White screen with a crossed out circle which flickers to the Apple logo sometimes, but won't open. What can I do to open it?

Greetings Diana,

If you are having an issue with your MacBook Pro booting up and displaying a "prohibitory" symbol (your crossed out circle) I would suggest that you troubleshoot using the steps in this article -

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Brett L

Repairing the iPhoto DB should not make a Mac un-bootable. Please try to stay calm & avoid flooding the thread with too much info that confuses the current status of the Mac. We will do our best to help.

How far have you got with the suggested tips?

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

Where the linked page says "Start from your Mac OS X Install disc; use Disk Utility"

I would suggest you use 'recovery mode' instead (@Brett L, that part needs updating).

It is explained at http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/08/repair-boot-disk-mac-os-x-disk-utilit/

What type of backup do you have?

Is it Time machine, a bootable clone or something else?

I don't know what that backup type is, you need to work out if it is a full bootable copy. You can hold alt at startup & use the boot picker to select that disk to startup from. It may allow you to inspect the internal disk if it boots.

If it is a different type of backup then it probably won't boot.

How far did you get with recovery mode?

Do you have access to any other Macs? It's starting to look like you can't repair or inspect the disk without other ways to boot, like OS install disks etc.

The make of the disk doesn't really tell us how your data is being backed up onto that disk. Do you know what software it uses?

For example Time Machine copies files every hour in a way that is not bootable, but you can extract those files & get all your data back into a working OS.

Carbon Copy Cloner duplicates a disk in a way that is bootable - it would appear when holding alt at startup so you could use that to boot & inspect the state of the internal disk.

It may also be Seagate's own software that does something different.

Please try recovery mode, if that works you can try repairing the disk in Disk Utility.

OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

If that works, select Disk Utility & see if the internal disk can be repaired in the first aid tab.

Recovery mode can also download OS X & reinstall it, however you really need to know if the backup contains everything before that is attempted, otherwise you may lose data. The OS is also around 5GB so you may have issues if your internet is capped or unstable etc.

P.S.

I have no idea if this is helpful, but there may be help out there…?

http://belizeyp.com/Belize/I-T-Engineers-Consultants/profile

https://www.google.com/maps/place/VIP+wireless/@17.4938135,-88.1914518,4205m/dat a=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8f5c583ff12cb605:0x17a5a2f97fc838c3?hl=en

Search & ask around, you may find some help, try recovery mode first.

The 'globe' is a sign that the recovery disk is loading over the internet.

You can use Disk Utility to see if the disk is intact…

Select the volume in the sidebar - it may be called 'Macintosh HD' unless you renamed it (it should be indented below the 'physical disk').

Select the First aid tab.

Repair the disk.

Repair the permissions.

Select the 'physical disk' (this has the model info for the disk title).

Repair the physical disk too.

Report back if you can't manage to do any of these, or if the disk doesn't have the repair option etc.

Take a picture of any errors if you can't note them down - it's helpful to have accurate error message text.

If it appears to work you can reboot - just be aware getting back into the internet recovery mode can take a while to download again.

harknbehold wrote:

so do I just click on "OK" now?

I believe so.

My concern is that I don't know what you backup covers & you seem to be along way from home 🙂

If you are confident the backup has everything you need can quit Disk Utility & attempt to use the reinstall OS X option.

If the disk structure is damaged too much it will prompt you to create a new partition. You have to go back to Disk Utility & erase the Mac OS extended partition. That wipes out all your data on the Mac.

If the disk is OK reasonably OK it could just reinstall without erasing - that will leave your personal files & third party applications in place - it is the best option in this situation.

It will download OS X so try to use a wired or stable internet connection if possible - it is over 5GB that be downloaded - be prepared to wait. Hotel wifi may 'cap' you so be careful to have enough data allowance if you are on a restricted connection.

Good luck,

Drew

I'm don't know what LaCie software backs up & it's possible that Migration Assistant will not restore from that backup type. You may have to use LaCie's own tools to restore the files correctly.

Sorry I can't help with this software, I don't want to give you bad advice that can cause you to lose data, you need to use your own judgment or read the LaCie / Seagate manuals etc.

If you can view the disk on another Mac it could confirm what you have backed up, but I understand that may not be possible in your current situation.

harknbehold wrote:

What does "reformat the disk mean" ? (disks and discs get me mixed up!!!)

Disk Utility told you earlier …

Disk Utility cant repair this disk. Back up as much of your files as possible, reformat the disk , and resotre your back-up

This means it almost certainly can't be used to install the new OS. The installer will tell you if the damage is too bad & then it will take you back to Disk Utility to fix the Disk. At that point you probably need to erase "Macintosh HD" to create a new file system - that reformats the disk - deleting all the old files & creating a new blank volume to store data onto.

You can see an example of the installation process here…

http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/18/clean-install-os-x-yosemite/

Steps 4 to 6 covers erasing the disk. You should try the installer first in the hopes that the disk is still usable - it will keep your data until you chose to erase. You may not be able to avoid erasing, but if you can it is worth trying.

Is that any clearer?