Mac OS X Booting Issues, and rEFIt not Loading

Hello,

I installed Windows yesterday and am using rEFIt to switch between the operating systems on my computer. Earlier today I booted into Windows and was on it for awhile, and when I rebooted, rEFIt was bypassed and it started booting right into OS X. It took about five minutes on the Apple screen to finally get to the login screen. After entering my username and password, it took another few minutes to log in whilst the beach ball of death spun around, and after that my desktop was loading for around twenty minutes and everything became unresponsive, so I tried going back and going into single-user mode (which failed), and I noticed that rEFIt doesn't seem to show up any longer. When I hold option when powering on, it lists Mac OS X and Windows, rather than rEFIt and Windows, which it normally does.

Earlier I was noticing some problems under OS X, such as Spotlight not working, and tried resetting it's index using instructions from this page. I'm not sure if that's related or not, though... I just checked to see if the rEFIt files are still in my root directory of my OS X partition from Windows, and they seem to be there...

Thank you. =)

You need to determine if it's hardware or software related. Boot your machine with your original install DVD and run Disk Utility from the DVD. Run verify and repair and repair permissions. Let's see what it says. The symptoms you described could indicate a failing hard drive.

I also use rEFIt to give me a boot choice between Snow Leopard and Win 7. I have noticed on occasion after a Win 7 update, that sometimes the rEFIt menu will not show up and it boots straight to Snow Leopard. However, upon the next boot it goes back to normal.

Thank you for replying! =)

Well, it seems that now Windows 7 won't even boot... It just comes up with some odd error, saying that a hardware issue may have occurred and to run a repair utility (which did not work), and OS X won't even boot... I let it sit for a couple hours on the Apple screen while it tried to boot.

I tried to boot into the Snow Leopard DVD that came with my computer, but it tried to load, and just ejects it after a couple minutes. Also, the Apple EFI menu does not show it and ejects it after a couple minutes. I tried using a Snow Leopard disc I bought for my other MacBook, but it had the same effect... Additionally, target disc mode does not seem to work, either, as I tried getting into it to back up my important files with my boyfriend's computer. I guess I should have cleaned up my Time Capsule earlier to back things up... =/

Thanks again.

Hey,

Well, I worked all weekend trying to at least back up my files to another computer, but wasn't able to even mount the disc. I eventually gave in and took it to the Apple Store. It turns out my hard drive just died, and they replaced it for free with a slightly better one. They weren't able to recover anything from the drive, though, unfortunately.

I'm getting my old hard drive back, as well, and will try to get it to someone who can recover my data, when I'm able to afford it, of course. =p

Thanks, again, chscag! =)