Warrior says it's fixed, repaired permissions, still won't boot

In chronological order:
Last weekend - updated several pieces of software, and did all apple updates. I think it was already at .11, but I'm not quite sure. Other than Daylite and Office for Mac 04, there are no other pieces of non-Apple software.
Tuesday - Daylite crashes. Salesperson powers off the mini instead of force quitting. Mini will no longer boot.
Attempted fixes:
Booted from install disc, ran disk utility first aid which located 2 or 3 folder and file errors, which it could not fix.
Purchased DiskWarrior, which ran fine, found the errors, and repaired them. Used DW to check files and hardware, both of which were reported to be fine. Ran fragmentation check, which showed very low levels of fragmentation.
Still wouldn't boot from the hard drive.
Booted from install disc again. Ran first aid again, which now showed drive as OK, and reported no errors. Then I checked permissions. Errors were found, and first aid successfully repaired them.
However, it still won't boot from the HD. It gets stuck at the spinning gear.
Does anyone have any thoughts about what I should do next, short of reformatting and reinstalling?
Thanks,
Ross

Certain system files required for startup are either damaged or missing. You will have to reinstall OS X. You should be able to do so as follows without erasing the hard drive:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

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Disk Repair successful, still doesn't boot

Hi,
My MacBook drive failed yesterday, and after looking online I thought I would run Disk Repair from the Disk Utility, as I have a bootable backup on an external drive. Ran it, and it says it was successful, and from the booted backup I can go into my internal HDD and see everything as it was on the day it conked out. But it still won't boot from it. I get to the blue Apple screen with a little spinning wheel, and don't progress further. I tried Verify Disk and Repair Disk, and both say the disk is absolutely fine. What is going on?

Give this a try:
You will need to type some Unix commands. If you are not comfortable with this, I don't know of anything other than a re-install. But if you are careful, you should be OK. I recommend you print this out in a largish mono-spaced font so you don't miss any spaces (or add extra ones). Note that case is important.
Be careful. Some of these commands are dangerous, since you are going to be root.
Start up in Single-User mode by restarting the computer. After the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-S keys until you see white text on a black background. When this has finished you will see a prompt ending in '#', although there may be other messages. Enter the following commands after the prompt:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press RETURN. Wait a few seconds for 8-10 lines of output. If the last line says repairs were carried out, repeat this command until you get a message 'The volume <yourdiskname> appears to be OK'. Then continue with:
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /Library/Preferences
rm com.apple.loginwindow.plist
rm com.apple.windowserver.plist
cd /Library/Caches
rm -r *
cd /System/Library
rm Extensions.mkext
cd /System/Library/Caches
rm -r *
reboot
Press RETURN after each command.
This should now take you to a proper login screen after the normal boot sequence. You should then Repair Permissions by using Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder).
If this does not help then most likely some essential files are damaged or missing. The best solution is to reinstall OS X as follows:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

I purchased a song on itunes and when I play it, it says my computer is not authorized. A window pops to authorize my computer so I type in my account info and hit authorize. After that a window pops up saying it is already authorize but still won't play.

I purchased a song on itunes and when I play it, it says my computer is not authorized. A window pops to authorize my computer so I type in my account info and hit authorize. After that a window pops up saying it is already authorized but still won't play. None of this happens with any other songs on my itunes. I would just purchase the song again but I can't because every time I try to purchase it, the song says "play" next to it instead of "buy." When I hit play no music plays it just goes back to saying my computer is not authorized so I authorize it and it says it is already authorized then I click it again and it says my computer is not authorized. It's a never ending annoying circle. How can I get the song to play?

If you live in a Region that allows re-downloading Music...
Delete the Song(s) and re-download...
See Here > Download Past Purchases > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
If not... Contact iTunes Customer Service > Apple Support iTunes Store Contact Us

When i try to sync my iphone 5c to my itunes it says my computer is not authorized. I've gone through the authorize steps and restarted my computer. It says "already authorized," yet the phone still won't sync saying, "computer unauthorized."

When i try to sync my iphone 5c to my itunes it says my computer is not authorized. I've gone through the authorize steps and restarted my computer. It says "already authorized," yet the phone still won't sync saying, "computer unauthorized."

Click here and follow the instructions.
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Repair permissions still needs repair

I have repaired permissions three times with a restart between each repair. Am I to asume they have been repaired or is there still 45 or so things still wrong?

If your permissions have been repaired, it will say at the bottom,"permissions have been repaired". There will almost be some permissions that will ned repair, that does not mean there is a problem. Using the same procedure>Go utilities>disk utilities>select your user disk (usually Mac HD), highlight that, then click verify disk, if there are errors there they will be displayed at the end. If repair disk is not grayed out click that, if it is you will need to use the install disk, and select repair disk. ATB

Ipod Classic says it needs fixing when connected. Won't connect in disk mode

I've just added all my music to a new memory stick and attempted to sync my ipod classic 160gb for the first time in about 5 years. However my laptop froze not long after it started and I had to restart the laptop.
Today I've tried syncing it again but every time I plug it in it says it needs fixing. I tell it to fix it but either it does nothing, or tells me it can't be fixed as another program is using it (even though all other windows are closed). I've tried restarting it by holding down the select and menu buttons but that didn't help at all. I then put it into disk mode as I read I could then select it in itunes and restart it. It just says 'ok to disconnect' and won't go to 'do not disconnect' or show up in itunes, and sometimes comes up that it needs to be fixed but can't as the disk can't be found.
The iPod itself still seems to be perfectly usable, and has all my old music on it.
I've looked at loads of things on google but none of it helps.

I've just added all my music to a new memory stick...
How is the "new memory stick" related to this problem? Does it have ALL of your music, including the music that is currently on the iPod?
Do you use a Windows PC or a Mac?
Is the latest version of iTunes installed, or do you use an older version?

Possible to run repair permissions before mac fully boots?

Is it possible to use a keyboard shortcut during boot, type in some code, and run disk utiliy or repair permissions?
Cause I would like to run it but the powerbook wont fully boot and my install disk is in a different city.
Can I use anyones leopard install cd or does it need to be mine?
plz help
Message was edited by: wroth

VK and Kenichi are right. Permissions have changed so don't run repair permissions from a non-Leopard disk.
However, repairing permissions has really become a "magical elixir" that is supposed to solve all kinds of problems. It won't.
Apple's official recommendation is not to run repair permissions from the install disk because a software update could have changed permissions. In any event, if your machine won't boot, repairing permissions won't help. Repairing the disk might.
The HFS+ file system hasn't changed in Leopard. If your machine won't boot, and all you have is a Tiger disk, running disk repair should be safe. After all, it is perfectly safe to have both Leopard and Tiger on the same machine and Tiger can and will run disk repair on its own when it boots up.
Hopefully I've salvaged something from my technical reputation.

HT201209 my code is ok but it says insert disc which i have still won't redeem code?

I have purchased a film from amazon which was delivered today & it has a digital copy with it. when i try to redeem the code it says insert the disc as well which i have but still won't redeem code?

Thank you so much! I was trying to think of a DVD that is only Region 4 because most of the DVD's I tried were Region's 2 and 4. Thankfully bought an Australian TV Series last week. I appreciate your help.

I have late 2006 iMac 24" and I cannot boot it up. I have tried everything but it will only come up in safe boot. I can, at last, boot up on the option key and it now gives me the option of the Recover HD but when I select this, it still won't boot up?

When I select the Recovery drive it tries and then I can't get further than a white screen. My curser so has 2 columns of marks like a horizontal barcode. I think it's a software problem. When I boot up in safe boot, I have run the disc utility and it says the disc is fine and I have run the repair permissions but it makes no difference.

Thanks AAndy but I had read all of that and tried everything but I have no disks as I upgraded from Snow Leopard over the internet. I have my Snow Leapard box but the disk is missing so I can't use that and anyway, I can only boot up in safe boot so it wouldn't recognise the superdrive. I had a copy of the recovery on a flash but it doesn't recognise that. I have redownloaded it but cannot get it onto an external because of safe boot. I have done the following
Reset the PRam, reset the desktop.
Tried the D key - no responce
Tried opt D and Command D - no responce
Comant R, jusr R and opt R - no responce
By no responce, I mean that the wheel goes round under the apple and then it goes white - and stays like that.
The only thing that I can do, is to boot up on the option key when it give me a choice of drive. If I select Recover, wheel turns under apple - white wcreen
If I boot up on the shift key, it boots into safe mode and there it stays, quite happy surfing the internet and playing stupid Facebook games, so long as I don't want to use any search engines (none of which work (not finder, not mail, not anything) and then after a few hours of forgotton pleasure, it crashes!
The only thing I can think of to do is to redownload Lion - it appears in my purchased account in the App Store but, Sod's law, our satellite internet is not working and I don't think my phone account has enough MBs - anyone know how many Lion is?
I can't backup because I can't use an external drive and old one stopped working a few months ago, so I haven't been backing up and as this is the first problem I have ever had with my iMac in 7 years, I had got a bit comlascent! However, I am pretty certain that I can re-install Lion without wiping my hard drive - I have done it years ago with an older system and an older Mac.
Do you think that downloading Lion again and re-installing it will help? Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Thanks for responding so far.

IMac G5 won't boot. Attempted to install Leopard,wouldn't allow, then would not reboot in HD's Tiger, nor from OS DISK IN DRIVE. OPTION START shows both OS 's, but still won't boot from either. Grey screen , spinning pinwheel for 5 minutes, then shuts off

When I tried a custom leopard install(omitting all but canon printers), a window appeared that " I could not install OSX ON THIS DISK." I tried a full install again and a window appeared stating that " the HD was not formatted properly, would I like reformat in hfs extended HFS EXTENDED journalled and ERASE THE HD?" I use disk utility on leopard to reset the iMac to restart from the original Tiger OS on the HD, & that was when it refused to boot. During 1 attempt I even tried to boot with the C key held for many minutes to start fron the Tiger OS disk but the iMac wouldn't start the cd spinning. I did hear that familiar FIRMWARE UPDATE CHIME! but I was not upgrading firmware as none was downloaded, and Leopard did not tell me it required a firmware update first, when I attempted to install it. So: I get the chime when the power button is pressed. Option key finds the HD TIGER AND THE CD 's Tiger. I van choose both. But neither boots. Starting with the C key held doesn't boot. In every case the startup grey screen appears with the grey startup pinwheel, this continues for many minutes. Then it shuts itself off. Help help help. My son has Graduate School papers in progress, and I just fried his iMac. Thanks to all.

Simon:
Thanks very much for the suggestions! I tried your method of booting to the install CD while holding option (alt), and then running Disk Utility to repair the disk and the permissions. Even though it still told me the drive didn't need repairing, there were more permissions that needed repairing when booting this way (as opposed to when booting while holding the C key.)
Anyhow, after doing this, my computer restarted just fine from the hard drive. Mail works now and I'm about to try repairing permissions one more time, then shutting down and restarting again, this time without doing it from the install CD. Wish me luck...
OK. It booted up perfectly this time. I'm not quite sure why that worked, though. Anyone care to illuminate me as to why booting while holding option (alt) let Disk Utility do what it needed to, while booting while holding C didn't?
At this point I'm just curious. My problem has been solved!
Thanks again very much, Simon. I really appreciate it, mate.
Cheers,
--forkboy
iMac G5 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

P7N Diamond (still) won't boot with USB Keyboard

Hey everyone, I have my box up and successfully running now, thanks for your help. I have 2 remaining issues. The motherboard will not post with my USB Saitek Eclipse I keyboard plugged in alone, I have to plug in a PS2 to get it through Post, then switch it out.
Also, almost every time I cold boot, I get a message that says, "Operating System Not Found." When I reboot, it works fine.
I've read through previous posts, but nothing seems to directly address my issues. Do you think the keyboard thing is a wait-for-BIOS-updates fix? Has anyone else successfully booted with a USB Keyboard on a P7N?

Quote from: h311b0y on 01-May-08, 08:19:09
Hey everyone, I have my box up and successfully running now, thanks for your help. I have 2 remaining issues. The motherboard will not post with my USB Saitek Eclipse I keyboard plugged in alone, I have to plug in a PS2 to get it through Post, then switch it out.
Also, almost every time I cold boot, I get a message that says, "Operating System Not Found." When I reboot, it works fine.
I've read through previous posts, but nothing seems to directly address my issues. Do you think the keyboard thing is a wait-for-BIOS-updates fix? Has anyone else successfully booted with a USB Keyboard on a P7N?
The only time I had an "OS not found" error was when bios for some odd reason set first boot priority to the usb port on my dell monitor as well as other usb devices before my boot drive. I changed boot priority and it went away.

Firefox won't open, I've deleted old profiles, deleted all Firefox files and gone through all fixes. It still won't run.

Firefox stopped working this morning. I've gone through the process of deleting the old profile and uninstalling Firefox, then reinstalling it. It worked for about 10 minutes then disappeared again. I've gone through the whole clean reinstall and new profile process but can't get Firefox to work at all. This is really frustrating as I've spend over an hour trying to sort it out.
What can I do now?

Rather a difficult question to attempt to answer, as you obviously have already tried the obvious solutions.
Often it is security software or Firewalls interfering especially after a Firefox update. Deleting program files is required when doing a clean reinstall and you may wish to use a clean profile but it is probably best to ensure Profiles are backed up and retained maybe just move the whole profile rather than deleting them because the information is often useful. The profile has your Bookmarks and passwords etc.
* Windows previous file versions may help if you need to recover a profile <br /> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/previous-versions-files-faq#1TC=windows-7
*[[Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles]]
*[[Configure firewalls so that Firefox can access the Internet]]
* [[Fix problems connecting to websites after updating Firefox]]
See also
* [[Troubleshoot and diagnose Firefox problems#w_5-reinstall-firefox]]_5-reinstall-firefox
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox
* [[Firefox won't start - find solutions]]
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser_will_not_start_up
Where are you getting Firefox from, you should use the official site for instance
* http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
Presumably you will be aware that supported Firefox software on Windows is a 32 bit application. That applies even when Windows 64 bit is used, as appears to be the case with the machine you posted from. I mention that in case you have been trying 64 bit builds.
What error messages are you getting ? anything in error logs ?
* http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/what-information-event-logs-event-viewer#1TC=windows-7

I have done all the fixes and it still won't work

I have deleted qttask, quicktime.nsi, itunes.msi. I have followed all the direction at retrovirus.com. I have downloaded and run the Windows Install Cleanup utility. I still can't remove Quicktime using "Add/Remove Programs," and i can't install iTunes or Quicktime (without iTunes). I have tried everything, the latest versions downloaded today (Saturday). And I'm still told that the older version can't be deleted.
I'm about to reformat my C: drive and reinstall Windows and all of my applications, just so I (may) get iTunes back. IS THERE ANY WAY TO GET THIS TO WORK?
Windows XP Pro

OK...I can't remove QT from the Control Panel, and doing the above didn't change anything, though I appreciate the help... But in regedit, or Win Explorer, I can still find a lot of QT files. Can I safely delete all references to QT manually and try to reinstall the iTunes update? Will this screw up other apps? This is my last incremental step; next I'll have to reformat my C: drive and reinstall Windows just to use iTunes. Seems like the long way round, y'know? But I don't know what else to do. This is taking up way too much of my time.
Thanks.
Windows XP Pro

When i run the icloud control panel 3.1 , the error is repair , this still won't load icloud

How do I repair 3.1 on windows 8 and Outlook

Restart the PC. Go into your "Uninstall a program" control panel, select "iCloud control panel" and click "Repair"
Can you launch the iCloud control panel now?

Repairing laptops that won't boot and show the blinking caps

Here's a little tutorial for all of you who have this annoying issue. It mostly applies to the 1 blink code (other codes have much simpler and straightforward solutions).
Ok, so the code says that it's caused because of a not functional CPU. That is most likely not the case. Most people who had the 1 blink code actually had a problem with the integrated video graphics card or northbridge of their laptops, not the CPU (in fact, CPU failures are quite uncommon). The problem is that these chips overheat quite often, they don't have good cooling and dissipation systems (most of the time, it is shared with the CPU which is absolutely insane), and the solder connections are of very bad quality. So with overheating, solder points start fracturing or cracking and they stop making contact, which causes all these issues, including the infamous RRoD and YLoD issues in the Xbox and Playstation consoles with their soldered video chips.
So there are two main ways of dealing with this:
1 - Reflow
This is a short-term but easy solution that simply consists of reheating the damaged component to the point of getting rid of said fractures. It has a high success rate, as many people will tell you. It worked for me always, but again, after some time the issue may come back. Still, this is a very simple solution that doesn't require too much skill or equipment and is satisfying enough for most users. This is what I'm going to show how to do in this tutorial.
2 - Reball
Reflowing doesn't always work, and when it does, it doesn't last long. Instead, reballing is a permanent solution which consists of removing the chip in its entirety and replacing all the solder contacts. Reballing requires specific equipment (a reball station), reballing stencils and leaded solder balls. It is a long procedure, which requires some skill and it only should be performed by experienced people. When a reflow won't work, you are better off sending your laptop to a reballing technician, or buying a new one (which would be a waste, in my opinion).
Ok, so how can we do a reflow? There are many ways to do this:
1) Reheating your laptop: This is a simple as it sounds. Some people call it the "blanket" method, because you can just simply turn on your laptop, wrap it with a blanket or sweater and let it run until it shuts down because of overheating. I absolutely don't recommend doing this, as there are probably many working components (particularly the hard drive holding your data) that won't benefit from the overheating. I recommend disassembling the laptop and taking out all the good parts, like the hard drive, RAM sticks and any extra PCI-e cards installed. After that you can just simply unplug the cooling fan connector from the board then turn the laptop on. This will cause it to overheat faster, so you won't have to waste hours waiting for it to get hot (using the blanket method, it can take a lot of time). Most laptops will shutdown themselves after reaching a certain threshold temperature, if yours doesn't, well, just keep an eye on it so you can turn it off before it catches fire. After it turns off, let it rest and cool for at least an hour, then connect the cooling fan again, turn the laptop on and see if it boots. If it doesn't, well, you can keep trying this until it does (not recommended after 3 tries or so), or try the next methods.
2) The oven method: This a bit tricky, but it may be more successful in some cases. First, strip down your computer until you get to the bare board holding the video chip. Remove the CPU, heatsink & fan, RAM, BIOS battery, wires, speakers, stickers, plastic sticky guards, foam spacers, absolutely everything that can be removed from the motherboard. Then preheat your household oven to approximately 200°C or 385°F. If your oven does not have a digital temperature display, perhaps use an internal oven thermometer to make sure the oven is in the right temperature range. Roll up some kitchen foil into balls, between half an inch and an inch wide, and place them on a baking tray. Place your motherboard, with CPU socket and GPU facing upwards, on top of the foil balls. It is a good idea to wrap additional foil around the more sensitive parts of the motherboard, like areas where there are capacitors and the CPU socket.
Try to wrap the rest of the motherboard in foil to protect it, leaving just the GPU exposed on both the top and bottom of the motherboard. Then place the baking tray with the laptop motherboard on it into the preheated oven.
Make sure your kitchen is well ventilated at this stage, turn on the extractor fan to full power and/or open an outside door and windows. This will help to take away any fumes. Ideally, you should leave the kitchen while any fumes are still present. A couple of times during the procedure, have a quick look through the oven door (without opening it) making sure there are no smoke or flames visible. This is unlikely to occur, but can happen if stickers were left on the motherboard. After 8 minutes, turn the oven off and open the oven door. Do not remove the motherboard from the oven at this stage, it could be very hot and it is a better idea to allow it to cool down gradually. Take care not to inhale any fumes that might be present. After 20 minutes to half an hour, remove the cool motherboard from the oven and begin rebuilding your laptop. If all has gone well, it will boot up and the problem will be fixed. If the problem remains, you could try the procedure again, leaving it in the oven for a couple of minutes longer.
After performing a reflow in an oven, I recommend cleaning the oven thoroughly, then turn it on and allow any fumes that may have built up to be completely removed. This is especially important before cooking food in the oven again.
3) The heat gun method: Probably the best way to do a reflow, it is less destructive than the previous method (as you can focus on a single place, rather than overheating the entire board), but it may be worse than the first. The first step is to test out how well your heat gun will melt the solder. Place a chunk of solder on a coin, hold the heat gun one inch above it and record how long it takes the solder to flow. Once you have the timing right, mask off the motherboard (already removed from the case) so that just the chip in question is accessible. Reflow with the same spacing and timing as you did during the coin test.
Did it work?
If your laptop works now, then you can do a couple of extra things to avoid this problem in the future:
Avoid overheating by underclocking the CPU: You can run your laptop's CPU at a lower clock speed (it will run slower, BUT not as much as you think. Undercloking by a 50% doesn't mean your laptop will perform 50% slower). It not only protects your laptop from damaging over time, it has the added benefits of making it run *much* cooler and quieter and also having longer battery life, which is awesome as well. To do this, simply (in Windows 7 and up) click the battery icon in your notification area, select More power options, then change the selected plan (like Balanced) settings (click on Change plan settings), select Change advanced power settings, scroll down and, under Processor power management, Maximum processor state, type on both 'On Battery' and 'Plugged in' a value less than 50%. Change Minimum processor state to 1% and then System cooling policy to Active.
Avoid playing heavy games and running intensive applications: Such programs very often cause the underpowered integrated graphics card and CPU to overheat, which causes all these issues. Use a desktop machine with dedicated graphics for such programs if you want your laptop to last.
Again, always take out the hard drive before any of these procedures if you don't wanna lose any data, and if you can, any other components that can get damaged in the way. Note that a reflow, particularly the oven or heat gun methods are usually last-ditch resorts because they can permanently damage your computer, in particular if performed incorrectly. DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. I can't be held responsible for any accidents or unwanted results that may occur after following this tutorial. If you have doubts, then you're generally better off sending your laptop to professional technicians than trying to repair these kind of issues by yourself. Unless a repair costs more than replacing your laptop, that is.
And before starting any of these procedures, try to research your issue on the Internet as much as you can. Search for your particular model, search in this exact same forum and any other as you'll be able to read about people experiencing this problem. You can search reflow on your favorite search engine and you'll find detailed tutorials and many videos which will show the procedure and help you do a better repair. Once you're very comfortable and knowledgeable with the subject, you can go ahead with the repair.

This is actually good stuff and well written but I hesitate to advise people to use either the "oven trick" or really even the heat gun method as both are notriously short-lived even if they appear effective. Your far better bet is to send the board in to one of the vendors on the internet who are set up to do a proper reball. Even those fixes are good for maybe 12-18 mos. But again, you get a high grade for spelling it out.

Warrior says it's fixed, repaired permissions, still won't boot

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