10.10.2 recovery hd disappeared & prohibitory sign

Question

10.10.2 recovery hd disappeared & prohibitory sign

Good evening everybody,

first of all, let me introduce the machine I'm talking about:

MBP 15" (mid-2009), Intel C2D 2.67GHz, 8GB Kingston 1066MHz memory (installed manually after the warranty expired in early 2013), Seagate original 7200-rpm 320GB HDD (the same with which the machine shipped).

The computer is currently running OS X 10.10.2

Problem: yesterday, after shutting down the computer (which I do very seldom) and turning it on once again, it loaded at Apple logo till 30-40% and then showed the prohibitory sign. After 3-4 mins of stalemate, the machine loads normally and works normally.

Now, I will make a list of what I have already tried to fix the problem:

1) I got to know that the prohibitory sign means "startup disk not found". Indeed, when I boot holding 'alt' I only get the "Macintosh HD" drive. Moreover, rebooting while holding Cmd+R doesn't work and the computer just loads the main system, gets stuck at sign and then goes on.

2) as this pc shipped with Leopard I tried the AppleHardwareTest which gave as a result "no problem found". Generally speaking, I have never had a freeze of the system, blockage or need to reboot because of slowdowns. The machine does not over-heat overall.

3) until 10.10.1 everything was working just fine and I was able to a) reboot without problems b) enter the recovery hd partition and repair HD and permissions. I tried to control the disk status with Disk utility and permission status. Everything was ok.

4) running this on terminal gave me:

diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *320.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 319.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot 650.0 MB disk0s3

diskutil cs list

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

As you can see the Apple_Boot doesn't have the Recovery HD next to it and when I tried to follow some instruction on this forum adding "cs list" it gave me "no core storage found".

Now, the machine is working properly if I do not shut it down, but I would like to know if my HDD is failing as I have important files that I should try not lose for the better of my job. Of course I have a Time Machine backup.

I would simply like to know what to do now to have my Recovery HD back, the possibility of turning on/off the system and so-on.

May you help me somehow?

I have also considered reinstalling everything back on a clean drive from Leopard > Snow Leopard > Yosemite. Just I have to know if this would solve the problem or at least has a chance to do so.

Thank you anyway for your time and help.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Feb 13, 2015 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 2:00 PM in response to NotationMaster

To enable Disk Utility's debug option copy and paste this command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.DiskUtility DUDebugMenuEnabled 1

Press RETURN.

Open Disk Utility and select the option to show all partitions from the Debug menu. Select the one that is the Recovery HD volume, shown as disk0s3, and click on the Mount icon in the toolbar. Rename the volume to "Recovery HD." Click on the Unmount icon in the toolbar. Now restart the computer and see how the disk drive is displayed using: diskutil list.

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Answer 2

Feb 13, 2015 2:10 PM in response to Kappy

Dear Kappy, thanks for your help but while I could show the partitions, clicking on "mount" didn't do anything (i.e., the icon didn't change to unmount).

What could I do now? Do you have any idea of what could have caused all this?

Thanks

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 2:19 PM in response to NotationMaster

Well, then you can give this a try:

sudo diskutil rename /dev/disk0s3 "Recovery HD"

Press RETURN. You will be prompted to enter your admin password. It will not echo to the window. Press RETURN again.

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Answer 4

Feb 13, 2015 2:26 PM in response to Kappy

It says "volume must be mounted" which I cannot do. To describe you the problem: I click on mount, the window flashes and nothing happens.

Do you know if this is something that happens with this update of Yosemite?

Could you also tell me if you think this to be a hardware or software problem? All my hardware is still the original one (just to re-instate)

Thanks for your help

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 2:37 PM in response to NotationMaster

Try mounting first:

sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk0s3

If this mounts it, then enter:

sudo diskutil rename /dev/disk0s3 "Recovery HD"

I can only tell from what you've posted that the CoreStorage structure no longer exists. All your logical volumes have returned to physical volumes from the original structure.

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Answer 6

Feb 13, 2015 2:47 PM in response to Kappy

Tried first line in the terminal, heard HDD working (no tick tack or anything strange) then spinning wheel when mouse pointer on terminal and after a while I got this message

Volume on disk0s3 timed out waiting to mount

I am quite sure that when I was on 10.10.1 this problem was not there. Could have something failed with installation?

If so, how may I restore the OS to its original state? Or what would you suggest now?

Thank you so much for your time

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 2:52 PM in response to NotationMaster

I suspect that means the volume is bad. To return the volume to its proper state with a Recovery HD may require reformatting the drive, then reinstalling OS X.

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Answer 8

Feb 13, 2015 2:57 PM in response to Kappy

got it!

Last thing: as this machine is from 2009 and I cannot access the partition from where to reinstall Yosemite, should I go over with reinstall from Leopard (original DVD?)

Thanks for your help, I will come back to this thread when I have completed the reinstallation.

Thanks

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Answer 9

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 3:08 PM in response to NotationMaster

I assume you have a Snow Leopard DVD in order to have install anything later on that model. So do this:

Clean Install of Snow Leopard

Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase

the drive and everything on it.

1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. After you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation after which

you will be running a fresh install of OS X. You can now begin the update process

by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your

installation current.

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. At this point you can go to the App Store to re-download Yosemite and install it.

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Answer 10

Feb 13, 2015 3:11 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks, I'll follow that and come back to you hope before next week

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Answer 11

Feb 13, 2015 4:06 PM in response to Kappy

Houston, we have a problem ...

I have inserted the Snow Leopard disc into the optical drive and restarted the computer. Pressed C until small spinning gear appeared.

After about a minute and a half, the spinning gear blocked and the prohibitory sign appeared once more.

Should I try once more with Leopard disc?

What this error could mean?

Thanks for your assistance ...

Starting to lose hope ...

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Answer 12

Feb 13, 2015 4:44 PM in response to Kappy

Tried that as well... Spinning wheel > prohibitory sign > wheel blocked

now I'm kind of stuck as there seems to be no way to recover the OS...

what can it be? What could I do now?

Thanks once more

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Answer 13

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 13, 2015 8:39 PM in response to NotationMaster

Are you using a retail Snow Leopard DVD? You can try booting from the original Leopard disc that came with the computer. Also, see the following: Mac OS X- Gray screen or prohibitory sign appears during startup.

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Answer 14

Feb 13, 2015 11:47 PM in response to Kappy

I am using only original discs.

my computer came with the 10.5 Leopard DVDs and with 10.6 update DVD

both give me the same result

thanks for the link but I have already done whatever was listed in there.

so...now what? 😟

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Answer 15

Feb 14, 2015 11:24 AM in response to Kappy

Hello,

there's been some progress since yesterday.

techtool pro software said hardware was ok

downloaded yosemite install from app store > made bootable usb drive > rebooted from that

got again prohibitory sign but waited till it eventually managed to enter the usb drive

verified & repaired disk with no result, recovery hd not found but disk ok

started new os x yosemite install over my old one without erasing disk

obtained very slow reaction from machine and, at first reboot, prohib sign again.

got an hold on my nerves and waited, it continued alone and successfully completed installation

entered os x finally without prohibitory sign and checked disk utility: now RECOVERY HD is indeed there once more

after a little thinking I realized what may have caused all this: under Settings > App Store , I had everything checked and indeed I had received a message of impossibility to complete update 10.10.2. I normally work with many softwares running at the same time and machine is set to go to sleep if I do not touch it for 10 mins (default setting btw).

Anyway, now everything seems fine and I will make a few tests tomorrow to see that everything works properly.

reading around I got to know that recovery hd is no longer accessible from Startup Manager in Yosemite.

anyway thanks kappy for your invaluable help, it kept my spirit and hope alive!

tomorrow morning apple store genius bar just to see if everything I've done is fine.

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