How to reinstall OSX on a computer that wont even boot up?

Hey everyone
I have about a year old MBP that has suddenly stopped working. Whenever I try to boot up I get the white Apple screen with an endless spinning icon. It looks like its booting up fine, but it never leaves this screen. If I try to hold C with the install disc in, or hold T to enter firewire mode, the spinning just continues.
I gather that I need to reinstall OSX, but is there anyway to do that when I cant even boot up to choose a startup disk? I have a Powerbook (from which I'm posting on) if that helps at all.
Thanks

Try a PRAM reset. Hold down Command-Option-P-R when booting until the tone has sounded thrice.

Similar Messages

How to reinstall OS on Macbook Pro that will not boot

I have a mid-2010 Macbook Pro that is stuck on the grey screen with apple logo and progress bar. I'm going to get all my data off of it and then I want to wipe everything off of it and re-install the OS so it is like factory again.
Do i need a disk? What is the simplest way to do this?

accuracy_101 wrote:
Can you inform me on how to format the new hard drive once I receive it?
You will have to connect the new HDD to the MBP via USB (you will need to install the HDD in an enclosure).
Boot into the recovery partition.
Select Disk Utility from the 4 option menu.
Open Disk Utility>Erase, select the new HDD from the left hand column and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format and click on the erase button.
Exit Disk Utility and select the reinstall OSX option from the 4 option menu.
Install the OSX.
Restart the MBP with the OPTION key down. Select the new HDD icon and boot the MBP.
If successful, install the new HDD into the MBP.
Ciao.
Also, should I even bother re-installing the OS after there is a new hard drive installed? Would it make any difference?
You need an OSX in order for the MBP to function.
Ciao.

I tried restoring my iMac 27" slim. I followed the steps erased my data then to reinstall osx mavericks. Now that I'm trying to reinstall osx mavericks for whatever reason it doesn't completes. Can you help me out?

I tried restoring my iMac 27" slim. I followed the steps erased my data then to reinstall osx mavericks. Now that I'm trying to reinstall osx mavericks for whatever reason it doesn't completes. Can you help me out?

That's not quite the proper way as far as I can tell. Usually, one boots directly into the Recovery HD using COMMAND and R keys at startup. If you cannot do that then most likely there is a problem with the hard drive. Since this is a new computer i would make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

How can I deactivate an old computer that I know longer have?

How can I deactivate an old computer that I know longer have? I own two computers and Adobe permits two computers on a subscription. However, when I bought my third new computer and didn't deactivate my old computer, I did not notify Adobe. Now, there is a message saying that I must deactivate the old computer to register the new computer. I don't know how to do this. Can anyone help?

You cannot yourself deauthorize a computer that's not working or to which you no longer have access. You can authorize a total of up to five systems, so unless you've hit that limit it's probably not really important that you deauthorize your dead unit now. Once you reach five total authorizations, a button will appear in your iTunes Store account that will allow you to deauthorize all your systems, so that would at that time recover the now-useless authorization.
If for some reason you really feel you need to deauthorize a system and you're not at the five-system limit, you can try contacting the iTunes Store customer support department through their Contact form (follow the on-screen instructions) and explaining the problem to them. They might be willing to clear your authorizations for you.
Regards

HT1420 How can I deauthorize an old computer that I have no access to?

How can I deauthorize an old computer that I have no access to?

You cannot yourself deauthorize a computer that's not working or to which you no longer have access. You can authorize a total of up to five systems, so unless you've hit that limit it's probably not really important that you deauthorize your dead unit now. Once you reach five total authorizations, a button will appear in your iTunes Store account that will allow you to deauthorize all your systems, so that would at that time recover the now-useless authorization.
If for some reason you really feel you need to deauthorize a system and you're not at the five-system limit, you can try contacting the iTunes Store customer support department through their Contact form (follow the on-screen instructions) and explaining the problem to them. They might be willing to clear your authorizations for you.
Regards

HT1349 How do I de authorise a computer that died unexpectedly.

How do I de authorise a computer that died unexpectedly?

You actually have to use the computer itself in order to deauthorize that computer - if that is the only computer that you want to deauthorize - or you can deauthorize all computers - and then authorize them all over again. Read this for more info.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1420
I had an iMac die on me about two years ago and was not able to deauthorize it for the reason explained above. I did not want to deauthorize and then authorize my other 3 computers, so I plan on not worrying about it until I reach the 5 computer limit. That is my advice to you as well - if you have not yet reached the limit - don't worry about it.

How do you deactivate home shareing on a computer that wont turn on?

My home sharing says i alredy have 5 computers on it and i just got a new one, so i need to deactivate my old one that wont even turn on

As kelly9159 said, you can probably deauthorize all 5 computers.
Go to the iTunes Menubar/Store/View my Account/Login. In the Apple ID Summary/Computer Authorizations: Select Deauthorize All.
Then on the 2 computers you're using, go to iTunes Menubar/Store/Authorize this Computer

HT2216 how to reinstall osx

I haven't reinstall osx since i bought it about 3 yrs. now it getting slow while booting or loading desktop icons. pls tell me how to reinstall latest mavericks bcos i dont have installation CD. i got backup all the apps and file on external hdd. thanks

Option A.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing 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.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
     Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
                 if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Option B.
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or 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.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

How to reinstall osx 10.8 in macbook pro retina display

I wanted to reinstall the Mac OSX 10.8 in my mac book pro retina display. No cd's came with the machine and no cd drive to the machine. What is the best way to reinstall the OS?

Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the 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.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Erase and Install Lion/Mountain Lion
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.

How to reinstall OSX with keyboard only or get mouse to work

I am incredibly frustrated....
I provide support for about 15 Macs and I have never experienced this. I turned on an Intel iMac and could not get the mouse clicks to register. The right click would work, but not the left. This was the case for 5 different mice including the apple corded one.
I tried resetting the PRAM NV, etc....nothing
When booting and holding option, my choices come up and I am able to left click to choose the drive and arrow button. This is the ONLY time my LEFT mouse clicks work. Not in disk utility either.
Needing to format the drive and reinstall anyway, I went ahead the long way with the keyboard and erased the drive in order to make a fresh install, hoping that would solve my issue somehow. Well this would be great and all, but Apple decided to make this an absolute pain.
I can work my way through the reinstall screen using tab, spacebar and the arrows. However when I get to the drive options to install on, I can get the drive to have the selected outline but can never get it to highlight the "Install" button. At this screen, only the arrow keys seem to do anything.
I have searched for a couple hours now and am about to go crazy. Can anyone help with either the left mouse click issue, or how to choose the install drive with a keyboard only?
I need to go calm down now.....
Thanks.

Well, guess it was that dumb. Yesterday, that was the very first thing I checked. All trackpads, bluetooth mice were pulled out and batteries removed.
Did another dig into a large box and found a "Magic Mouse" that had batteries from YEARS ago (of course in an upstairs closet). This mouse has never been used on this or any computer that I can think of.
Thanks for the nonsensical piece of hardware that no real computer user would subject themselves to. THEN, to have it connect randomly to other computers and highjack their mouse function? How about SOME type of indication that your little mouse has taken over? Too hard to foresee this? Solid programming and hardware development.......Apple, I hope you pick up my sarcasm on your imbolent product. I think my anger is about to let out on that little useless pos. Its magic all right, it can render a computer completely useless from 50 feet away. Send the NSA a million of em. /endrant
Thanks for the push in the right direction Dominic, it works now.

How to reinstall osx and recover data?

Hi
If I reinstall osx 10.6.8 after hd format, and later connect my time machine external drive, will I get back all my stuff? I mean data, docs programs and so on?
After having played with a linux install, I found partitions ex linux I don't know how to delete and reassign to the mac hd, so I think the easiest way shoul be a fresh reinstall.
Thanks, Gianfranco

Thanks, my osx is already at 10.6.8. I had a lot of fun with Ubuntu, and even if I was warned about issues, wanted to try. I did it because some hardware will not be detected by osx. Afterwards decided to uninstall Ubuntu and switch to W7 for the above. Disappoint: ex linux partitions will not be removed by disk utility, and, more frustrating, Bootcamp does not allow to install Win because it finds that mac hd is not journaled. Of course is not: to be it expects a contigous volume, not parted. So, just to talk about my experience, mac architecture is very rigid, both in hardware management and software: it wants to decide where to store or pick data according to itunes philosofy (not mine) and, at the moment don't find any advantage respect Win/Linux exept a beautiful piece of furniture. Sorry for my complaints, you were very kind and gave me a helpful hint, but I'm starting to regret the iMac/iPad purchase.
Thanks for all, Gianfranco

How to view pictures on the computer that I took with my phone

How do I view pictures on the computer that I have taken with my Phone?

Transferring your pictures to your computer is a great way to back them up, Service34.
As Weth mentioned, there are a number of ways to connect your device to the computer. In order to provide you with specific steps, can you please provide your phone model?
AndreaS_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

HT5868 So how do I "untrust" a trusted computer that I accidentally trusted but still want to use for charging?

I see that "Trust" a computer on iOS7 is indefinite (learned). How do I undo that on a computer that I want to use for charging but do not want to trust?

Open iTunes, select iTunes Store from the sidebar, click on the Support link under Quick Links. Post an email explaining the situation to seek assistance.

HT1925 how to reinstall Bonjour on the computer for itunes

how to reinstall the Bonjour

Uninstalling and then reinstalling your iTunes should also get your Bonjour reinstalled.
For the reinstall, use an installer downloaded from the Apple website:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
... or you could get it back via your Apple Software Update for Windows.
If you'd prefer not to uninstall iTunes, try the following procedure.
Download and save a copy of the iTunesSetup.exe (or iTunes64setup.exe) installer file to your hard drive:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Download and install the free trial version of WinRAR:
http://www.rarlab.com/
Right-click the iTunesSetup.exe (or iTunes64setup.exe), and select "Extract to iTunesSetup" (or "Extract to iTunes64Setup"). WinRAR will expand the contents of the file into a folder called "iTunesSetup" (or "iTunes64Setup").
Go into the folder and doubleclick the Bonjour.msi (or Bonjour64.msi) to do a standalone Bonjour install.

How to reinstall OSX 10.9.2 (Mavericks)?

Without loosing my programs?
and how to reinstall it with loosing my programs?

Do a backup. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions. Then reinstall the OS.
OS X Recovery
OS X Recovery (2)

How to reinstall OSX on a computer that wont even boot up?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for