MacBook Uni OSX 10.64, Slow 40+min boot, frequent crashs, bootcamp fine

Question

Bought a used 13inch Macbook uni body, looks exactly like the new pro… system came with after market ram and hard drive, I am a new user to the Mac platform.
Issues;
*Slow boot*
- displays white spinning wheel for 1 hour, loads partially then freezes for 15 mins.
*Frequent crashes*
- Crashes randomly … mostly when doing too much … even crashes when only running one of any browser… viewing finder … or searching anything.
*Will not load some utilities*
- cannot load users, disk utility ect
*Won’t reboot*
- wont reboot, just displays background image with not icons … shows mouse, sounds quite.
*First noticed;*
- I first noticed an issue when I saw a update, … walked away during the process’s and noticed the system was stuck (see wont reboot) … decided after some time to hard boot … then system hung for 40 mins in white screen.
*Other information;*
- Luckily enough the used computer came with boot camp, I am a gamer when then system first ‘hung’ in OSX … I could still game ect … but the issue got increasingly worse … made me think it was hardware … but in boot camp I can save, install play half life to my hearts content with zero issues … boots fast ect.
*Solution / question;*
- Fix issue without reinstalling (down time is bad) or reinstall osx… if re-installing OSX … could I backup my existing installed software?
Message was edited by: West Coast Design Co.

Answer 1

Everything that is going on with your MacBook makes me think you have a bad ram problem except for bootcamp behaving normally which makes me think it is a hard drive corruption problem, but it could be both.
If you can get it to stay up long enough to run Disk Utility from the utilities folder under applications, I would start there. Run it in repair mode under the first aid mode and it may solve some problems.
If your system is too unstable, you may need to use an external bootable volume or bootable DVD. The original OS X installation disks would be one option and you may have a TechTool Deluxe DVD if the original owner got an Apple Care plan and passed the disks along.
You can boot from an external volume or DVD by setting them as the start up disk in the system preferences under the apple menu if your system is stable enough for that, or can force to boot from the DVD by holding down the C key while you boot.
If you boot from the the installation DVD you could connect an external USB hard drive and install a fully functioning installation of OS X on the external drive. If the system remains unstable when booting from DVD or external hard drive, you have a hardware problem, possibly the RAM if it has been replaced. If you are stable from another boot volume, I would then run Disk Utility, TechToolDeluxe if you have it, and probably Memtest which is available as a free download from the internet.
The RAM could still be the problem as MacBooks are somewhat notorious for acting funny if they have the wrong RAM installed. The unibody MacBook has 2 RAM slots and takes 1066 MHz DDR3 SO-DIMMS. You can select about this mac under the apple menu to get some of this info and then select more info to get the system profiler and select memory to get more details. This model officially supports up to 6GB of RAM (one 2 GB and one 4 GB) but I have been running with 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) with no problems. If the RAM is the wrong speed and is not 1066 or 1067 MHz when listed in the system profiler, or is not fully seated when installed it can cause some funny behavior.