Unable to boot from hard drive or install dvd

Out of the the blue my powerbook won't boot up. I've tried to reset the PRAM, I've tried to verbose thing but all it said was that it couldn't establish a connection to the windowserver. I've even tried to power on holding the option key but the hard drive and install dvd both have x's on them. What can I do to get this thing working again?

Have you tried rebooting in safe mode? Failing that, have you tried rebooting from the install disc so you can run Disk Repair? For either of these tests, insert your system disc and follow the instructions here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
Good luck!

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G5 wont boot from hard drive after install

ok, so i bought my G5 from the school i go to but under their confidential stuff they had to take the hard drive from the computer before they could sell it to me. i thought that would be just fine as i could just get a new hard drive to replace it. turns out im having much more trouble then i thought. the hard drive i am using is a 1Tb western digital WD10EALS (http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?p_faqid=1400&p_created=&p_pv=2.295&pprods=227%2C295). when i install the disk it boots from the leopard retail disk and it reads the hard drive just fine. i select it and it goes through the install successfully. upon rebooting though, i get the blinking folder with the question mark on it. a lot of the stuff i have read says you can go in through disk utility and partition the drive but i still have yet to see anything that says something about disk utility. when it asks where to install OS X it shows the 900 some Gb of my hard drive and when i hit options the only options it has are upgrade, archive and install, and erase and install. and when you do erase and install it gives you the option of doing "journal" format or "case sensitive, journal" format. i suspected jumper settings but when i read through the manual on the WD website it didnt seem to say anything about doing something specifically for apple. it had a jumper for slower transfer rate 1.5Gb/s one called SSC which i guess is for radio interference.
any help would make me super happy, i am a computer technician and the reason i bought this computer was to step up my apple game. but having some trouble right now. thanks for taking the time to read this!
Message was edited by: chubbs899

Hi chubbs899, and a warm welcome to the forums & Macdom!
i have read says you can go in through disk utility and partition the drive but i still have yet to see anything that says something about disk utility.
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/partitioningtiger.html
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html
it gives you the option of doing "journal" format or "case sensitive, journal" format.
Don't use Case Sensitive, confuses many Apps.
i suspected jumper settings but when i read through the manual on the WD website it didnt seem to say anything about doing something specifically for apple. it had a jumper for slower transfer rate 1.5Gb/s
Yes, it needs that jumper on pins 5&6.

Mac will not boot from hard drive or install disc

Hello All
In dire need of advise...my intel Mac will not boot, even tried booting to the Snow Leopard install disc and all I'm getting is the white screen, apple logo and the wheel.
Just before this happened there was a buzzing sound like the fan was about to fail but that is only a guess on my part. Is there a keyboard shortcut to boot to a terminal window or similar to force the computer to boot from the install disc.
Thanks in advance for any help offered.
Warren

Hi Warren
Try holding the Option key and see if it will boot into Startup Manager, where you should be able to choose from a good Drive or your install Disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533
or the D key and run the Apple Hardware Test.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
Also note: key commands may require a USB Keyboard if your using a wireless and it has become unpaired.
Dennis

DV7-6185us wont boot from hard drive.

I recently installed a new hard drive after the one it came with completely crashed. After installation of new hard drives, I inserted and installed all of the recovery disks needed for the new hard drive. Upon completetion it said it needed a restart and after restart I get a message saying I need a OS for the hard drive for boot up.
I went into my bios to make sure the hard drive was first in boot order which it is but when trying to pick where to put from on the bios screen it only give me the cd option. I ran a full diagnostic of the hard drive and everything checks out. I made sure to unplus the hard drive and tried a different slot and still get the same thing. Installation when fine but still won't boot from hard drive.
Is there something that i'm missing? The hard drive is fine. So what could it be?

Hi,
Assuming this is just a problem with the recovery media, here's an alternative option you could try.
Before trying the following, make sure you can still read the 25 Character Product Activation key on your Windows COA label ( 5 blocks of 5 alpha/numeric sets ).
An example of a COA Label can be seen Here.
You can create a Windows 7 installation disc yourself using another PC - just download the correct Disc Image ( this must be the same version that originally came with your notebook - this is listed as Windows 7 Home Premium ) from the link below and use an application such as ImgBurn to burn the ISO correctly to a blank DVD - a guide on using ImgBurn to write an ISO to a disc is Here. These Images are clean and from a well-respected source - Digital River.
Windows 7 Images.
Use the disc to perform the installation, enter the Windows activation key found on the COA Label when requested and when the installation has completed, use the 'Phone Method' detailed in the link below to activate the OS - this method supported by Microsoft and is popular with people who just want a clean installation of Windows 7 without the additional software load normally bundled with OEM installations.
http://www.kodyaz.com/articles/how-to-activate-windows-7-by-phone.aspx
Any additional drivers and software you may need can be found Here.
Regards,
DP-K
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****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

V120 server boot from hard drive freezes

Hi
I just installed open solaris build 75 on a sun v120 server. After the instalation all went well and I configured the processes and users on the server just like I did yesterday on another v120. What i did afterwards that was different from yesterday is that I put the machine on standby by holding the power off (0) switch for a few seconds, then unpluged the power chord. After turning the power on again the server will freeze the boot process in the first 2 steps after it tries booting from hard drive. (It does pass all hardware checks). To comunicate with the server I connect a windows PC on the lom port with serial cable and the SecureCRT software. I tried to break into lom with #. after poweron but it doesn't seem to work. And the lom console in standby wont let me boot from cdrom or anything while in standby. Can anyone give me some guidance here? I don't have much experience with this kind of hardware.

Well, LOL, I did that prior to buying the software. It does meet the specifications. I found the solution on the support site. When I googled before I hadn't googled the error message verbatim. Doing so led me to this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926 where I was instructed to create a tiny partition (128MB) and then run the installer again. No explanation was given as to why, but this did work and I am typing this via the new OS. Thanks for trying to help me baltwo! Best regards.

Installing Windows 7 on my bootcamp partition (mid-2009 mac book pro with mountain lion) My computer won't boot from the Windows 7 Install DVD.

Hello,
I have been trying to install Windows 7 on my macbook pro (mid 2009, MBP53). I have successfully created a bootcamp partition using the assistant. When the computer tries to boot from the windows 7 install dvd, the screen is just black. The dvd spins for a bit, then stops and the computer is just black (no blinking cursor).
Any advice would be very appreciated.
Thanks.

What kind of an install DVD are you using for Windows?
You can use any DVDs that are hardware specific. Only the full non-hardware soecific DVDs work on the Mac.
Allan

Powerbook won't boot from hard drive or restore disk

I've looked through some of the older posts here and none of them exactly matches my problem, and I've tried just about any possible solution I can think of.
I recently noticed that my PowerBook was acting a bit strange. It was making more fan noises than usual, and sometimes the computer would make the very last noise it makes as it shuts down (which is the hard drive coming to rest, I suppose?), though the computer would still be running. Then, yesterday the computer froze and I hit command-control-power, and when the computer restarted it gave me a folder icon blinking between a question mark and the Mac logo.
I tried restarting again, but I had no luck. Now when I try to start up I get the start-up chime, then I get one of three things:
1) If I restart it without a CD in the drive, I get the blinking folder.
2) If I restart it with the Software Restore and Install DVD in (but without holding down the C key), it gets to the Apple logo and shows the spinning pinwheel or whatever you want to call it, then freezes and some nasty horizontal bars pop across the screen.
3) If I restart it with the Restore & Install DVD in and I hold down the C key, it gives me the Apple logo, then the "Your computer has encountered a problem and needs to be restarted" box pops up.
I tried zapping the PRAM--no luck. I tried Open Firmware; the screen pops up, then I type in "mac-boot" and I get the same thing as in #2 above.
I used the Hardware Test CD; it told me that there was a Mass Storage error with the error code 2STF/1/4. That doesn't sound too pleasant.
I'm not sure what caused it; perhaps it was a heat thing, but I moved it too a different surface. All the hardware is original except for the Airport card, which has worked fine since Christmas. The only recent software changes I've made were updating to the newest versions of iTunes and Firefox. It doesn't seem like a hard drive problem, since the boot CD won't work.
Am I doomed to sending Apple a couple hundred bucks to fix this? The laptop is right at three years old, so even if I'd had AppleCare it would be expiring right about now. Or is it time to buy one of those MacBooks? Or just buy a couple PC's and use each one till it breaks, then throw it out?
Thanks,
Kevin

I finally got to another Mac. I installed Mac OS X onto my Firewire drive, then hooked up the drive to my Powerbook and used the Startup Manager. The drive showed up on Startup Manager and I chose to boot from it. When I did, the startup process continued briefly, then froze just like it does when I try to boot from the CD.
I know my Powerbook's hard drive is shot, and to be honest, I'm fine with that--there isn't any critical, essential data on there. I tried starting the Powerbook up in Target Disk mode, but that doesn't work either--I hear the chime, press T, but the screen stays black.
Now my question is: can I rip the hard drive out? Or do I have not only a bad hard drive, but also something else gone wrong? I'm not opposed to buying a new internal hard drive and installing it myself if that will fix the problem; what I don't want to do is spend a few hundred bucks to take it to someone who's only going to tell me that my omputer is now a paperweight.
Also, my Powerbook isn't one of the ones with a recalled battery. The computer can get pretty hot, even when sitting on a desk, but I just figured that was normal.
Thanks,
Kevin

T400 problem booting from hard driver, cursor blinking on top left screen corner

I'm having problems with T400 (2765-TDG). It has trouble with booting, which requires 5 minutes power off/on in order to propely boot operating system.
Notebook is less than two months old, fully properly driver updated then so after that nothing is been done on it neither from user or from system administrator.Problem occured suddenly after two weeks of mentioned maintenance.
Symptoms:
After mouse intialization, screen goes black, and on top left corner white cursor blinks
There is no keyb key which can contine booting process, expect rebooting
There is no other device connected to notebook, not even mouse
It's needed several, sometimes 3-4, sometimes even 10, times to reboot with power key in order to get operating system booting
When it suceeds booting, just before booting operating system, in diagnostic mode of booting (with quick boot disabled) I can hear only one beep
What I tried to do:
I've changed BIOS setting to force booting only from hard drive, turned off any other booting device.
Also, changed from AHCI to Compatibility mode for hard disk but with no help.
Turned off quick boot, but during booting process, there is no specific error shown
Upgraded BIOS version to 2.03-1.01 but with no help
Restored BIOS default setup, no help
Did some general diagnostics, and here is what I've noticed:
After changing settings in BIOS, save&exit, computer hangs with black screen. I have to turn it off and back on in order to continue booting. Settings in BIOS are saved properly.
When I succeed with booting into operating system (XP), graphic card sometimes is not recognized, not even by original driver installation. In device manager, I see two recognized graphic card drivers with warning sign, and "Intel management engine interface" device with warning sign
In event viewer, then only error line is "Problem with HECI driver communicating with firmware" or something like that
Operating system is not able to enter in standby mode, it justshows blank screen and I'm forced to switch off notebook by pressing power off button for longer time
Any help appreciated. Thanks! I hope I can deal with this before I send notebook to authorized service.
Vedran
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I'm sorry to tell you, but in may case, I had to send notebook to authorized service provider. They replaced mainboard and hard drive (!?). Now everything works fine, but puts shame on Thinkpad T series notebook.

Setting T61 to boot from cd drive to install OS

My problem started with my T61 getting a BSOD midway through loading windows and then progressed slowly into the hard drive's data getting completely corrupted and it being... well, for all intents and purposes empty.
I have a windows XP install disc and want to boot form the disc, to format the hard drive and install a fresh XP install.
I can't do that, however, since the BIOS won't allow me to make any changes to boot priority )or anything at all for that matter.
I turn the computer on, with the CD inside and all I get is a black screen with a flashing underscore in the top left corner.
I am away on vacation right now (and for a month) so I can't get to a lenovo tech support center or anything.
Any advice?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

orangedino,
I'm sorry; George's advice is the only solution. As this subject is not allowed to be discussed here as stated in the forum rules - Thread locked
No posts shall include instructions or directions intended to subvert security measures, including passwords, locking mechanisms, fingerprint scans, etc, nor shall any posts provide descriptions to the location of, nor direct links to content related to these topics.
Thanks for understanding
Andy ______________________________________
Please remember to come back and mark the post that you feel solved your question as the solution, it earns the member + points
Did you find a post helpfull? You can thank the member by clicking on the star to the left awarding them Kudos Please add your type, model number and OS to your signature, it helps to help you. Forum Search Option T430 2347-G7U W8 x64, Yoga 10 HD+, Tablet 1838-2BG, T61p 6460-67G W7 x64, T43p 2668-G2G XP, T23 2647-9LG XP, plus a few more. FYI Unsolicited Personal Messages will be ignored.
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Unable to boot from OSX 10.6 installation DVD to run Disk Repair

Hello all,
I have something that is puzzling me. My MacBook Pro hasn't been giving me the best experience lately - the system just seems... slow.
So I ran a disk permissions fix and it found some errors which I repaired. Then, I thought it might be wise to run a disk check on the System Disk as well.
So I attempted to boot from the Mac OSX installation DVD - I tried both a "hold the "C" key" method as well as the "Set start-up disk preferences to boot from DVD" method. I even tried two different OSX installation DVD's in case one wasn't working.
Then, I reset PRAM and I reset SMC (or at least followed the procedure as outlined by Apple - it doesn't really seem to give a strong indication of whether the process occurred or not)
I just cannot get the system to boot from DVD. (I even tried TechTools Pro 5).
I even let it "sit" for more than 4 hours in case it was just taking it's time.
Can anyone think of what the deal might be? I'm REALLY wanting to run a System Disk check now!

Ta-Da! Worked!
You learn something new every day here! I had no idea that I couldn't boot from a standard OSX boot disk and had to use the in-box one.
It does raise the question of which version of Disk Check I will be using - as there has been several upgraded to my OS since I bought this MacBook Pro (it has 10.6.3)
THANKS! I really appreciate the help - now I can check the disk.

G3 won't boot from hard drives or startup (original) CDs

I recently installed OS X 10.4 on my Mac G3 (6GB HD, 256MB Ram, blue & white). It ran fine for one week. After one week, when it would boot up, I would have 800 MB of free space. Within a few minutes I would get an out of memory error and my HD would have zero space left...effectively locking up the machine. I was told to increase my memory to 1GB (I did) and to install a new HD (I did, a Seagate 80GB). I partitioned the Seagate into two equal partitions. About the time that the OS finished this task, I received a security upate installation dialogue asking me in install a new security update. I said "OK". About the time the security update was installed, the system ran out of memory...then asked me to restart the machine. I have not been able to get it to restart since. Can't startup with the OS9 CD, the OSX CD OR Diskwarrior. I keep getting the same message..."panic(cpu 0 caller 0x002DE020): Unable to find driver for this platform: "powerMac1,1". Then there is a whole lot of other stuff with a final comment "We are hanging here..." I can't seem to find anyone to help me with this. I brought the machine back to its orginal configuration...didn't work. I disconnected the old 6GB HD and was able to install OSX on the new drive...but, after installing on the new hard drive, I rebooted and I am back to the same errors. I keep getting the OS9 flashing folder with "?"/face. HELP!
Thanks,
Pat
G3 Blue & Whote Mac OS X (10.4.4)

You are having kernel panics as shown in this Apple doc.#106227.
Do everything, in order, in Dr.Smokes Resolving Kernel Panics and don't leave out any steps.
Quote from Dr.Smoke "My FAQ is a roadmap: start at the beginning and work through to the end, following the instruction in the order specified, including the "If all else fails..." section if a cause or resolution is not found in an earlier troubleshooting step therein"
Here's more at a brody's KP site.
Cheers!
DALE

Unable to boot on hard drive in HP pavilion dv41211tu

I bought new hard drive Hitachi 500 GB 7200 rpm and try to boot by recovery CD I have but unable to boot. The screen shows black with blinking arrow when insert recovery CD. Please help me to sort out the problem . when tried some other CD of window 7 from market it starts booting but shows load driver

Hello , Welcome back to the HP Support Forums! I came across your post about the recovery, and wanted to assist you! You may want to try installing your original Hard Drive, and copying it to the new one. Please review the following resources to assist you, if needed:Move to a New Hard Drive (Not a HP supported Web site).HP Notebook PCs - Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows Vista) Please let me know if this information was helpful by clicking the thumbs up below.
Regards!

IMac turned off suddenly, won't boot from hard drive/CD drive

Hi guys.
Here is what I have:
27" iMac with:
Core i5 2.7
4GB RAM
Mountain Lion
Win7 on Bootcamp
Lion is installed, but I have the Snow Leopard install disc.
The system had just been recently reformatted so there wasn't really much on the computer itself other than an update to Mountain Lion and a Win7 install via Bootcamp. Other than that, nothing was recentlly installed.
What happenes is I was browsing and all of a sudden it completely shut down. No warning, nothing. Completely shuts down.
Okay.. weird... but when I try to load Mac back up, the Apple logo appears and then after a while of supposedly loading, the screen goes to a plain white screen until I force the computer off. Something similar happens when tryin gto boot into Windows: I get to the "Starting Windows" screen but after that everything goes black and I have to shut down manually.
Great. Now I'll just go into recovery and fix all of this right? Wrong. Can't boot into recovery either. Similar end result: white screen.
Last thing I tried is reinstall OS X Snow Leopard. After loading for about 1-2 minutes, the usual white screen appears after trying to boot from the disc.
I am at a loss. I don't think its the hard drive, because the problem occurs even when trying to boot from the disc. My suspicion is the RAM has gone bad. But, before I go the hardware route, is there any suggestions or recommendations anyone could make first?
In advance, I really appreciate anyone who replies and tries to help.
Thanks.

Xmotox,
I had the EXACT problem today. EXACT. Discs wouldn't boot, I did get the application disc to run the AHT but it said all was fine.
I called my buddy who said something about unplugging for a minute then holding power button while plugging the power supply back in. I thought it would be futile since we already did all the SMC reset procedures to no avail, PRAM reset didn't do anything, etc, etc... But what do you know, up pops the disc utility and my iMac is now restoring from time machine. It's not done yet, so I can't say it worked... BUT it's the farthest we got tonight. Could not get disc utility up via CMD-R or OPTION keys... but powering down, unplugging for a minute or so, then holding power button while plugging the power supply back in did the trick. Hope this helps!

Power Mac G4 400 MHz (AGP graphics) will not boot from hard drive

I have a Mac G4 400 MHz (AGP graphics) Machine Model: PowerMac 3.1 CPU Type:PowerPC G4 (2.8)
When I try to boot from the hard drive I get the folder with the flashing question Mark. The Machine will start up from the OSX 10.4 installer disk.
The system was running OSX 10.4.9 fine. I began to have problems with the hard drive, so I replaced it with an old Maxtor 5T040H4 40Gig Apple branded drive that I had sitting around.
The drive is jumpered (r50) for Master/Single.
I erased the drive in the old G4 using disk utility and wrote all zeros. I then used my store bought Tiger 10.4 install disk to install 10.4 on the drive.
After restarting I still get the flashing question mark. If I leave the Install disk in the DVD drive the system will attempt to install again.
I have zapped the PRAM, pressed the CUDA button, removed the battery and let the system sit unplugged for over and hour and it still will not boot from the hard drive.
To test the drive I removed it and put it in a Granite Digital firewire enclosure and connected it to another mac. The drive shows up and the system appears to be installed correctly.
What am I forgetting to do? Does anyone have any suggestions.
Thanks in advance.
Wesley G.

Hi! If Tom's solution doesn't work I would reboot from the install disc and then partition the drive as 1 partition instead of erasing it. Sounds like the driver on the disk is too old and installing a new partition map should write a new driver to the drive that is compatible with Tiger. Other than that it is possible that the drive has a spin delay jumper enabled and the drive isn't spinning up fast enough and the computer isn't looking long enough for the drive. Tom

After 10.5 upgrade Mac will not boot from hard drive

I just upgraded to 10.5 Leopard but my mac will not boot from the hard drive even after selecting my hard drive as the startup disk. The mac will start to boot but will cut itself off before the boot is complete. I have to leave the Leopard disk in the mac and hold down C to get the mac to turn on but it only allows me to install the software again.

instead of archive and install you might first want to try restoring your system using TM to some time point before your failed 10.5.1 upgrade. Then try upgrading to 10.5.1 again. I would suggest downloading the full 110 MB upgrade and installing it manually rather than doing it through the software upgrade menu.
You can download the upgrade here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macosx1051update.html

Unable to boot from hard drive or install dvd

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