Macboook pro will not boot up. I get a flashing "?" How do I resolve this?

My Macbook Pro will not boot from the HD. I have a flashing "?" when it tries to boot. How do I resolve this?

Get your OS X install DVD, reboot holding down the "C" key, see if you can use disk utility to verify & repair your hard drive.,

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My macbook pro will not boot. It gets the grey screen with the apple until the bar is half way across and then shuts down. The only screen I can get to is in safe mode and I don't know what to do with that

my macbook pro will not boot. It gets the grey screen with the apple until the bar is half way across and then shuts down. The only screen I can get to is in safe mode and I don't know what to do with that

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

MacBook pro will not boot. I get the gray screen, an apple icon and spinning wheel. Tried to start in safe mode but get the same screen. The only thing different was that I loaded the zedge sync app yesterday. Now getting this problem.

Macbook pro will not boot. I get the gray screen, an apple icon and spinning wheel. I tried to start in safe mode, but get this same screen. The only thing different is that I added the zedge update app to do a sync for adding ringtones to my apple cell phone. How can I get a good boot. I am fairly new to apple computer.

Reset PRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405 and then try a normal boot.
Run the Startup Manager to select Startup disk: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
If those did not work your disk may be sick or dying. The top priority at this point is to make a backup copy of your data.
Check the health of the disk. Boot in Recovery Mode (Boot, Command-R). Run Disk Utility. Click on the upper left disk icon. Does the S.M.A.R.T. status say “Verified”? If not the disk/SSD is unhealthy and needs to be replaced. Even if it does not show “Verified” you can still attempt a backup.
Click on the icon indented below, usually called “Macintosh HD” and Verify Disk. If it finishes with a green “OK” message then all is well with the disk. If it shows errors in red then you have found a problem to address once the system is backed up. Do not attempt software repairs until you have secured the data.
If the disk will not show up at all in Disk Utility as your ran the tests above then it may be dead or it may have a bad internal SATA cable. A trip to an Apple store for confirmation would be in order.
If you have an external disk drive you can use as a backup drive then do so. If not Google “Hitachi USB 3.0 external hard drive 1TB” to purchase one or go to a brick-and-mortar store (including an Apple store) to pickup one. Any 1 TB external drive will do.
Assuming it is still breathing you can try to recover the data without booting from the sick disk.
Reformat the external disk. (This will erase all data on the external disk.)
Boot in Recovery Mode. Start Disk Utility. Plug in the new disk. Select it’s disk Icon (the second one down, left justified). Select the Partition tab.
Partition Layout > Single Partition
Name: Emergency Recovery 1 (or whatever name you wish to use)
Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Options… > GUID Partition Table > OK
Apply
Select the Restore tab.
Drag the old system volume (Macintosh HD) to Source.
Drag the new disk volume (Emergency Recovery 1) to Destination.
Click on Restore.
It may take a long time for the backup.
If that will not complete post back for other emergency data recovery methods, including those from a brody.
If the backup succeeds, use the First Aid tab in Disk Utility to select the old volume (Macintosh HD) and Repair Disk. If it does not finish with a green OK message try to repair it once or twice more. If it repairs with a green OK message, will it boot normally? If not, boot from the Recovery Partition and reinstall OS X.
If it is still not healthy, post back for further instructions.

Mac Pro will not boot. Power led just flashes

When I start up, the HD spins but then the power led starts flashing at a constant rate. It also never gets to the gong. I tried everything on the support pages.

Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2.
It would be helpful to be more specific about the flashes such as the sequence, timing, etc. So, you will need to examine the above and its links to see if you find something descriptive of what you have.

Macbook Pro will not boot beyond grey screen. System freezes.

My Macbook Pro will not boot-up or get beyond the grey screen (with spinning gear wheel.) I've tried all the recommended actions: resetting PRAM, disk repair, permissions repair, re-boot in safe mode etc but still the problem persists. When viewing the safe-boot in verbose mode, the system seems to hang at the stage when it's checking the Airport & Ethernet - the last line on the page reads: "AppleBCOM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?"
Any ideas how to fix this without doing an Archive & Install?
I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them.
Any help gratefully received. Many thanks.

jfromplymouth wrote: ...I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them...
Archive and Install just affects the System files, so any apps you have should still be available afterwards. The Installer on the disk that came with your Mac, when you bought it, will tell you this before you proceed. Of course, you can always back out of the Installer if you feel chicken.
Notwithstanding it is still necessary to backup everything. You need to check that Time Machine is set to also backup your Applications folder. It might be set not to do this.
It may not be necessary to worry about this if you have the original installer disc(s). I think any stuff downloaded from iTunes etc can be re-downloaded. However, it's probably quicker to get Time Machine to backup your apps if you can afford the HDD space. It's bound to be quicker than re-downloading the stuff plus any updates. And of course there's those Apps that you have but forgotten about. What about them?

MacBook Pro will not boot

MacBook Pro will not boot. Just get grey screen. When I hold down control + R, I get blank blue screen.

Which model MacBook Pro do you have?
It's COMMAND and R that will take you to your Recovery partion, not Control and R.
If a later model, can you boot into Internet Recovery (booting whilst holding down the command, option and R keys)?
Clinton

I Have just downloaded the latest upgrade and now my Mac Book Pro will not boot up !! how can I get out of this ?, I Have just downloaded the latest upgrade and now my Mac Book Pro will not boot up !! how can I get out of this ?

I Have just downloaded the latest upgrade (through software update) and now my Mac Book Pro will not boot up !! how can I get out of this ?,

Try starting in safe mode:
Ciao.

My Mac pro will not boot. it gets stuck on the grey screen.

My Mac pro will not boot. it gets stuck on the grey screen. What can I do?

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
If using 10.7 or later, the Installer/Utilities DVD has been replaced with a special emergency partition on the Hard drive called "Recovery_HD"

2009 Mac Pro will not boot up under Windows

I have an Early 2009 Mac Pro system (Mac Pro 4,1) and I've had this system for 3 years already and have been working under OS X with this system ever since I purchased it.
However, when I tried to boot off my Windows disk, something very interesting happens. The Mac Pro WILL NOT boot up off the Windows disk or a known working Windows partition if two monitors are connected. Upon holding down the option key and selecting the Windows partition, I will get a black screen on one monitor (the one connected via Mini Displayport) and the other screen receives no signal and will enter standby and the system is halted. It does not respond to keystrokes, there is no hard drive activity, no measured power increase on the UPS, no apparent network activity, nothing. The only way to exit this scenario (from what I can tell) is to power off the machine, disconnect the display on DVI, power on the machine again, select the Windows partition wait for the system to reach the login window and reconnect the DVI monitor (at which time Windows recognizes it immediately and the system works fine again).
My question to the community is, does anybody know why this is happening and is there a known fix for this? Quite frankly, having to disconnect a monitor just to restart is very tedious and frustrating.
I have two Samsung P2350 monitors attached to an ATI Radeon HD 4870 (512MB, from Apple). One is monitor is connected via directly DVI and the other is using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter. Both monitors work fine under OS X with no issue. At first, I thought that this may be a driver issue on the Windows side and after installing all the latest updates and drivers the issue is still apparent. From what I can tell, this doesn't seem like a software issue but rather a firmware or EFI issue as this happens before Windows even loads.
If anyone knows of a fix or what to do in this situation, or if you are also having this issue, I would love to hear your input!
Thank you!
For the record, I am running all the latest software builds on the OS X side (10.7.4, not that it would really matter at this point). I have also disconnected all unnecessary equipment in a trial and error scenario but the results are still the same.
The system passes all ASD testing.
The full specification of the computer and all connected equipment are as follows:
2009 Mac Pro (4,1) 8-Core
2x Intel Xeon Nehalem 2.66GHz Quad-Core CPUs
16GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz RAM (Apple Branded)
Two OWC 120GB SSDs (One for OS X, the other for Windows 7 x64) - These are in place of my optical drives.
4x 2TB WD Black Hard drives for storage.
Two Samsung P2350 Monitors connected via DVI. (One using a Mini Displayport to DVI adapter).

In Windows I am using the latest (12.4) Catalyst Software Suite, 64 bit of course, downloaded directly from AMD's site after installing the drivers from Boot Camp.
As for installing Windows I used an original (not burned) installation media (Disk is in a pristine condition). And yes, Windows is fine, the problem just seems to be getting the system to boot up Windows with that second monitor. However if the "problem monitor" is disconnected the system boots fine 100% of the time and connecting it later after booting the system will still operate properly.
For the sake of arguement I swapped monitor cables and connected the "second" monitor to the mini displayport adapter to verify that it wasn't a cabling issue and I'm still yielding the same issues.
As for GPU testing, I've played games (Crysis, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 3, etc.) and I've had no issues with the card or stability.
You would think that Apple would try to find a fix for this, especially considering the caliber of this machine.

My Mid 2010 MacBook Pro will not boot

My Mid 2010 MacBook Pro will not boot regularly, in safe mode, in recovery mode or from original OS DVD. Is this the logic board?
I've tried resetting the SMC and pram numerous times and even tried switching out hdd's to try and do a clean install on a new hdd.
If I attempt to boot regularly or from recovery drive the grey apple logo appears for a period before the screen goes black and the power LED operates as though in 'sleep' mode. I'm unable to wake it from this state and the same applies to booting in safe mode.
When attempting to boot from the OS DVD that was originally packed with the computer it just freezes on the language select option, this occurs with the other hdd's I have attempted to use.
Any other suggestions to get it working? I fear the logic board has gone and that the repair won't be worth the money.
Thank you in advance.

Hi JRC8.8,
It sounds like you have been on the right track in trying to troubleshoot this issue. You may want to see if your MacBook Pro will boot directly to the Apple Hardware Test, as outlined in the following article:
Apple Support: Using Apple Hardware Test
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
Regards,
- Brenden

HT203254 MacBook pro will not boot up?

My 2007 MacBook pro will not boot up. Sometimes just stops booting before password screen, but other times after that. If I get to put in my password it goes on, but I either get a blank screen or partial jumbled screen. When using boot disc and run hardware test it gives a video controller error 4VDC/1/40000003. Would that make it hang up and not fully boot? I can understand it giving blank and jumbled screens.

Means you need a new logic board. Make an appointment at an Apple store to confirm.

MacBook pro will not boot up. Blank screen with message File is possibly corrupted. Checksum does not match etc

MacBook Pro suddenly will not boot up. Blank screen with message File is possibly corrupt. Header checksum does not match, etc

Hi s.cheslik,
It seems your MacBook Pro will not boot properly and it displaying an error message. Based on the information you have provided, it appears your MacBook Pro needs to be serviced. The following link should help you get started with the process and has links with additional information on topics such as warranty and service pricing, battery replacement, and express replacement service.
Apple - Support - Service Answer Center
Thank you for contributing to Apple Support Communities.
Take care,
Bobby_D

MacBook Pro will not boot up, stops at Apple logo

My daughter's 3 year old MacBook Pro will not boot up. The grey screen with Apple logo comes up and it looks and sounds like it is going to boot up but after 30 seconds it goes black and turns off. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

The internal HDD will have to be replaced. Since you cannot get the MBP to acces the internal HDD, you will have either use Target Disk Mode:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Or take out the HDD and place it in an enclosure and then connect it to the MBP via USB. (After you have installed the new HDD and the OSX)
You may or may not be able to get information off of the HDD.
Ciao.

MacBook Pro will not boot up. Hardware test found no problems.

MacBook Pro will not boot up. Hardware test found no problems.

Sorry. What I mean is I selected the SL boot up in the start up panel and it would not boot into the cd. The CD rom sounds like it just keeps reading with it slowly loading from grey screen to blue screen to the Block screen. Almost like it is booting into normal mode from the hard drive.
What I can't understand is why it runs fine is Safe mode?
Also why do I get a " this disk cannot be used to start up your computer" message on my hard drive when trying to install Lion in safe mode? Well why not it's the only hard drive in the computer?
The first screen shot is the Tech tool showing everything passed the hardware test is safe mode.

2009 Mac Book pro will not boot up. I've tried to do a disk repair it says ETF partions need repair. When I try it says unable to unmount disk. I've tried to re-install the OS and when I do that the message says unable download.

My 2009 macbook pro will not boot up and I have tried everything to get it to work. Please help!!!!!!

Do you have an external drive? If no, then you will need to purchase a drive so you can backup your data.
If you have a drive that is formatted as GUID you can select to install OS X from recovery mode on the external drive. Now you can boot from that drive and make a backup of your internal drive so you can erase and reformat the drive.
Recommended Drives
USB 3.0 drives work on USB 2.0 but you do get 2.0 speed. They are cheaper because they are popular PC drives. If you get a new computer you'll get the bump to 3.0 speed. I don’t recommend FW. The newer computers don’t have FW ports. You would need a connector in order to use the drive on a newer computer.
Size: I recommend either the 2T or 3T drives. Often they are cheaper than a 1T drive. The 4T drives have more issues and failure rates.
Many drives come formatted for PC but easy to format in Disk Utility.
This Western Digital drive has good reviews: Has a 2 yr warranty. Comes formatted for Mac but I would still format using Disk Utility.
WD My Book Hard Drive for Mac 2 TB (WDBYCC0020HBK-NESN) $99
WD My Book Hard Drive for Mac 3 TB (WDBYCC0030HBK-NESN) $119.99
Check the warranty when comparing. The longer the warranty the better the drive. WD makes cheaper drives but with almost no warranty.
Locally, Best Buy seems to have the best prices.

Macboook pro will not boot up. I get a flashing "?" How do I resolve this?

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