Unable to boot after Time Machine full system restore!!

I was having some serious slowdowns with my computer. I did multiple RAM and HD hardware tests, everything seemed to be working fine. I had recently deleted a bunch of files in order to free up some HD space, so I thought that may be the culprit. So I did a Time Machine backup and restored the Powerbook to it's original 10.3 software. All was fine. Then I upgraded back to 10.5 and all was fine. Then I did a Time Machine full system restore overnight and got the message "Your restore was successful, you must now restart your computer" (or something to that effect). Now I get the start-up chime and startup screen (apple logo) but then the computer shuts itself down. I have reset the PMU and PRAM to no effect. I have tried booting up in safe made, also no dice. I have tried starting it up with the time machine HD attached - doesn't help. I guess I'll need to hit the genius bar but wanted to ask the friendly discussion forum folks first. thanks in advance.

Hi coldengray
Did you try to start from your System-CD? Hold down C-key during startup, start DiskUtility from the menu and verify/repair disk and permissions there.
If the CD is not available you can also connect your TimeMachine-Disk, select it as startup volume in System Preferences/StartupDisk, restart and then run DiskUtility from folder Applications/Utilities
Good luck P

Similar Messages

  • Time Machine: Full System Restore On New iMac...

    I currently use Time Machine on my 24" iMac with a 500GB external hardrive. If something were to happen to my current iMac (i.e. My kid knocks it off the desk and it breaks), and I was forced to buy a new one, would I be able to use Time Machine to restore the new iMac to the last Back-Up of the old iMac? If so, would it automati ally transfer all of my pictures, movies, music, etc. to the new iMac as well? Thanks for any help y'all can give me on this subject.

    J Double DuBB wrote:
    I currently use Time Machine on my 24" iMac with a 500GB external hardrive. If something were to happen to my current iMac (i.e. My kid knocks it off the desk and it breaks), and I was forced to buy a new one, would I be able to use Time Machine to restore the new iMac to the last Back-Up of the old iMac?
    not using full system restore utility on the leopard install DVD. your current system lacks hardware drivers that would be needed for a newer computer and if you do a full system restore of your current computer onto a newer computer using the restore utility on the leopard DVD it will most likely not even boot.
    however, during the original computer setup you'll be given an option to transfer user data, settings and applications from a TM backup of your old computer. that option does not transfer system files but it does transfer everything else including your pictures, movies, music etc.
    You can also do the same thing later using Migration Assistant (it's in /Applications/Utilities).

  • Macbook cannot boot after Time Machine full restore

    I successfully did a full restore of my Macbook and hit the restart button when prompted, but now my laptop cannot get past the first screen with the grey apple and the spinning gear.
    What gives?

    Maybe I should ask a different question.
    After doing this full restore would it be hazardous to my machine to force it to turn off (holding the power button for 5 secs) then trying to boot it up again?

  • Macbook failed to boot after time machine restore

    I changed my macbook HDD, inserted the Snow Loepard DVD and do a time machine full restore.
    After the Restore OK message my macbook reboot, have the black screen with the spinning thing, then a blue screen, then i see in a flash the Snow Leopard wallpaper and then back to the blue screen with the spinning thing and it stays there.
    Dont really know what to do now.
    Thanks
    Cristian

    Erase the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard, then restore the Home folder, third-party applications, etc. from your TM backup. For more help with TM I suggest reading the user tips: User Tips for Time Machine. You can also select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to get the online help.
    Message was edited by: Kappy

  • Reimport of mail after Time Machine full restore

    I did a full restore to a different machine today. That took a few hours. Then when I started up email it said it needed to import all the mail. It's been "preparing to import" for about 8 hours now. I do have tens of thousands of emails going back more than a decade, but it shouldn't take this long should it?
    doug

    A full system restore? Doing that to a different Mac, unless it's nearly identical both in hardware and date built, may be a problem. See: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2186 and: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3243
    Apple actually recommended this as the "method of choice" for migrating to a new system if I had a full Time Machine backup. This happened In February when my MBP motherboard died. While waiting for repair I got a new iMac 21.5". I had my full TM backup and so Apple recommended I restore from that to my iMac and it worked perfectly.
    This is disconcerting though. I depend really 100% on the fact that TM's backup is whole and valid. But I've noticed two problems since doing the restore to my MBP yesterday (1) this problem with the email and (2) the last few iPhoto events have missing photos - just placeholders showing where the photos are.
    In this case, both machines are Core 2 Duo machines. Maybe that's why Apple recommended this method.
    But if email is not going to be safely backed up this way maybe I need a combination of backup strategies, like throwing Carbon Copy Cloner (which I use for Parallel VM backups) into the mix.
    What caused you to do this? Were you having problems with the other Mac? If so, perhaps something was corrupted on it, and the corruption was backed-up and restored.
    There was no problem with either Mac. When my late-2006 MBP came back from Apple repair it then went out of the 3-year warranty. So I took this opportunity to upgrade the internal HD from its original 160 GB disk to a 500 GB / 7200 rpm disk. Now I can use it even more when on travel.
    So all I wanted to do was take my current iMac content and move it over to the MBP. This worked fine in the other direction and was, as I mentioned above, the method Apple recommended I use.
    I haven't actually lost any data at this point. Mail on my iMac is fine, as is the iPhoto library.
    But I assumed the Time Machine backup was fine also. If it really isn't, it certainly adds an element of uncertainty that I didn't realize existed before.
    Right now I can think of alternate ways of getting my mail over - like directly transferring the Mail library folder and preferences to the new machine.
    But this sort of makes me wonder if I truly do have a good, reliable backup of important data now with TM. One purpose of TM is to be able to recover if your computer dies and you need to move to a different machine.
    doug

  • Mail Message Restore Stuck after completing a full system restore

    I just completed a full system restore on my Macbook Pro using the "Restore From Backups" function. Upon the first boot up, I was greeted with a "Mail Message Import" Dialog Box asking to import my messages. It began importing alot of my folders but then became stuck on the "Deleted Messages" folder with 4500 out of 7000 messages already imported. The progress bar sits and never moves and the Time remaining amount begins to increase and increase. I have the option to cancel and if I do cancel and attempt to open Mail again, then I must complete the process over again. Ultimately becoming stuck at the same point of the import process each time.
    FYI
    I have 5 email accounts set up (one iMap) on this machine.
    Where is this being imported from?
    Can I point it to another backup directory?
    Any Help is much appreciated.
    THanks,

    Thanks Man! That WOrked!!!!! Your the best! and Thank you for those Kind words! Happy MacBooking!!

  • System doesn't boot after time machine restore to 10.6.8

    I had a mbp with 10.6.8
    did time machine backup
    installed yosemite
    saw the app I need for work not work, new I have to go back to that backup
    restart->cmd-r->restore from time machine
    after this my computer doesn't boot from main disk (that says 10.6.8 now), and cmd-r doesn't work anymore on startup. option gives only the not working main drive, even with time machine plugged in.
    what can I do to get my computer to start in any way?

    Can you use the original install disk/or SL retail disk to start up the MBP and install Snow Leopard again?
    Ciao.

  • Computer wont boot after time machine restore

    Hi Guys,
    I did a time machine restore last night and after it completed and i did a restart the computer gets stuck on the gray screen. I waited like 2 hours and it still doesn't get past that screen. I have tried every boot shortcut including target mode, single user mode etc. One problem is that i have disabled sounds so i cant hear the chime therefore not knowing when to push and hold the "t" or "c" button.
    Am i doing something wrong? when do i start holding c or t?
    Even when i put the mac osx dvd in it won't even boot from that. also tried holding c and booting from the dvd and that doesn't work.
    please help

    Begin with the usual diagnostics in hopes of successfully booting your macbook. As Eric mentioned, have you tried booting with the Option key ?
    If that fails, try the following, before forced to a re-install of the OS:
    1: Boot up the machine via Safe Boot by holding the shift key. Since your volume is off, ideally you want to wait a second or two where the chime would come in. Note that if the safe boot is successful it will take some more time to boot as it checks for disk errors. Make sure and repair your permissions if you get through !
    2: If that fails reset your PRAM, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

  • Macbook won't boot after time machine backup

    I installed a program on my Mac that was causing some problems so I decided to do a time machine restore. I booted into recovery mode, selected restore from time machine backup and let it run. It finished completely but it gets stuck at the startup screen. I get halfway on the loading bar and it does not progress past there. I've waited up to an hour.
    I am running Yosemite on a mid 2009 macbook. I am using a SSD and I know with trim enabled it sometimes won't boot up but I disabled it via terminal.
    I've also ran disk utility on my HD and on my external HD. I'm getting no errors on both.
    Anyone have any ideas?

    If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data, then reinstall the OS.* You don't need to erase the startup volume, and you won't need the backup unless something goes wrong. If the system was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you may need the Apple ID and password you used.
    If you use FileVault 2, then before running the Installer you must launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the FileVault startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) It will be nested below another icon with the same name. Click the Unlock button in the toolbar and enter your login password when prompted. Then quit Disk Utility to be returned to the main Recovery screen.
    There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
    If you installed the Java runtime distributed by Apple and still need it, you'll have to reinstall it. The same goes for Xcode. All other data will be preserved.
    *The linked support article refers to OS X 10.10 ("Yosemite"), but the procedure is the same for OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later.

  • Mac taking forever to boot after time machine restore

    Yesterday I erased my mac's hard drive and did a full restore from my time machine backup. The restore took about 10 hours and when it finished, the computer restarted and now it's been stuck on the gray loading screen for over an hour. The gray wheel continues to spin and I can hear the hard drive working the entire time, so I assume it's doing something, but is it supposed to take this long? I've done a couple restores in the pas (first time on lion though) and I don't remember this part ever taking nearly as long. Should I continue to wait?

    It's been stuck on the boot screen for over 2 hours now and I'm really tempted to force shut down the Mac, but I still hear the hard drive being accessed constantly, so it's gotta be doing something. Question is, if I turn it off right now will I have to do the entire restore process over again? I really do not want my computer to be unusable for another 10 hours...

  • IMac 27" won't boot (after Time Machine bug?)

    Hi everyone,
    Firstly, I don't know if my iMac is an Intel machine or not.
    I recently had my failing hard drive (seagate, I think) replaced by Apple.
    I had backed up using a hard drive using Time Machine.
    I attempted to restore my back up to my now fixed iMac. It failed after about 3%. I ran 'verify' in disk utility and it told me the hard drive with the back up was fine.
    I tried again to get my back up onto my iMac. It failed again. Again after about 3%
    Now, this is when I think I made my big mistake - I asked my computer to boot from the Mac harddrive. Does this mean I told my computer to boot from something that was only 3% installed?
    Anyway, it will not boot. Lots of text pops up on the screen, it goes round and round in circles for a while. Then an icon resembling a no entry road sign pops up and it gives up.
    I have tried holding down command and r both with the Mac OS X Install DVD in the optical drive and not in.
    I have tried holding down 'c' with the Mac OS X Install DVD in the optical drive.
    No luck.
    Can anyone help please? Please tell me how I can provide further information. Take a video of what happens, perhaps?
    Thank you.

    Please make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

  • Not able to fix permissions after time machine full restore

    After doing a full restore from a time machine backup, the permissions of /tmp and /usr/share/derby won't fix. Every time I go into Disk Utility and fix disk permissions these items show up as having incorrect permissions even after stating that they are fixed.

    post the full error messages please. they are almost certainly harmless. everybody is getting the one about /usr/share/derby after the recent java update. but do post them anyway.

  • Lion Restore Using Time Machine (Full System Rollback)

    I recently installed Lion Server to my Imac, and have decided this was not a wise move (I'll use my Mac Mini Instead)
    I'm looking to restore my system in its entierty to before I instaled the server.
    I have a time Machine Backup for the point in time before the install was done, but I get messages saying that some files are locked, and I need to unlock them before I can do the restore. It does not tell me which files.
    Is there an easy way to do the restore?
    The IMac was bought in August and has been upgraded to Lion from Snow Leopard, so I am guessing there is no recovery option as standard on the disk.
    I can't find anything in knowledgebase, so what are my options?

    Sounds like you're not using the right procedure (Apple doesn't make it clear, unfortunately).
    See #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.

  • White screen & won't boot after Time Machine restore 10.8.2

    Hello,
    I know someone posted a similar issue but that it was related to a hardware failure.  Mine was not a hardware failure.
    Just wanted to give an FYI to anyone who may run into this issue.  I recently restored my Macbook Pro from a Time Machine backup (10.8.2)
    and I was getting a blank white screen at startup where the spinning line "|" would appear and then go away, and then come back, and then disappear...  Over and over.  Booting into single user mode resulted in the same issue.
    I ended up re-installing Mountain Lion over itself and my machine booted sucessfully.  Did all the software updates and I'm back at 10.8.2 again.
    This is just an FYI, something for you to try if you get the same error, hope this helps someone.

    Startup command-s and at the prompt type reboot
    Then press return.

  • Problem with Time Capsule full system restore

    I just had a calamity....dropped my new MacBook Pro and it's inoperable. I had my old MacBook Pro and to get going again tried to do a system restore to that from Time Capsule. Followed the Install disc instructions. Restored form the last full Time Machine backup seemed to go OK but I was unable to login to my user account.....said that FileVault could not be accessed. I have tried everything I can think of...even using the Master password to try to change my login password...it won't take anything I put in as a new password although it recognizes the Master Password. It seems that the Keychain access is corrupted and I can't fix it. I've tried to do a full restore two more times with the same problem. Can't get access to my files. Any thoughts appreciated.

    thamill,
    Welcome to the Apple discussions!
    You can't do a "Restore System From Backup..." from one Mac to another. You need to use your Mac OS DVD for the MacBook Pro and do an Erase & Install and during the installation you will be able to Migrate your user data over form the TC.
    *Erase, Install, & Migrate*
    A final option, reserved for last resort, is to erase the hard disk, install a fresh copy of the Mac OS, and then use Migration Assistant during the installation to restore your user accounts. This is the Mac equivalent of ‘Slash and Burn’, and really should only be necessary if you require a completely fresh start.
    Procedure:
    Verify that your Mac has uninterrupted AC power.
    For faster migration of user data, Time Capsule/AirDisk users should connect their Macs directly to their Airport device via ethernet.
    Insert your original Mac OS 10.5 Leopard DVD and reboot while holding down the “C” key.
    At the “Welcome” screen click “Continue”.
    Click “Agree” to the user agreement.
    Select you Macs internal hard disk and click “Options”.
    Select “Erase and Install”.
    Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” for disk format. (Avoid selecting “Case-sensitive” unless you know what you are doing.)
    Click “OK”.
    Click “Continue”.
    At “Install Summary” click “Customize” if you would like to eliminate certain Print Drivers, Fonts, or Language packages from being installed. Otherwise, click “Install”.
    If you wish, you can click “Skip” when the DVD integrity check begins.
    After the initial installation completes, your Mac will restart and you will see the video introduction.
    At “Welcome” select your country and then preferred keyboard.
    At “Do You Already Own a Mac?” you are asked “Would you like to transfer your information?”
    +from another Mac+
    +from another volume on this Mac+
    +from a Time Machine backup+
    +Do not transfer my information now+
    Select “from a Time Machine backup” and click “Continue”.
    At “Select a Backup Volume” choose your Time Machine backup disk and click “Continue”. (If you are attempting the migration wirelessly, then click “Join...” and select your network first.)
    At “Transfer Your Information” check all the categories you wish to migrate over. If you wish your Mac to be in the same state as your last backup, then check everything. Give the installer time to calculate sizes.
    Once that is complete, the “Transfer” button will become active and you can click it.
    After the install, verify the registration information, click “Connect” and you are done.
    After logging in, immediately go to System Preferences --> Time Machine, and turn “OFF” backups, even if a backup attempted has begun.
    Next, Launch Disk Utility, select your Macs’ internal disk on the left, and click “Repair Disk Permissions”.
    Interestingly, no Spotlight indexing appears necessary, so, once the permission repair is complete, turn Time Machine back “ON” in the Preferences. Time Machine should continue to backup to the same set of backups that it did prior to the restore. However, due to event logs being out of sync, the first backup will require a lengthy session of “Preparing...” as Time Machine performs a “deep traversal”. Allow this to proceed uninterrupted. Naturally, the first backup after a significant installation like this will be quite large so don’t be alarmed.
    Cheers!

Maybe you are looking for