MacBook Pro OS X Snow Leopard - Won't Boot Up!

Hi, I have owned my MacBook Pro since 2009 (Snow Leopard 10.6.8) and it has been very good, even 2 years travelling the world with me!

Then SUDDENLY, today, my machine went bad. On a restart, I ended up with the grey screen with the Apple Logo and the turning wheel. Nothing more from there!

I have already tried a few things, but to no avail. These include:
Detaching all peripherals (i.e. my iPod) and restarting
Starting up with Command-Option-P-R to erase PRAM
Starting up in Single User Mode (cmd-S), then doing a fsck -f/y (several times)

Alas, my problem does not go away. The OS X still hangs with Apple logo and turning wheel, from where nothing more happens.

I finally launched in Verbose mode with Command-V to see more. It seems to just hang at a point when it reports "DSMOS has arrived". I am no OS X or Linux expert, but this is probably where the problem lies. Can I do anything else to rectify my ill laptop?

Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
AMacH

can it manage to boot onto safe mode (shift key on start)

I'm afraid not... unable to boot up full stop. In Safe mode the only visible difference is that I get the progress bar below the Apple logo and the turning wheel. When that end, I'm left with the usual display of the logo and wheel... with nothing happening at all. I have tried waiting for 2 hours in case it really needed to think about something, but it just seems to hang there.

In verbose mode, it does not get past "DSMOS has arrived".

Do I need to take it to Apple?

AMacH said:

Alas, my problem does not go away. The OS X still hangs with Apple logo and turning wheel, from where nothing more happens.

Click to expand...

Not something you may want to hear...but it could be a dead hard drive.

- Nick

If I boot up in Single User Mode (CMD-S), I am able to run the "fcsk" command. After running the checks it finishes with "The Volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK".

This would suggest the HD isn't dead.

AMacH said:

If I boot up in Single User Mode (CMD-S), I am able to run the "fcsk" command. After running the checks it finishes with "The Volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK".

This would suggest the HD isn't dead.

Click to expand...

Since your running Snow Leopard...have you tried booting the computer from a Snow Leopard install disk (or the gray disks that came with the computer)...then launching "Disk Utility"...and doing two things:

- see if the hard disk needs to be repaired
- repair permissions

Also...do you have any idea how full the hard drive is? If it's completely full...this can cause significant problems.

- Nick

Hi Nick,

Sadly I don't have the disks. My Macbook came with Leopard, and I later upgraded to Snow Leopard. I can't find the upgrade CD (not sure if it will boot from that), but may be able to find the Leopard CDs. Would that work?

The disc may well be quite full, but I don't know how to check that. Is there a command I can use from :/ root# prompt to check this?

AMacH said:

Sadly I don't have the disks. My Macbook came with Leopard, and I later upgraded to Snow Leopard. I can't find the upgrade CD (not sure if it will boot from that), but may be able to find the Leopard CDs. Would that work?

Click to expand...

If your MacBook Pro originally came with Leopard (10.5)...then that will work...or possibily the Snow Leopard disk (10.6) if you can find it. Even an external hard disk with an OS installed on it can work (assuming that the OS is 10.5 or higher).

It's always a great idea to have an alternate way of booting a computer in circumstances like this.

- Nick

Ha, the install CD that came with the laptop is read for a minute or so, and then spat out!

Something strange is going on with my laptop!!!

I know I can see the files on the physical volume, so its likely I can get my files back. But maybe OS X needs a clean install.

I'm running out of ideas...

Have you given the DVD a good clean

AMacH said:

Ha, the install CD that came with the laptop is read for a minute or so, and then spat out!

Something strange is going on with my laptop!!!

Click to expand...

Whenever I see someone with multiple computer problems...I shake my head!

- Hard drive problems
- Can't find OS install disks
- Optical drive won't read disks when they are found

I'm thinking...how can one person simultaneously have so many statistically rare problems happen all at once?? I'm sure it can happen...but it should be a pretty rare thing.

As "louishen" recommended...clean that OS disk...and try again...maybe it will work after the cleaning.

AMacH said:

I know I can see the files on the physical volume, so its likely I can get my files back. But maybe OS X needs a clean install.

Click to expand...

We can probably go back & forth...back & forth...back & forth with ideas...taking lots & lots of time. If you know that you can see the files...then:

- back them up
- reformat the hard drive
- reinstall the OS

Of course to do this you need an OS install disk that is working (readable by the optical drive). If you are successful installing the OS...then in the coming days/weeks...you should find out if the HD has problems or not. So be careful & keep any newly created files backed up.

Good luck,

- Nick