MacBook shuts down during boot up :(

M

MacAttackGW

Registered
My girlfriend's Macbook was running slow yesterday so she attempted to restart it, but it never powered back up. Upon hitting the power button, it got as far as the Apple logo screen (with chime), and then promptly powered itself down. 6+ subsequent tries have resulted in the same result; it never makes it past the boot sequence. We've tried resetting the PRAM and starting in safe mode, but we get the same result. It's also been plugged into the A/C adapter (and we've tried multiple outlets) so it doesn't appear to be a battery issue. She doesn't have the original OS cd so we can't run the disk check utility; is there another way to run it? If anyone has direction on what to try next, we'd be most appreciative!
 
Some additional info: We've tried the following -

"Restart and hold down Apple+S It should bring you to a command prompt. Once there, type this: /sbin/fsck -yf
This command will run a file system check and repair any problems."

This was our result:

**
/dev/rdisk/os2
**
root file system
**
checking journal hsf+volume
**
checking extents overflow file
**
checking catalogue file
invalid key length
(4, 41017)
**
volume check failed
/dev/rdisk/os2
(hsf) exited with signal 8

Is this a hard drive error and, if so, is there any way to fix it? Thanks!
 
Well you could try DiskWarrior but it is almost &100. So you would probably be better off getting a new hard drive because even if a program could fix the error, it will just mask the failing hardware of the drive. Next time be sure you backup your data because you just learned a hard lesson of computing "It is not if a hard drive will fail, it is when it will fail".

Sorry to be the deliverer of bad news.
 
It still may be worth looking into Diskwarrior if you have important data on the drive. If the drive won't mount at this point, DW may make it mountable so you can get your data. I do agree that it would be cheaper to buy a drive but how important is your data? Not to mention you don't have installers so if DW gets it mountable you may be able to connect to another Mac and get a disk image of your drive, then restore that image onto a good drive.
 
Fellas,

Thank you for the helpful replies. I think we'll go ahead and replace the harddrive. She can have her OS disk sent over to where she's living now. Do you know if there's any way to extract the existing data without making the drive bootable? I.e., can we hook it up to a different computer as a secondary drive and get into it that way?

Thanks!
 
hey guys,
I am having the same issues and i ran through the same steps. did the apple+s at boot up i got eveything just as MACATTACKGW but i got this
Some additional info: We've tried the following -

"Restart and hold down Apple+S It should bring you to a command prompt. Once there, type this: /sbin/fsck -yf
This command will run a file system check and repair any problems."

This was our result:

**
/dev/rdisk/os2
**
root file system
**
checking journal hsf+volume
**
checking extents overflow file
**
checking catalogue file
disk0s2: I/O error
invalid node structure
(4, 7450)
(4, 41017)
Rebuilding catalog B-tree
The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired
**

/dev/rdisk/os2
(hsf) exited with signal 8

Please let me know what this is. And if there is anyway to fix this. Thank you : )

Is this a hard drive error and, if so, is there any way to fix it? Thanks!
 
Sad, you have a damaged disc it sounds like. This is probably due to a scratch on the disc itself, or a bad sector on the boot partition. You can fix these by booting from the cd (grab your cd, insert it during startup, and hold down control c) then run the repair disc. This will detect the erros or scratches and either fix them or mark them as permanently destroyed and tell the RW to never use them and to skip them.
 
hi guys im having the same problem with my mac and when i type in that command my esult was mac os hard drive has no problem 'or somthing similar' but it still wont start up, any suggestions
 
fuzzylogic20 said:
hi guys im having the same problem with my mac and when i type in that command my esult was mac os hard drive has no problem 'or somthing similar' but it still wont start up, any suggestions
Click to expand...

Try booting from the install disk and doing a disk check that way.
 
TitanShadow is right, you need to load the disc and hold down command+c while starting. Or is it just c? Both should work, after the grey screen with the little mac symbol or mac dude appears you can let go. After a long while of waiting you will get the install window, ignore it and drag your cursor to the top where it says preferences. Click on that and select disk utility, at which point on the left select your disk and click on the bottom right repair disk. This is a far shot from fixing your hard drive, but may temporarily fix it at which point you should back everything up asap and reinstall the os completely. Although if your lucky and the disc isnt actually damaged then thisll fix it just fine.
 
Hi Guys,

Having same problem with my son's iBook G4, Tiger 10.4.11. Did all the above and disk utility couldn't do repair when I ran fsck -yf result came up with (last couple of lines):

** Checking Catalog file.
invalid sibling link
(4,6192)
** Volume check failed.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Last edited:
macozzy said:
Hi Guys,

Having same problem with my son's iBook G4, Tiger 10.4.11. Did all the above and disk utility couldn't do repair when I ran fsck -yf result came up with (last couple of lines):

** Checking Catalog file.
invalid sibling link
(4,6192)
** Volume check failed.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Keep re-running fsck until it fixes the problem. Then seriously consider replacing that internal hard drive.
 
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