Macbook won't start up at all

I'm using my desktop to post this because my mac book will not start up at all. When I turn it on I just get the apple screen and the whirling circle. I did all the troubleshooting things, resetting the PRAM and the PMU (I think it is called something else on this model). Still nothing.
The only thing I've done that is different recently is that I set up an airport express to have wireless internet (and it worked fine for a few days and is working with the desktop now).
Any tips?

HD fails from time to time, there are usually tell tail signs such as the HD making clicking noises.
They are not all that expensive, and is really easy to replace on the Macbook.
If your computer is still under the 1 year warranty, take it to the local apple store and get them to check it for you, and if it needs replace then they will do it for you free of charge.
Have you tried to partition the drive? It may work but you will lose the data stored on the drive.

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and how can I fix it without losing everything again?

White MacBook won't start up.

My MacBook won't start up at all. Before it completely went haywire, it would just freeze and the whole computer would be frozen and . It wouldn't even let you "force quit". Most of this happened when I opened iTunes. Now when I start it, the gray screen comes up, it shows the little apple sign, then goes gray with a circle with a line through it. I tried starting it up with the utility disk and holding down the "C" key, and instead of the circle it has a question mark inside a file sign and flashes. Now I have no idea how to get the disk out and my computer is useless. Please help me.

Hi,
*"question mark inside a file sign and flashes"*
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Flashing question mark can mean several things. One the drive is failing or failed. Two, it can mean that your Mac can't find a system folder to boot from. Try booting while holding down the Option key which prompts the Startup Manager window. If that doesn't work, it's time to replace the drive.
Carolyn

MacBook won't start at all - dead

My MacBook won't start AT ALL - nothing, nada, zip.
I press the power button and nothing happens at all - no sound, no lights, no movement.
I have tried taking out battery and unplugging it, then pressing power button for 5 seconds, then inserting battery and plugging back in (as per Apple's kb note). This doesn't help.
[OK I was trying to upgrade the hard drive - original hard drive is now back in the MacBook]
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OK I took my MacBook to the guys at Streetwise in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn (we are talking Melbourne Australia here).
Incredibly helpful - the genius there diagnosed a dislodged cable between the top board (keyboard and housing) and the main body. He thought I had dislodged it trying to change over the hard drive.
In any case, he straightened things out, reseated the cable and voila, its all working.
Hard drive upgraded too using Carbon Copy Cloner.

How do I backup all my files if my Macbook won't start up?

So a few days ago, my dad and I got into a fight - he reacted by pouring coffee all over my macbook, then continuously slammed it on the floor. There wasn't really much I could do for my macbook then, except the basic procedure of powering it off, turning it upside down, then waiting for a couple of days to use it. Luckily enough, my macbook was able to turn on, but it got stuck on the logo screen and couldn't go any further than that.
I had already planned to diagnose my macbook after an earlier water spill, and spent over $500 on tools/replacements. I bought an external hard drive to backup my computer files with before diagnosing it - but now I can't really do that since my macbook won't start up. Is there any way I can boot it up just to back up my files before they get lost forever?

yes, the HD contains all you data, SEE PIC BELOW of macbook
Do you have 2 HD in your macbook? Some macbooks are modified and have removed DVD/Superdrives and contain a second hard drive (if you didnt do that, it isnt in there)
The HD itself is sealed, however the internal armature and heads are fragile, these are like records and needle.
obviously torturing these HD heads is like shaking an old record player with its needle and arm (bad idea)
The HD is like a metal sealed box (in simple explanation)....which is GOOD.....since liquid doesnt get in there...
what is BAD is what is inside that box is fragile
also what is bad is that the underside of that "BOX" contains a control board which CAN get ruined by nasty liquids.
if this was also possible to do with the hard drive.
No, dont think of putting any liquid ON / IN the HD, ..as said the HD is sealed, but it does have a circuit board on it (controller board) you cant see in this pic above,.....nasty liquid on it can of course fry the ability to access the data ON the HD platters inside......data recovery experts can get around this,....so can I, but its costly and very "painful" to do.
see picture of that control board here> http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Portege-R500/small/remove-hard-dri ve-10sm.jpg
inside of a HD:

My Macbook Pro won't start up. All I get is a grey screen showing a grey folder bearing a question mark. Help please!

My Macbook Pro won't start up. All I get is a grey screen showing a grey folder bearing a question mark. Help please!

The folder with the question mark indicates that the machine is unable to find a bootable volume on startup. This is typically caused by one of three things:
1.) The internal HD has failed or is failing and needs to be replaced
2.) There is significant directory damage to the volume that requires repairing in order to boot
3.) Some other internal component failure between the HD and logic board
I'd ranked them in the order that is most common (from my personal experience). Boot to the OS X Recovery tool and attempt to repair the startup volume. If that fails or the drive is not detected it's usually a tell tale sign of a failed HD.

My macbook pro won't start up at all, it shows a grey screen, before this it was extremely slow. What is the problem?

My Mac won't start up at all now, it happened again 3 weeks ago and I reinstalled OS and lost everything on my computer
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and how can I fix it without losing everything again?

Macbook won't start - apple icon turns to circle with diagonal line/slash

My Macbook won't start. When I turn on the power, the apple icon appears but then after a while it changes to a circle with a diagonal line/slash, then it just shows a gray screen.
The last time I used the computer I did several software updates. Could this be causing the problem? Any suggestions for getting my computer operating again?
Thanks for any help/advice.

Yup, i encountered the same experience after a strange failed USB-loading, and a sudden shutdown of my macbook.
Luckily i manage to "safe-boot" (pressing "Shift" key once starting up the mac) my macbook so that i can save the necessary files before will lose them all.
After that i popped-in my SL Installation DVD, and did the reinstallation process. Fortunately, everything works as charm and everything is back to normal after Spotlight has done it's hard work.
Happy Apple user once again.

After 10.4.11 upgrade Macbook won't start can't boot from external HD

Hi guys,
I just suffer as all other that after try ti install the 10.4.11 update my macbook won't start, I have a external HD with a image of my macbook but went I press and hold the option key I only see the bootcamp parttion and my internal HD, I don't see the external HD.
How can I boot from my external HD if I have a bootcamp partition?
Thanks

I follow the robotobi post and solve this issue.
Thanks robotobi

MacBook won't start on battery/shuts down when power adapter is removed

Help & advice needed please.
My MacBook won't start without external power, it gives a whir then a click then nothing. Once started up, if I remove the external power it just shuts off.
The battery shows at 98% & charging. Coconut Battery shows the following:
Current battery charge 4126 (& increasing as I type)
Maximum battery charge 4200
Current battery capacity 4200
Original battery capacity 5200
80%
Battery loadcycles 111
Age of your Mac 6 months
Charger connected yes
Battery is charging yes
Does anyone have a clue why the Mac won't power itself on the battery when everything else seems like it works?
Cheers!

As of today, my MacBook and I have been together for 40 days. Yesterday, while I was happily surfing (on battery), it powered down with no warning. Okay, these things happen. I plugged it in, restarted, and all seemed to be fine. Battery was about 70%. I did other things on my other machines and when it was about 90%, unplugged it and everything was good. This morning after using it unplugged for 1.5 hours it did the same thing, but decided to only work with the power adapter, not on battery alone. When trying to boot without AC, it would try to spin the CD and then fall back into off. When on AC, if I pulled the adapter, it would last two seconds and go blank. I made an appt. with the Apple store (Fashion Show Mall, Las Vegas) for 3:20pm. I got there right at 3:20pm and the monitors showed I was 5th in line. Store was fairly packed, at least one patron at every display item. Monitors also said the next MacGenius appt. was "approx. 8:30pm." Glad I made an appt! I was served about 15 min. later, during which time the monitors had changed to "No more MacGenius appts. available today, please try tomorrow." However, one guy came by without an appt. and was told he would be put on standby and to come back in 30 min.
Once I explained my issue with my MacBook battery, my Genius tried one of his batteries. "I just want to make sure it's your battery and not your motherboard." My machine worked fine, so he said "No problem, I'll have you out of here in 10 minutes." He got me a brand new battery, tested it, and put my old one in a box on the rear counter with four others. He pulled the serial number from the "About this Mac" area, didn't need my receipt for purchase date or anything. I had even printed this page: http://www.apple.com/support/macbook_macbookpro/batteryupdate/ to use as ammunition, but didn't need it. He did approve highly of my dashboard widget "iStat pro", available here: http://islayer.com/.
So the battery issue is a very common problem, and one that Apple has tried to deal with as painlessly as possible for the consumer. My Genius did ask if the battery showed an "X" in the icon bar, and I said no. Just wouldn't run on battery. On the way out of the store, one of the 3 MacBooks, in fact the one closest to the door, had an "X" on the battery icon. When I unplugged the power, it shut down immediately! The moral of the story is to contact Apple immediately with problems and give them a chance to fix them. Hope this helps others.

If my MacBook won't start, is there a way to access my data without replacing the battery? Someone mentioned removing the hard drive?

I'm assuming that my MacBook won't start because it's been spilled on... It's happened once before and when I brought it in, all that was needed was a battery replacement. I have a brand new MacBook Pro and all I really want is my pictures, videos, music & other documents from my old MacBook.. Is there a way of getting all of that without buying a new battery, and then using Mavericks to switch over everything? A friend suggested that I just get all of it from the hard drive, but I don't really know much about that. Help?

If you can take the computer to somewhere or someone who has a known-good battery, and if the MacBook is dry, you could tell in quick order if a replacement battery would be worth it. Likely, you won't have been as fortunate more than once; electricity and water don't mix well, and short circuited or fried electronics result.
{There used to be a way to access one Mac from another if you could get the bad one to boot into Target Disk mode, but Intel-based macs didn't always work; they both needed FireWire ports & correct cable. If In an enclosure, you may be able to use a migration assistant utility.}
An authorized service tech with Apple certification in portable computers should be able to remove the internal hard disk drive, install it into an external enclosure, & test it, for a fee; once in an enclosure it may be accessed to see if the hard drive's data files on the drive, or at least sees them. Labor + parts?
Once the hard disk drive is removed, your user files would still have whatever account password protection needed to access them, but there are ways to migrate data from drives into another computer; in some cases the information on this may be tilted toward using a device you don't have, such as a Time Machine. If the data had been backed up on a Time Machine, it may have been possible to get it from that device using a method available in a Support article and put directly into another Mac.
If the computer has failed due to contact with moisture or a drink pouring over it, more than once, it may require more than a new battery to see if it'd work well enough to run and get data from its hard disk drive. You may pay quite a bit of money to have someone do anything at all.
How long ago did the MacBook get wet again? If several weeks ago, it may be dry inside. But may be damaged and the main logic board short-circuited or toast. So, it may not work even with the MagSafe attached due to other damages beyond a new battery. That could be a waste of money to buy one.
There are repair guides at http://ifixit.com which may help you determine if you can extract the HDD from the failed MacBook, but even then you'd have to install it into a suitable USB enclosure to gain access to data. Some drive enclosures already have a hard disk drive inside, so try and get one that would work with the MacBook's SATA hard disk drive, and with no HDD installed. One less thing to do.
So I know only enough about it to be dangerous.
And to troubleshoot the old MacBook may not
be worth the cost, if logicboard now is toasted.
Maybe someone else can say it direct w/ less words? LOL
Good luck & happy computing!

My Brand New MacBook Won't Start Up!!!!!

My new MacBook won't start up - from the first time I ever switched it on!!!
All I have is a black screen, the sleep light is on either permanently or flashing and now the install disc is stuck in the drive and I can't get it out!
Help please!

From my experience, resetting the PRAM and PMU do not work in this situation, at least with my MacBook. I have a feeling that 10.4.7 update didn't flash correctly or the firmware is buggy in some way.

Firefox update failed, so I re-installed. Now firefox won't start up at all?

''locking as a duplicate of https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/969557''
So I ran firefox, and it was updating. While updating, firefox crashed for no apparent reason so I had to close it. Afterwards, every time I tried to start up firefox, it gave me the update failed error, followed by a crash less than a second later. I followed some instructions, uninstalling and re-installing firefox (without removing personal data), but now firefox won't start up at all!
Now what?

We're sorry to hear that your Firefox seems to be crashing when you open it. Please perform the following steps to give us a crash report ID that helps us find out more about the cause of the crash.
#Press the following shortcut to get a Run window: [Windows] + [R]. This should bring up a window that contains a text field.
#In that text field, enter %APPDATA% and press Enter. An explorer window should open.
#From that explorer window, double-click on the ''Mozilla'' folder, then double-click on ''Firefox'' and then on ''Crash reports''. Double-click on ''submitted''.
#Now, you should see a list of files that contain reports. Go to ''View'' > ''Arrange Icons by'' > ''Modified'' to get the most recent files at the top of the window.
#Open the most recent 5 files with a text editor and copy the IDs.
#Paste each ID with '''bp-''' into the reply window on the forums.
Thanks in advance!
You can find more information and troubleshooting steps in the [[Firefox crashes]] article.

Macbook won't start up while firewire audio interface is plugged up

I have a m-audio firewire solo and a presonus firebox, both firewire interfaces. My macbook won't start up when either is plugged up. If I restart with it plugged up I just get a grey screen. When I disconnect it I boot up fine. Is this normal or is something wrong here?

Wire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
FW Solo:
Manufacturer: M-Audio
Model: 0x10062
GUID: 0xD6C0B007E03B7
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
FW Solo Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10001
Unit Spec ID: 0xA02D

Macbook won't start

Macbook won't start up. Sounds like disc drive is spinning but screen remains dark as though startup file is not booting.

Did you also try reset of NVRAM/PRAM?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
When you tried the Command + Opt + P + R keys on restart, held almost
immediately and through the time period it should chime on startup, did
you keep holding those keys down, so as to force it to repeat the chime?
You should do this (if possible to tell) through Three chimes, before you
let those keys go; that would be indicative of a NVRAM/PRAM reset.
Aside from the details and troubleshooting processes in the SMC reset
article from Apple Support, that could shed some light on the issue, if
these were done in their subscribed order before finally trying the SMC.
Have you tried System Management Controller (SMC) reset more than once?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 {and those other troubleshooting bits}
Depending on which MacBook you have, the details may vary; with some
you could try several items not possible with a later model, such as a hard
reset of the computer (remove battery, hold power button, etc) and other
details I am not going into now... Here's something that worked for this one:
•My MacBook won't boot, no start chime, just DVD spinning sound:
http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/6271/My+MacBook+won%27t+boot,+no+start+chime, +just+the+DVD+spinning+sound.
There are some ideas there which may help. At least as far as trouble-
shooting. If you have access to an Apple Store with Genius Bar in the
USA or Canada, you could call ahead for an appointment to have one
of their staff genius tech persons diagnose and troubleshoot this issue.
In other locations, there may be fees charged to accommodate services.
Anyway, I an not certain what to suggest next.
Did you try booting from the Snow Leopard DVD?
Good luck & happy computing!

Macbook won't start up at all

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