Long startup problems on MacBook

MacBook 10.6.8 startup goes to grey screen with apple, wheel and progress bar, and takes 5 minutes. This started only recently. What might be wrong?

I suggest running Disk Utility's "Verify Disk" check to make sure the file system is OK. If it detects any problems, you need to start up from another disk, like your OS installer disk, & run Disk Utility's "Repair Disk" step from that.

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Leopard Startup Problem on MacBook Pro 15" 2.5 GHz

When secure deleting trash it took over 30 minutes to delete a 1 GB file so tried to stop. As this failed I pressed ctrl /cmd and power button to force a restart. On restart the computer starts but fails to get to login screen. Tried running ‘Disk Utility’ - on verify or repairing disk permission it reads:
“Error: the underlying task reported failure on exit and a window with
First Aid failed
“Disk utility stopped verifying permissions on “Macintosh HD” because the following error was encountered”
‘The underlying task reported failure on exit’
Verify and repair disk is OK it is just the permissions that have errors.
On connecting to another Mac running 10.2.8 in firewire mode the other Mac indicates that the MacBook Pro disk is unreadable and do you want to initialise.
Have also tried resetting PRAM and this does not rectify the problem.
Pressing option at start up sees the drive but after selecting it I have the same problem as before.
Tried installing from MacBook Pro Leopard install disks that came with the computer. On starting to do this it warns that a newer version exists on the volume (as I have the most recent version via software downloads) and that I need to click on options
I selected the default ‘Archive and Install’ and ‘Preserve user and network settings’ but it fails to install reading ‘ Install failed MacOSX could not be installed on your computer’. The installer could not install some files in”/Volumes/macintosh HD” contact the software manufacturer for assistance.
I would do a clean install but I would lose about 50 or so files that I have not backed up.
I am hoping that there is a workaround rather than having to purchase DiskWarrior.
As the computer is only 3 months old will Apple sort the problem out – can I take it into one of their stores to get this done?
thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer
Cheers
Dougie

Your options:
1. Use DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory or,
2. Erase & Install.

Odd power/battery startup problem on MacBook Pro

I have a MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid 2012 running OSX 10.9.5 with all updates. Approximately one year ago the battery died and I'd been operating off the adapter ever since. This past Thursday I finally had a Mac hardware guy from the local university install a new battery; something he does regularly for the university's MacBook Pros. Weirdly, the old battery had no bulges or other visible problems. He did an SMC reset, started up, and everything worked fine. I later hooked up a brand new Acer external monitor mirroring it to the laptop, and charged the battery to 100% with the Adapter. That night I disconnected the adapter and all peripherals without shutting down to have the battery drain somewhat overnight. Friday morning the laptop started up with a partially depleted battery. So, I hooked up the adapter and peripherals. All was well. I shut down Friday night and restarted yesterday, Saturday morning, but there was a little glitch with the mirroring settings. I solved that problem by deleting the Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist file and restarting. However, in trying several scenarios to make sure the display mirroring settings were sticking, I suddenly noticed the laptop would now not start up on battery power despite the battery being charged. It would only start up with the adapter attached even when all peripherals were disconnected.
Today I have tried NVRAM and SMC numerous times with and without the adapter attached. When the adapter is not attached the resets appear to be working (chime, grey screen, Apple logo) but then the laptop display dims for a second, then goes black. The power light on the computer goes off. So it appears the computer suddenly shuts down without completely starting up. When I then attach the adapter, the computer starts up (and shuts down and starts up the exact number of times I tried either NVRAM or SMC or simply push the Power Button), finally starting up completely.
The standard Hardware Test (with no peripherals but the adapter attached) and the extended Hardware Test show no problems.
System Report contains the following info:
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Serial Number:    D861015004NDGDL3T
Manufacturer:    SMP
Device Name:    bq20z451
Pack Lot Code:    0
PCB Lot Code:    0
Firmware Version:    406
Hardware Revision:    2
Cell Revision:    158
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):    6704
Fully Charged:    Yes
Charging:    No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):    6910
Health Information:
Cycle Count:    1
Condition:    Normal
Battery Installed:    Yes
Amperage (mA):    0
Voltage (mV):    12383
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):    10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):    0
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    10
Wake on AC Change:    No
Wake on Clamshell Open:    Yes
Wake on LAN:    No
AutoPowerOff Delay:    14400
AutoPowerOff Enabled:    1
Current Power Source:    Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim:    Yes
GPUSwitch:    2
PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:    0
Standby Delay:    4200
Standby Enabled:    1
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):    10
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):    0
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):    2
Wake on AC Change:    No
Wake on Clamshell Open:    Yes
AutoPowerOff Delay:    14400
AutoPowerOff Enabled:    1
Display Sleep Uses Dim:    Yes
GPUSwitch:    2
Reduce Brightness:    No
Standby Delay:    4200
Standby Enabled:    1
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed:    No
AC Charger Information:
Connected:    Yes
ID:    0x0100
Wattage (W):    85
Revision:    0x0000
Family:    0x0085
Serial Number:    0x004f99a7
Charging:    No
Coconut Battery shows as follows:
Am I missing something? Is there something else I can try so the laptop will operate on battery power only? Thanks..

Step one, SMC reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Step two, Apple Hardware Test:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
Ciao.

Startup problem on Macbook Pro // Problème de démarrage sur Macbook Pro

Hi,
Following a troubleshooting on Macbook Pro, the computer stuck at boot and the fan runs at background.
Would you have a solution ?
I am entrepreneur in troubleshooting.
Best regards,
Skoove - IT consultant
Bonjour,
Suite à un dépannage sur un Macbook Pro, l'ordinateur reste bloqué à l'écran de démarrage et le ventilo tourne à fond..
Auriez-vous une solution ?
Cordialement
Skoove - Consultant informatique

Step one, SMC reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Step two, Apple Hardware Test:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
Ciao.

After a startup problem with my macbook pro i put it as slave and formatted the internal Hard drive. Now i want to install OS X Mavericks from USB

After a startup problem with my macbook pro i put it as slave and formatted the internal Hard drive. Now i want to install OS X Mavericks from USB
How can i do that?

What did you "put as slave?" What Mac model do you have, exactly?

MacBook pro when windows 7 has startup problem and Mac os doesn't work

I installed windows 7 on my MacBook pro and it did work well. But now windows has a startup problem and "startup repair" couldn't solve it, so I can't use both Mac os and windows and my laptop has become completely useless. Any suggestion?

Reboot and hold down command-R at the sound of the chime, that should take you to the Lion recovery partition, if it does go to disk utility and see if you have an OSX partition at all.

HT204291 My airplay icon is no longer appearing on my Macbook Pro. How can I connect to my Apple TV?

My airplay icon is no longer appearing on my Macbook Pro. How can I connect to my Apple TV?

Restarting MacBook Pro, Apple TV and WiFi router could solve the problem.

I am having an MacBok Pro 13inch,having an Startup Problem, the time i press the power button after few seconds the apple symbol appears w/a loading sign below it

i am having an MacBook Pro 13inch , having an Startup Problem , the time i press the power button after few seconds the apple symbol appears with a loading sign below it and wont go further ahead of it . My data is all in the hard drive .. . I even tried the Internet recovery but no use !!!! but still no respons and the recovery and macintosh hd is now lock! but earlier only the recovery is lock and after both of them is lock. i can reinstall,... and i didnt try to back up any data bec i dont know how? so please help me to resolve my prroblem.?

luoie wrote:
This thing happend,, it say Disk utility stopped repairing "Macintosh HD" disk utility can't repair this disk
Sorry, possibly you need a new hard drive or try reformating. First
you can try something like http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/ it has been known to repair disk that DiskUtility could not. YMMV and they don't give it away.
If Disk Warrior can not repair then you need to Reformate the drive. Make sure you have a back-up in place no matter what.
http://www.apple.com/support/backup/
Disk Utility will tell you something about it's SMART status:

Why does the Autofill no longer work on my macbook

Why is the autofill no longer working on my macbook?

Have you tried connecting to your computer and sync using iTunes? If it will sync that way, the means the problem is the wireless sync. One step in the troubleshooting process. You also might want to consider posting here.
iPad Community

Can anyone diagnose my startup problem from this screen pattern?

After failing to startup my Mac on about 8 consecutive attempts today, I finally got it to boot up, and now I'm afraid to turn it off for fear that I won't be able to re-boot.
Here's a photo of what kept happening:
http://www.doctorkeys.com/startup-problem-screen.html
This screen came up immediately, along with the spinning cog and the apple logo, both rather faint. But then those two disappeared, and all that was left was the gray screen with the pattern as shown in the photo. And that's as far as I got each time.
The display itself seems to be fine, because even when I couldn't use it with the Mac Pro, I was able to hook it up to my MacBook Pro and it worked fine.
Can anybody tell me what's happening?
Thanks,
Bruce Siegel
Message was edited by: Bruce Siegel

Hi-
To be honest, though, I was hoping that the pattern in the photo was so specific and common that someone would look at it and say, "Oh, of course! I've seen THAT one before. Do this and your problem is solved."
I have seen graphics cards produce that type of screen as a result of a few of situations.
One, if the card is miss seated.
One other is if a capacitor on the card has failed, while VRAM failure is another cause.
The first case is easy to fix; remove and reseat.
The second and third require replacement of the failed graphics card.
Cleaning the gold contacts with 99% isopropyl alcohol and thoroughly dusting the card while it is out is a good idea.
I have been able to replace a bad capacitor to restore a card, but luck was a big part of determining which one it was....

I upgraded to mountain lion a week ago and now on startup of my macbook pro, microsoft excel and word start up automatically and then crash? very strange can anyone please help? I have checked the login items under users and groups and there is nothing.

I upgraded to mountain lion a week ago and now on startup of my macbook pro, microsoft excel and word start up automatically and then crash? very strange can anyone please help? I have checked the login items under users and groups and there is nothing.

Are you using the Office for Mac 2011 version, as you need to do? The Office for Mac 2004 is Not at all compatible with Mountain Lion, and the 2008 version has been noted to have some problems running with ML.
Hope this helps

Startup problems--time for a new machine?

I have an imac G5 that I bought last February. In the last few weeks I've been experiencing serious startup problems. When turned on, the screen goes gray and the lines and pixels fragment and shimmer. It takes a long time to go to the main screen and often the screen isn't stable and freezes. It takes me eight to ten startups to get the system stable.
I've repaired disk permissions, repaired h-drive, reset Pram. Still a mess. My husband wants me to just get a new one and get something that is not an Apple this time. I'm resisting that.
I don't want to lose all my data and I've backed up what I can but I'm worried the data is corrupted and if I load it on to a new machine, I will experience the same problems.
Any advice? I'm not even sure if this is a hardware or software problem. I'm out of warranty so I am on my own, but I'm frustrated to be having these problems with such a new machine.
Thanks for any advice,
Cassandra
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Cassandra, in addition to Barbara's excellent suggestion: looking to see if you qualify for the program, please make sure that you have an external FireWire drive and clone your drive, (SuperDuper is an excellent choice for backing up, cloning and making scehduled backups).
Let us know how you made out,
Miriam
Rev A 20" iMac G5, 15"iMac G4, 15"iMac G3 DVD Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Startup problems w/ Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2002) M8667LL (dual 1 GHz)?

Startup problems w/ Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2002) M8667LL (dual 1 GHz)
Starts up with bong and then a long wait then screen comes on with old time smiley Mac and spinning beach ball then another long wait and then OS X loading bar and then a panic screen. Subsequent start, bong, and then hard drive spins for 6 or 7 minutes, then hard drive stops and then nothing. Could this be symptomatic of a hard drive failure?
Thanks very much.

I am pleased to report that I think the problem has been solved. Apparently the strange behavior can be attributed to overheating. After some on line research and the help of people on this list I opened the case and found that the logic board fan was clogged full of lint and dust. After cleaning it I discovered that the fan is inoperable. The computer is now operating with the case open and a small electric fan directed at the logic board heat sink. The computer has been operating flawlessly now for several hours. Will have to replace the bad cooling fan and clean the computer regularly. Thanks so much to all of the people who have responded to my request for help. Would like to mention that a firm with a canine connection charged me over a hundred dollars to report that their diagnosis is a faulty logic board.
Thank you.

Startup Problem & "Zapping the Pram"

Okay, I'm having startup problems, and I did the Command/Option/P/R startup.
Next, I know that Command S, or Option S, something like that should take me to a startup equivilant of Disk Utility. It's been so long, I forgot what to do. I searched but cannot find the answer.
Hopefully someone here can help.
Thanks.

See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106388
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh343.html
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
for details on starting up in various modes.

Long startup and long log out/restart

Hello I just recently successfully upgraded to leopard and everything seems like it's running fine but one thing i noticed is that it seems that leopard takes longer to startup. I also find that when I try to log out the beach ball rolls forever and the computer doesn't do anything. Has anyone else experienced this and how can I improve the performance?

JayjayQ wrote:
Hello I just recently successfully upgraded to leopard and everything seems like it's running fine but one thing i noticed is that it seems that leopard takes longer to startup. I also find that when I try to log out the beach ball rolls forever and the computer doesn't do anything. Has anyone else experienced this and how can I improve the performance?
Someone just pointed out that the startup problem can be related to items in your startup folder.
Under System->Accounts->Login Items see what's there. If you remove anything, remember what it was.

Long startup problems on MacBook

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