Another 10.4.7 problem: Won't boot up, won't repair disk

Seems I'm not the only one experiencing problems with the 10.4.7 update, but I haven't found a post about my specific problem.
I had some of the already mentioned problems, like an overall slow system and applications (Mail) not starting up. I did the first restart after the update, and my iMac booted normally. Then when I noticed those problems I attempted another reboot, and since then it won't get past the "Starting Mac OS X..." loading window with the blue progress bar.
Now, I already tried a disk permissions repair before the reboot, which froze up. I then started disk utility from the OSX DVD and tried a disk repair, which failed: "Macintosh HD could not be repaired after 3 attempts" with the "Underlying task reported an error". I read in the support documents on this page where it said I should use fsck instead, so I booted Single User Mode and tried fsck, but it gave the same error.
I also tried an "Archive and Install" which gave me something like "Install not possible at this time, please try again".
The safe mode won't boot either, it just freezes at the grey spinning wheel and the grey apple logo.
Unfortunately I don't have a backup, so I am pretty much confined to somehow fixing my existing installation, or doing an archive and install.
So, any suggestions on how I can boot up again?

Did you update your backup first and then check the hard drive for any directory problems with Disk First Aid repair via Disk Utility when booted from your Tiger install disc before installing the 10.4.7 update?
If not, sounds like the hard drive had some directory problems which can go unnoticed prior to installing a major OS update such as 10.4.7 but will be brought to the surface by installing the update.
If there is a hard drive directory problem that cannot be successfully repaired by DFA repair, the problem is substantial and your options are as follows:
Use a more substantial repair utility such as Disk Warrior which is highly regarded/recommended for OS X with no guarantee but DW has been known to work miracles.
Using the Tiger install package that shipped with your Mac, reformat the hard drive HFS+ (or extended) with Journaling enabled (which erases the hard drive) and re-install Tiger and all 3rd party applications and then restore all data from your backup.

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My laptop won't boot-up,won't let me get to the boot menu . can anyone help me,please.

Laptop won't boot-up,won't bootmenu.

Hi Willrobb1,
I understand your computer will not boot up. Restart your computer and keep press F9 to open the "Boot Menu" or "Boot Device Options". Press Enter to continue.
Here is a document on system restore if you need it. You can restore it to a previous point when it was working correctly.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c01835735&lc=en&product=5218386&tmp...
Hope it helps.
Thanks
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom to say “Thanks” for helping!

DVD drive won't boot from Leopard or Tiger disks

Hi,
I have had some issues booting from the OS install disks with my DVD drive, is it the drive or is it the software?
Can this be fixed?
Thanks
Tom

There are known issues with some Leopard discs not booting, but if your Tiger disc won't boot either, I would say you probably have a defective optical drive.
-Bmer
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Pavilion G2-b27SA Laptop Won't Boot - Fan Whirs and Hard Disk Light Comes On but Nothing Else

Hi
My Pavilion G2-b27SA laptop won't boot. The fan whirs, the hard disk and wirless lights come on but nothing happens on-screen and the fan goes quiet after a couple of seconds (to a low whir).
I've gone through and tried the solutions in this thread - http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-e-g-Windows-8/Laptop-will-not-turn-on/td-p/102825 - with no luck. Specifically, I've tried a hard reset and hitting F10 when the laptop tries to boot. Neither has had any effect.
Is there anything else I can try to get the computer working again? If I take it to a laptop repair shop (I'm out of warranty) will they be able to do anything, or is it effectively dead now?
Thanks in advance for your help.

The laptop can always be fixed if you have a bottomless wallet. On a no-start with flashing lights it is likely the motherboard and a motherboard replacement if you have the shop buy the board and bill you for labor will be about $300 give or take 25%. Before we give up, it could be bad memory or a few other less expensive things. Assuming they do not charge too much just to diagnose it; take it to the shop.

Circle w/ slash at boot; won't boot DiskWarrior; won't acknowledge OS 10.5

I have a Macbook which suddenly started booting up to a circle and slash symbol, and refuses to go any further.
There were a number of detailed threads about this on the forums, but none of them seemed to fit my particular situation. If anyone has any advice regarding the following, it would be very much appreciated:
I tried repairing the hard drive via DiskWarrior 4.1, but the Macbook refuses to boot from the CD. I can boot from my OS 10.5 DVD, but I am unable to run Disk Utility, as the application sees the Macbook's hard drive, but will not allow me to actually select it in order to verify or repair it. In addition, I have booted up the laptop in Target Disk mode, but my G5 tower fails to see it; however, my tower does acknowledge when there is a CD in the Macbook's drive (such as Disk Warrior or the OS 10.5 DVD).
Lastly, I tried to do an Archive & Install via my OS 10.5 DVD, but when I do this, the install application informs me that it is unable to find OS 10.4 or newer on the hard drive. (The only thing I can't remember is what version of 10.5 the laptop is running, although I update the laptop frequently.)
Anyone have any thoughts? I'd love to try and fix this myself before running to an Apple store.
Thanks,
Will

Start here: Mac OS X- "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts.
If a kernel panic is involved visit The XLab FAQs to read the FAQ on diagnosing kernel panics.
You can try this:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
This will not likely get the computer to start, but it would confirm if the drive is OK or repair the directory. If you can then gain access to the drive via Target Disk Mode then you may be able to recover your files. Then use DU to repartition and reformat the drive. If the drive cannot be repaired or reformatted, then it has most likely failed.

Hi all- got an iMac 2006 iSight 24". Problem -- not starting up, gets to apple logo grey screen and spinning wheel. It had a new 1tb sea gate 7200 HD. Now I'm starting up and it won't boot, and won't disc boot Says 'restart'. Hardware test ok...?..

Yes as described problem. I think the new drive maynot have been formatted before attempted OS install. But I am unable to get the iMac to boot form CD. When CD is out I just get blinking question mark. When boot from cd I get please restart. D option gives info and hardware test which is ok. Any ideas at all would really help. Many thanks.

I went to Genius Bar- they were unable to boot the iMac into an OS.
They didn't do anything more? They just returned a broken iMac right back to you w/o telling you anything more? If this is the case, I would take the comp to another AS or an AASP for a second opinion.

Mac G5 Won't boot. Won't boot from reinstall disc, doesn't recognize hard drives.

Hello everyone,
I have a problem with my 2005 G5 and I've tried desperately to fix it over the past couple days.
It started with my G5 oddly booting up to OSX Leopard and missing numerous key features such as the dock, the abillity to restart/shut down from the menu, and I was also unable to drag icons around on the desktop. Though, weirdly enough, some programs would still launch.
My goal this week was to reinstall the OS to see if it would fix the problem. I tried numerous times to reinstall from boot via CD while holding C at startup. Also tried reinstall from an external harddrive, and USB, to no avail. I hold down option, and it doesn't detect the internal hard drive. I put in a new 500GB hard drive, still doesn't detect it, nor does it detect the install disc, USB, or external HD.
Since putting in a new harddrive, sometimes the computer will not go past a black screen, but occasionally sometimes will get a grey screen. Fans start spinning like crazy at this point.
So to recap, thus far: I removed the old hard drive and put in a new one, switched around ram, reset PRAM, took out and put back in the video card, tried to reinstall from CD. Still the same results, unable to boot past a grey or black screen, and unable to re-install the OS.
My only conclusion is that it could be a bad logic board.
Does anyone have any insight on this, or agree with my hypothesis? If so, I'll likely pick up a new one off ebay and have a go at installing it.

Is the External drive USB or Firewire? G5s won't see/boot USB drives as a rule?
Do you have another Mac around with Firewire?
Might be time to replace the PRAM Battery, 4 years is close to their lifespan, far less if ever without AC power, & can cause strange startup problems...
See which one your G5 has...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/CR2032/
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BAA36VPRAM/
Have you done a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
Does it boot into Open Firmware with CMD+Option+o+f ?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642
reset-nvram (press Enter)
set-defaults (press Enter)
reset-all (press Enter)

Boot Camp won't boot Win 7 DVDs /Cloned disks - White cursor flashes once then Black Screen of Death.

Hi Guys,
I am having a serious issue with my machines ability to use boot camp. Here's what happend: I had Win 7 installed on the BOOTCAMP partition for a long while, then one day my HD crashed. So naturally I got my HD replaced from Apple and got Lion reinstalled and wokring flawlessly. Then I planned to get my Boot Camp going again, but my computer has a will against it I swear. So I run Boot Camp Assistant , create the parition and reboot. At this point I have my Win 7 disk burned using Disk utility in the drive, I am using a dvd disk image from Microsofts online store. I reboot and the computer hangs at the "pick a harddrive" grey for a second. Then the DVD drive spins up and I get a black screen, then for ever so slight a moment there is a flash of a white _ a the top left, then flash , nothing, the screen remains illumniated. Now I tried this multiple times , let it run over night , and nothing. Its almost as if my laptop will no longer boot the style of dvd that win 7 is.
Being a diagnostics first type of a person I tested all the variables, the win 7 cd works fine in other macbook pros. My computer boots other mac os x DVDs without a problem. I also tried using winclone to create a copy of another machines Boot Camp and flash it to my BOOT CAMP drive but this has the exact same result! Therefore it seems that the underlying system that runs my Macs ability to boot from Windows-style? partitions and dvd is broken. I also tried installing rEFIt, but that doesn't seem to help. I also tried booting off of an external USB drive with the same result. I tried zapping p-ram , scm and doing all software updates.
Has anyone expereinced anything like this? Anyone found resolution to a similar issue? Any other tricks related to Macs EFI and boot process that I could use to debug this? Anywhere that EFI stores logs possibly?
I went to the Apple's Genius Bar and they were stumped on my issue. I felt that they should be able to fix it considering it booted fine before I had Apple replace my HD.
Thanks to any responders, I'm really hitting my head on the table now and would love some help.

Have you reset the PRAM? It should usually be done when replacing any hardware. Have you got the latest EFI firmware for your Mac?
Not knowing what model /YEAR your MBP is (not that it would help me too much but the other fellas probably would) it's hard to guess as there are issue's for different models. The only thing I could find was it's usually caused by a non-conforming video driver. Microsoft had a page on it I found by accident and now I can't find it!
WinClone hasn't been updated by the original author in over a year, others have tweeked it a little to work with W7 but seems to be semi reliable, so the be aware.
Unless the other MBP's are identical in Model AND year your putting older or incompatible drivers on your MBP. Boot Camp, (especially if your using the drivers on the original install disks, like 10.6 and earlier) will only install for that specific computer. Just like the OS installer.
EDIT:
Oh yeah, are you sure you have the partition formatted the right way, thats another black screen problem.
Message was edited by: Jaygyver

XServe and 10.5 won't boot..."syncing disks killing all processes"

Hey Everybody,
Have an Xserve Intel Quad-Core Xenon 2.8 GHz, 80gb, 2 Gb RAM. 10.5 Server.
2 Gb of RAM has been anemic. The server runs a few Cold Fusion Web Sites, DNS, OD, FTP, AFP, and Mail Services. Our mail is not light duty as we send out almost daily 70,000 e-mails to our customers.
Last week I added 2 x 4gb DIMM to bring up the RAM to 10 Gb. I added the RAM to slots 3 & 4. Saw great improvement right away. The night after, I noticed the server rebooted during the night. (Didn't look into why )
Well, I came in this morning and was checking up on the server (via ARD) and couldn't connect. Went to the server room and saw the machine was off. Not good. I restarted it and went back to my office. Checked again on ARD, and still wasn't available. Went back to server, rebooted in verbose mode (after booting with a monitor and seeing the screen show the apple with the spinning gear) and It's hanging then shutting down within three minutes of boot.
Attached is a pic of what is shown, at around 3 minutes from boot the screen will then say "syncing disks killing all processes" and the server shuts down.
I've googled all morning and have tried various methods to boot to no avail.
I removed the RAM that I added and the problem persists. I also removed the drive sled and reinserted it into the xserve and also tried bay 2.
Other things...
Yesterday added two more web sites and the DNS for it in Server Admin.
Any suggestions? Bad drive?
Shaun

OK, having exactly same issue - but on a much older and much less duty machine. Dual G4 1Ghz running 10.5 Server. Noticed that I could not connect via ARD and did hard shutdown, notice identifier light was on as well. The system did reboot as I could get my mail, but when I connected a monitor to it all I had was gray screen.
Did another hard shutdown after pressing IL and not just gets to logo and spinning wheel for a short while and shuts down.
It has been up and running flawlessly for long time prior to this.
My name is Sean too, maybe that is the issue...

Laptop won't boot up,won't accept Tiger disc

My powerbook G4 would not start up today after I had shut it down. The gray screen came up and the spinning wheel just kept on spinning and nothing else happened. I checked Discussions (using my iMac) and tried to follow the advice given to someone else to use the Mac OS X Tiger disk to restart the laptop so that I could then use Disk Utility to repair the HD. I could not get the powerbook to accept the disk. I pushed it in but it doesn't get taken in the rest of the way and pops back out. Any ideas for what I should do?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Janet

I booted up in Safe Mode and all went well. The clunk sound did not occur but perhaps that was because I didn't try to insert any disk.
I am going on a trip for about 3 weeks and will take the laptop and hope it starts ok at every stop. Since it did start ok normally and in Safe Mode without the clunk, I don't think it would be wise to run the Hardware Test, which involves the insertion of a disk. The laptop will probably not accept it and then when I start it, it will make that noise, which as you said doesn't sound good. I certainly don't want to cause any damage and that sound is ominous. When I get home I will take it in to the Genius Bar at my nearby Apple Store to see what they think. It has developed another problem with charging the battery that they think might be the logic board or the in/out board so I am sure I am going to be having to buy a new laptop. This one is 5 yrs old and has been trouble-free until recently. I just need it to survive the trip. The good thing is that I have backed it up recently but I still don't want the HD to die since I would want the contents (photos, documents) to be transferred to the new laptop.
Anyway, thanks for your advice to try booting in Smart Mode. Should I continue to start it that way? What does using that booting method do and what is the advantage of using it?
Janet

Help! Need iPod GENIUS. iPods won't boot after some syncs except disk mode

Greetings all! Long time lurker, new member! I hate this kind of first post, but I am stuck. After years of having iPods myself (mostly 2nd gen Nanos) and playing with friends' flash and drive based iPods, I bought a 5.5 gen 30GB video iPod in mid July. It was new, from Amazon.com. I don't have a lot of time to screw with it, so I didn't really try to load it until recently.
Here's the deal - it seems fine in just about every way. iTunes sees it, and although I have a couple thousand songs, I can transfer (at times), over 1000 at a time during a sync and then disconnect it (yes it is set up in disk mode - I am running on XP) via the iTunes "eject" disconnect button or via the XP removable drive STOP process, and every several times I do it, instead of it switching from "Do not disconnect" back to the Main Menu, it reboots (while still plugged in). And it happens any time I try to start a new sync with my entire libarary of 23GB of music. When it reboots, I am toast. The apple logo is gray, then lights up, then hangs, then click, then reboots. Wash, rinse, repeat. The ONLY way to stop it is to let the battery run dead or to start it in disk mode. If I start it in disk mode, it still seems absolutely normal in every way - iTunes even sees the library on it - but I cannot reboot it in regular mode to play it.
I have tried it on two XP pcs, one Home, one Pro. Both have updated anti-virus, and spyware programs, and firewalls (and are behind firewalls) and I have tried disabling them to make sure they aren't the cause of the problem. I have tried 2 differend transfer cables. I have rebooted into diagnostic mode, and it shows no errors. I have run CopyTransDoctor and it shows no problems, including no bad sectors.
So I returned it to the Apple store, and they gave me a service unit and guess what? It acts the EXACT SAME WAY.
Please don't just tell me to switch to a Mac. I have a Mac Mini, and I am going to give it a shot, but I don't want to have to be a slave to an MP3 player with problems. At some fundamental level, it just seems like the boot record gets screwed up, and if I could at least fix that, then I think it would function normally, even if it is unacceptable one should have to do that.
I am running 1.2.1 firmware and 2 of the latest versions of iTunes, FWIW.
Thanks to anyone who has the expertise to solve this mystery. The local Apple Store is baffled, but it appears they don't want to give me my money back or a credit due to it being bought from Amazon (even though they are an authorized reseller).
Thanks again.

*Please don't just tell me to switch to a Mac.* Giggle, giggle!
*The local Apple Store is baffled, but it appears they don't want to give me my money back or a credit due to it being bought from Amazon (even though they are an authorized reseller).* Just because they are an "authorized reseller" does not mean that Apple can recoup the refund.
Now, to your problem. Perhaps the Apple Store already suggested this but you always want to begin with the basics. These steps might not solve your problem but they're kind of like checking to confirm that the TV is plugged in before you troubleshooot the blank screen.

Archlinux Won't Boot With Or Without Installation Disk

At first my laptop started to turn on and off by itself. So I reseatted the ram to see if that was the problem. After a while, it started to tell me to put a disk or some "media device" inside of the computer to get it to run. I mounted my partitions and checked /etc/fstab to find that it was absolutely empty as though I had never genfstab'd in the first place.
I gen-fstab'd like one usually would when installing arch after mounting all partitions and swapon. While mounted, I also update the system, re-installed base base-devel and then restarted. I left the disk in for good measure to see if it would load that up, as without it that I couldn't access my bios. Now, I see a message that says
boot:
When I try to "Boot existing OS" off of the grub menu of the live CD. And hints or tips?
It also doesn't seem to be a hardware issue but a kernel one. Because when I type in "linux" in front of the colon it'll tell me that "linux" is not found. Also, if that were the case I doubt that I would be able to mount my partitions and find all of my files there still.

it isn't load grub
enter on boot : u will seen some word like "no kernel install"
if that right u should reinstall grub2
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GR … ode_region
may be it is a bug , cause use grub2 with mbr
hope to help , try it.
iso desc.
Current Release: 2013.03.01
Included Kernel: 3.7.9
ISO Size: 501.0 MB
Last edited by aborigines (2013-03-09 16:51:52)

MacBook won't boot after trying to repair with Disk Utility. Cannot boot in Safe Mode. Just powers down after about 5 minutes. Apple Hardware Test says error 4SNS/1/40000001:IG0C-0.265 But I cannot find anything on the net about it. MacBook 4,1 Intel.

Hello Everyone,
I am in dire need of assistance I am hoping someone could provide. I have a MacBook 4,1 with Intel Core 2 Duo processor 4GB Ram. It is taking over 10 minutes to boot up past the gray apple screen when I turn it on. First I cleared the PRam (?) then I checked the disk using Disk Utility Verify, and it said the disk needed repairs. So I ran the disk repair and it said it was unable to fix the errors on the HD.
I did a little research and tried booting into the Single User mode, then running /sbin/fsck -fy. It said that it found errors but could not fix them. I ran it two more times as suggested and got the same result each time. I then tried rebooting and now instead of taking 10 minutes to boot up, it takes about 5 minutes on the gray apple screen and then just turns off. I started in Verbose mode to try to troubleshoot the error and it appears the last thing to come across the screen before power down is a message "Apple Yukon 2: RxRingSize <= 1024....etc".
I decided next I would run the Apple Hardware Tester. The test came back with an error code "4SNS/1/40000001:IG0C-0.265". I am very good at searching the web but I could not find any errors that had the IG0C or IGOC or any combination at the end, but plenty of 4SNS/1/40000000(1) errors with different endings. From what I can tell people are saying anything with 4SNS/1/4000000 is a logic board failure, but this computer was literally just booting this morning until I did the /sbin/fsck -fy.
Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Thank you for your time.

You've a couple of issues .... when Disk Utility tells you it can't repair a drive, if the error is a soft error, like an invalid tree or node, Disk Warrior (or TechTool Pro) can handle it. However, if Disk Warrior (or TechTool Pro) can't handle it, you can erase and write zero's to the hard drive and restore to it, or you can buy a new hard drive. Sometimes running SMART Utility can provide additional insight into the health of the hard drive.
THe 4SNS error is a sensor error. You could install iStat Pro to see if something is indeed getting too hot or remaining room temp or less. You may need to take it into an Apple shop so they can use their thermal diagnostics to test and isolate it further.

Mac Pro won't boot after adding new hard disk.

I have 2 SATA back up disks which I want to install in my Mac Pro. But when I install them into my mac and hit the ON button, I hear a "click" and nothing happens. When I remove the hard drives the Mac will boot. I also tried it with only one of the two hard drives but no luck.
What could this be ?

There is a lack of just what these are, outside of assuming 3.5" SATA
Did you erase or format them? what make/model and bought from where?
Tried booting OS X DVD?
also, if this is Early 2009 and you are still on 10.5.8, you should strongly consider if you use ANY audio program or deivce, to upgrade to 10.6.5+
PS: unplug? after shutdown? or in order to shutdown?
That can add trouble to your boot drive.
Try safe boot also. And check the directory of all your drives.

Won't boot up, Won't boot up?

Gray screen, spinning gear but will not start. Have restarted several times, same thing happens. I can hear running sound

See if the solution lies here:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Ciao.

Another 10.4.7 problem: Won't boot up, won't repair disk

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