Awful beeping sound on boot

You are just screwing up your mac. Please provide some information on your Macbook.....

Format the drive, install a decent OSX like Mavericks or Yosemite.

Put Ubuntu in a VirtualMachine.

How well does Ubuntu work as a live boot?

I guess you may not have correct video drivers, you may need to try the recovery mode to see if you can examine the hardware & look for alternate drivers. Search Ubuntu's forums, there may be others with the same hardware that got further.

Do you know if you are booting with GRUB? Look for the shortcuts to enter grub on boot, try mashing the function keys 🙂 (or search the Ubuntu docs). Lilo & other loaders may have different shortcuts, I think GRUB2 is default in Ubuntu. You may be able to edit the GRUB setup to use different video drivers.

Double check your model, it appears to be a Macbook Pro?

I don't think the MacBookPro5,2 has internet recovery, but check when you have the correct model info.

Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery - Apple Support

If you have another Mac you be able to download OS X from the app store - but it isn't an ideal way to troubleshoot linux (it can't edit an ext2/3/4 volume by default).

Another option may be a system like Ultimate boot CD, or GRUB recovery CD's. They can be used to check the file system to be sure that you don't have a weird corruption issue etc, Ubuntu's live CD should be the first attempt tool.

In addition to that you can also circumvent GRUB & try rEFInd…

http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

It's an alternate boot manager. It should find the Linux kernel, RAM image and give you menu entries for that. If Ubuntu was installed with EFI support it should also find that loader. It's another way to set parameters that are used as the OS starts. It's fiddly to setup but on Ubuntu you can just 'apt-get install' it or try the CD image version.

I failed to understand the beeping was the main issue, sorry.

Macs can beep when RAM is not installed (or is incorrect spec, damaged etc).

Apple have info for older models, I think it still applies for Intel Macs.

Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2 - Apple Support

It normally results in a non booting OS, e.g it fails to start any boot process, so it may not be that.

Can you describe the sound more (or grab a according if possible)? Is it a constant tone or pulses, is it loud or soft etc? Can you place your ear close & try to see if it comes from the speakers or somewhere else? Is it both speakers? I think certain HD's can make strange noises when failing.

In your video at around 35 to 45 seconds the screen appear to be very dark - was there an image there? It looks to me like the installer screen is displayed, but the screen is dimmed, but it could just be an artefact of the screen angle & the lighting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g0I9DM2s8k&feature=youtu.be

The dimming looks like the backlight is off - you can test this with a torch, give the OS plenty of to time to boot, shine a torch into the display & look closely at the screen, you should see the display image, but it will be very dim with no backlight.

It may help to explain how you made the bootable installers for OS X. It's possible that the USB disk could be the issue (some USB thumb drives fail to boot OS X). Do you have another Mac to make an installer via http://diskmakerx.com/ ? That should work or try the createinstallermedia command if you used diskmakerx previously…

Create a bootable installer for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite - Apple Support

Obviously testing the installer on another Mac can help confirm the disk & installer is functioning.

I mentioned rEFInd as a way to troubleshoot the graphics issue in Ubuntu to supply different boot options, it won't help with this so forget about that.

Dim screen is normally the backlight or the power supply for the backlight (the inverter).

It seems odd that the screen appears to light up correctly when the boot picker is shown (when you hold alt at startup) is that screen always OK or is that also effected occasionally?

If you want this repairing take it to Apple (if you can) or to an Apple authorised service centre, you have no warranty now so the repair will need to be paid for.

There are guides online that show how to open it, but that may be beyond what you want to do? Apple won;t fi it if you open it & break something, so go & request a quote (it may cost more than the value of the Mac). https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Core+2+Duo+Inverter+Replacement/1497

I suspect the beeping is from the hardware detecting a failed component.

You could also test this Mac with an external display. That should work if the Mac is generally healthy. Do you have access to a display & the adaptor, I think it shipped with a Mini DVI port for external displays.

Perhaps it is because Apple make the kernel drivers that 'help' users by beeping when the hardware is having issues? It's still unclear to me if the sound is coming from the speakers, connect some headphones to see if that redirects the sound.

Other OS's don't always access every hardware feature so they may not make the same checks as Apple software.

I wonder if the display has a sensor for reading the backlight output. When it is found to be off the OS may ring the alarm?

What point does the beeping begin?

If you can get into verbose mode you may be able to see some error messages. This is easiest if you have a bootable OS X disk. The nvram command can also be used to set the verbose mode in the settings to force verbose mode on every boot - but it can be difficult to do if you have no active OS X installation available.

How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Mac OS X: How to start up in single-user or verbose mode - Apple Support

http://osxdaily.com/2007/03/25/always-boot-mac-os-x-in-verbose-mode/

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man8/nvram.8.html

It seems odd to me that the boot picker seems to show a fully illuminated screen, perhaps that is driving the inverter differently? Is that always correctly displayed?

Please provide some info on the other equipment you have access to, it could help you jump into some testing instead of discussing hypothetical problems.

NOTE: This is speculation on my part, Apple engineers will have access to troubleshooting manuals - do you have access to an Apple store or service center - is that an option for you? They may be able to say categorically what the sound means if you are lucky.

It's good you have fixed the beeping.

I don't understand how the Apple firmware fixed the EFI loader. EFI loaders are store on the hard disk, not in the logic board firmware. It may be that you reset the default loader, so the Ubuntu one is no longer used but may still be on disk.

Older Ubuntu installers used GRUB to create a master boot record (MBR), perhaps that was setup to load that instead. Macs can use this to 'legacy' boot Linux. It's an old way to boot Windows. It's better to use newer Ubuntu releases that supports EFI instead since the older GRUB MBR is added in addition to the GPT partition table - it is flaky at best and should be avoided where possible. Totally erasing the internal disk in Disk Utility within an OS X installer is the best way to remove it - only wiping the partition will leave the partition table(s) in place.

Good luck with the backlight issue 🙂