Macbook Pro won't boot or show partition

I have my macbook pro partitioned with leopard and tiger (for protools) . I also have a copy of leopard on an external hard drive that I boot to occasionally. While on this external drive I had to do a manual shutdown after it froze and now my macbook pro won't show the internal drive partition with leopard on it. It will only boot to the internal partition with tiger on it. Even though I can see the leopard partition on the desktop and access it through tiger it is still not showing up in startup disk. I held the option key during startup and it gave me the choice to choose the leopard partition but after it started to go through booting it would then shut down.
Any suggestions?
I ran disk permissions and repair but its said everything is okay.

I would try Diskwarrior 4.1 and see if that can repair the drive.
btw how did you get Tiger on your Macbook Pro?
My Tiger install DVD will not install on my Macbook pro even though it is a 3.1 version machine.
I need to run Protools as well.

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Macbook Pro won't boot from any partition, at all

I tried updating an Early 2008 Intel-based Macbook pro to a clean install of Mavericks with a bootable USB drive, once in the startup manager, it would show the USB as an "EFI BOOT". and trying to access the EFI BOOT just gives me a prohibited sign
The boot copy of Mavericks was installed with Disk Utility, so it shouldn't have had any problems.
So I thought, "I'll completely erase the HD and try again". Did that, and still, "EFI BOOT".
Next thing I did was ditch the USB method, and go for brute force, booted the Mac in Target Disk Mode, and through firewire I was able to install Mavericks into the HD of that Mac, using my brother's Early 2008 intel-based Macbook pro. The clean install worked, it made the recovery partition with no problem. Next thing I know, upon booting the laptop, after restarting it from Target Disk Mode, the darn computer decides to give me the "no boot device found" dreaded Question-Mark-on-a-folder sign. So I restarted the thing to the Startup Manager, and both partitions showed up, I tried both partitions, and no luck, same Question Mark Sign-Thing, not even the recovery booted.
So on target disk mode again, I made 2 partitions, one with a bootable mavericks EDM, and the other one, free space, Mac OS Journaled, ready for the OS installation. So that it would install it by itself, to itself. Upon restarting and accessing the Startup Manager, the bootable partition I had created, was seen, but clicking on it would just give me the question mark.
I shrank the partition on the other macbook to make a bootable firewire device on the other mac, and that partition also said "EFI BOOT" when clicked on.
I burned a recovery DVD to boot from it, and it won't boot from it. Every time I try to boot from something, all I get is the question-mark-on-a-folder-sign.
I disassembled the laptop, got the HD out, tried installing straight into it via USB, and was not able to access it using an external HD case, the power light comes on, and right back off.
PRAM and SMC have been Reset.
any ideas?

When I removed it, it was to install mavericks into it, via usb, with the other macbook, through disk utility, but disk utility was unable to read it then.
And yes, I am able to boot from that HD, on the other macbook, either through firewire or USB... I've verified that it is working fine, no sounds, no clicks, no scratching noises.

Macbook pro won't boot, stuck on white apple screen

Noticed today, that my macbook pro won't boot . It gets to the white apple screen with the spinner under the apple logo. It stays like this for a long time without doing anything except spinning.
I've powered down and tried to boot up several times.
I have boot camp and windows on my mac and when the white screen appears, I can press Option to bring up which hard drive and the Windows partition will load without any problems.

Exacty what happens when you try to boot up from the disc that came with your computer? Are you holding down the c key? Have you tried holding down the "option key?" Are you able to run the Hardware Test - Intel-based Macs: Using Apple Hardware Test
Shut down your computer and disconnect all peripherals (keyboard & mouse if pertinent) from your computer. Now reboot.
If the Mac starts up normally, shut it down again and then plug in one of the peripherals (keyboard or mouse first) and start up your computer again. If it does so successfully repeat the process, adding one peripheral at a time until your Mac acts up. At that point, disconnect the last peripheral you added, reboot your Mac and search the peripheral vendor's website for an updated driver.
If no driver exists or the problem remain after installing the new driver, try a different cable or a different port on your Mac.
If none of the above works, again disconnect all peripherals from your Mac, hold down the "shift" key to start up in "Safe Boot" mode.
If the Mac starts up correctly, restart without pressing the "shift" key.
If your computer still does not start up properly, shut it down and restart it while holding down the Apple+Option-P-R keys; keep holding "all 4 keys" down until you hear the startup sound "twice."
If none of the above work Disconnect all peripherals from your computer. Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.
Select your language.
Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.
Click Repair Disk.
(If Disk Utility cannot repair, you will need a stronger utility (3rd party) - Diskwarrior or Techtool PRO)
Restart your computer when done.
Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 and restart your computer.
Remove any 3rd party ram.
Reinstall Lion - This will install a "fresh" copy of Lion without archiving old system files but leaves the rest of your files in place.
If your computer is still under warranty or you have Apple Care, take full advantage of it by letting tech support deal with your problems. It's what you're paying them for.
Out of warranty - take the computer to an Apple store or an AASP. Whichever is more convenient for you.

MacBook pro won't boot up Keeps turning off

MacBook pro won't boot up. When power button pressed the white screen w apple comes on w progress bar but shuts off before bar completed. If I move cursor or hit buttons it boots but will turn off if cursor stops Moving or stop pushing buttons. Just started happening. Ran hardware test and all shows ok. Any ideas??

Thanks for all the help; however, I still continue to have problems booting off of any other media.
I've tried the Apple CD w/ no success - I made an image of the apple cd and restored it to a USB drive, and it won't boot. I've tested both methods on another mac, and both options boot fine.
I'm going with my last restort here and am going to install OSX on a portable USB HD, and try to boot off of that (no clue if it will work given the outcomes of the other things I have tried). From there I'm going to backup the HD, and try DW as suggested.
Any thoughts as to why the mac refuses to boot off of any other media? It always boots halfway and then tells me I need to shutdown my mac.
Thanks again,

MacBook Pro won't boot at start. I get a white screen with a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro won't boot at start. I get a white screen with a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle. Any ideas?

Read this article...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Macbook pro won't boot - how do I retrieve emails?

Hey guys
I've got a common problem that my Macbook pro won't boot. Sometimes I get stuck on the grey screen with spinning wheel, sometimes on the blue screen with spinning wheel
I've scoured the internet on another machine and tried every trick I can find with the MacBook Pro including
Disk / Permissions repair from install disk (says the HD is fine)
PRAM
Single User
Soft
It seems like my only option at the moment is an Install and Archive. I can mount the MacBook Pro on another machine with a firewire and remove files and backed up a lot on a hard drive before it died
What I am worried about is how to retrieve some emails from the machine that only exist locally because I have deleted them from the server
Is there a way of doing that?
Would Migration Assistant work?
If anyone could help me with this or suggest any other methods for bring my machine out of a coma I'd really appreciate it
d

Try a different adapter. If you don't have access to a known-good adapter any other way, make a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple Store.

Macbook pro won't boot after installing update 10.9.3

macbook pro won't boot after installing update 10.9.3

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually login 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.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

MacBook Pro won't boot after trying to install 10.7.3 update. Start up stalls at Apple logo and spinning gear.

MacBook Pro won't boot after trying to install 10.7.3 update. Start up stalls at Apple logo and spinning gear. Computer won't even start in safe mode.

My daughter's MacBook Pro was doing exactly the same thing. I don't know if it had anything to do with the latest update. She called me about a week ago saying that her MacBook began running slower by the day . She then called me Friday and told me that it wouldn't get past the gray screen and the gear just kept on spinning. I did everything I could over the phone including Safe mode which it wouldn't go into and thought maybe it was the hard drive. She took it to the Apple store. Originally, they also thought it was the hard drive. It ended up being a corrupted operating system (Lion). Apple genius simply re-installed Lion and she's back up and running. Good thing she backed up right before it crapped out. She'll be restoring everything tonight. Don't know if re-installing Lion will help your situation, but it did the trick for my daughter.

My 2007 MacBook pro won't boot up beyond a White screen any ideas what to do?

My 2007 MacBook pro won't boot up beyond a White screen any ideas what to do?

Odd how this hasn't been archived yet.
I'm getting the same thing with my Macbook, but can't boot past the white screen. An Apple store in KS suggested I needed a new hard drive, but I've already put two in there and it's still doing the same thing. I really don't want to buy another motherboard like I had to a couple of years ago.
My choices are either buy a cheap drive to boot from and remove the current one to put into an external case, or save the money by not buying a new motherboard and putting it as a down payment toward a Mac mini.

My MacBook Pro won't boot and apparently my HDD is locked

My MacBook Pro won't boot up. And it's says my HDD is locked when i try and reinstall OS. Help me please good people.

you want to check how many threads with same question first, and look in
Mac OS version forum that you have; and the notebook MacBook instead of the workstation forum for Mac Pro (non-laptop)
Not a lot of detail to go by with "won't boot" though.
Mac OS X Help
Isolating Issues in Mac OS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388
https://www.apple.com/support/osx/
https://www.apple.com/support/quickassist/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
Assume you know what your OS, how to use the Recovery Mode, and how to repair or do Safe boot and other tasks.
General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide: Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems: Isolating an issue by using another user account
Identifying resource hogs and other tips: Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
Starting the computer in "safe mode": Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
To identify potential hardware problems: Apple Hardware Test
General Mac maintenance: Tips to keep your Mac in top form
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

My Macbook Pro won't boot up, only in safe mode!

Help, my macbook pro won't restart, only in safe mode! and it seems that safe mode has plenty of implications for use. my usb memory stick doesn't seem to be recognized while in safe mode. I was doing a cleanup on mackeeper just after I downloaded a trial version of microsoft office mac. The trial wouldn't work properly so I deleted it and decided to do a cleanup with mackeeper. than the mac froze while mackeeper was doing it's cleanup and the screen flashed black a few times. Ever since it won't boot up unless I use safe mode. Also, I downloaded the most recent updates while in safe mode but it doesn't seem to be recognizing that I already downloaded them because software update is still telling me that I have 6 updates. So I am horribly confused at this point. Please help, I need this laptop to do report cards (it's a good thing I got an extension). thanks

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.
These steps are to be taken while booted in safe mode.
Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.
The commands may line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.
Step 1
Triple-click the line of text below to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V).
find /Sy*/L*/Ex* -type f -name Info.plist -exec sh -c '/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :CFBundleIdentifier" "$1" 2> /dev/null | egrep -qv "apple|Accusys|ArcMSR|ATTO|CalDigit|HighPoint|hp-fax|JMicron|print|SoftRAID|stex" && echo ${1%*.kext/*}.kext' {} {} \;
Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.) You can omit the final line ending in “$”.
Step 2
Repeat with this line:
ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null
Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.
Step 3
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null
Remember, these steps are all copy-and-paste — no typing. Also remember to post the output.
You can then quit Terminal.

Mid 2006 Macbook Pro won't boot (from HD or optical)

My mid 2006 Macbook Pro will not boot from the hard disk, or from the internal DVD. I am currently running the latest version of Lion (10.7).
I tried searching the forums and found a similar issue here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1687899?start=0&tstart=0
But that was with a Mac Mini. And it doesn't look like the OP issue was ever resolved. I am having the exact same problem.
When attempting a normal boot from the internal HD of the Macbook Pro. It will make the happy chime of a successful POST. It will display the Apple logo. And that's as far as she gets.
No spinning wheel, no error image, no nothing. Eventually the system will start spinning up the fans as if it were under load (this was after about a half hour of just letting it sit there).
Doing a verbose boot, it never went past this:
com.apple.driver.Apple.IntelCPUPowerManagement
Photo of verbose boot:
Here's what I've tried.
1. Bought a brand new battery (as the current one was at death's door)
2. Zapped PRAM (Apple + Option + P + R)
3. Reset SMC according to these directions: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US
4. Attempted to boot to my original Tiger (10.4) install DVD, only to stop at this point during a verbose boot (Apple V):
Extension "com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform" has immediate dependencies on both com.apple.kernel and com.apple.kpi components; use only one style
Photos:
5. I am able to put her in Target Disk Mode (hold T at boot). Then with a firewire cable I can connect it to my wife's Macbook 13" and I am able to run disk utility on it! Disk Utility did find and repair errors, however, it still refuses to boot.
6. I attempted to boot from my wife's Macbook 13" in Target Disk Mode. I put her machine in Target disk mode. Connected the firewire cable. Powered on my 15" MBP while holding the option key. Then I selected her drive as the boot disk... however it still refuses to boot even from a known working HD.
7. Finally, I swapped around RAM DIMMs with no change in behavior.
Help! I know she's an older gal (Laptop is 6 years old now) but I'm not exactly flush with cash and would rather not give up on her just yet.

My Mac started freezing (colored pinwheel) every time I tried using any application (i.e. Safari, iPhoto). After restarting for the 2nd time, it would no longer boot - makes start up sound but gets stuck on gray screen w/ apple icon. I tried resetting PRAM also - did nothing. I decided to reinstall OS; problem now is my HD is nowhere to be found! I am a tech dummy so this is way beyond my comprehension...I'm not seeing my HD from the Disk Utility either???
Side question...I backed up my files (mostly pics JPEG and videos) on DVD (had to compress to save). Why can't I open files on PC?

MacBook Pro won't boot up after interruption of update

I interrupted the installation for the OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.2 and now my MacBook Pro will not boot up. Any suggestions besides calling Apple support or going to the store?

Hi,
I am having the same problem with my Macbook Pro. Did you manage to find a solution to this problem?

Macbook Pro won't boot into safe mode or via bootable USB key

Hi,
Am running OSX Lion latest version on my Macbook Pro 4,1 and can't get the thing to boot from any source. Always get's stuck at the grey screen with apple logo. Have tried all the following...
- Straight Boot (power on)
- Boot via Recovery HD (hold option on bootup then select)
- Boot via Safe Mode (Holding Shift on bootup)
- Boot via Safe Mode Verbose (Shift, Command, V)
- Boot via bootable Lion USB Key (Hold option, and choose the USB drive - not the same USB key works on my other macbook pro)
On every one (except verbose) it just get's stuck on the grey screen with spinning timer thingie.
I have done PVRAM reset, SMC reset and have reseated the RAM and all to no avail. I'm pretty sure the problem was caused by removing battery at wrong time (device not responding after sleep mode started and I plugged in power - should have been more patient!)
I have a Time Machine backup but it's a bit older than I thought and very much want to get my newer photos off it before rebuilding - not that Time Machine would work in current state anyway.
So what are my remaining options? Will I have to open it up and remove the HD as next step or is there anything else left to try? Can I remove the HD and connect it via a USB caddy to my existing Mac to recover info (hardrive spins and sounds ok to me)?
Any advice appreciated...

ds store wrote:
Yes, once the data is off you can use Disk Utility to Erase the entire drive (Lion + Recovery) with the Zero option (one selection below 7x) then use the Lion USB to install it fresh and stick it back into the machine.
Thanks for the info - I removed the HD and data is all ok on there so very happy about that. Before I wipe the data (all backed up now) I thought I would try booting the mac without any harddrive installed - using a OSX Lion bootable USB. However, still can't get past the grey apple screen and circle icon whirling away. I know the USB works ok, as tried it in my 2011 Macbook Pro and it boots absolutely fine.
I am happy to wipe the HD now and start again, but seeing as the DVD Drive is broken I'll probably need a USB drive boot to install OSX onto the wiped HD anyway. I'm a bit lost as to what to try now.

MacBook Pro won't boot after 10.6.8 update.

I completely erased my hard drive, reinstalled Snow Leopard and updated to 10.6.7. I then performed an Apple Hardware Test and verified the disk using disk utility. Both tests were successful. I then updated to 10.6.8 using the combo update and restarted my MacBook Pro. The boot process ran fine until the system locked up on the bright blue screen. No peripherals were connected to the laptop during this process. I powered the laptop down using the power button and turned it on again. This time, I entered verbose mode. The last line of text that I see before the screen turns black is "[ PCI configuration begin ]". Can anyone assist me with this issue?
My System Profile is as follows.
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          4 MB
Memory:          3 GB
Bus Speed:          800 MHz
Boot ROM Version:          MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system):          1.16f11
Serial Number (system):          System Serial#
Hardware UUID:          00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B639863A4
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State:          Enabled

Might be time to replace the PRAM battery. That's not the normally accessible battery, but it is one that often fails after 4 years.

Macbook Pro won't boot or show partition

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