What Peter said. Even if it's an Intel machine, the process is essentially the same. You could also try booting into single user mode to see if you can get in that way, but with the limited knowledge you have on this I would first suggest you follow Peter's troubleshooting steps.
Can't hurt to zap the PRAM, too. 1. Shut down the computer. 2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4. 3. Turn on the computer. 4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears. 5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time. 6. Release the keys. MacDan --- On Sun, 3/21/10, Peter Frederick <psf...@earthlink.net> wrote: > From: Peter Frederick <psf...@earthlink.net> > Subject: Re: [MBZ] OT..Mac Isues > To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com> > Date: Sunday, March 21, 2010, 11:14 AM > How long have you waited? The > "circle of death" is the OS boot loader checking the disk > and doing minor repairs before booting, so it may just need > some time to restore file links, etc. > > The good news is that the drive is recognized -- the > question mark flashing is a folder means the disk isn't > recognized, much worse problem. > > However, if it does NOT eventually boot, you need to boot > it off the installation disk, abort the installation, and > run the Disk Utility. Check the boot disk for errors, > fix them if any show up (the boot loader has very limited > repair capability), and then run repair disk permissions. > > This should fix it up. If not, try booting into > firewire disk mode with another Mac and see if you can run > the disk utilities from there. Might work > better. You can also back up all the files from there > IF the disk actually comes up. > > If not, the hard drive is corrupted. If it show up > and OK but still won't boot, back up all the files you need > and try a reinstallation of the OS (you will need to run all > the updates since it was installed originally -- be prepared > to spend some internet time on it). > > > If that doesn't work, you need to check out the drive and > try re-formatting and re-installing the OS. > > If it was only a matter of needing repairs, watch for the > same thing to happen again shortly, in which case a new > drive is probably a good idea. You can get a very > inexpensive external USB case for the original one and copy > files from it back to the new drive, or even boot up and use > Carbon Copy Cloner or something similar to copy the entire > original drive to the new one (this works best using > firewire drive mode from another mac). > > You might find some complications if this is an Intel > MacBook rather than a G4, which is the latest I have. > > Peter > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
