HELP! MacBook not restarting!

aruna

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This morning I prepared as usual for my writing session; checked my mails first. There was a small pop-up window informing me that Bluetooth had unexpectedly quit; the options were OK or restart Bluetooth (or something like that). Well, I tried OK and it went away, only to reappear two seconds later. clicked the other option, same thing. Popup opped back up, midscreen. Same thing at retry; neither of the options got rid of it.

So I decided to restart. It switched off, started to restart -- and never finished. All I am getting is a grey screen with a little circling circle showing that "something" is working. Nothing else. I pressed the off button, left it for a while, and tried again. Grey screen.

I have a WIP under intense revision in there!

Now, I did take out that two-year Apple insurance when I bought the thing about 18 months ago and I assume it is covered if I take it back to the store -- but I can't go before Saturday. I can manage with my iPad and work computer (like now) till them but can someone diagnose the problem and reassure me that it can be fixed, soon, without sending it away for repairs, and possibly having everything wiped out in the process? (This is what happened with my last laptop: it was a very small hardware problem, and I sent it for repairs (not Apple) and they wiped everything off in the process -- as I had not bothered to save beforehand it was very annoying.)

Even better: is there a way of getting it up and going myself?

Thanks for any assistance or explanation.
 

alleycat

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I'm sorry you haven't gotten any replies. I can't help since I'm not a Mac user. I would if I could.

If you don't get any replies here, you might see if there's a Mac forum that could offer some help. The MS Windows forum can be helpful at times. I'm assuming there are one or more for Apple.
 
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amergina

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This just happened to me yesterday... getting the gray screen.

First, restart your Mac (hold down the power button) and press shift. This should boot the mac into safe mode. Copy off anything you need. (i.e., back everything up)

Then follow these instructions:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

If nothing works, you'll have to reinstall the operating system. :-/ Which is what I had to do.
 

Deleted member 42

Aruna the link Amergina posted is for older versions of Mac OS X; 10.4 or 10.5—That is Tiger or Leopard. Leopard was introduced in 2009.

What version of OS X are you using?
 

aruna

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I'm sorry you haven't gotten any replies. I can't help since I'm not a Mac user. I would if I could.

I feel so ... abandoned!:)

I took it in for repairs yesterday. it is covered by the guarantee but almost certainly I will lose my stuff. It's not dramatic ... about a week's worth (5 hours) of revisions including two brand new scenes. I'll just have to go over it again.
The thing is, it will take 2-3 weeks to get back and I'm expecting editorial notes any day now, and need to keep up to meet a deadline. So I bought a new, cheap, laptop as backup; I've always had a backup PC anyway so it's no big deal. I bought an Acer because of this:

Whether you’re a SMB owner, a parent, a photographer, or all of the above, you can’t afford to lose your priceless memories or data. The Acer Aspire E1 series comes with a M-Drive Ready Disc, which is capable of storing data into the M-DISC to provide permanent storage. M-DISC Ready Drives save what you value for up to 1,000 years and offer up to 4.7GB of recordable permanent storage.*


I do have a external back up thingee but... in the past I've simply mailed my docs to myself.



http://www.mdisc.com/acer-to-offer-...ves-in-laptop-and-desktop-computers-cdr-news/


If you don't
 

fivetoesten

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I think everybody should have a live linux cd or usb stick for these kinds of situations. Often you can boot to the stick and copy your important files to somewhere else.
 

aruna

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I used to save on a USB stick. but if you know me -- I'm notorious for losing small things, loose things, and that's what happened once. Even now, I couldn't tell you where my stick is... um... I last used it to get some photos printed... um...

So what works for me is either something big, or something online. If I could only do it consistently, every day....
 

amergina

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I bought a TimeCapsule for my Mac laptop. Backs up every hour.

Granted, it's also in my house, so I do throw things up into Dropbox periodically for off site storage, but when the Apple folks had to wipe my drive and reinstall the operating system, restoring my files was easy from the TimeCapsule. Just...time consuming.

But the whole time TimeMachine/TimeCapsule thing that Mac has? It works.
 

Reziac

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I know squat about MacBooks, but... what happens if you actually remove the battery, let it sit for half an hour, stick battery back in, and try to start it as usual?

Also, be aware that warranty repairs usually return the system to "factory fresh" which means your data is GONE. They are under no obligation to preserve it (nor can they when the object is to ensure that the hardware and OS are in working order).

You might want to try a "Live CD" (commonly seen as some flavor of linux) and see if it can retrieve your files, perhaps onto a USB stick.
 

AW Admin

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Get a separate free Web based account like Gmail that you email files to for backup. Let them stay on the Web.

Get a free Dropbox account, and drag files there regularly. Add a date to the file name.

Did they tell you what the problem was?

Normally you could boot off the netboot OS in the RAM and get files, or start up from a DVD or USB stick and get the files.
 

robjvargas

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I know squat about MacBooks, but... what happens if you actually remove the battery, let it sit for half an hour, stick battery back in, and try to start it as usual?

I was going to offer that, but I don't think Macbook Pros have a removable battery.

More often than not, that kind of lock-up, where the GUI hasn't loaded yet, it's the operating system. Since you mentioned BlueTooth warnings, it could be hardware related.

I hope you told the Apple store about the Bluetooth warning. My first thought would have been to uninstall Bluetooth, and let it re-detect.
 

Reziac

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I was going to offer that, but I don't think Macbook Pros have a removable battery.

I wondered about that...

More often than not, that kind of lock-up, where the GUI hasn't loaded yet, it's the operating system. Since you mentioned BlueTooth warnings, it could be hardware related.

If some specific component dies, then yeah, the OS stalls at the point it tries to load that driver.
 

aruna

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I was going to offer that, but I don't think Macbook Pros have a removable battery.
.

I hope you told the Apple store about the Bluetooth warning. My first thought would have been to uninstall Bluetooth, and let it re-detect.

you're right, there's no removable battery.
And yikes, I did forget to mention the Bluetooth warning. I wonder if I can call them up and let them know? I'll try -- thanks!

Get a separate free Web based account like Gmail that you email files to for backup. Let them stay on the Web.

Get a free Dropbox account, and drag files there regularly. Add a date to the file name.

Did they tell you what the problem was?

Normally you could boot off the netboot OS in the RAM and get files, or start up from a DVD or USB stick and get the files.

i do have gmail and simply mailing to myself was till now my backup method. But you know how it is while revising -- especially when time is limited. I forgot.

I have a Dropbox account but I have hardly ever used it.
In the store, they tried starting it and saw for themselves. But the Bluetooth thing might be relevant so I'll try to contact them.

thanks all!
 

Evelyn_Alexie

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Sigh.
I think reading this thread jinxed me. My Mac won't even go into Safe mode. I just get the grey screen of limbo and hear a clicking noise from the machine.

I googled a thread on the Apple support site, and found someone who'd had the same problem. All the options people offered were tried without luck. Then at the bottom was a note from the OP saying he'd tried booting it up, and the machine had started up again long enough for him to rescue his files. It's a long shot, but maybe... If I'm realllllly lucky...

I've got my WIPs saved on gmail, but did I think to email the Scrivener files themselves? Of course not. Lesson learned.

If anyone needs me, I'm going to be in the corner wailing and gnashing my teeth. I'm not sure how one gnashes teeth, but it's a traditional way to show mourning, so I figured I'd give it a try.
 

aruna

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Well, whadya know?!? Got my MacBook back today and they saved EVERYTHING! IN fact, it was just the way I left it, with the Word document still on the screen! YAY! That was a week's hard 4:30 am work and it would have been a shame to have to pull it out of my brain all over again. Three cheers for Apple Customer Service!


(maybe they just gave it a hard whack!)