!HELP Serious MacBook System Failure HELP!

L

Large

Registered
I can't believe what has happened, I'm so angry!

There I was, gleefully updating my MacBook Pro with OSX Leopard (previously running Tiger) and it was ticking along nicely until I returned to the machine an hour later. Something clearly went wrong and now all it displays is a solid blue screen with a cursor.

I held down 'C' as I rebooted the Mac so that it runs straight from the OSX Leopard DVD. I attempted to simply try the install again but, unfortunately there is not enough room on the hard disc to even being the installation process. This is because I was only going to have 4gb spare on the MacBook Pro once the first installation was complete but, because it only half completed the first install of Leopard, stalled and seems to have corrupted system files, there is now not enough hard disc space to re-attempt - even with a basic custom installation with drivers and languages unchecked.

I spent an hour on the phone to Apple support but after trying various things their conclusion is that I completely erase and install Leopard on the MBP from scratch. Clearly I will lose everything I have on there and I simply can't do that!

We were planning to buy my mum a MacBook for Christmas so I've been out today and done it early in the hope I could access the hard drive of my MBP through a firewire link, delete a stack of stuff to clear room and then try the Leopard install again. The new MacBook shows my other computer in 'shared' when connected with a firewire cable but when I try to connect to it says 'connecting' and then it just fails.

Help help help! Is there any way I can control the hard drive of the MBP even though it's not connecting through the firewire link? Or, can I delete filed on the MBP hard drive by using 'disc utility' that I can load from the Leopard installation DVD??

Please don't tell me my only option is an erase and install... please!
 
Thanks for enlightening me on the problem and providing that article link. It certainly sounds like this is the problem. (And makes me even angrier at Apple!)

I can't simply install with archive and install because the initial 'failed' install has taken up half of the 15gb I had remaining on the drive. It now requires a minimum of 7.5-11gb (depending on custom install options) and there's only 6.5gb remaining on the hard drive.

To solve this problem without losing all my hard drive data, I need to find a way to access the MacBook hard drive remotely (using another Mac?) or discover how to delete data using the basic disk utility I can access via the DVD OSX Leopard setup disc that is all I can access on the affected MacBook Pro.

Any bright ideas?
 
Well, third-party hacks really aren't the responsibility of Apple, so you can't really blame them in this respect. Third-party hacks are really at your own risk. It's always best to remove all types of third-party hacks before attempting to upgrade. Better yet, if you do have stuff like that installed, backup your data and do a clean installation. Then bring back all of your data. This is what I do whenever I upgrade to a major version, no matter what the OS. It takes a little longer but I end up with a clean system that doesn't exhibit any problems, as opposed to a shorter install time and much longer time spent trying to fix problems.

Your Mac should be able to go into Target Disk Mode, which essentially turns your Mac into a very expensive Firewire hard drive. You can then connect it to any Mac (or any computer that reads HFS+, for that matter) and move your data over through the Firewire cable. To get into this mode, just hold down the T key when you hear the startup chime. You'll then see a large Firewire logo telling you that it's in Target Disk Mode.

Remember that most of your files are located in your home folder by default so that's all you really need to backup (unless you've saved stuff elsewhere).

Hope this helps.
 
Large said:
The new MacBook shows my other computer in 'shared' when connected with a firewire cable but when I try to connect to it says 'connecting' and then it just fails.
Click to expand...
Try shutting down the "Problem Mac", connect it to your new operating Mac via FW cable, now power on the "Problem Mac" while pressing and holding the "T" key down, this should put your Problem Mac into Target mode and it might just appear on your good Mac's desktop.
Now just maybe you can access the files on the old Mac.

jb.
 
Thanks for the advice... it worked a treat. Got hold of another Mac, hooked up via Firewire, moved a bulk of files to a removable drive and then reinstalled Leopard on the broken Mac using the 'Archive and install' option. Mac is now resurrected with the brand new version of OSX.

Cheers...
 
Booting from the OS X disk, you can start Terminal and remove some of that installed system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top