MacBook Pro (13" Mid 2009) failing to boot

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Level 1

5 points

MacBook Pro (13" Mid 2009) failing to boot

Hello everyone,

I run a small IT company (solely windows environments) and one of my friends has given me her MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2009 to have a look at. Only problem is I have little knowledge or experience with Mac computers so I thought this would be a good project to test the waters of the Mac world with.

Anyways to the problem, so the MacBook isn't booting at all. It takes about 30-40 seconds before the apple logo shows on the screen and then after about 5-10mins of loading the screen then changes to a circle with a diagonal line through it. To make things even more complicated my friend has lost the recovery Discs and I do not own another Mac computer to create a recovery Disc. She told me she updated the OS to Yosemite a few weeks ago so I'm guessing it was running the latest OS.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this problem? I thought it might be software/hard drive related so I tried swapping out the hard drive for clean 500GB one and as soon as I turned it back on it was having the same problem still so I switched the hard drives back again. Other than that I thought it might have been overheating so I cleaned out the fan and heatsink as well when I swapped the hard drives back.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 14, 2015 11:54 PM

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Answer 1

thunderzzz

Level 6

8,468 points

Jun 15, 2015 12:16 AM in response to Lobstor

Hi. I assume this article will be helpful in this situation: Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Lobstor Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 15, 2015 2:18 AM in response to thunderzzz

Hi Thunderzzz

Thanks for the quick reply though I have already done everything (well everything I could do without physical media) listed on this page.

What I've tried already is the following

Perform a Safe Boot

Reset the NVRAM / PRAM

Start from your Mac OS X Install disc; use Disk Utility (couldn't do)

Check your cables and power source

Remove third-party RAM and internal hardware

Perform an Archive and Install installation of Mac OS X (couldn't do)

Perform an Erase and Install installation of Mac OS X as a last resort (couldn't do)

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jun 15, 2015 4:19 AM in response to Lobstor

The odds are that there is a HDD problem. The original install disks should be used to try and repair/diagnose the disk. Since you do not have them, try this:

Boot the MBP with the OPTION key down.

If successful, you should see two HDD icons:

Select the Recovery HD.

That should show a 4 option menu:

Select Disk Utility.

Run Disk Utility.First Aid; Verify and Repair.

If the disk cannot be repaired, it will have to be replaced.

Ciao.

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Answer 4

Jun 15, 2015 4:40 AM in response to Lobstor

Reinstalling OS X

I would think the OS might be corrupted so maybe try reinstalling the OS. When you boot the Mac hit the option key until you come to the screen where it gives you the four options. When you get to that screen click on the disk utility and click on the erase option so you can format the hard drive. After you format the hard drive click the red circle to exit out of disk utility. Once your back to the main screen click the reinstall OS X option. This will do a fresh install of the updated OS X. I would think that would work but if it still fails to boot then the hard drive might be trashed.

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Answer 5

Lobstor Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 15, 2015 6:53 AM in response to WarrenTheGreatII

Well I tried botting up the MacBook while holding down the OPTION bottom with no success. The laptop just continued trying to load the OS. I'm guessing that's not normal?

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Answer 6

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jun 15, 2015 8:03 AM in response to Lobstor

Lobstor wrote:

Well I tried botting up the MacBook while holding down the OPTION bottom with no success. The laptop just continued trying to load the OS. I'm guessing that's not normal?

That is not normal. In order to address this problem you will need duplicate installation disks which can be ordered from Apple Customer Service. The other option is to purchase a Snow Leopard retail disk.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Either option will allow you to get at the HDD and determine if it is faulty or not. Also then you will be able to install an OSX, if that is required.

Ciao.

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Answer 7

Lobstor Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 15, 2015 6:31 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Yea I agree, So I bite the bullet this morning and ordered the snow leopard retail disk. Should arrive on Friday sometime so I'll continue troubleshooting it then.

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Answer 8

Lobstor Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 19, 2015 3:04 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

Well the snow leopard retail disk came this morning and to my luck I think the DVD drive in the MacBook Pro is buggered as well. Luckily I had a USB DVD drive and I was able to use that instead.

I tried those few extra steps that I couldn't do without the install media but didn't have any success so I swapped out the hard drive with another one I had laying around here and just like that snow leopard installed flawlessly. Once installing snow leopard I got the Mac on the network and upgraded it to Yosemite and then created an Yosemite USB Installer for it (Just in case).

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Answer 9

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,329 points

Jun 19, 2015 3:30 AM in response to Lobstor

Lobstor wrote:

created an Yosemite USB Installer for it (Just in case).

Oh how I approve of doing that. There are times when the Internet connection may not be good and/or the Apple servers are not available and then you are dead in the water. The USB installer eliminates that possibility. I have made installers for all OSX's from Lion onwards as a matter of procedure.

Ciao.

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Answer 10

Lobstor Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 21, 2015 4:28 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Well considering I don't own another Mac I thought this would be the best idea just in case someone brings me another Mac to look at. At least now I know I have a working Yosemite USB installer that works (I restarted the OS on the Mac with it to make sure it worked as well). This way I can still fix a Mac even if it has a broken HDD and/or DVD Drive.

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