Before my mac shut down and went all funny, the software was 10.6.8 or 10.6.7 or something and looked much better than it does now. I have booted my laptop up only to find that my Mac's software is 10.4.11, which i find very confusing.

When I bought this laptop it had 10.6.8 installed into it and now its 10.4.11.

I managed to save everything (from before the system went weird) into a folder named previous systems. Do you think that there could be a possibility that I could find a file that could get me 10.6.8 back? 😢

Reply

Answer 4

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Mar 11, 2014 11:24 AM in response to TheRainWanderer

It sounds like you reinstalled the wrong system. There is not a single file that would get you back to 10.6.8 from 10.4.11... you need to install 10.6 from a disk. You can install on top of 10.4.11 to "upgrade."

If you purchased this machine used, and it had 10.6.8 on it at the time, but the only disks provided by the seller were for 10.4, then you'll have to purchase the 10.6 disks. You can do so here:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Reply