Hi Folks,
I am in a bind. The other day I was in Microsoft Internet and the Mac Powerbook just went into a loop. I powered it off and attempted to restart. Got nothing but the Apple ant the cirular busy icon contiuosly turning. Tried putting in CD and it will not boot as well, unless I need to do something while it is rebooting.(not that familiar with Mac anymore). Any help would be appreciated.
Regards,
Mickey
Hello,
After giving it about 20 minutes to start up, if it's still spinning, I would try booting off the OS X install disk. First power on the computer, insert the CD, and then shut it down. Power it on after about 30 seconds, while holding down the 'C' key the whole time.
You might also notice that you can start Disk Utility from the menubar, so you may want to use it to check the hard disk to make sure everything's running fine there. Once you're done that, try an "archive+install" of OS X to preserve your data, and then see if your PB boots.
I am trying that now. Received " Invalid Volume Header" and when checking extents received "Invalid sibling link. Volume needs repair.
When trying the repair still got "Invalid Volume Header".
I am trying that now. Received " Invalid Volume Header" and when checking extents received "Invalid sibling link. Volume needs repair.
When trying the repair still got "Invalid Volume Header".
Then your hard drive needs a reformat. You can use Disk Utility to reformat it, and you may want to choose the option of "writing 0s to disk" for best reliablity. Hopefully you have your data backed up.
Unfortunately I did not. Movies, Music, and collection of apps gone.
If I installed the OS on an external drive would I be able to see the failed drive to save its contents or is it totally hosed?
If I installed the OS on an external drive would I be able to see the failed drive to save its contents or is it totally hosed?
There are a number of ways to recover your data. If you have another Mac and a spare Firewire cable, you can use Target Disk Mode by connecting the 2 Macs together, starting up the good Mac, and holding down the 'T' key on the Mac that won't boot. The hard drive will then show up on the good Mac, and you can see how much data you can salvage.
You can also do what you suggested, provided you buy a Firewire hard drive that is certified to boot a Mac. The latter is VERY important. This may also help:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58606
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