Bare with me - I need help with my crashed mac.

Question

Bare with me - I need help with my crashed mac.

Hello,

I was using my Mac a couple of weeks ago - it had been running a little slow, and all of the sudden, it crashed and I got a weird screen. I restarted the computer, and when it came back up, there was a file with a question mark icon. Through research, I was able to determine that I needed to restart in recovery mode, and then I reformatted the disk using disk utility and was able to reinstall the operating system. It seemed to be working fine, but when I went to update the operating system it reverted to into Yosemite, it had crashed again.

At this point, when I try to use disk utility, it keeps getting stuck when I reformat on "Partitioning. Estimated time: x minutes", with the amount of minutes forever-increasing. Is there any other way for me to reformat the drive just so I can get the operating system installed again? I did check the hardware and it said there are no problems.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Sep 27, 2015 2:40 PM

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Answer 1

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Sep 27, 2015 3:17 PM in response to facetiousapple

It would be helpful if you indicated the EXACT model/year MBP that you have.

Ciao.

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Answer 2

Sep 27, 2015 7:37 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Sure! The model is A1278, year 2012 13"

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Sep 28, 2015 3:44 AM in response to facetiousapple

I trust that you have backed up your data.

First reset the SMC and the NVRAM:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Then try a safe boot:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

Any change?

(if not, we will try plan B)

Ciao.

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Answer 4

Oct 3, 2015 7:43 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Thank you and I'm sorry for the late reply -- I will try this later tonight and keep you updated. :-)

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Answer 5

Oct 3, 2015 4:49 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Hi!

I tried all three of these tasks. In each instance, my computer still went directly to the flashing folder icon with a question mark in it, so I'm unsure if it did what it was supposed to do. Do you have suggestions for next steps? Thank you - I really appreciate your help!

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Answer 6

Oct 3, 2015 7:40 PM in response to facetiousapple

"Partitioning. Estimated time: x minutes", with the amount of minutes forever-increasing.

If you did not deliberately specify Security Erase options, a standard erase and partition takes about a quarter minute. Security Erase with Zeroing the drive takes all afternoon to overnight. 35-pass takes several days.

Based on the other troubles you are having, your Hard Drive sounds like it should be replaced under warranty. If you have had the unit for 14 days or less, and you got it direct from Apple, you can exchange it for a new one. Otherwise, a drive swap is an in-store repair, typically overnight.

Now you understand in a visceral way why you need a Trusted Backup. Be sure you have a way to make one. A drive at least three times the size of your Internal drive is ideal, and if you are using Time Machine, it can be an inexpensive slow USB drive.

"Unified" Drives -- 'where Drive and enclosure are one and a standard, replaceable drive has not been used' seem to be far more trouble prone than ordinary, replaceable drives inside an enclosure.

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Answer 7

Oct 3, 2015 7:42 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

thank you! Yep- definitely will do a backup going forward. Luckily this was a computer I used for my last job and I no longer work there (or it would probably have had a lot more personal things on it that I would be upset about losing) thanks!

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