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  1. #1
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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    I have a Macbook Air in, when it powers on there are no chimes, it reaches the apple logo with spinning wheel and stays there for ages and then the no access sign (see below) appears with spinning wheel and it won't go any further. I have tried entering safe mode, ctrl-alt-p, ctrl-alt-r but none make any difference.



    I am not sure what version of OSX it is running, it is the A1304 model which I believe is 2008/2009. I hope it is a software fault and am awaiting the customer to let me know if I can format and reinstall OSX. I need to make a USB media as there is no disc drive, I was going to first try and use the disk utilities on the installation media, if I were to use a Lion installer would the repair utilities recognise the version and repair accordingly or must I have the correct installer?

    Hopefully there isn't important data on there and I can try the format and install.

    If I have missed anything obvious then can someone steer me in the right direction? I don't usually repair macs but it is a family friend.

    Cheers


  2. #2
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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    original intel macbook black 2006, macbook air 2011, PS3, XBOX360, nintendo wii, 3ds, psp, iphone 5 32gb, itouch 16gb, Vu+duo, Samsung TAB2, various laptops Ubuntu

    Thanks to gazza341

    evilsatan (19th November 2012)  


  3. #3
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    I have had a look through and tried most of that mate, I can't get the thing to boot to CD either so looks like I might be stuck... The owner has said there is important data on there and as it isn't a standard SATA HDD can't put it into an external caddy. Will keep trying safe mode and CD boot but holding shift or C at startup doesn't affect the boot sequence.


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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    Just off the top of my head:
    Might be worth connecting an external hdd and then booting from that / installing osx to ext drive - you should then be able to interrogate the internal drive
    original intel macbook black 2006, macbook air 2011, PS3, XBOX360, nintendo wii, 3ds, psp, iphone 5 32gb, itouch 16gb, Vu+duo, Samsung TAB2, various laptops Ubuntu

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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    Cheers mate, problem is I can't boot from CD to install OSX to an external HDD and I'm not sure if I would even be able to boot from an external. I am waiting to receive the original boot media as I am trying to boot to a snow leopard CD to check it works, then I will get leopard and use the first aid utilities.


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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    Ah right, so when external cd drive is connected and osx disk is inserted - it doesn't give you any option to instal to an ext hdd?
    original intel macbook black 2006, macbook air 2011, PS3, XBOX360, nintendo wii, 3ds, psp, iphone 5 32gb, itouch 16gb, Vu+duo, Samsung TAB2, various laptops Ubuntu

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    External disc drive connected, OSX 10.6 DVD in the drive, turn on the mac and hold C and it still goes through the same apple logo, spinning wheel, no access logo process without booting the disc to the installer. Problem is in Apples wisdom there is one USB port, the Apple external disc drive is USB and my only external HDD is USB...

    It doesn't seem to respond any differently no matter what I do. Not sure if the no chimes is part of the problem?


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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    Yeah, limits options (the 1 USB port).
    If I find any other way of doing it I'll report back, in the meantime good luck, hope you get it sorted
    original intel macbook black 2006, macbook air 2011, PS3, XBOX360, nintendo wii, 3ds, psp, iphone 5 32gb, itouch 16gb, Vu+duo, Samsung TAB2, various laptops Ubuntu

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    evilsatan (19th November 2012)  


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    Default Macbook Air won't boot up

    Not sure if this will help mate - http://www.maciverse.com/reinstallin...cbook-air.html
    original intel macbook black 2006, macbook air 2011, PS3, XBOX360, nintendo wii, 3ds, psp, iphone 5 32gb, itouch 16gb, Vu+duo, Samsung TAB2, various laptops Ubuntu

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    Thanks for trying mate, I will try some other things and see how I get on. I'm not a fan of macs so don't know my around one like I do a PC (shortcuts and the like), when they go wrong they are a nightmare.


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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    can't you use a USB hub and then plug both drives into that?
    mml
    "When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butchers knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross." - 'Dirty' Harry

  12. #12
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    That's an idea, no idea if it will work but might be worth a shot. I don't have a USB hub as my PCs have ridiculous amounts of USB ports but easy enough to pick one up. I have managed to get it to boot verbose so hoping a line in there can help identify the problem.


  13. #13
    DF VIP Member Sanj[UK]'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    What happens if you boot the mac whilst holding down T? (Should enable Target disk mode) Also as far as i was aware all you have to do is hold down R when booting up to get into resuce?(ctrl+alt could be fucking it)

    Thanks to Sanj[UK]

    evilsatan (19th November 2012)  


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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    I thought that mode was only available with OSX Lion, I will try R and T now


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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    R doesn't seem to have worked but will try T. Here is a photo of the verbose mode, it seems to loop in this section so hopefully I can work out the fault from here. The first thing I want to do is repair the system files, not liking the IO error but fingers crossed it's software rather than the HDD has gone.

    Spoiler:


  16. #16
    DF VIP Member Sanj[UK]'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    if verbose mode is looping its never a good sign. Have you tried to reset the PRAM / SMC?

  17. #17
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    I did try that but there was no sign that anything different was happening, would I know if it was reset correctly?


  18. #18
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    Got the disc and managed to boot to it, ran disk utility, ran disk repair which found problems and resolved, rebooted ans same thing.

    Trying to get into disk utilities again to run backup before I erase and install. Thanks to Apples great design I have the choice of getting a USB hub and formatting my only spare external drive to a OSX format or trying to wirelessly backup to my server/NAS as there is no ethernet port.

    Is it normal for the partition to be called 'untitled'? I am concerned that the HDD has failed or the partition has been lost. This was the case before running disk repair but that doesn't delete data anyway according to Apple.


  19. #19
    DF VIP Member Sanj[UK]'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    Shouldnt be labelled as untitled as when you partition via disk utility it does ask for a name.

    What disc did you use to boot the macbook?

  20. #20
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    Default Re: Macbook Air won't boot up

    The disk the mac shipped with, must be OSX leopard.


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