Questions about booting, the process of starting a computer and putting it into a state of readiness for operation.
2
votes
2answers
557 views
2008 MacBook Pro Blinking Folder icon
I have a friend with a ~2008 MBPro which has seemingly hit the hay. I'm not 100% it's 2008, but I think so. It has magnetic power cord--the square one.
Anyway, as soon as it turns on, there is the ...
2
votes
1answer
430 views
Reboots hang. Cold Starts Boot on iMac 27" i7 (Mid 2010)
I've been having a problem with my iMac i7 (mid 2010) for quite awhile. Any kind of restart from a software update, or a user selected restart, causing the iMac to get stuck on the restart gray screen ...
0
votes
2answers
1k views
Slow boot OS Lion on Macbook Pro
I have macbook pro 15.4 2011 (Core i7, 4gb, 500HDD), Lion is running on it. The annoying thing is that the boot time is too much, it takes roughly 70 to 120 seconds for machine to boot and display ...
0
votes
1answer
535 views
Used boot camp for windows - cannot select partition at boot up
I'm used boot camp and created a partition for windows. It gave the usual directions to insert windows CD. I did that and follows the installation instructions. When windows started up I inserted the ...
0
votes
1answer
156 views
Ejecting USB-Partitions on boot - works but not entirely
I have an USB drive with four partitions. SuperDuper uses these partitions to back up my mac. Since SuperDuper is scheduled, I have the USB drive constantly connected. But quite frankly the noise of ...
0
votes
4answers
3k views
Lion won't start after EFI update
I installed the new EFI update for my MBA Mid 2011 (the software updater said it is recomended). The update went fine and restarted the mac afterwards.
Then while booting the apple logo turns into a ...
0
votes
0answers
409 views
How to enable root on the Lion “Recovery” boot drive?
There's a few funny things / clues here and there on the Lion recovery disk "Systems" - that indicate you can save your settings between boots. A very light smattering of persistent settings etc. ...
3
votes
2answers
445 views
Help diagnose errors on MacBook that will not boot
I have a MacBook which won't boot beyond the grey screen / Apple logo. With some key combo (can't remember what I did!) I managed to get a black screen with text output - see image. Can anyone offer ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
MacBook Pro appears to be completely dead and the charger is showing only a very dimmed green light
After doing a suspend I wasn't able to "revive" my early 2011 MacBook Pro.
MBP does not respond to: power, long-power, SMC reset or even battery test button.
the charger is showing a dimmed green ...
0
votes
0answers
93 views
Intel core 2 Duo 2GB SDRAM version 10.6.3 Not booting up
I am unable to boot from a DVD on a MacBook Pro. I need to reinstall Lion.
I tried holding C and also I tried using the alt key. Using the alt key is only showing the internal hard drive as a boot ...
2
votes
0answers
269 views
Windows will not boot after a restart of my Mac Pro, only after a cold shutdown and startup
I am currently experiencing a very strange issue regarding booting into Windows 7 64-bit (installed on its own 1TB HDD). If I restart my Mac Pro, hold down the option key, and select my Windows ...
7
votes
2answers
533 views
Move complete Lion installation to another physical drive
is there a way to completely move my OSX Lion to my new SSD without reinstalling? I came from Windows and Linux to OSX and i thought maybe it is possible to simply change the bootloader config after ...
0
votes
1answer
487 views
OS X Snow Leopard installer hangs
I installed Linux on my MBP. I just told it to overwrite the whole hard drive so OS X is gone.
But now I want to go back to OS X so that I can upgrade to Lion.
I start up my MBP with the ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I prevent automatic mounting of all the partitions on a flash drive?
I have a flash drive that I use for various diagnostics on macs. Most of the partitions on the drive are accessible by holding down the option key on boot.
I also have one extra partition that is not ...
5
votes
2answers
5k views
How do I set OS X to boot by default?
I set Windows 7 to my Boot Camp.
Windows 7 starts now by default in the normal boot.
However, I want that OSX boots by default and Windows 7 only as I press ALT and then select it.
How can you set ...
4
votes
3answers
514 views
How do I set my mac to ask what disc I want to boot from without having to hold alt?
I can switch between OSX, Windows and a network drive, but I cannot seem to find this option anywhere.
1
vote
1answer
269 views
Restoring a Boot Camp image with Windows 7 and making it bootable?
I have an image of Boot Camp with Windows 7, which was created by Carbon Copy Cleaner. I didn't realize that the image wasn't bootable until I had already deleted the partition.
I'd like to restore ...
2
votes
2answers
8k views
How can I disable Safe Boot or the Shift Key?
After a spill on the keyboard of my unibody MBP 17", the ⇧ key reports as always on.
Under Windows (BootCamp) and Linux (LiveDVD) I can easily get around the problem by using an external ...
2
votes
1answer
621 views
Why can't I no longer boot into my MacBook Air?
My MacBook Air (Late 2011) hangs during startup at the Apple logo, and the spinning cursor freezes.
I have booted into verbose mode and it hangs after the following messages:
com.parellels.kext.vnic ...
4
votes
1answer
199 views
Mac Pro failing to boot
Two times now, over the last 3 weeks my Mac Pro is failing to boot. Once on, it stays on the blue screen with the spinning icon and never gets to the login screen. To remedy this I boot from install ...
4
votes
5answers
7k views
MacBook Air has suddenly become very slow at booting and shutdown
I have a Late 2010 MacBook Air, and it has a 256 GB SSD, 2.13 GHz processor, and 4 GB RAM. It has been lightning fast ever since I bought it and I upgraded to OS X Lion and it was super fast. Boot ...
2
votes
1answer
444 views
How can I install Debian on a PowerBook G3 with Mac OS 9.2?
Today I started installing Debian Linux on an old Macintosh PowerBook G3 with Mac OS 9.2. After a long time of backing up old documents I erased the whole disk. At the end I just want Debian ...
1
vote
3answers
1k views
Does not boot (endless spinning)
A friend of mine has forgot her password to a newly bought Macbook Pro, Lion.
I've reset the password like described here by booting to single-user mode and deleting /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
The Mac ...
3
votes
1answer
1k views
Diagnosing a dead MacBook Pro
Anyone got a good checklist for diagnosing the problem with a dead MacBook Pro ? I've a 15" MacBook Pro Core Two vintage machine that has suddenly stopped booting up. I can hear the Superdrive spin ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
Jailbroken iPhone stuck on boot screen
I tried to reload Cydia, which stopped working on my jailbroken iPhone 4. I downloaded "Redsnow" and "Ipsw 4.3.2", which worked, until I went to use and downloaded an app with Cydia.
I did not ...
1
vote
1answer
333 views
Unable to boot up with Snow Leopard DVD
I accidentally deleted my /bin folder. My computer is now permanently stuck at the Apple screen with an infinite spinning indicator.
I have:
Inserted my Snow Leopard DVD
Held down c - nothing
Held ...
0
votes
1answer
4k views
OS X Snow Leopard - Can't boot from HD, Target Mode or CD
Today my computer started getting really slow and freezing alot, so i rebooted. HOwever it won't boot up again, keeps getting stuck on the grey screen.
Here's what i've tried:
Startup in safe mode ...
0
votes
2answers
755 views
27" iMac Hangs On Reboot
I've got a 27" iMac 2.93Ghuz Intel Core i7 running 10.7.2.
Anytime I reboot (like for some software updates), it gets stuck at the gray startup screen (no Apple logo). If I press and hold the power, ...
0
votes
2answers
311 views
Trouble with Memtest86 4.0a on 15" MacBook Pro
I have a 15" MacBook Pro late 2011 (MacBookPro8,2) It has a 2.4Ghz Core i7 CPU and 4GB of stock RAM. I'm trying to run Memtest86 4.0a from boot (Memtest86+ does not work.)
After about 5 seconds into ...
0
votes
1answer
408 views
Command+S At Boot Doesn't Activate Single-User Mode
10.6.8. Hold down Cmd+S throughout the entire boot process. It always goes to the regular login screen and starts doing the "stop holding down buttons" chime. Why?
0
votes
1answer
3k views
Booting an Intel Mac to Linux from a U3 USB drive
Is it possible to boot an Intel Mac to Linux, or any non-OS X operating system, from the U3 partition of a USB drive?
I know that because OS X uses EFI rather than BIOS for the boot process, the only ...
1
vote
4answers
828 views
Can I create a boot disk for 10.6 or 10.7 on a PC (to be used on a Mac?)
I have a Macbook Pro that had a hard drive failure, I've replaced the hard drive but I don't have a boot disk of any kind. I could just order a Snow Leopard DVD, but I have to wait a few days for ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
iPhone 3GS switches off randomly after update to 5.0.1
I bought a used iPhone 3GS and the owner claims it worked fine with iOS 4.3.5.
When I came home, I reset all content and settings on iPhone.
Did I know that doing the reset would force me to upgrade ...
0
votes
2answers
568 views
MacBook Pro Mid 2009 does not boot without resetting system management control (SMC)
Today i started my macbook pro and after some seconds it stopped working (just turned). I was not able to start it again. After some apple support search I found a page that described how to reset the ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Is blessing the Ubuntu partition reversible in OS X?
I'm considering using Ubuntu as a main OS. So far, I've been using it in a dual boot setup with OS X. The dual boot worked by holding the ALT key upon boot (not rEFIt).
Blessing the Ubuntu Partition ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views
Is there a way to automate restarting with a different boot disk?
I have Lion and Snow Leopard installed on my machine, and I switch between them all the time (I develop for compatibility on both platforms). Going into System Preferences and selecting the startup ...
0
votes
1answer
19k views
White MacBook hangs at gray Apple screen forever, won't boot to single user, won't mount using Disk Utility. What do I do next?
After a forced shutdown, my white MacBook hangs at the gray screen with the Apple logo and an infinitely spinning progress wheel.
I can boot in verbose mode, but I didn't see any particular error, ...
3
votes
2answers
226 views
Is it possible to specify a different root device to a MacOS kernel?
I have an old iBook (2003, G4) with a burnt-out harddrive. Being a poor academic, I don't want to bother with replacing the drive. I'd like to use an external USB drive in place of the harddrive. I ...
1
vote
1answer
91 views
Help with kernel boot message
I recently turned on my iMac (White intel) to find it wouldn't boot.
Running the boot in verbose mode I get the following message:
Does anyone know what this means? Is it a hard disk error?
0
votes
2answers
329 views
How to boot my mac mini up when my iPod Touch is near?
What I'm trying to achieve is if I'm near my mac mini (10 meters) I want to press a button (or something else) on my ipod touch and than my mac mini should boot up.
How could I make that?
There's a ...
2
votes
1answer
393 views
MacBook Air dual boot Lion+10.6
Can a 2010 MacBook Air internal SSD be configured for the dual-boot of both Lion/10.7.x and Snow Leopard/10.6.x? If so, how much extra storage space is required for 2 boot partitions vs. one? Other ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views
How to disable single-user boot (command S)
By default, Macs are extremely insecure if somebody can get physical access, as they can simply shut it down, press the power button, hold command-S, and there, they get root access in 5 seconds.
Is ...
4
votes
3answers
428 views
Renaming the startup disks shown during boot
I'm dual booting OS X (Lion) and Arch Linux, and when I hold down "option" during the boot process, I am presented with both of my startup disk options (i.e., OS X and Linux); however, they are named ...
2
votes
1answer
274 views
Mac Book Pro 3,1 uneven startup behavior - sometimes start between 5min to 30min after pushing power button
First of all my Mac Book Pro wont start up after going to sleep mode - all black screen etc. When i choose power down from the menu - well it doesnt power down completely - the harddrive is still ...
1
vote
3answers
10k views
Lion hangs on boot with empty progress bar and then switches off
Today as I was working on my MacBook Pro, it became incredibly slow and almost impossible to work with. I spent five minutes trying to restart it from the system menu, and eventually I did.
It took ...
6
votes
4answers
366 views
iMac shows frozen at bootup, but computer running normally in background
I'm on an Intel iMac running Lion.
I'm having major issues with my iMac. The iMac froze whilst using Chrome, and I was forced to reset it.
After the reset the screen seemed to freeze on the apple ...
2
votes
1answer
5k views
How do I boot my MacBook Air running Lion in safe mode?
I follow the instructions in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455 to boot in Safe Mode, but it appears something different happens with Lion. After holding the shift key when hearing the startup tone, ...
3
votes
3answers
562 views
How do I clone a dual-boot Macbook
I have a Macbook Air set up for dual-boot (Lion & Windows 7) and am planning on buying a newer model. How would I go about cloning the entire hard drive to the new machine?
Do I need to ...
1
vote
3answers
647 views
Macbook (2,1) boots into blue screen and hangs
Last night, I shut down my computer. When I turned it back on, I just got the rEFIt logo (I have rEFIt installed). Usually, it takes a moment to populate the menu with a list of bootable devices, but ...
0
votes
2answers
2k views
mac: /usr/sbin/diskutil verifyPermissions / hangs in single-user mode
I'm trying to repair my sister's iMac using single-user mode.
Since a recent power outage (no surge protector) it won't boot. I used verbose mode to see where it was hanging ("mDNSResponder: adding ...
