Computer doesn't get past login screen with new HDD

I recently purchased a new Seagate (750GB Momentus) hard drive for my 2010 Macbook Pro. The first one didn't work well so I sent it in for a replacement, but now the replacement one is having the same issue. When I boot the computer, it doesn't get past the boot screen half the time. When it does, however, I can't get past the login screen; when I click login it flashes white and then goes back to the login screen. Disk utility claims to repair the drive each time that it is run, but always comes up with the same errors after booting. I am totally out of ideas.
Thanks in advance!

Drive Preparation
1.  Boot from your Recovery HD. When the menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
To boot to the Recovery HD restart the computer. After the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and "R" keys until you see the spinning gear.

Similar Messages

  • From 10.6 to 10.8. MBP doesn't get past login screen

    A friend has a Late 2008 MBP that she wanted to put Mountain Lion on.  She contacted Apple for information on how to proceed.  They told her she needed to install 10.6 before she could update to Mountain Lion.  She purchased the Snow Leopard disk from Apple and installed it.  She then downloaded Mountain Lion from the app store and installed that also.  Now when she turns her computer on she barely can log on and the computer shuts down and restarts. I tried reinstalling Mountain Lion from the recovery disk but it still does not get past the log on screen before it restarts. We can log on in safe mode.  She has not backed up her HDD.  I am fearful that we may have to reformat her HDD and start from scratch.  Any ideas??  Please help.  She has only used 108 GB of her 250 GB HDD and has 4 GB of ram installed.

    Yes, it will. What you need to back up is her Home folder. And, you need to backup directly to the HDD, not to a disc image.
    I'm still desirous of knowing how she purchased Mountain Lion without having 10.6.8 installed. But if she really has installed Mountain Lion then if she selects About This Mac from the Apple menu, then it should show that 10.8.2 is installed. If it does, then she should do this:
    Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
    Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
    Boot to the Recovery HD:
    Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    Erase the hard drive:
      1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
      2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
          left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
      3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
            the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
          the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
      4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
    Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
                because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • Brand new MacBook Pro doesn't get past grey screen (with spinning gear)

    Hello,
    I'm a new Apple customer - I bought a new 15" MacBook Pro during the Black Friday sale last week. Since purchase, I've installed the software I needed (Office, CS4) and have used it to browse the web and write emails.
    Today when I tried to use it, I simply got to the grey screen with the Apple logo on it and the spinning gear device underneath - got absolutely no further.
    I have done the following (running from mains adaptor - but the battery indicator is reporting 7 lights anyhow):
    1. Boot from the OSX Install Disc, and run the disc repair utility. It reported no problems found. Restarted... same problem.
    2. Boot holding down SHIFT to go into safe mode. Underneath the spinning gears, a progress bar filled up to 100% and then disappeared; leaving the grey screen, logo, and spinning gears. Nothing further.
    3. Boot holding Option, P, R as per the manual to reset the PRAM. According to the manual there should have been a chime/beep - there wasn't. It just sits on the grey screen, logo, spinning gears. Nothing further.
    Right now I've got a £1300 MacBook Pro less than a week old and it appears to have just packed up.
    Am I missing anything here, or should I just return it?
    Thanks,
    Chris

    Definitely take it back!
    My friend bought a new iMac from the Regents St. store a few weeks ago, just before the update to the new models came out, and after a week she couldn't get it to boot. I felt very embarrassed as I had persuaded to her to switch to Mac after years of PC woes, so a broken mac after a week didn't look do me any favours. The genius guys didn't mess around, they took back the dead one and gave her a new one, this time she got the new version, they also threw in iWork free as a good will gesture. New one is running fine.
    If you haven't already got Applecare, I highly recommend buying it within the next 12 months. I have needed it on a couple of occasions after the standard warranty ran out and the tech support has been brilliant, got me working again no quibbles.

  • Hey guys. my macbook air wont get past the screen with the apple on it during start up. how do i fix this? i have a paper saved on my laptop on need to get at it. thanks guy!

    hey guys. my macbook air wont get past the screen with the apple on it during start up. how do i fix this? i have a paper saved on my laptop on need to get at it. thanks guy!

    Your boot drive is damaged in some way. If you have an original installation disc, you can boot from that and run Disk Utility. From DU you can select your internal hard drive ("Macintosh HD" is the name Apple puts on it - you may have renamed yours) and select "Verify Disk". If errors come up, try "Repair Disk". If it repairs, then you should be able to restart and boot from it. If it doesn't show up or won't repair, your drive is probably hosed.
    Clinton

  • After running mac tuneup got a red dot on the hard drive icon, nothing would respond, now on restart cant get past white screen with apple logo, mac tune up disk still in laptop

    after running mac tuneup got a red dot on the hard drive icon, nothing would respond, now on restart cant get past white screen with apple logo, mac tune up disk still in laptop

    Restart your MBP holding the trackpad down and hopefully the disk will be ejected.  Then try to return it and get a refund or put it in the trash.  There is nothing that software does for your MBP that you cannot do yourself or with free software.
    If can get your MBP started, delete all traces of the offending software.  Worst case is that you may have to erase the HDD and reload the OS and your user data.  I trust that you have a backup (minus MacTuneUp).
    Courcoul has given you his opinion in a very succinct manner, and as you might surmise, I agree with him.
    Ciao.

  • Can't get past gray screen with file icon on it

    When i turn on my computer the power light goes out but the gray screen stays on. After two or three minutes an icon of a file with a question mark appears. I cannot get past this screen. I have removed my battery and tried again. I have also tried the other processes for a computer that won't turn on. In my case the computer does turn on just never gets past this gray screen. Please someone help me

    The question mark on the file tells you that your MacBook wants to start up but can't find a viable OS to start from. Can you start up from the DVD that came with your Mac? If so, go to Disk Utility and see if you can repair the internal hard drive. If you can't see the hard drive from within DU, your drive may have failed, and you may need to replace it. Good luck.

  • Computer won't get past OS screen after unlock, even if I am still using 2 cores

    >Phenom II x2 555 BE
    >MSI 870a-g54
    So I decided to unlock my CPU and have been experiencing a problem. I recently found out that if I even have "unlock core" function enabled in BIOS, even while running it with two cores, the computer won't get past the windows screen. With four cores enabled it obviously does the same. No matter what I try I cannot get past the Windows screen while having the unlock core function enabled.
    My BIOS isn't on the latest version. I tried flashing it but I couldn't start it up even after flashed, it gave me the same problem described above. I reflashed it to the version I'm on now and it works, but I still can't unlock. What gives?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    TL;DR: PC will run as Phenom ii X2 555, but not as Phenom ii x4 B55. Can't get past windows screen.

    you need to provide more vcore to the cpu
    first try to enable 1 core (core number 3) (disable core number 2 and 4) and increase some vcore. If booted then you have a good core.
    Then try this with other core (core number 4) (disable core number 2 and 3), if booted then your both cores are unlockable and are good core (i.e, not defective)
    then you can try all cores at same time with some voltage increase (vcore)

  • Getting past a screen with a USB going to the Itunes logo?  On the computer it said "Apple Mobile device is not activated?"  I don't have that

    Mobile Device not activated?   I don't want or have a Mobile device, it's my I pad with WiFi...Not the 3G  How do I get past this window?

    You need to restart the Apple Mobile Device Service on your PC - that is something that the computer needs to be able to see the iPad. Read this and it should get you through it.
    How to restart the Apple Mobile Device Service in Windows

  • I can't get past login screen

    Hi All
    I recently had a major problem with my 17'' Flat panel iMac, it was showing the Darwin screen (v. like a dos set-up). I couldn't get past this when I put in my user and password. I don't normally use them booting up. Next I tried disk utilities and it didn't clear up the problem. I was running the last version of Tiger but couldn't get it load onto the machine again. Then I reloaded Jaguar which went on and rebooted. Now I have a new problem in that it is looking for me to login, put in my password and it just won't get passed this.
    I have reset the password using the installer disks to Jaguar and Tiger and this doesn't work either.
    I have alot of family photos and docs on the machine that I don't want to lose...any ideas would be great.
    Tell me if I haven't explained the problem well.
    Cheers
    John

    are you running tiger or jaguar?
    you could try resetting the system ad password then at the login in login in as "other" put "root" for the username and type in your password that u just changed
    once in there go to system preferences and change your password to your account.

  • Got a new wireless keyboard that is not paired - can't get past login screen// any solutions?

    The keyboard that arrived paired with my iMac was having connection issues so I swapped it this past weekend for a new one.
    When I turned on my computer, I realized that I couldn't type anything because the new keyboard is not paired with my iMac.
    Because of this, I can't get past my login screen! Any solutions? Thanks!

    Use a USB keyboard until you can get new keyboard connected. It can be any old USB keyboard, one from a PC is fine. If you can borrow one that would be fine.

  • Can't get past gray screen with progress indicator... Help

    I can't turn on my Macbook. It starts but won't go past the gray screen with the progress indicator (spinning circle).
    I have tried:
    1. turning off, removing battery, holding start for 5+ seconds, replacing battery and then turning on.
    2. Holding command + option + R + P while staring up, waited for 3+ chimes.
    3. holding Shift down while starting up
    none of these things are working.
    I've been on hold with apple service/support for almost an hour now.
    I have an assignment on the computer that is due by midnight.
    HELP!
    I'm not very computer savvy and this is my first mac.
    Any ideas folks??
    Thanks.
    Macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

    You've done all the standard procedures. If you have any peripherals attached, disconnect them.
    This describes resetting the PMU:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
    Did you have the AC disconnected when you did it? I don't have any other ideas.
    These are the startup key options:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303124
    Edit: If you have the install disc stuck in it anyway, can you get the hardware test to work? (Reboot while pressing the D key.)

  • Ix2 fails to respond, cannot get past login screen

    I am having intermittent problems with my Iomega ix2 failing to respond. After some time being on the drive fails to respond. I cannot open any files through Windows explorer. If i attempt to connect using the web interface i cant get past the login screen. I put in my user name and password and hit enter. The page simply reloads the login screen. The only solution is to power the drive down using the button on the back of the unit. Powering it up it works fine. Eventually though this will happen again. It's happened a half dozen time or more in the last few days. Now I'm stuck out in the field and cannot access any files. Please help.

    No. No errors in the event log of any kind other than the time sync error. I recently replaced one of the disks as it had failed. I receieved a warranty disk from Lenovo/Iomega about a month ago. i installed it and it rebuilt the RAID with no problems. This error has been happening since then. When the time sync error happens i get all kinds of strange behavior. SFTP, which is how I access the files, will start giving Goodsync 'cannt reach end of file error' type errors. Like I've mentioned before I also get an issue where the web login screen gets caught in a loop too. I type in the user name and the password, hit enter, and it just reloads the login screen again. Rebooting the device from the power button on the back is the only solution.

  • MBP running Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.8 cannot get past login screen even in safe boot

    Help!  I have a Macbook Pro purchased in 2009, running Mac OSX Leopard 10.5.8 which froze while running Adobe Illustrator.  On reboot, it won't allow me to go past the login screen.  I tried starting up from the disc, running disk verification and repair and repairing disk permissions, and trying to start up in safe boot, all to no avail.  When the login screen comes up it gives the name of my hard drive with a (2) after it, which seems strange.  Any suggestions short of reinstalling the system software?  I don't want to lose my applications/data!

    AnointedOne wrote:
    My 1 year old MBP running OSX has got more sluggish. The little multicolored spinning timer wheel keeps appearing a lot more now, and I hate it! My MBP takes drastically longer to boot when i turn it on as opposed to when I just got it. My web pages take a long time to load. Can anyone help me? WHat can I do to speed up my MBP. I am a novice mac user. Again my mac is getting slower by the day and i dont know how to increase its overall performance. Is there any simple software that can boost overall performance or will I have to reformat my MBP? I have a 200gb HD with 50 gb free and 4 gb of ram.
    Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
    Launch the Activity Monitor utility. Pull down the list near the top and set it to "All Processes". Click on the "CPU" column heading to put the highest CPU consumers at the top. Also click on the "CPU" tab in the lower part of the window to check the value for "% Idle". If that value is much above zero, check the other categories for signs of resource problems. If nothing there points to a possible problem, launch the Console utility and look for messages that might suggest a problem. If you see messages that you have trouble interpreting, post them here and someone should be able to help.

  • Macbook can't get past login screen, until then normal startup

    Suddenly when I power up my MacBook OSX (10.4.11) I get normal chime, grey screen with apple and spinning gear, then blue screen, login window pops up, I enter login information (so far everything seems normal), laptop goes to blue screen for 2-3 minutes and then login window reappears. How do I get past this? Thank you.

    Startup - Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
    Startup - Blue Screen
    Startup Issues - Resolve
    Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

  • Can't get past login screen following software update

    I've been using Leopard on my Mini for months quite happily and when last night the Apple software update window popped up I let it install as I have always done without a problem.
    My machine re-booted, went through installing the two updates and when it had finished re-booted again. Problem is I can't get past the login screen, the process goes like this...
    Switch on --> Grey screen with apple logo and swirly --> Wallpaper appears --> login window --> enter password --> login window says 'logging in' and dissapears --> Blue screen appears --> login window appears again.
    I've tried a safe-mode boot (hold down shift at boot) - no difference. I've tried single user mode (cmd + S) - no difference. I've even tried booting from the leopard install DVD (hold down C at boot) but my mac just ignores all this and goes through the process outlined above.
    Any ideas?
    Thanks

    Are you using a wireless keyboard? Those commands may not work if the operating system loads before the keyboard driver.
    If you have a wired keyboard, try holding down the option key at startup to show all the bootable drives, including the install disk. Then after booting from the install disk use Disk Utilities from the Utilities menu to do a Repair Disk and Repair Permissions.
    If you can boot into Safe-Mode, 10.5.6 is supposed to clear up some known issues after a reboot. See this MacWorld article:
    http://www.macworld.com/article/137764/2008/12/osx1056_bugsandfixes.html?lsrc=mw week

Maybe you are looking for