Buy a new battery or hard drive, or just buy a new laptop?

What should I do when my macbook won't turn on and I haven't been able to regularly turn it on and leave it on for months?
I've taken it to a macbook store twice-
once it turned on and nothing wrong happened and the second time I left it there and they said they'd fixed it and I picked it up later, only to have the same things happen again- start up noise won't come on or loud beeping will occur before it will turn on;
will freeze in the middle of start-up or during use of the laptop and I will have to do a hard shut-down.
Should I get a new harddrive or a new battery, or just forget about it and buy a new laptop?

Maybe first try to isolate if you have a problem with either the battery or hard drive, try booting the machine with neither. Remove the battery, plug in the MagSafe, and try to boot from the Mac OS X DVD. You should be able to run Disc Utility from the Installer menu to run some basic tests to verify and repair the data structure on the drive.

Similar Messages

I want to make a TimeMachine backup in a new hard-drive I just bought. It says it has to erase the info but as the drive is new there's no info in it, so what it is going to be erased?

I want to make a TimeMachine backup in a new hard-drive I just bought. It says it has to erase the info but as the drive is new there's no info in it, so what it is going to be erased?
I had to format it after I bought it so that it could work with windows and Mac and I'm afraid that if I erase the info in the hard-drive, the format will also change. Is that possible to happen? Or the format will stay the same?
Thank you

Do you want to continue to use it to share and store files between Windows and NTFS and Mac which uses HFS?
Maybe you need another drive. I would never have only one backup and one "live" data set.
you probably installed something, whether it is current or well supported or not, that came with the drive to allow writing to NTFS.
TimeMachine has to use HFS only and use Apple GPT (GUID) format.
sometimes erase changes a drive to GUID when you click on the raw hard drive name in Disk Utility. other times you can erase a volume and leave the partition format type as is. The wording use to be clearer when people knew when and how to initialize, format and setup a drive. And sometimes a message on the screen says it will be only launches Disk Utility and not to the PARTITION tab to make changes.
In addition to TimeMachine, having a clone of your system or data or both can be very useful as well. Drives fail.
And with a MacBook Air you probably have a smallish internal hard drive and might need to store media files and data on another drive to supplement the internal SSD.

HT4743 i had to replace my hard drive so just got computer back and had to download new i-tunes but can"t find any of my purchase movies or t.v shows how do i get "em back...?

i had to replace my hard drive so just got computer back and had to download new i-tunes soft ware but none of my purcased t.v. shows or movies will show up how do i get"em back.....?

Welcome to the Apple Community.
You can re-download content purchased from the iTunes store (availability varies depending on location) using the purchased option from the Quick Links section in the top right corner of the iTunes homepage in your iTunes application on your computer.

I have just transferred my iTunes library from a hard drive previously connected to a windows laptop to a MacBook Pro and now all my options for editing info are greyed out. I have seen the answers if still using windows but could find a similar situation

I have just transferred my iTunes library from a hard drive previously connected to a windows laptop to a MacBook Pro and now all my options for editing info are greyed out. I have seen the answers if still using windows but could find a similar situation to this one.

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

My hard drive crashed and everything on my laptop was lost... is there anyway to transfer the music that I had put onto my phone into the itunes on my computer ?

My hard drive crashed and everything on my laptop was lost... is there anyway to transfer the music that I had put onto my phone into the itunes on my computer ?

I have a similar issue. My hard drive crashed, so I had a new one installed and I'm basically starting from scratch on my computer. My iPhone has a lot of my stuff on it (photos and music in particular). When I plugged into iTunes I did a "back up" of my phone to the computer....this transferred the photos in my camera roll, and music purchased through iTunes.
So....I still have a ton of photos (saved in folders, not my camera roll), and music (older stuff not purchased through iTunes) that I want to get to my computer. I am scared to "sync" my phone in iTunes for the first time.....if I do this, will it make my phone match my computer (effectively erasing the stuff on the phone?). What I want is for my computer to match my phone (thus transferring the additional photos and music). Is the third party software the only way?? Does it really work well/is it worth the money? Thanks very much for the help.

HT1751 I copied my old itunes library from my pc on to a external hard drive and put it on my laptop. How do i merge it with my current itunes account on my laptop?

I copied my old itunes account on my pc to an external hard drive and put it on my laptop. How do i merge my old itunes with my current account on my laptop?
Thanks

Tunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Downloading (using iOS or computer) past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not available in all countries; apps, books (not audiobooks), music, t.v. shows, and movies (some - not all studios have permitted this). Movies currently available in the USA only. Downloading previously purchased movies and TV shows requires iTunes 10.6 or later. Discontinued items not available. For items not included in the iCloud list (e.g., ringtones), or locations or computer systems where iCloud is not (yet?) available, you only get one download per fee paid. Apple notes it is your responsibility to back up your purchases.
Select the store on the left side of iTunes.
Click on Purchased on the right side under Quick Links.
You can re-download your available previous purchases.

Problems installing second hard drive in HP Pavilion M7-1015dx laptop.

I just bought a new HP Pavilion M7-1015dx. I have successfully installed an SSD drive as the primary hard drive and now I want to use the 1tb hard drive that the computer came with as data and install it in the second hard drive bay. I have a cable that I used from my old HP DV7 when I had a second hard drive but I am having issues with my M7-1015dx laptop.
When I plug the sata cable into the second connector on the laptop and attach my hard drive (I have tried several hard drives) and go to power the laptop on, the power light just blinks a few times. Now I know there is something wrong for I just purchased the laptop two days ago... I got the idea to try the cable that I used to plug into the second connect to check and see if I plugged it into the first and I got the same issue, power light blinking. So I am wondering if it is the cable... is this possible? Are there different rated sata cables? I also tried the cable the came with my new laptop to make sure that it just wasn't the second port - I tried plugging it in to the second port with a hard drive attached and the laptop this time turned on but asked for a bootable disk because it requires boot disk to be in the 1st hard drive bay connection which I knew. I just want to give all the information so that I can get this fixed.
Please help me

Hey Brother-Brad,
I'm sorry you're running into issues installing a second hard drive. Your issue may not be the cable. Do you have a working hard drive installed currently with Window on it?
If so,
1. In Windows, Click the Start button.
2. Type 'hard disk'
3. Click on 'Create and format hard disk partitions' (aka Disk Management)
4. Look at Disk 0 listed at the bottom in the middle. Does it say Basic or Dynamic?
5. If it says Basic, right-click it and select Convert to Dynamic.
Hard drives must be set as Dynamic for dual hard drives to be recognized.
Let me know the results when you get a chance

Hard drive not recognized by M35X-S329 laptop

My laptop got the Windows Blue Screen and I shut it down. Upon restart, I get a message "PXE-E61" Media Test Failure, check cable. When I enter the BIOS, it does not show a hard drive. I've taken out the hard drive and put it in a USB enclosure case to see if it would read the drive. At this point it doesn't. Is there any hard drive test I can run from startup on the laptop to see if it is indeed a hard drive failure?

LH wrote:
My laptop got the Windows Blue Screen and I shut it down. Upon restart, I get a message "PXE-E61" Media Test Failure, check cable. When I enter the BIOS, it does not show a hard drive. I've taken out the hard drive and put it in a USB enclosure case to see if it would read the drive. At this point it doesn't. Is there any hard drive test I can run from startup on the laptop to see if it is indeed a hard drive failure?
If the BIOS can't see it, there's really no way to test something that isn't 'there'.
The fact that you can't get it to be recognized in an external case just confirms that it's a dead drive.

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
Can you clarify if this is what you are asking?

I have Os Lion on my mac book pro, im not a fan of this because i cant run many games, i have the disk for snow leopard my machine came with but i get a error saying "unable to unmount disc" when i try erase my hard drive i just want OS SL back any help?

I have Os Lion on my mac book pro, im not a fan of this because i cant run many games, i have the disk for snow leopard my machine came with but i get a error saying "unable to unmount disc" when i try erase my hard drive i just want OS SL back any help?
many thanks Carl.

You must boot from another drive in order to erase the system drive.
Try starting up with Snow Leopard DVD inserted and C depress. That should get you booted from the DVD. Then start Disk Utitlity from DVD and erase the disk then you should be able to install Snow Leopard.
Remember that everything will be removed from the disk when you erase it and install Snow Leopard so backup first.
Allan

Ive just moved my entire itunes to a exteral hard drive then deleted it from my laptop on advice from another site ive now lost itunes and cant reinstall please can you help

ive just moved my itunes to a exteral hard drive and removed it from my laptop now i cant get it back

Why not?

My hard drive was just replaced and cannot get on the internet

My hard drive was just replaced and my computer is showing connected to the internet but when I put a web address in it shows unable to connect.
Any advice?

Restart the router and the broadband device, if they're separate. Any change?

I am trying to burn CDs to an external hard drive to conserve space on our laptop. When I change the file location it says the folder on the external drive is invalid. Am I missing a step?

I am trying to burn CDs to an external hard drive to conserve space on our laptop. When I change the file location it says the destination folder on the external drive is invalid. Am I missing a step?

It does, but that's definitely strange. Try showing all hidden files and folders on your Mac to see if that helps.
To do this, head to Applications -> Utilties -> Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE -> Press Enter
killall Finder -> Press Enter
Then navigate out to your iPod again via the Finder. Any luck now?
B-rock

Does this mean whether the IPOD's battery or hard drive is dead?

Hi there,
My IPOD Photo when plugged into the AC adapter charger, will show the same three screens again and again
(1) Black Screen with Apple Logo
(2) Sad IPOD icon
(3) Battery icon (looks like a low-battery icon) with exclamation point
I have tried the 5Rs procedure on this site to put the IPOD in disk mode but to no avail.
This IPOD is only 2 years old and has been in great condition. Does the above mean that its hard drive or battery is dead? Or both?
Thanks

Does the above mean that its hard drive or battery is dead? Or both?
It could either be
a. The battery is dead (normally it should work around 18 months), the low battery level caused the Head of the HD of your iPod get frozen.
b. The iPod does not get charged at all due to hardware/software problem.
Have a read of the following
If a sad iPod icon or an exclamation point and folder icon appears on your iPod’s screen, or with sounds of clicking or HD whirring, it is usually the sign of a hard drive problem and you have the power to do something about it now. Your silver bullet of resolving your iPod issue – is to restore your iPod to factory settings.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60983
If you're having trouble, try these steps at different levels one at a time until the issue is resolved. These steps will often whip your iPod back into shape.
Make sure you do all the following “TRYs”
A. Try to wait 30 minutes while iPod is charging.
B. Try another FireWire or USB through Dock Connector cable.
C. Try another FireWire or USB port on your computer .
D. Try to disconnect all devices from your computer's FireWire and USB ports.
E. Try to download and install the latest version of iPod software and iTunes
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
For old and other versions of iPod updater for window you can get here
http://www.ipodwizard.net/showthread.php?t=7369
F. Try these five steps (known as the five Rs) and it would conquer most iPod issues.
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/
G. Try to put the iPod into Disk Mode if it fails to appear on the desktop
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93651
If none of these steps address the issue, you may need to go to Intermediate level listed below in logical order. Check from the top of the lists to see if that is what keeping iPod from appearing on your computer in order for doing the Restore.
Intermediate Level
A. Try to connect your iPod with another computer with the iPod updater pre-installed.
B. Still can’t see your iPod, put it in Disk Mode and connect with a computer, instead of doing a Restore on iPod Updater. Go and format the iPod instead.
For Mac computer
1. Open the disk utility, hope your iPod appears there (left hand side), highlight it
2. Go to Tab “Partition”, click either “Delete” or “Partition”, if fails, skip this step and go to 3
3. Go to Tab “Erase” , choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase, again if fails, skip it and go to 4
4. Same as step 3, but open the “Security Options....” and choose “Zero Out Data” before click Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete.
5. Eject your iPod and do a Reset
6. Open the iTunes 7 and click “Restore”
For Window computer
Go to folder “My Computer”
Hope you can see your iPod there and right click on the iPod
Choose “Format”. Ensure the settings are at “Default” and that “Quick Format” is not checked
Now select “Format”
Eject your iPod and do a Reset
Open the iTunes 7 and click “Restore”
In case you do not manage to do a “Format” on a window computer, try to use some 3rd party disk utility software, e.g.“HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool”.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=501330&tstart=0
C. Windows users having trouble with their iPods should locate a Mac user. In many cases when an iPod won't show up on a PC that it will show up on the Mac. Then it can be restored. When the PC user returns to his computer the iPod will be recognized by the PC, reformatted for the PC, and usable again. By the way, it works in reverse too. A Mac user often can get his iPod back by connecting it to a PC and restoring it.
Tips
a. It does not matter whether the format is completed or not, the key is to erase (or partly) the corrupted firmware files on the Hard Drive of the iPod. After that, when the iPod re-connected with a computer, it will be recognized as an fresh external hard drive, it will show up on the iTunes 7.
b. It is not a difficult issue for a Mac user to find a window base computer, for a PC user, if they can’t find any Mac user, they can go to a nearest Apple Shop for a favor.
c. You may need to switch around the PC and Mac, try to do several attempts between “Format” and “Restore”
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2364921&#2364921
Advance Level
A. Diagnostic mode solution
If you have tried trouble shooting your iPod to no avail after all the steps above, chances are your iPod has a hardware problem. The iPod's built-in Diagnostic Mode is a quick and easy way to determine if you have a "bad" iPod.
You need to restart your iPod before putting it into Diagnostic Mode. Check that your hold switch is off by sliding the switch away from the headphone jack. Toggle it on and off to be safe.
Press and hold the following combination of buttons simultaneously for approximately 10 seconds to reset the iPod.
iPod 1G to 3G: "Menu" and "Play/Pause"
iPod 4G+ (includes Photo, Nano, Video, and Mini): "Menu" and "Select"
The Apple logo will appear and you should feel the hard drive spinning up. Press and hold the following sequence of buttons:
iPod 1G to 3G: "REW", "FFW" and "Select"
iPod 4G+ (includes Photo, Nano, Video, and Mini): "Back" and "Select"
You will hear an audible chirp sound (3G models and higher) and the Apple logo should appear backwards. You are now in Diagnostic Mode. Navigate the list of tests using "REW" and "FFW". The scroll wheel will not function while in diagnostic mode. For further details on Diagnostic mode can be found at http://www.methodshop.com/mp3/ipodsupport/diagnosticmode/
Try to do the 5in1, HDD R/W and HDD scan tests. Some successful cases have been reported after the running the few tests under the Diagnostic mode. In case it does not work in your case, and the scan tests reports show some errors then it proves your iPod has a hardware problem and it needs a repairing service.
B. Format your iPod with a start disk
I have not tried this solution myself, I heard that there were few successful cases that the users managed to get their iPod (you must put your iPod in disk mode before connecting with a computer) mounted by the computer, which was booted by a system startup disk. For Mac, you can use the Disk Utility (on the Tiger OS system disk), for PC user, you can use the window OS system disk. Try to find a way to reformat your iPod, again it does not matter which format (FAT32, NTFS or HFS+) you choose, the key is to erase the corrupted system files on the iPod. Then eject your iPod and do a Reset to switch out from Disk Mode. Reboot your computer at the normal way, connect your iPod back with it, open the iPod updater, and hopefully your iPod will appear there for the Restore.
If none of these steps address the issue, your iPod may need to be repaired.
Consider setting up a mail-in repair for your iPod http://depot.info.apple.com/ipod/
Or visit your local Apple Retail Store http://www.apple.com/retail/
In case your iPod is no longer covered by the warranty and you want to find a second repairing company, you can try iPodResQ at your own risk
http://www.ipodresq.com/index.php
Just in case that you are at the following situation
Your iPod warranty is expired
You don’t want to pay any service charges
You are prepared to buy a new one
You can’t accept the re-sell value of your broken iPod
Rather than leave your iPod as paper-weight or throw it away.
You can try the following, but again, only do it as your last resort and at your own risk.
Warning !!!! – It may or may not manage to solve your problem, and with a risk that you may further damage your iPod, which end up as an expensive paper weight or you need to pay more higher repairing cost. Therefore, please re-consider again whether you want to try the next level
Last Resort Level
1. . Disconnecting the Hard Drive and battery inside the iPod – Warning !! Your iPod warranty will be waived once you open the iPod.
In Hong Kong there are some electronic shops offering an iPod service for Sad iPod, the first thing they do is to open up the iPod’s case and disconnecting the battery and the Hard Drive from the main board of the iPod. Wait for 5-10 minutes and reconnecting them back. The reason behind which I can think of is to do a fully reset of a processor of the iPod. In case you want do it itself and you believe that you are good on fixing the electronics devices and have experience to deal with small bits of electronic parts, then you can read the following of how to open the iPod case for battery and HDD replacement (with Quicktimes)
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/index.cfm?page=Video/directory.html
2.Press the reset button on the Hard Drive inside the iPod – Suggestion from Kill8joy
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2438774#2438774
Have I tried these myself? No, I am afraid to do it myself as I am squeamish about tinkering inside electronic devices, I have few experiences that either I broke the parts (which are normally tiny or fragile) or failed to put the parts back to the main case. Therefore, I agree with suggestion to have it fixed by a Pro.
2. Do a search on Google and some topics on this discussion forum about “Sad iPod”
Exclamation point and folder and nothing else
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3597173#3597173
Exclamation point and folder and nothing else
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2831962#2831962
What should I do with my iPod? Send it or keep it?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=469080&tstart=0
Strange error on iPod (probably death)
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435160&start=0&tstart=0
Sad Face on iPod for no apparent reason
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=336342&start=0&tstart=0
Meeting the Sad iPod icon
http://askpang.typepad.com/relevanthistory/2004/11/meeting_thesad.html#comment-10519524
Sad faced iPod, but my computer won’t recognize it?
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2236095#2236095
iPod Photo: unhappy icon + warranty question
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2233746#2233746
4th Gen iPod Users - are we all having the same problem?
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=2235623#2235623
Low Battery, and clicking sounds
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2237714#2237714
Sad faced iPod, but my computer won’t recognize it
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2242018#2242018
Sad iPod solution
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=412033&tstart=0
Re: try to restore ipod and it says "can't mount ipod"
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=443659&tstart=30
iPod making clicking noise and is frozen
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2420150#2420150
Cant put it into disk mode
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3786084#3786084
I think my iPod just died its final death
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3813051
Apple logo & monochrome battery stay
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3827167#3827167
I am not suggesting that you should follow as well, but just read them as your reference. You are the person to make the call.
Finally, I read a fair comments from dwb, regarding of slapping the back of the iPod multiple times
Quote “This has been discussed numerous times as a 'fix'. It does work, at least for a while. In fact I remember using the same basic trick to revive Seagate and Quantam drives back in the mid to late 1980's. Why these tiny hard drives go bad I don't know - could be the actuator gets stuck in place or misaligned. Could be the platter gets stuck or the motor gets stuck. 'Stiction' was a problem for drives back in the 80's. Unfortunately the fix can cause damage to the platter so we temporarily fix one problem by creating another. But I know of two instances where a little slap onto the table revived the iPods and they are still worked a year or more later.”UnQuote

G4 doesn't see the new hard drive I just installed

I figure I've probably done something elementary stupid... hope someone will straighten me out.
Following recommendations from the forum from about a year ago, I finally bought a Seagate 7200 120gb SATA drive, SeriTek/IS2 Host Card, and "Y" splitter cable.
I put it all together as seemed to make sense -- Using the "Y" cable to connect the drive to power (4-pin connector marked P2) (this leave one power connection left over on the "Y" cable), SeriTek Card in PCI slot, and SATA cable connecting the Card to the new drive.
System Profile and Disk Utility do not see either the Card or the Drive. I tried the SeriTek Card in a different PCI slot and re-checked all the connections -- still no hard drive. The new hard drive is getting power, as I can hear it spinning up.
Did I connect things right? Or do I have two dead PCI slots? Is there some other thing I need to do to get my system to recognize the SeriTek card and Hard Drive.)
Help much appreciated! I'm a tech newbie...
Dual 500 G4 Ethernet 20gb HD 756mb RAM Radeon 8500

I ran permissions repair -- which returned an error -- disk utility lost connection with disk manager utility or somesuch. Disk repair didn't fix that. So now I have a new problem.
I talked to tech support at FirmTek and they think it's slimly possible that I zapped the card with static as I took it out of the wrap, or otherwise managed to damage it. They've asked me to test it in a different machine (if I can find a friend who has one that is similarly set up.) If the problem is with the card, they assure me they'll replace it, no problem. Or, I might have two bad PCI slots -- either possibility is unlikely -- but these seem to be the remaining explanations.
Thanks for your assistance and wish me luck!

Buy a new battery or hard drive, or just buy a new laptop?

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