Kind of a sticky situation

[ptateosi]

Hey everyone, I just joined bout 5 minutes ago to post this single question. I've not been able to find any other solutions or even similar problems. Well, here goes:

After attempting to install Ubuntu 8.04 last night on my First-Gen MB off of the live cd, the installer brought me to an ms-dos/unix-like black and white screen, describing threads that would NOT write to a heck of a lot of sectors on my drive. Naturally I figured this was because of the fact that Disk Utility and Boot Camp both could not partition my drive (don't ask me why; I had the necessary space) and the Ubuntu installer was running against the hfs+ partition. So I just let it run through a few more sector-write errors until the AC plug accidentally came off, thus shutting my MB down mid-install (but pre-partition mind you)

I thought that because it hadn't partitioned or even asked to write anything to the disk, rebooting and reinstalling would be pretty simple. The only problem is the computer won't start back up. No fan, no hard drive, no display..nothing .

Does anyone have any ideas for solving this problem? Unplugging, taking the battery out, etc etc isn't working at all and I obviously can't reset the PRAM because it simply won't turn on. I'd love to avoid bringing it to apple because the warranty is up and gas is steep..thanks in advance guys

I should also mention I'm running Leopard with 1gb of ram, 2.0 ghz core duo

 

[Noels]

ptateosi,

It looks like the Ubuntu Live CD may have written some of it's own partition or code over the MAC OS X partition or may have otherwise damaged OS X before you pulled the plug. I've never had a kernel panic, but here's something on it: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1392 - not even sure that could be what it is, mind you.

Perhaps if you keep holding the power button down it will start ?? If not, you probably need to at least call Apple or take it by some Mac qualified shop...

Noel

EDIT: How old is your hard drive? It could be the problem. If you have a backup, the alternative may be to replace your hard drive and restore the backup to it. But first see if there is some other way you could erase your current drive and try it out, see if it will start that way. If you have an external, swap the drives and see what happens, if anything.

 

[NPuter]

Can it have written over the 'firmware' that takes care of all the non-os related things, like booting up...

 

[lifeafter2am]

Can it have written over the 'firmware' that takes care of all the non-os related things, like booting up...
Go ahead and hold the power button for 10 seconds... See if that works.

Isn't that hardware based like in PC's? I have never seen a Linux install that can write to the firmware chips like that.

 

[ptateosi]

Noels, holding the power button down will not start the computer, regardless of the duration :/ If it is a kernel panic, it'd be wicked tough to tell because there was no message before or after the power dropped. So while I won't rule it out, the burden of proof rests on zee mac hah

The hard drive was just replaced by apple about 4 months ago. While I was using Disk Utility to (unsuccessfully) partition the drive, I ran a disk verification to make sure I wasn't attempting to split up a failing drive. The drive passed.

What I'm thinking is either the boot sector or directory got seriously annihilated during the pre-install. Is there a way to format a drive remotely via another macbook and a firewire/ethernet cable connected to mine?

 

[ptateosi]

Can it have written over the 'firmware' that takes care of all the non-os related things, like booting up...

Would this be related to a BIOS issue?

 

[WakeCarver]

Would this be related to a BIOS issue?

Yes, it would be similar to a BIOS issue in a PC. Try resetting your pram. Look up the specific instructions for your model on apple.com.

 

[ptateosi]

Yes, it would be similar to a BIOS issue in a PC. Try resetting your pram. Look up the specific instructions for your model on apple.com.

Resetting my pram didn't work. Nothing starts up. But I've tried to reset it anyway.

I've tried the pram trick and the pmu startup trick but this seems to be a rather isolated issue from what my friend google is telling me. A remote format or reinstall of the os would be great but seeing as the computer is as responsive as Helen Keller, I wouldn't know how to go about it

 

[Noels]

ptateosi,

Here's an idea - if Apple just changed your hard drive, take it back to an Apple store and tell them, have them check it out for you. And they can erase the drive and put your OS X back on if you take the install DVD with you. Even if your warranty is over, the hard drive they put in should still be covered...

The price of the gas to get there is probably less than the alternatives.

Noel

 

[ptateosi]

Noel,

This is the primary option I'm considering. As I understand it, there's a 90 day warranty on all replacement parts, yeah? If so, I wouldn't mind telling them a little porky pie

They know me pretty well at the Tampa apple store haha - since I bought the MB, I must have brought it in four times for the same issue: backlight flickering. And it hasn't been fixed since. Last visit, they put in a new logic board, full case, and installed 10.5

 

[Noels]

ptateosi,

Good luck on your next visit, then. They'll see you coming in the door and say, "Oh oh, here he comes again..."

Noel