MacPro Startup Stalls-then boots to wrong drive

Greetings! I am stumped. My trusty MacPro (dual 3ghz-quadcore) has started to exhibit strange behavior on startup. A few days ago the startup was interupted by what I thought sounded like a failing drive (hic-pause-hic), so I did a fresh install of Lion on another internal drive to head off disaster. That was fine for a few days, but now things have taken a mysterious turn for the worse.
Once the start button is pressed, I get the led light on the button, the monitor shows white/grey the fans spin up and then stop, and then it just sits there, silent. Here's the weird thing... after waiting and watching that white screen for almost 20 minutes, it suddenly booted into my former Snow Leopard drive and started fine.
I am unable to influence the startup in any way. That is, I can't start in single-user mode or select the startup disk by using keyboard commands since the startup is effectively stalled on that white screen.
I have reset the SMC, unplugged an external esata card and did a dust removal. But, since the computer does not respond to startup keyboard commands, I'm not sure how to proceed further.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on how to pin down the issue.

I wish Apple Support and Knowledge Base (Tech notes and articles) were easy to use.
Lion has Recovery mode - that is available at startup.
Command + R gets you there and best and maybe only way to repair a disk directory.
You never want to repair a drive with anything older than what you run.
So learn to find a way to use CMD - R and also to CLONE your system
Other commands at startup, Safe Mode (Shift), Single Usere (S) and Verbose (V)
TimeMachine backup - 2TB WD Green
Clone the system drive - WD Black 1.5TB $107 also makes a nice fast boot drive if you aren't ready for $200 120GB SSD
http://www.apple.com/support/ look for "site map" also

Similar Messages

Startup stall's when MyBook External Drive is Connected

I've had the MyBook external hard drive (500GB; 800 Firewire; Mac Formatted) for about 6 months now. Within the last two weeks, whenever the drive is connected to my MBP it causes start up to stall; the start up just hangs at the gray screen.
I removed all the data from the drive and formatted it thinking that maybe the drive got corrupted, but even with a fresh drive it still happens. If I start up the MBP without the drive connected it starts up beautifully.
Anyone dealing with this same problem or have any thoughts on the matter?
Thanks in advance.

Mine needed a firmware update... was previously having the same problems.
Check here: http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=1&lang=en

Open in wrong drive and/or getting stuck during startup

Please help!
My Mac OS X (10.4.11) has two drives: one for normal use and one for backup. For some reason my Mac keeps opening up in the backup drive. I go to System Preferences and click on Startup disk, and tell it to restart in the main drive, and it still opens up in my backup. It will eventually let me over after a dozen tries (give or take a few).
Once in a while it will freeze up during startup, get stuck during loading, or the fan will go into overdrive and I get nothing but a gray screen.

Whew! Sounds like a potential combination of needing to repair the drive(s) and zapping PRAM. What exact model of computer (OSX is the operating system, not the computer model)?
Boot from the installer disk, select language if applicable, choose utilities, run Disk Utility and verify (and repair if necessary) the drive. You can verify a drive from DU on your main drive while booted but I have found this can result in incorrect reporting of errors. To repair your drive you have to run it from a drive other than the boot drive anyway.
Next, boot from your drive in [Safe Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393] and repair permissions. You can repair permissions while booted from the installer disc but this uses the permissions configuration on the installer disc which may be out of date if you have run any updates on your computer. Booting your computer to Safe Mode restricts the number of things running on your computer while permissions are being run and does a bit of spring cleaning at the same time.
[Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214]
[Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672]
[Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751]
From BDaqua (couldn't have said it better):
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer (Edit: Do not use this disc if it is not the same general version as what you have currently on your computer, e.g. use a Tiger disc for a Tiger drive, not a Panther disc), then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Then Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes."
Once all is clear, you might need to reset PRAM.
[Texas Mac Man's PRAM, battery, PMU tutorial|http://www.geocities.com/texas_macman/pram.html]
[Apple's PRAM reset directions|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238]
If this helps you may also need to get a new PRAM battery but we need to know more about your computer hardware.

MacPro can't boot from external drive

Running 10.7.3 and a MacPro which gets backed up each night with SuperDuper. Can't boot from this drive (black screen). Yet I can take the same drive and start up my Macbook Pro! So it isn't the drive or the data on it. I'm stumped. Could this be related to an issue where I can't get this same MacPro or system to successfully backup to Time Machine without error? The boot drive seems OK (ran Disk Warrior and Disk Utility).

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 this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
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.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem(s)?
After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)

I have a mid-2010 27" Quad Core i5 iMac running 10.8.3. Startup disk recognizes the primary hard drive as a startup volume but will not boot from it. Have tried zapping PRAM, ran disk utility. No errors reported Any thoughts?

I have a mid-2010 27" Quad Core i5 iMac running 10.8.3. Startup disk recognizes the primary hard drive as a startup volume but will not boot from it. Have tried zapping PRAM, ran disk utility. No errors reported Any thoughts?

My bad Eric. The startup preference recognizes the primary as a 10.8.3 startup volume but when u select it the system does not boot. I can only boot from my external backup drive

After installing itunes Windows 7 doesnt boot and stalls while loading atipcie.sys driver

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Windows 7 64 bit core i7
BSOD while updating to iTunes 10 with suspended installation of Apple Mobile Device Support. Network drivers no longer working as a result. Attempted fix by downloading from a different machine and competing install via files transferred over on flash drive. No dice. Attempted removal of iTunes, QuickTime, Apple Mobile Device Support, Apple Application Support, Apple Software Update to see if this would fix. Followed this up with a restart. This seems to have improved matters as system is starting up faster. No dice. Try reinstall network drivers from Sony ViaoCare disk. Installed and restarted. No dice. Next, try Widows 7 Network and Sharing diagnostics. No dice. Next try manual removal & reinstall of network driver using Device Manager, restart. Can't seem to re-install Network Controller. Still trying to solve this.

When I try to boot my macbook pro the startup manager doesn't show any drives. How can I solve this issue?

when I try to boot my macbook pro the startup manager doesn't show any drives. How can I solve this issue?

Please confirm what version of OS X you are running - I doubt it is the ancient OS 10.1 !

Powerbook won't boot from hard drive or restore disk

I've looked through some of the older posts here and none of them exactly matches my problem, and I've tried just about any possible solution I can think of.
I recently noticed that my PowerBook was acting a bit strange. It was making more fan noises than usual, and sometimes the computer would make the very last noise it makes as it shuts down (which is the hard drive coming to rest, I suppose?), though the computer would still be running. Then, yesterday the computer froze and I hit command-control-power, and when the computer restarted it gave me a folder icon blinking between a question mark and the Mac logo.
I tried restarting again, but I had no luck. Now when I try to start up I get the start-up chime, then I get one of three things:
1) If I restart it without a CD in the drive, I get the blinking folder.
2) If I restart it with the Software Restore and Install DVD in (but without holding down the C key), it gets to the Apple logo and shows the spinning pinwheel or whatever you want to call it, then freezes and some nasty horizontal bars pop across the screen.
3) If I restart it with the Restore & Install DVD in and I hold down the C key, it gives me the Apple logo, then the "Your computer has encountered a problem and needs to be restarted" box pops up.
I tried zapping the PRAM--no luck. I tried Open Firmware; the screen pops up, then I type in "mac-boot" and I get the same thing as in #2 above.
I used the Hardware Test CD; it told me that there was a Mass Storage error with the error code 2STF/1/4. That doesn't sound too pleasant.
I'm not sure what caused it; perhaps it was a heat thing, but I moved it too a different surface. All the hardware is original except for the Airport card, which has worked fine since Christmas. The only recent software changes I've made were updating to the newest versions of iTunes and Firefox. It doesn't seem like a hard drive problem, since the boot CD won't work.
Am I doomed to sending Apple a couple hundred bucks to fix this? The laptop is right at three years old, so even if I'd had AppleCare it would be expiring right about now. Or is it time to buy one of those MacBooks? Or just buy a couple PC's and use each one till it breaks, then throw it out?
Thanks,
Kevin

I finally got to another Mac. I installed Mac OS X onto my Firewire drive, then hooked up the drive to my Powerbook and used the Startup Manager. The drive showed up on Startup Manager and I chose to boot from it. When I did, the startup process continued briefly, then froze just like it does when I try to boot from the CD.
I know my Powerbook's hard drive is shot, and to be honest, I'm fine with that--there isn't any critical, essential data on there. I tried starting the Powerbook up in Target Disk mode, but that doesn't work either--I hear the chime, press T, but the screen stays black.
Now my question is: can I rip the hard drive out? Or do I have not only a bad hard drive, but also something else gone wrong? I'm not opposed to buying a new internal hard drive and installing it myself if that will fix the problem; what I don't want to do is spend a few hundred bucks to take it to someone who's only going to tell me that my omputer is now a paperweight.
Also, my Powerbook isn't one of the ones with a recalled battery. The computer can get pretty hot, even when sitting on a desk, but I just figured that was normal.
Thanks,
Kevin

MacBook Pro HD issues; won't boot to any drive; need to recover data

*Apologies in advance for the lengthy post. I just want to be sure I include as much detail as possible. Thanks in advance for reading all of this and offering any thoughts and suggestions.
I have a 13-inch late 2011 MacBook Pro running OS 10.7.
The computer recently began booting slower and slower until finally one day it did nothing but show the gray boot screen with the apple and a spinning circle and/or progress bar at the bottom. It won't do anything else. I assume it's the HD; no surprise there. What's killing me is that no matter what I do, I can't boot to any disk, internal or external, can't mount it in target disk mode, and can't repair it or recover data, which is a first for me with any HD. However, the computer still clearly sees the drive, and the drive sounds and runs normally (meaning no clicks; appropriate amount of whirs and such).
What I've done so far:
Reset PRAM — no help
Reset SMC — no help
Boot in Safe Mode — same result as regular boot: gray logo screen with spinning wheel
Disk Utility message:
Verify Disk — "Error: This disk nees to be repaired. Click Repair Disk."
Repair Disk — gets as far as "Checking catalog file" then shows "Keys out of order". Next is "Rebuilding catalog B-tree." Then "The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired."
fsck — same as Disk Utility: "Keys out of order (4, 22016)", "Rebuilding catalog B-tree", then "The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired." FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED." ...over and over again
If I hold Option while starting the computer, it gives me only two drives to boot from, regardless of any other external HDs or flash drives I have attached: Macintosh HD (internal), and Recovery HD (internal partition). If I choose Macintosh HD, it's hit or miss whether it prompts the Disk Utility screen or just gray-screens forever. If I choose Recovery HD, it successfully runs Disk Utility every time. Here's the thing, though — if I attach an external HD, it doesn't see it during the initial Option-startup. However, from Disk Utility I'm able to select a startup disk from the menu to restart into. It sees the externals in there every time and lets me select them as startup disks, but upon restart it returns to the gray Apple logo screen with spinning wheel and/or progress bar at bottom. Sometimes it also sees the internal Macintosh HD here, but selecting that is useless. I can't actually boot from any disk, internal or external, running full OS or even just recovery software.
I've tried using TechTool Pro 8's edisk and ProToGo bootable drives, but again, the MacBook only sees them from Disk Utility only (not on Option-start), and I can select them, but it doesn't actually boot to them; it reverts back to gray screen.
I've installed a full version of OS 10.10.2 on an external hard drive, complete with DiskWarrior 4 on it, but same problem as above — it sees it in the "Select Startup Disk" menu, but not in the initial Option-start or successful reboot.
I've tried booting from a DiskWarrior 4 DVD using C-startup. It recognizes and spins the DVD from the get-go. Eventually it boots to it (after about 20 minutes or so of reading the DVD). I'm able to launch DiskWarrior 4 and start a rebuild. However, it goes all the way through "Step 6: Constructing optimized replacement directory... Overlapped files detected: 7 ...Step 7: Finishing construction ...Step 8: Reading from disc, one moment please..." and then the computer kernel panicked. This happened several times. I reset the PRAM again, then retried DiskWarrior DVD boot, this avoided a kernel panic and it got as far as "Comparing directories... Step 9: Recording any file or folder differences; 3,449,089,956 tests..." and then DiskWarrior and the computer both freeze and I have to force shutdown.
The drive will not mount to another laptop in Target Disk Mode.
Disk Arbitrator immediately sees the the faulty laptop HD, but won't let me mount or unmount it. It's just there, grayed out.
Data Rescue 4 is able to see the faulty laptop HD through Target Disk Mode, even though the drive itself will not mount to my desktop. I am able to scan the drive using DR4, and start a data recovery process. However, DR4 is dumping all recovered data into "User Defined" ai (Adobe Illustrator) files, which makes absolutely no sense at all. What's more, the files aren't able to be opened by any program. Even files that it hasn't recovered into ai files, like txt and mpegs, cannot be opened. I've tried recovering from both the drive itself and from a clone of the drive (made through DR4), with the same result each time.
So, all of that said, I guess my first question is what the **** is going on? The drive mechanically is functioning fine, but there seems to be an issue with its readability (and the directory/files?).
What's more, why won't this laptop mount ANY drive? I should be able to Option-boot into any drive, especially if the USB ports, drives, and OS's are all fully functional, right? Is there any workaround I'm missing? Even if the internal drive and data are just screwed, what's causing a total lack of mounting or booting of any drive, internal or external?

Holy crap, I got it to work.
Essentially, I just waited until DiskWarrior reached Step 9 and told it to skip the step before it had a chance to freeze. It skipped successfully, moved on, rebuilt and replaced the faulty directory files.
So far the computer is booting like normal, I can log in, and I'm currently copying all of the data to an external as I type this.
I still have no idea why the computer wouldn't mount or boot to any drive, but I guess I'll deal with that later.

Windows 7 rc1 boot camp flash drive

I posted this same post in other section. Someone suggested I post the question here.
How can I, on my mac, install windows 7 on a flash drive then boot from that flash drive for the boot camp install? My boot camp install stalls when expanding the files for the windows 7 setup. I think it might be my superdrive because the drive ejects media I put in it and the drive spins and stops, spins and stops when expanding the files on the install.
Ideas
Thanks

Flash drives - and external USB or FW - drives are not supported for Windows.
A few may have managed, and then on PC. And in most cases I think you need to install Windows normal manner first and then clone it.
You can boot OS X from external drives.
Using SD card slot in 2009 model
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3553

Problems booting from external drives

Ever since I got this 6-core 2013 MacPro (January 2015), I have had strange problems and glitches, but for this posting, I am talking about problems being able to boot up from external drives. I took the 4 external drives out of my old 2009 MacPro and put them into a 4-bay Thunderbolt enclosure. This enclosure can be configured as a RAID if all drives are the same (which they are not) or it can just be a place to be able to access all 4 drives. I used to be able to boot from each of those drives on the older MacPro but I am unable to do so now. They show up in the System Preferences/Startup Disk but if I choose one, it just reboots into the new MacPro drive. I even tried pulling out a couple of the drives and mounting each into a USB 3.0 (Sabrent) dock and still I could not boot from those drives which have the latest version of Yosemite. Yes, they are formatted correctly. I used to boot from them. I was able to clone one of the drives to a Seagate USB 3.0 hard drive and boot from that. Although, the clone was not perfect. It didn't transfer all my settings so I could recover some logins and serial numbers I wanted that I have never been able to retrieve since I got this new Mac.
Yesterday, I formatted a 32GB flash drive and tried to install Yosemite on it. I planned to put DiskWarrior on it. When I started to install Yosemite (from a saved download) it let me choose that drive, but when it restarted before installing, I was right back where I started on my MacPro's hard drive.
Is this normal behavior for the 2013 MacPro? Or is it just mine? I am beginning to think I may have a lemon since I have had other strange problems that don't go away.

Not all external devices are bootable. First stop would be involve whoever handles the 4-bay Thunderbolt. Seeing how it has a bridge most likely in order to support RAID mode that may not have the correct frmware or other reasons.
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4
https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/search/bootable%20volume
CCC is the only program I would be using.

How to get a Power Mac G4 to boot in slave drive (firewire) mode?

Have tried every trick in the book to get my G4 (dual 450, OSX 10.4.9) to boot as a firewire slave drive. (Want it to be a firewire driver for a new Mac Mini.)
Machine refuses to restart in that mode even if I select that startup mode from System Preferences.
Have also tried holding down the "T" key upon reboot. Machine begins to cycle up, then shuts down after about 15 seconds. I am using the keyboard that came with the machine when I attempt this.
Have read that some software (called OPEN OPTIONS) may be installed in Utilities folder. This app can be used to prevent someone from starting the Mac in "T" mode. However, the default is OFF. Further, there's no copy of that software anywhere on the machine. Further, I've done a clean reinstall and booted from that drive but it, too, refuses to boot in slave mode.
Only thing I can figure is the SONNET ATA/133 card is interfering. (Cannot remove it as it enables the 250GB drives I want to share in the first place.)
Any thoughts or ideas?

See How to Use Firewire Target Disk Mode
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
 Cheers, Tom

XServe won't boot from any drive, but recognizes them in OS X Installer

I know I have another post here but this is a different issue, and I've already fixed that one thanks to Camelot .
I just received an 2 used xserves for work. One booted into OS X Server fine, so I scrubbed it and reinstalled without issue.
The second however never booted into an install. That is, I never found it on my network when I started it up and when I pushed the power button it would turn off immediately, suggesting that there was no OS on the disk or that the xserve couldn't find it. I didn't have a spare monitor to plug into it (surprisingly) so I just chalked it up to the fact that it was a new disk and hadn't had OS X Server installed on it.
Now I have a spare monitor, I've gone and installed OS X Server on the xserve. It boots from the DVD just fine, runs through the installer, then when it goes to restart, it won't boot from the hard drive that it just installed OS X Server on, it'll just boot back from the DVD unless I pop it out. If I let it boot up without the DVD in it, I'll get the standard Folder with a ?.
At first I thought it was the drive, so I installed OS X Server on another drive. Still wouldn't boot to that drive, so I booted from the DVD and repaired the disks in Disk Utility. Still nothing. I booted to DVD again and when I went to Startup Disk, it actually did show my disks with their respective OS X Server installs.
When I boot the machine holding alt/option, the system doesn't show my drives, only the DVD if it's in the slot.
I figured ok, this has to be the drives, so I swapped them with those of the identical xserve in the rack below, but my top xserve wouldn't boot from those drives either. Somewhat expectedly however, the bottom xserve would boot the drives that I took out of the first one.
Now I'm just stumped. Any ideas?
PS, drives are unlocked.

MrHoffman wrote:
The EFI firmware, the SMC and possibly the disk I/O path seem good potential candidates for culprit.
Load and run the hardware diagnostics.
Reset the SMC, and reset the LOM.
I'm running the EFI diagnostic tool now. Firmware and disk I/O path came to mind, let's just hope it's not a major hardware issue
beatle20359 wrote:
Hi Jeff,
Do you have the specs of the xserve and the version of OSX server you are trying to install? Does the Xserve have the RAID card installed in it and what size are the drive modules.
All the best
Beatle
2x 3GHz Dual-Core Xeon
8GB RAM
OS X Server v 10.6.3 (the version I'm trying to install, that is)
No RAID card. The system drive is 80GB and a second storage drive is 1TB.

MacPro 1,1 with a blank hard drive. What do I have to buy to legally have 10.7 as the OS?

As the subject asks, I have picked up a MacPro 1,1 for almost nothing and want to get it running. One of the reasons it was so cheap was the hard drive is blank. I understand that I cannot run Mountain Lion on this system, but for my intended use Lion will be quite satisfactory. What do I need to buy to get to 10.7 legally?
Thanks,
Ryan

If you bought a copy of 10.7 previously (not the one shipped on a new Mac) you could use this utility to install a Recovery_HD on a thumb drive, then boot to the thumb drive and re-downlaod a previously-purchased 10.7:
OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0

MacBook Pro 8,1 beeps 3 times on boot from FireWire drive: why?

Hi, all,
about the brand spanking new 13" I bought, I immediately wanted to boot the FireWire drive so I could install Snow Leopard. Install disk image was copied to a dedicated partition on the FW drive to speed up install process.
Holding the [alt] key during startup leads to 3 beeps that are indefinitely repeated. I also tried to select the relevant partition in the Control Panel Startup Disk. Same result
Why doesn't it want to start from this image? How can I solve this issue?

In fact, it is a late 2011, not an early 2011 "New Old Stock", so you're correct it shipped with Lion. But, aside from its weird ergonomics (Dynamically-attributed spaces and different gestures from the previous OS X versions), what turned me off was the official complete impossibility to get a physical copy of Lion at a reasonable price, when it is installed. I also wanted the mounted drives to appear at the top left corner in Finder windows, as they did in pre-Lion OS X, instead of the bottom left. I wanted to put back the Firefox profiles in their place... Turns out the Library folder isn't visible in Lion.
Simply put, anything I wanted to do to start on the good foot wasn't possible on Lion.
I went to the Genius Bar, and indeed their own external rescue drive also made the Mac beep. I told them about the Snow Leopard tethered downgrade. They were aware of the method, but there was no Snow Leopard Mac remaining in-store. And with the install DVD causing kernel panics, there was no way to at least try a dual-boot installation (Snow Leopard for mission-critical apps, Lion for playing around with).
To another Apple-approved place I went. The young tech here was willing to perform the downgrade (since it would have cost me $75/hr), and had both Snow Leopard and Lion machines. But I argued that I wouldn't be willing to pay twice since I intend to switch to SSD in a short while. He then tested when booted from a clone, and Snow Leo half-installed on the internal drive (needs one reboot during installation), but it ended up in kernel panic. Same went when he tried the physical Snow Leopard disk after formatting the internal drive, hypothesizing something detected on it may prevent Snow Leopard installer to boot. It immediately went into a kernel panic.
Both techs were actually surprised that this signal came out, instead of a message stating (official) incompatibility, as well as kernel panics.
My hypothesis is there's something in the Snow Leopard installer that accesses the hardware at a lower level during installation, but not during normal execution or Target Mode, hence causing kernel panics in the former.
What else can be tried, or what else didn't go through my mind?

MacPro Startup Stalls-then boots to wrong drive

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