OSX will not boot.. please help

Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I no longer can boot into 10.5. I get stuck at the grey screen with the apple logo and clock that eventually changes to the "no" symbol and clock. The only fixes I found online (that I understood) were to repair the disk and permissions using the install disk. I tried this with no luck.

I am willing to reinstall OS X but I do not want to lose my Windows partition. I have the Windows 7 beta and no longer have the ISO disk and am not sure if I can redownload that anymore. Either way, I'd rather not have to reinstall Windows too.

So please, if anyone has any suggestions to get me to boot into OS X let me know. Otherwise, can I reinstall OS X without effecting the Windows partition???

FYI - I lost the ability to boot OSX soon after I installed the Windows Home Server disk on the OSX partition. The new HP servers claim to be compatible with OSX... maybe not so much yet.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
You don't have any choice but to reinstall OS X. Why in the world did you try to install Windows Server? What probably happened is that the installation of Server overwrote the OS X partition.

I have no idea what the partition scheme of your hard drive looks like and whether or not the Server installation altered the complete layout. You may wind up losing everything during the reinstall of OS X.

What you can try is this: Boot the machine with your Leopard DVD 1, and exit from the install program. Select Disk Utility from the top menu and see what the partitioning looks like. If it shows the Windows 7 partition separate from what was OS X, you should be able to install OS X without disturbing Windows 7. However, if the entire drive is dedicated to Windows, you'll have no choice but to start over.

Normally, I would suggest backing up your Windows partition with "WinClone" before proceeding, but since you have no OS X to run it from, no joy there.

Anyway, post back and report what your partition scheme looks like and we can go from there.

Regards.
 
OP
K
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for the reply.

I wasn't installing Windows Server. It was windows home server and the OSX part was just the client so that I could see the server on the Mac and use it for time machine, etc. It was supposed to work!

The partitions are 30GB windows and about 130 for the mac. I ran the disk utility and it appears that the windows partition is fine. I can still boot into Windows and run that fine, so I'll just go the route of reinstalling OSX.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Well, that's good news. Your OS X partition is intact which means that you can just reinstall OS X. Afterward if everything goes right, you should still be able to boot Windows 7.

After installing OS X, you might consider using WinClone to backup your Windows 7 partition.

Regards.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top