MacBook Pro won't boot or recover

[paul1149]

Hi,

I've got a MacBook Pro A1226 running OS X that will not boot. I did get it to boot once or twice, but it performed badly (video broke up) and eventually froze. But usually the machine will freeze during the boot process.

I've tried all the hotkey boot options, including what I thought would be the ace in the hole, internet recovery. Finally I did a verbose boot. Everything proceeded in command line mode until the ethernet connection was successful, and it froze with that as the last thing displayed on the screen.

I'm on AC power without a battery. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[pigoo3]

With the video issues, freezing, and not booting…the problem could be a number of things (bad hard drive, bad logic board, or maybe dirty). To narrow things down we would need to eliminate possibilities:

- Try booting with an OS install DVD or bootable USB stick…and see what happens.
- Try booting from a bootable external HD…and see what happens.
- Try opening it up & giving it a good cleaning canned air…and see what happens.

* If you are able to try all these things…and nothing improves…then it's probably a bad logic board.
* If you do not have all the hardware to do the testing mentioned above. Then we can only do some partial troubleshooting…and won't have a full picture.

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

Thanks for the quick and clear reply. I opened it up and the fans look good and are spinning nicely. I reset the RAM, nothing. Then I pulled the hard drive and tried the hardware check, both locally and via internet. In both cases I get a blinking folder icon with a question mark. I guess the hardware check is all about the hard drive.

Startup Manager sees neither a DOS nor a Linux boot stick.

I tethered the Mac hard drive to my linux system, but it doesn't seem to mount. Not sure whether it's supposed to.

I suppose the next thing would be a Mac boot stick. Not sure how to get one at this point.

 

[pigoo3]

I opened it up and the fans look good and are spinning nicely. I reset the RAM, nothing.

Ok…computer is clean. RAM reset was a good idea.

Then I pulled the hard drive and tried the hardware check, both locally and via internet. In both cases I get a blinking folder icon with a question mark. I guess the hardware check is all about the hard drive.

Not exactly. If the hard drive is pulled…the flashing ? is due to no bootable device. Depending how you're doing the hardware check. The computer needs to be properly booted.

Startup Manager sees neither a DOS nor a Linux boot stick.

I tethered the Mac hard drive to my linux system, but it doesn't seem to mount. Not sure whether it's supposed to.

I suppose the next thing would be a Mac boot stick. Not sure how to get one at this point.

Sounds like you're doing some "funky" stuff here. Not typical "Mac Troubleshooting" techniques. Would be best if you had some Apple media to work with.

If you can…do as mentioned above. This will help us narrow things down in a more "Mac Fashion".

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

It seems the Mac doesn't talk to fat32 DOS or Linux usb sticks. I'll have to see if I can get some Mac media and go from there. Thanks for your input.

 

[pigoo3]

If you can get hold of a retail Snow Leopard DVD that would be great (no gray colored disks).

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

Ok, thanks again. I just ordered a disk. Probably the simplest way to approach this.

BW,
Paul

 

[chrisbing]

Ok, thanks again. I just ordered a disk. Probably the simplest way to approach this.

BW,
Paul

Could also be a faulty HDD sata cable as someone mentioned to me, ive just had a similair problem myself, before i went to boot from an external i replaced the cable and it booted and began to recover.

 

[paul1149]

I'll keep that in mind. It did see the drive and boot partially. If a new install doesn't work I suppose my next step would be the hard drive itself.

 

[pigoo3]

Ok, thanks again. I just ordered a disk. Probably the simplest way to approach this.

Good deal. The Snow Leopard DVD comes in real handy when troubleshooting.

The video freezing has me a bit worried (that it may be the logic board). I really hope it's just the hard drive (or maybe even a fresh OS install from the DVD will set things straight).

Good luck,

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

That is exactly my concern as well. We shall see!

And worse case, I could always resell the disk, or hold onto it for other units.

BW,
Paul

 

[pigoo3]

...or hold onto it for other units.

This!

Snow Leopard DVD's are useful for 2006 thru some 2011 Apple computers.

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

Hello again, folks.

I finally got a chance to run the install disk. I keep getting an message in four languages saying I need to restart the unit via hard power-down. I'm not too hopeful at this point.

 

[pigoo3]

I keep getting an message in four languages saying I need to restart the unit via hard power-down. I'm not too hopeful at this point.

You should have mentioned this MUCH sooner. This is a kernel panic. Kernal panics many times are hardware related. And in this case (since the computer will not boot from a genuine retail install DVD)…this almost proves that the computer has a hardware issue.

About all you can do is remove the ram..and reseat them. If this doesn't help…then try testing with one stick of ram at a time (there's probably two sticks of ram in it).

If after all of this ram testing there is no improvement…then unless you are willing to invest in brand new ram (which may or may not help)…then this computer is probably ready for the "long walk". Because then the part that probably needs to be replaced is the logic board. Which usually is way too expensive to be worth it.

- Nick

 

[paul1149]

That's what I was thinking. I'll play with it some more, but I think it's on the way out.

As for mentioning the restart message ssooner, this is the first time it has occurred. It happens only with the disk; hard drive boot-ups almost always freeze with no message.

 

[pigoo3]

As for mentioning the restart message ssooner, this is the first time it has occurred. It happens only with the disk; hard drive boot-ups almost always freeze with no message.

In either case (DVD or hard drive). Almost certainly it's the same problem.

- Nick

 

[harryb2448]

It dates back to June 2007, so suggest not spending too much money on it. Sounds like you got the wrong disc. Must be a retail Snow Leopard DVD purchased from Apple Online for $20 with postage. If it is a silver/grey disc it is a system install disc and will not work as these are for the model the disc came with ONLY.

 

[paul1149]

That's interesting. It's Mac OS X snow leopard v 10.6.3, a retail version. I have the box and serial number. But I would think if it were a compatibility problem there would be a notice to that effect rather than a restart dialog.

 

[harryb2448]

What seril number? Macs do not have serial number on software, only disc identification numbers. If it won't boot from the OS X.6 DVD major problem.

 

[paul1149]

On the bottom of the box is the number in bold, MC5732/A. Under that it says MAC OS X V10.6.3 RETAIL.

There are also two sku numbers and a very small-font number.