MacBook - Urgent! Won't Boot. No options left? What is wrong?

craddock1 · craddock1 #1 (**permalink**)

05-14-2008, 08:36 PM

Thanks for looking at this. I'm at the end of my rope.
My MacBook was working fine the other night, but I left it on and unplugged during dinner. There should have been plenty of life left in the battery, but the screen was blank. I plugged it in and try to wake it up, but it wouldn't. I hit the power button to restart, but it wouldn't boot. I couldn't get past the grey screen with the spinning wheel. I tried everything, including zapping the PRAM and resetting the power manager.
Nothing.
I had been meaning to upgrade to Leopard, so I did. That worked. I was at least able to boot, but then other weird things started happening. For one, everything worked really slowly, and for another a lot of the Mac applications wouldn't work or function properly. Safari kept crashing, and iTunes wouldn't start at all. I couldn't even download the software through Safari for a reinstall, so I brought the zip files over from a memory stick and reinstalled them that way. It worked, but then my Microsoft Office applications went belly up.
I performed an extended hardware test using the original installation disks that shipped with the computer. It found nothing wrong, so I ordered Office 2008, and installed that. Now I can't boot again! It gets past the grey screen with the spinning wheel, but now all I get is a blue screen with a cursor that I can move. Maybe I should have quit when I was behind, but what the heck is going on? I'm going to take it to a Genius Bar and have them fix it, but does anyone have any clues as to what this is about?

Thanks!

Noels · Noels #2 (**permalink**)

05-14-2008, 09:06 PM

craddock,

Can't give you a straight-up answer, but it could be the memory or something wrong with the power supply transfer to the motherboard, could even be a bad motherboard... So I think a hardware problem. How long have you had the Mac? Sounds like maybe a while. Are you in warranty or do you have Apple Care? If so, let Apple take a look at it. Otherwise, Genius bar, whatever that is...

Good luck, Noel

rshames · rshames #3 (**permalink**)

05-14-2008, 09:53 PM

Reinstall leopard but do an "archive and install" instead of upgrade.

craddock1 · craddock1 #4 (**permalink**)

05-14-2008, 10:09 PM

Everything tested out fine in the extended hardware test that I ran. I also installed Leopard through "archive and install" the first time as I was unable to boot up and do the simple upgrade.
It's under warranty until September, so it looks like it's going back to Apple.

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MacBook - Urgent! Won't Boot. No options left? What is wrong?

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craddock1 #1 (permalink)
Member Since: May 09, 2008 Posts: 6	05-14-2008, 08:36 PM Thanks for looking at this. I'm at the end of my rope. My MacBook was working fine the other night, but I left it on and unplugged during dinner. There should have been plenty of life left in the battery, but the screen was blank. I plugged it in and try to wake it up, but it wouldn't. I hit the power button to restart, but it wouldn't boot. I couldn't get past the grey screen with the spinning wheel. I tried everything, including zapping the PRAM and resetting the power manager. Nothing. I had been meaning to upgrade to Leopard, so I did. That worked. I was at least able to boot, but then other weird things started happening. For one, everything worked really slowly, and for another a lot of the Mac applications wouldn't work or function properly. Safari kept crashing, and iTunes wouldn't start at all. I couldn't even download the software through Safari for a reinstall, so I brought the zip files over from a memory stick and reinstalled them that way. It worked, but then my Microsoft Office applications went belly up. I performed an extended hardware test using the original installation disks that shipped with the computer. It found nothing wrong, so I ordered Office 2008, and installed that. Now I can't boot again! It gets past the grey screen with the spinning wheel, but now all I get is a blue screen with a cursor that I can move. Maybe I should have quit when I was behind, but what the heck is going on? I'm going to take it to a Genius Bar and have them fix it, but does anyone have any clues as to what this is about? Thanks!
	QUOTE Thanks

Noels #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Mar 03, 2008 Location: Annapolis, MD Posts: 945 Mac Specs: Macbook, 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM	05-14-2008, 09:06 PM craddock, Can't give you a straight-up answer, but it could be the memory or something wrong with the power supply transfer to the motherboard, could even be a bad motherboard... So I think a hardware problem. How long have you had the Mac? Sounds like maybe a while. Are you in warranty or do you have Apple Care? If so, let Apple take a look at it. Otherwise, Genius bar, whatever that is... Good luck, Noel
	QUOTE Thanks

craddock1 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: May 09, 2008 Posts: 6	05-14-2008, 10:09 PM Everything tested out fine in the extended hardware test that I ran. I also installed Leopard through "archive and install" the first time as I was unable to boot up and do the simple upgrade. It's under warranty until September, so it looks like it's going back to Apple.
	QUOTE Thanks

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