Macbook cannot boot from disc

I have a (maybe) 2011 Macbook Pro, whose HDD has been erased completely. I have the original restore disc (Lion.)

The problem is I cannot boot from the disc at all, even when holding down C on start up. The screen remains blank.

I also cannot restore the OS from the internet either, since I do not have the original Apple ID.

Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

Welcome to the forum!

Assuming the disk is ok, you can try getting a can of compressed air and giving a short blast through the slot for the disk to see if you can dislodge any dust that may be over the lens in the optical bay. Booting from the install disk is very sloooooooow, so you may need to be patient as it boots.

Also, you could contact Apple to buy a Lion install disk. Is the disk you have grey or black? The grey ones are machine specific, so unless it came with that machine, it may not be the right version.

Fenrir said:

I have a (maybe) 2011 Macbook Pro, whose HDD has been erased completely. I have the original restore disc (Lion.)

Click to expand...

Two things:

1. There never as a "Lion Disc". Lion was the first Mac OS NOT to be distributed on disk. So if you have a disc…it's homemade.
2. If OS 10.7 or newer has been installed on this hard drive previously…have you tried booting into the "Recovery Partition" by pressing the 2 keys…command + r during reboot?

- Nick

Nick, thanks for that. I was going to suggest downloading it, but wasn't sure exactly when Apple left behind disk installs. And you can still buy Lion from Apple, for download:

OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple Store (U.S.)

MacInWin said:

Nick, thanks for that. I was going to suggest downloading it, but wasn't sure exactly when Apple left behind disk installs.

Click to expand...

Hopefully there's no confusion on the OS names & numbers (it's happened before). Maybe OP has a genuine OS install DVD…but it's 10.6 Snow Leopard…and not 10.7 Lion. Or it could be a homemade Lion disc.

Or maybe it's a gray disc as (which you asked to verify earlier). And if it's a gray disc…we know why it's not working!

- Nick

I have a grey disc that came with this specific machine. I might be wrong about it being Lion, though. The last OS installed on it was Yosemite.

When trying to boot from the disc it stays stuck on an endless white screen, but if I boot holding 'option' I can see the disc next to the HDD in the boot options. Clicking on either will freeze the machine.

I have also tried booting with 'command + r' and I have the option to restore from the internet. When I try to do that, it asks for an Apple ID, and I put in my personal one. It tells me that this option is unavailable at this time.

Edit: The disc says 10.5.2 (leopard) on it.

Fenrir said:

I have a grey disc that came with this specific machine.

Click to expand...

My first question is…did you purchase this computer brand new or purchase it used?

- If brand new…then you should REALLY know what that Apple ID is…because it's your's (setup by you).
- If you purchased the computer used…then I'm assuming that the Apple ID is from the previous owner.

AND…if this computer was purchased used…there's no 100% guarantee that this gray disk IS THE ACTUAL gray disk that came with the computer when new. It could simply be a gray disk the previous owner somehow got hold of…and sold with the computer. The gray disks are model specific…and only work with the model they came with when new.

Also. If this is a 2011 MacBook Pro…it has to be an "Early 2011" MBP. Early 2011 MBP's still came with gray disks…"Late 2011" MBP's I pretty sure did not come with gray disks.

But regardless…if you don't know 100% if this gray disk came with the computer when new…then since it is not working…it's probably the wrong disk (or the disk is damaged…or the optical drive is dirty…or the optical drive is malfunctioning).

Fenrir said:

I might be wrong about it being Lion, though. The last OS installed on it was Yosemite.

Click to expand...

If Yosemite was the last OS installed…the command + r on boot up really should get you into the recovery partition.

Fenrir said:

When trying to boot from the disc it stays stuck on an endless white screen, but if I boot holding 'option' I can see the disc next to the HDD in the boot options. Clicking on either will freeze the machine.

Click to expand...

Hmmm. "Freeze the machine". This is different that what was mentioned earlier. If the machine is "freezing" this early in the boot process. Then it never gets to a point that you can do something (like the recovery partition.

Please be very specific what you mean by "freezing" (and when it freezes). Otherwise this will just confuse things to the point that helping will be VERY difficult (if things aren't described properly & clearly).

Fenrir said:

I have also tried booting with 'command + r' and I have the option to restore from the internet. When I try to do that, it asks for an Apple ID, and I put in my personal one. It tells me that this option is unavailable at this time.

Click to expand...

This is my point. If the computer is "freezing" early in the boot process (when you need to select the DVD or hard drive to boot from)…you never get to this point regarding the Apple ID.

- Nick

Fenrir said:

Edit: The disc says 10.5.2 (leopard) on it.

Click to expand...

Yes…and if this is the case…then one of two things:

1. If this is the 100% genuine gray disk that came with this computer when new…then you DO NOT have a 2011 MacBook Pro. 2011 MBP's did not ship with OS 10.5.2.

2. If you actually do have a 2011 MBP…then this proves that the gray disk is NOT the original gray disk that came with it when new. Because like I mentioned…2011 MBP's DID NOT ship with OS 10.5 (Leopard).

- Nick

One question. Why was the hard drive "erased completely"…like was mentioned in post #1?

Just wanted to know so the situation can be better understood.

- Nick

Sorry for any confusion. I work as IT at a company that almost exclusively uses Windows. So, my colleagues and I are quite unfamiliar with OSX. I got this Macbook Pro when the initial user left the company. The disc was labelled as the correct one for this machine.

The computer was locked and no one knew the password, so I wiped it, in the hopes of just installing a fresh OS. (which I know now probably wasn't the best idea.) Since I was locked out I couldn't check the model number. It's definitely not one of the new machines, since it has an optical drive.

When I boot up normally, the screen is white for a while, and eventually I get a folder icon with a '?' in it.

If I hold 'C', the disc starts and stops spinning, and the screen stays white indefinitely.

If I hold 'Option', I can see the HDD and the DVD, but clicking either will lock up the machine. (the cursor stops moving, the image never changes, and the disc will stop spinning after a bit.)

If I hold 'Command + R' Everything seems to work perfectly but when I try to reinstall from the internet it prompts me for an Apple ID (I put in my personal one) and I get a prompt saying:

"This Item is temporarily unavailable
Try again later"

Fenrir said:

Sorry for any confusion. I work as IT at a company that almost exclusively uses Windows. So, my colleagues and I are quite unfamiliar with OSX. I got this Macbook Pro when the initial user left the company. The disc was labelled as the correct one for this machine.

Click to expand...

Ok understandable & good deal…always wiling to help.

Fenrir said:

The computer was locked and no one knew the password, so I wiped it, in the hopes of just installing a fresh OS. (which I know now probably wasn't the best idea.) Since I was locked out I couldn't check the model number.

Click to expand...

Ok…understandable.

Fenrir said:

It's definitely not one of the new machines, since it has an optical drive.

Click to expand...

No problem. The last MacBook Pro model with an optical drive was/is a Mid-2012 model. So the initial thought that this is a 2011 MacBook Pro would not be incorrect. But…it does sound like the exact model (at this point) could still be in question. This is very important…since it tells us exactly what OS versions are compatible with it.

Fenrir said:

When I boot up normally, the screen is white for a while, and eventually I get a folder icon with a '?' in it.

Click to expand...

What this means is one of three things:

1. There's no OS installed on the hard drive to boot from.
2. The hard drive is dead or damaged.
3. There is no hard drive (probably not it…but it is a possibility when seeing the flashing "?").

Fenrir said:

If I hold 'C', the disc starts and stops spinning, and the screen stays white indefinitely.

Click to expand...

Again…if we're talking about this gray disk. The gray disk may not be the correct one. And if so…it will never work with this computer.

Fenrir said:

If I hold 'Option', I can see the HDD and the DVD, but clicking either will lock up the machine. (the cursor stops moving, the image never changes, and the disc will stop spinning after a bit.)

Click to expand...

If choosing the DVD…the problem could be that:

- it's the wrong gray disk
- the disk could be damaged/dirty
- the optical drive could be dirty
- the optical drive could be damaged

If choosing the hard drive. Since you're getting the flashing "?"…this means no bootable OS is installed (or missing altogether).

Fenrir said:

If I hold 'Command + R' Everything seems to work perfectly but when I try to reinstall from the internet it prompts me for an Apple ID (I put in my personal one) and I get a prompt saying:

"This Item is temporarily unavailable
Try again later"

Click to expand...

This is the result of the Apple ID issue. The computer is "associated" with a particular Apple ID (someone else's). As you may or may not know. This Apple ID association is in place to verify that a person has purchased apps from iTiunes or the Mac App Store…so in the future this same person can download apps they already purchased if they happen to need to reinstall them.

Of course since you don't know what the Apple ID is (and the associated Apple ID password)…you cannot proceed.

Here are two things you can try:

1. You can purchase a Snow Leopard install DVD (this is OS 10.6). These cost $19.99 from Apple (link below). This was the last Mac OS to be distributed/sold on DVD/disc. Since you would be installing 10.6 (with this disk)…you bypass all this Apple ID "stuff"…since you are not connecting to the internet to do it.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.)

After successfully installing 10.6 (even though it's an old OS version)…at least you will have the computer up & running.

Then what you would want to do is…do an "Software Update"…and update 10.6 to OS 10.6.8. This will give you access to the Mac App Store (which needs OS 10.6.6 as a minimum).

Then when you connect to the Mac App Store (you may need to setup a brand new Apple ID at this point)….then you can decide which OS you want to upgrade the computer to (10.7, 10.8, 10.10). FYI…Yosemite is OS 10.10.

2. The second idea is to try following the instructions in this article (below)…and see if it works. If not (because of the Apple ID issue)…you may need to try option #1 that I suggested.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5641

HTH,

- Nick

Thanks for the info, I was afraid you'd tell me buying the disc was the only option. That'll be my last resort. Right now I have one last thing I can try. I have an old Mac drive that I had to replace due to clicking. If it's still alive I'll try to clone it. It runs Mavericks. Otherwise, I will have no choice.

Also, thanks for the link, it will be likely useful for future Apple products. Unfortunately since I don't have a working OS I can't change the ownership on this one. -_-

Fenrir said:

Thanks for the info, I was afraid you'd tell me buying the disc was the only option. That'll be my last resort.

Click to expand...

I hope that it's not a money issue (unless you're working for a VERY small company without $19.99 to spare).

Also…that wasn't the only option mentioned. Did you try the 2nd option (with the link)?

Fenrir said:

Right now I have one last thing I can try. I have an old Mac drive that I had to replace due to clicking. If it's still alive I'll try to clone it. It runs Mavericks.

Click to expand...

Definitely a good option. But as we both know…that HD "clicking" usually means dead HD. Fingers crossed it works. Good luck.

- Nick