Macbook Air won't boot - can I recover files this way?

I have a 1st-gen Macbook Air that won't boot. Will the following work to access any files on the hard disk?
1) attach powered USB hub to Air
3) attach external USB DVD drive to hub
3) hold down <option> and boot Air from 10.6 retail install DVD
4) attach external USB hard disk to hub
5) copy file from internal Air hard disk to external USB hard disk
Will that work?
Can I boot from a USB DVD drive that's connected through a hub?
Do I have to use an Apple Superdrive or will a 3rd party DVD drive work?
Thanks!

Axe,
Does it see the drive at least in Disk Utility and just not a mount point? If Disk Utility won't even recognize the drive over the PATA connection it's unlikely you'd be able to use terminal to extract data. If it sees the drive and the mount point is grayed out this would indicate directory damage (usually). If it sees the drive and there's no mount point this is often an indication of partition corruption or worse, hardware failure.
Hard drives are "funky" when they fail, sometimes. I've seen them lock up the I/O bus and prevent any action on behalf of the startup sequence. Only when the drive is removed and hooked up to an external drive dock/sled will it mount. The problem, here, is that the 1st generation HD has this really funky PATA/ZIF connection and most standard drive docks/sleds won't work.

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Hello to you all, my Macbook Air won's boot up and upon diagnosis, i realized my startup disk is full to 99% even with 2GB Hard Disk space. It wont also enable me boot into safe mode too. Please help as all my work documents and project files are on HD

Hello to you all,
My Macbook Air won's boot up and upon diagnosis, i realized my startup disk is full to 99% even with 2GB Hard Disk space. It wont also enable me boot into safe mode too.
when i power up, i get this prolong gray screen which wont change screen but remain so. Infact i am handicapped.
Please help as all my work documents and project files are on this machine and i can't afford to loose them all...
Please, should you have any solution please send me the details to [email protected]
Thanks you a millionh times.
Al.

The MBA seems to cause several problems to several users on boot ups
On start up my MBA would not boot up the apple logo came on but only a blank screen appeared no fan i followed several start up recommendations but to no avail so I took the MBA to the nearest Apple repair centre again the same symptoms on start up ......very sorry sir you need a new mother board that will be $500 not feeling confidant in the product declined and was going to put it on ebay for spares.
On return home I pressed the start up button and it started normally everything was working fine i decided to reinstall all the software what has caused the problem I have no idea but it is after several attempted reboots it finally started on its own so don't give up if you have this problem it may come to life

Macbook Air Won't Boot from USB Stick

I'm having an issue all of the sudden with trying to restore Lion on my Air. I've been messing around with partitions and setting up triple boot (linx,windows,mac). I had it working but wanted to remove it all and try again. Ultimately if I can just fix the partitions that's all I'd need to do, but I couldn't figure out how to do that so I figured if I just re-installed Lion completey it would fix it.
The current status of my partitions looks like this:
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            90.4 GB    disk0s1
   2:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS TMP                     30.3 GB    disk0s3
I can't seem to merge disk0s1 and disk0s3 because the EFI partition is in the middle and can't be changed.
When I boot my air, and try to boot from a USB stick that has the Lion installer on it, I get a picture of a circle with a line through it. Kinda like a no smoking sign except no cigarette.
So I have a couple questions:
-Is there a way to fix the partitions?
-Did something I do to the partitions effect me being able to boot from another device?
-Is there anyway to do target disk mode with a macbook air? (if so can I do that erase the drive and install Lion on it?)
Thanks!

Restart your Mac while holding Command+Option+R until you see a spinning globe appear along with a message about the recovery mode. If you have a Mac with a wireless keyboard you should wait a few seconds before pressing and holding the keys after you first see the light grey boot screen.
This will force your Mac to launch Internet Recovery. You’ll know that you are in Internet Recovery when you see a spinning globe and a meter running underneath it.
Lion Internet Recovery only works on WPA and WPA2 networks.

MacBook Air won't boot up and all I get is a folder with a question mark

My 2012 MacBook Air running mountain lion won't boot up, all I get is a grey screen and then a folder icon with a question mark in it. What can I do?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
It's possible that your hard drive has stopped working. Do you remember what OS X version you were using?
If your Mac came with DVDs, insert the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 and hold the C key while your Mac is starting to start from the DVD. Then, choose your language, and go to the Utilities menu (on the menu bar) > Disk Utility. After that, choose "Macintosh HD" in the sidebar and repair the drive. If it couldn't be repaired, you need a new hard drive, and you can do it yourself if you want. If you don't want, take the Mac to an Apple Store or reseller.
If your Mac didn't come with DVDs, follow the same steps but holding Command, Option (Alt) and R keys while your computer is starting

MacBook Air won't boot with full battery, unless additional "2 min" kick-start adapter charge.

Sometimes my MacBook Air 2010 doesn't boot (doesn't show any sign of life, no screen, sound, etc.) even though the battery is fully charged. Only after I plug in the adapter for about two minutes it does boot. In this case I can disconnect the adapter immediately afterwards and it works fine, say, 7 hours, and I can shut-down and boot several times, indicating the battery was fully charged already and is healthy. This is frustrating when taking the laptop with me outdoors, because this means its useless and unreliable (usually it boots fine!). Help me please!
I've tried all possible alternatives listed here:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Things-to-Do-if-Your-MacBook-Does-Not-Turn-On-133 615.shtml
(Based on this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367?viewlocale=en_US)
Many thanks in advance.

I kindof did it, and I bet you even a Genius wouldn't have figured this one out!
What did I do? Well I checked everything: opened up the macbook, measured power going in, measured power reaching battery, measured battery giving charge back, measured power going through logic board and, finally, tried power-on skipping the keyboard/mouse by connecting the power-on pads on the logic board - but it did not boot!
So my logic: 1) somewhere on a very elementary level something is broken that prevents a power-on between the power-on pads and whatever is next. 2) this broken thing was temporarily fixed twice when I was able to charge my battery for several minutes, as if things were 'heated up a bit'. 3) because my battery is full now I cannot do this heat-up trick. Thus, why not put my MacBook Air on the heater for a few minutes? And guess what !? I press the power-on several times: nothing, but then, after a few minutes: "boom!" (Steve Jobs style), its boots perfectly! And I have been using it for a few hours now.
My father suggested two possible causes:
A) two metal elements that should connect have been damaged and only just don't connect in normal state. When heated up these elements expand just enough to reach each other, allowing the MacBook Air to boot.
B) some dust is stuck between two elements that should not connect: when the atmosphere is very humid (as it is now where I am) this dust absorbs water, meaning it connects these two elements causing the MacBook Air to be unable to boot. When it is heated up, the water evaporates and it is able to boot again.
Either way, I would be really helped if someone can tell me what are the elements on the logic board involved in power-up, and how the paths run along the logic board connecting these elements. They shouldn't be many.

Macbook Air won't boot command prompts

So, my friend bought a macbook air from another friend and that friend cannot remember their admin password. I tell her no problem I can reformat it for you since I have the boot disk by using utilities. Here is where I run into my problem. I hold down the option key on startup and the screen comes up with only a lock and a spot for a password, that I dont' know.
So I try to enter single user mode (Command + S) so I can enter the commands to reset the password that way, but it does nothing and boots the computer as if I weren't pressing any buttons. My next thought was try resetting pram to make sure there are no problems there, well I booted with all the keys pressed but to be 100% hoenst not even sure if it reset.
Long story short I need to reformat w/o knowing the admin password and/or reset the admin password so I can reformat. Any thoughts or ideas?
Mac is a MacBook Air with OSX 10.6
1.6 GHz intel core 2 duo processor
2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Thanks in advanced for any advice.

The seller implemented a Firmware Password. You need that password to boot the computer as well as to remove the firmware password. This is not the same as the admin password. Ask the "friend" what the password is.

New macbook air won't boot up

I just bought this MacBook Air. out of the box. I set it up as instructed on screen. It was plugged in as instructed. when transferring my files from a Time Machine backup i left it to run the 53 minutes. When completed, I clicked the continue button, the screen went black. It will not even boot up. help please?

The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership.
If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different. If you bought from a reseller, its return policy applies.

Macbook Air Won't Boot, Macbook Air Won't Boot

So this is the story,
2 Weeks ago I sent in my 2009 Macbook Air 13" for an out of warranty repair. The initial issue was that the trackpad and keyboard were not being recognized, but the Air did start up. They completed the repair and stated that Apple had replaced the logic board. When I received the Air the trackpad and keyboard were indeed functioning properly. Now just last night the Air stopped working. My girlfriend was browsing youtube and then the screen went gray and the Air unresponsive...I figured it was a crash from Flash...so I held down the power button to reset the laptop...the Air powered off but when I tried to turn it back on, the usual startup chime you hear was not present....Any time I press the power button the chime does not play, the screen does not turn on or flicker, the only thing that visibly shows is that the Sleep LED when you press the power button after a few seconds comes on...also the battery is fine as the Air was connected to a magsafe and it was charging the battery during this state and is now solid green instead of amber....I've tried resetting PRAM and SMC to no avail....so my question is being that the Air is out of warranty, Will I have to pay an additional charge once again for this repair, considering the Logic Board was just replaced...I understand if its a different part, then ok but if they deem it again a logic board issue or if the problem stemmed from the initial repair, would I have to cover the cost....Already spent a pretty penny the first time, having to pay for a repair a 2nd time I dont think I could stomach and as such would just save and buy a new one later next month...I called my local Apple Store but the associate was not sure as to whether I would incurr any additional costs, since it has only been 2 weeks since the Air was repaired...Any input would be appreciated...

Reset PRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
Start up in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763?viewlocale=en_US

Macbook Air won't boot

Hi
There's an issue with my sister's Macbook Air (2012 model I think - it's the one with the HD4000 graphics).
She was playing The Sims and then suddenly the computer froze. It would just display a freeze frame of the game. At this point the computer was pretty much unresponsive. We couldn't minimize the game and pressing the Power button did nothing (we could however adjust the display lighting, so it wasn't totally unresponsive).
We unplugged the charger and let the battery drain. When the battery had fully drained we plugged in the charger. It was indicated on the charger that it was infact charging (the orange light). It was also able to fully charge (indicated by the green light). However at this point the computer is totally unresponsive. Absolutely nothing happens if you press or press and hold the power button. The display is just black and it makes no sounds.
Anyone who has a clue whether there's an easy fix or if it has to be sent in for repair?
Best regards,
Rasmus.

You don't need to let the battery drain - in fact you do not want to drain the battery. Hold down the power button for about 10 seconds to perform a forced shutdown. Release the button. After a pause, hold the button as normal to restart the computer.
Did this restart it?
If you let the battery drain, assuming the OS is still functioning behind the scenes, the computer will go into auto shutdown and when you restart the computer it will restart in its previous state. This is reason 1 for not letting the battery drain. Reason 2 is that it is very bad for the battery.

Installing on Macbook Air 4,2 - why can I not get this done?

I am trying so desperately to install Arch and dual-boot on my Macbook Air. I'm not an Arch noob - I promise. I've installed and loved arch on my old laptop a couple years back but that was not a mac.
I've been here but all it says is that this "works out of the box". Unfortunately, I can't get that far.
I flashed Archboot to my USB thumb stick using DD and booted into it using ReFind. I can't remember what the first option was, but I believe it was Arch-something with EFI. I chose that and I got an error message:
Failed to open file: boot\intel-ucode.img
Trying to load files to higher address
Failed to open file: boot\intel-ucode.img
So, I chose the second option which says (I'm sorry, I'm in my OSX right now so I'mg telling this from memory) something like Arch-something without EFI. Then I got to the actual install console. I created some partitions using cgdisk and chose my packages but they all failed to install due to a dependency missing. I'm really sorry I don't know what that error was. After I post this I will go back and try again and see if I Can get a screen shot.
Anyhow - This is nothing like my install was on my old PC laptop and I feel like I'm not even sure if I'm going down the right path. Does anyone know of a youtube video which shows this process? Honestly, as much as I've used Arch in the past, I truly feel like a dumbass right now but I'm willing to risk my reputation for a rig that runs the sweetest Linux there is.
Thanks -
Whatever you need, logs, etc... no problem - but tell me where to get them because I'm not sure how to with my system in limbo like this.

Alright, only problem is that the beginner's guide talks about entering things at a prompt - like "# sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda". i'm not at a prompt. I'm in the GUI Archboot console. Also, I don't see instructions on which partitions to create, what size to make them, etc.. and, I still don't know why the original option in Archboot failed - the one that prompted me that it could not find boot/intel-ucode/img. It's not that I haven't read the documentation and it's also not that I'm too stupid to figure it out - I feel like I'm on the wrong track. For example, the Beginner's Guide doesn't even mention instructions for Archboot - which is what I'm using. By the way, thank you for your response. I don't want to sound ungrateful
Last edited by burgertime (2014-12-21 02:08:22)

Mid 2011 Macbook Air won't boot after installing Little Snitch 3. Grey Screen.

Hi all
I think the answer is probably that my SSD is toast but here's the symptoms in case anyone else has experienced this.
I installed Adobe Lightroom and also got round to upgrading my Little Snitch license and finally putting it on my 11" Air (mid 2011, latest version of Lion) as I use the computer more often than my Pro. After restarting as LS requires I was met with the grey Apple logo screen with no spinning gear. I forced a shut down and started again, again the logo screen, no spinning gear. I tried booting in to safe mode and got only a grey screen, then I tried booting in to recovery mode and got the Apple Logo again. I also tried cmd + C and alt/option with an external DVD drive and Snow Leopard with no luck
Then I tried a SMC reset, after that I started up and only got the Logo again. I reset the PRAM and the main effect of that was to reset the system volume to max so now I can hear the POST chime but also since the PRAM reset I get only the grey screen and no further. I tried to boot from a USB Lion recovery but only the grey screen. I have also tried booting with cmd +S with no luck either. Internet recovery doesn't work either.
The keyboard seems to be completely unresponsive, the caps lock key doesn't light up at all and I've a feeling that it's either something as simple as a problem with the keyboard or the SSD is kaput. I think that Little Snitch is a coincidence as there's nothing like this anywhere on the web as far as I can tell with Google and there doesn't appear to be anything on these forums that quite matches, especially the part about not being able to use and alternative boot method.
Anyone out there got any ideas?
Cheers
John

Hi and thank you for your response.
The fans only kick in when the machine freezes.
I updated from Snow Leopard to Lion using the App Store. The install was successful and worked for about 30 mins then the unresponsive behavior started. Once I rebooted, I received the issue previously stated above (i.e., the trackpad and keyboard is unresponsive).
I've also tried booting using the Option key and choosing the Recovery Mode. Once in Recovery Mode the same crash happens (i.e., the trackpad and keyboard is unresponsive)

Refurbished MacBook Air won't boot up. First time turning on and I'm met with Kernel Extension problems. Help?

I turn on the power button, and then it tells me a load of data. I cannot load up my MacBook, to even get to a set up page. I have only had it put of the box 10 minutes and turned it on once haha.
It shows the apple logo, an then brings up the data, where it says things like
"Panic(cpu 0 caller -loads of numbers-) "pthread Kernel extension not loaded (function table is NULL)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS Version:
Not set yet
Darwin Kernel version 13.0.0
What could this be? Apple support is unavailable to call until Tuesday apparently
Please help. I just want to use my new MacBook

Felix, there is nothing you should do about this other than to return it to Apple for a refund, and purchase another. I wouldn't think twice about it.

Macbook Pro won't boot mac osx and files are not backed up!

I have a macbook pro 13" (mid-2010) model. I upgraded the HDD from a 500 GB to a 1TB and the RAM from 4GB to 8GB.
From when I upgraded the laptop till about a week ago, it was working fine - I partitioned the 1 TB into 2 parts using bootcamp I installed windows 7 operating system and on the other part I have snow leopard. Since lion osx and mountain lion osx were released i updated my mac os.
Basically the problem is that I was recently watching a movie on my laptop and then all of a sudden it was stuck and I decided to restart my computer by doing a forced shut down and from then on my mac os stopped working - it would always go to the white apple screen and then would not start. I then went into disk utility and it said that the mac hdd partition is damaged and could not be repaired and that I should start backing up as much data as I could.
Since I upgraded the hardware myself - the warranty that covers the computer is basically nulled. Please help I need to back up my files and repair my HDD. I am more concerned with backing up and saving all my data and I am willing to replace and buy a new HDD if necessary!
oh and one more thing the windows part of my HDD is still accesible which means that the HDD itself is not fully damaged.
If anyone can help me - I would appreciate it!

Since I upgraded the hardware myself - the warranty that covers the computer is basically nulled.
Warranty is not made void by upgrading memory or storage. If you have AppleCare then you should be fine.
Disk Utility is powerful, but not the most powerful tool out there. There might be other applications (sometimes expensive) that can fix the volume. If your Windows partition works but not the Mac partiiton that leads me to believe the issue is solvable.
Can you read the Mac files from your Windows partition?

HELP! My hard drive is corrupt, can't boot can't access files!

My Intel Mac won't boot. I took it to Genius Bar and they tried to get it to go into target disk mode with firewire but that doesn't work either as it doesn't see the disk. The guy at the Genius Bar told me to get DiskWarrior and that it would fix my corrupt disk. I didn't have the money to get it so I took my Mac home.
I get home and read online that DiskWarrior doesn't work on Intel Macs. He was trying to get me to buy something that doesn't work!
Now I'm stuck. Won't boot, can't get files off of it which I need for work for Monday.
What can I do to fix my Intel Mac and fast? Thanks for any help you can offer. I don't know what to do!

Will the Mac boot with the Install DVD? If so what happens when you Repair the HD with Disk Utility in the Utilities menu?

My MacBook Air won't start up. It's completely powered, yet when the white screen with the apple shows up upon me turning it on, it shuts right back off. Can someone help?

MacBook Air won't start up even though it's fully powered. The white screen with the apple logo appears when I turn it on, then it shuts right back down. Can someone help me?

Hey Msazama30,
First, I would start off your troubleshooting by following the steps in this link:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Then, if that doesn't work, try out the information in here:
Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
All the best,
Delgadoh

Macbook Air won't boot - can I recover files this way?

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