MacBook Pro stalls in start-up

My two month old MacBook Pro decided yesterday to become very slow in opening applications, and as of today it is stalling during the start-up phase. I had re-installed operating software before stalling began. My primary concern is the new sound coming from the left side of the keyboard. It sounds like the hard drive is hung up. The indicator (under the Apple) shows that it's trying to boot, but without moving beyond this point. Any assistance will be greatly appreciated

Assuming there isn't something more troublesome, maintenance may be indicated as suggested by Hatter.
Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs the best third-party utility is Disk Warrior. DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption. However, DW is not yet compatible with Intel Macs. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 is Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility called Macaroni that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Freeware - not universal binary.)
6. LaCie SilverKeeper (Freeware - not universal binary)
7. RsynchX 2.1 and PsyncX 2.2.1 (Freeware)
You can perform full backups (only) using the Restore option of Disk Utility.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.
In the future please post questions about MacBook Pros in the MacBook Pro forum. This is the Mac Pro forum (different hardware.)

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MacBook Pro - Stall, Freezes at Random Times & Durations

Hello all, hope you can help me with a perplexing problem.
Starting this past Monday, my MacBook Pro (specs below) started stalling or freezing at random times. The stalls will sometimes last for 5 seconds and then I can use it again, other times it'll last for 30 seconds to several minutes. On occasion it'll freeze up so hard that I have to do a hard shut down. When it stalls, I can move my mouse and even select other applications which sometimes work. More often then not, it stalls all the programs and I just have to wait.
It does not seem to matter what applications are running or how many. Generally I run a web browser (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari - I've been alternating to see if one is better) with one or two tabs open. I've worked flawlessly for several hours with Browser, Word, and Terminal open, then it freezes up when I try to open something like System Preferences (or Spotlight or whatnot). So there is no real pattern when it comes to applications.
The temperature hovers around 55 - 65. RAM usage rarely tops half and CPU fluctuates but nothing outside of what you'd consider normal (i.e. it never pegs at 100% when stalled or frozen).
I've tried the following:
* Ran Rember (1 pass, then another 25 passes over night) - No Errors
* Ran Verify Permissions - No Errors
* Ran Verify Disk - No Errors
* Reformatted and Reinstalled the OS from scratch (problem continues)
* Repeated the Rember, Verify Disk Permissions, and Verify Disk - No Errors
* Reset PRAM and NVRAM
* Reset the SMC
* Ran Applejack and all the tests associated with it.
In the Console system.log, there was an instance of unknown-dev: flushing fs disk buffer returned 0x5. After doing some Googling, I ended up disabling Journaling to see if that would make a difference. I was able to run for about 25 minutes before it froze up again.
Any other thoughts or theories that I could try out? Much appreciated.
Specs
MacBook Pro
OS X 10.5.8
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
Fujitsu MHY2200BH 186GB Hard Drive
GeForce 8600 GT w/256MB

Reformatted and Reinstalled the OS from scratch (problem continues)
If you done that, then I believe you have a hard drive issue. Did you zero-out the drive (select "Zero out data" under the "Security Options" button in your Disk Utility) before you reinstalled a new system? If not, you might try that to map out any bad sectors first, before replacing the drive.
Check out the new remodeled MacOSG website! 24-hour Apple-related news & support.
 MacOSG: An Apple User Group  iTunes: MacOSG Podcast  Follow us on Twitter: MacOSG

MacBook Pro won't start up. Gets stuck in Gray Screen

Ever since two days ago when I did a regular systems update of iLife, iWork and a bunch of other updates to my MacBook Pro, the thing wouldn't restart. It gets stuck in the gray screen and no apple symbol shows up.
Just on a chance, I turned the power off and the MacBook Pro continued to start up, and was fine. I'm wondering if because I didn't update to Leopard yet, there might be a conflict due to my recent updates, or maybe one of my peripherals is causing it to stall in start up? I have my iPhone dock, External Hard Drive, Apple LCD Screen, Mac Mini Style Hub, and HP printer plugged into the MacBook Pro.
This has ONLY started to happen when I recently updated in systems updater. It's happened 2-3 times. After I send this I will check it again, but I think I will have to AGAIN start using only the battery source and not plugged into the outlet.
Maybe installing Leopard will fix this problem? I am getting it fedexed in a day or two.
What could it be?
Help!!
Thanks,
Lainey

I haven't received Leopard yet, so haven't tried to install. It's when I use Software Updater. the last update is what I think is causing the stall.
I tried something though. When it stalled this last time, I pressed the LCD on switch on my 17 inch monitor, and then the start continued. Is there maybe a driver update needed for the 17 inch monitor now that I updated some softwarevia Software updater, or is that just me being paranoid?
Maybe the software updater installed stuff that needs Leopard to run properly. Once I install Leopard, I'll let you know how it goes. MEanwhile, I am going to try restarting a few more times.

I was messing around with .kext files in the MacintoshHD and now my MacBook Pro won't start up.

I was messing around with .kext files in the MacintoshHD and moved the system.kext and two others to my desktop and deleted the originals and now the MacBook Pro won't start up. All I get at start up is the apple icon then a bunch of text shows up part of which says Mac OS version: not yet set. then the apple icon turns into the power icon and tells me to turn off the computer. I've tried reinstalling from the install DVD by holding down option when powering on and selecting the install DVD and it just goes to a white screen with the apple icon and stays like that. I didn't have the disk utility on my Mac before this happened because I deleted it to make room on my computer a while ago so I'm not sure if that's why it won't load the install DVD but anyone who knows the solution to this with out going to get it repaired would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Never mind my dad just found the original install DVD and that worked. Before I was using an install disc that Apple sent me for another issue I was having, but thanks for replying so quickly and trying to help on this Thanksgiving day!!!

TS3423 17" macbook pro won't start blue file with question mark is all that appears on the screen

My old macbook pro will not start up. Worked fine yesterday, today all I gat is the startup sound and a blank blue screen. After a while the screen shows a file folder icon with a question mark in it. Any ideas

Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by:
Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro 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.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD:
Boot From 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.
Reinstall Snow Leopard Without Erasing The drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
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.

Hi! My MacBook Pro won't start! HELP !!!

Hi! My MacBook Pro won't start! I have tried everything I can think of like Safe Mode (doesn't work), Recovery (does not find Recovery Drive), Booting with OS Snow Leopard Cd (doesn't work)...
I have really no clue about what to do now... I paid quite a lot of money for this computer and am pretty short of money nowadays! Would like to repair with help rather than having to take it to Apple Store.
Has anyone had this same problem?
All I get is white screen + grey Apple and spinning grey disk... it's 100% frustrating! Any help would be more than welcome since I think i've tried EVERY SUGGESTION on this Support Center and Youtube videos...
This MBP is from 2011, runs on OS X 10.6.8
I tried booting with OS X Snow Leopard CD, it didn't work! (my cd player works! recognizes the Snow Leopard CD, but then never opens it... goes back forever to the with screen + apple and spinning disk)
I don't care about the content, it's OK if i lose all DATA... I just want to bring this Mac BACK TO LIFE!
When i run coomand on root# fsck -fy --> RESULT = my HD was checked and seems to be FINE!
Thanks

Please make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

My MacBook Pro doesn't start; in safe mode shift CMD V the message "disk0s2: media is not present" is written on the screen repeatedly but the MacBook doesn't start. Do you have any ideas of why this should be or what I should do to resolve this?

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Thanks for these suggestions: I have tried safe mode re-starts (both "verbose" and simple "shift" + power) to no avail. I get the error message "disk0s2: media is not present". Following this I inserted the installation disc and from there ran disc utility. The "Verify Disk" indicated an error " invalid sibling link" which it could not repair.
I also tried to completely re-format/erase the disk, but again got an error message "disk object invalid or unable to serialize".
Any ideas of what could be causing this or the best solution? I fear I am fast running out of options.

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You may take out the HDD and install it into an enclosure. Then connect it to a Mac via USB and If the HDD is functional, you should be able to take the data off of it.
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Spilled liquid on MacBook Pro - won't start - any suggestions?

spilled liquid on MacBook Pro - won't start - any suggestions?

Thank you both for your responses! I watched a video on how to remove the hard drive - special tork(?) screwdriver and too many steps for me to feel confident about doing it myself, so I took the computer to an Apple Store - and thank God, the hard drive appeared undamaged - they are transferring the data to a new Macbook Pro. The loss of data was the scariest part, so I am breathing again!
The laptop was three years old, I was hoping for another year or so before upgrading, but such is life. I appreciate your upfront advice.

HT204347 what to do if my macbook pro is not starting and I do not have warranty?

I need help...my macbook pro is not starting. I tried everything..Can I send it to the Apple store for an estimate and how much would that be?
Thanks

emdonahue wrote:
I need help...my macbook pro is not starting. I tried everything..Can I send it to the Apple store for an estimate and how much would that be?
Thanks
Yes and ask the repair tech.

Macbook pro isn't starting

my macbook pro isn't starting. it gets as far as the apple logo and loading wheel but does go any further, please help!!

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

MacBook Pro won't start up after chime, MacBook Pro won't start up after chime

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Try resetting the SMC.
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My MacBook pro don't start after installing Lion

Hi
I just downloaded Lion from AppStore, then my MacBook pro wan,t start. It is only the apple.
Br/Anders

I'm afraid that with hardware problems, such as you dsecribe, are difficult (if not impossible) to diagnose over the Internet. You're just going to have to break down and make the trip to your nearest Apple Store or AASP and have them diagnose your computer. I take it that you didn't purchase the extended AppleCare Protection Plan? Let's just hope it's not a logic board problem...
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MacBook Pro won't start after changing RAM cards; just beeps.

MacBook Pro will not start after changing RAM cards. It just beeps; then I force it to quit.

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MacBook Pro stalls in start-up

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