• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

My macbook is having issues, what do I do?

Status
Not open for further replies.
T

The Artisan

Member
Typing this on my dad's laptop because something really weird is going on, with my 2009 model macbook pro.

So as I was browsing gaf, the beach volleyball thing popped up replacing my mouse pointer but it doesn't go away. I try going into another program I'm on outside of chrome, imessage, but the beach volleyball shows up on there too. I proceed to try and force shut chrome, but they all shut down, and I'm back to my desktop, only my wallpaper disappeared, and the beach volleyball is back again, not leaving. So I force shut down the macbook, holding down the power button.

So, I try turning it back on, but it starts up, and stays stuck on the loading screen, stays that way for like 5 minutes, all that happens is the fans get louder and louder, and then it shuts down. Doesn't boot up. I tried this twice, and the same thing is happening.

What is going on? What do I do? Is it a virus?
 
X

Xcellere

Member
idevice-soak.jpg
 
Z

zert

Member
Oh boy, I hope you have a backup. Something like this happened to me and my hard drive was dead. Had to replace it.
 
I

Ingueferroque

Banned
Sounds like your hard disk is messing up. Did you create a recovery partition for it? Not sure if the 2009 models supported that.. I hope you made a backup.
 
X

Xenex

Member
My Macbook was doing this as well, the beach volley ball would appear for a good 5 minutes or so before I could use it again, then it would happen again at some point. I did a fresh install of Yosemite and my Macbook hasn't been as fast since I purchased it. Also mine is a 2009 model.

Edit: To the not turning on problem, I kept trying until it did and took the opportunity to fresh install as soon as I could.
 
S

Sonicbug

Member
Does sound like a hard drive failure. There's a way to boot directly from the internet with a wired connection you can try to get into disc repair. Command + Option + R I think.
 
I

irfaanator

Banned
I have a 2009 13inch on mavericks, but I never ran into those issues. My mbp was hella slow after I upgraded to mavericks though
 
T

The Artisan

Member
I was just about to remove the battery, and as I unscrewed the backside I see a message on it telling me not to remove the battery.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
excuse the bump - just wanna lay out where I'm at here. I took my macbook to best buy today and apparently their apple diagnostics tools were down. at first, the guy said that it could be a logic board problem but later when he found out the tools were down, he said it could be a hard drive problem. either way, it would cost hundreds of dollars to fix.

backing up my hard drive alone would cost $150. I'm still using my dad's laptop. So I'm thinking, would the smart thing to do to be just backup the hard drive for now? Or should I contact apple? what do I do?
 
M

mcfrank

Member
The Artisan said:
excuse the bump - just wanna lay out where I'm at here. I took my macbook to best buy today and apparently their apple diagnostics tools were down. at first, the guy said that it could be a logic board problem but later when he found out the tools were down, he said it could be a hard drive problem. either way, it would cost hundreds of dollars to fix.

backing up my hard drive alone would cost $150. I'm still using my dad's laptop. So I'm thinking, would the smart thing to do to be just backup the hard drive for now? Or should I contact apple? what do I do?
Click to expand...

Do you have an Apple Store in driving distance? If so, I would strongly suggest going there rather than best buy. No intention to "rub it in" but I hope people take this as a lesson to always back up their files. Hard drives file. Use time machine or back blaze or crash plan. There are so many easy ways to keep a back up.
 
M

Mobius 1

Member
Hard drive is probably toast, with a SMART error - or worse.

You can try a number of things:

1 - Use another Mac to connect using the Target Disk mode. If this works, you can try to copy over some of your data.

2 - You can try to boot using either the Recovery Partition or a USB bootable OS installer, which will give you access to Disk Utility. You could then try to copy/image/diagnose the problem.

3 - Pop the laptop open, connect the hard drive to another Mac, try to save some data.

4 - Find a japanese girl, convince her to get into a relationship with you. After you have her trust and love, find a side girl, and let the japanese one find out about the affair. It will result in the end of your Macbook problems.
 
M

MGrant

Member
The Artisan said:
backing up my hard drive alone would cost $150. I'm still using my dad's laptop. So I'm thinking, would the smart thing to do to be just backup the hard drive for now? Or should I contact apple? what do I do?
Click to expand...

$150 to move your files? Jesus.
"It just works."

Sorry :( See if you can find a local computer shop that is Apple-authorized; should save you a bit of money, and you'll be supporting local businesses. Hope it works out.
 
M

mcfrank

Member
MGrant said:
$150 to move your files? Jesus.
"It just works."

Sorry :( See if you can find a local computer shop that is Apple-authorized; should save you a bit of money, and you'll be supporting local businesses. Hope it works out.
Click to expand...

It's a 6 year old hard drive. Failure is normal. I don't think this warrants mocking "it just works"
 
T

The Artisan

Member
KingHenrik30 said:
Take it to the fucking genius bar????
Click to expand...
I don't have one in my hometown.
xxracerxx said:
Talk it to an Apple Store.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but should I back it up at best buy first?
Newt said:
I think you're done op. Maybe just look up good deals for 2010 airs on Ebay.
Click to expand...
...done with what? there's no salvaging this laptop?
mcfrank said:
Do you have an Apple Store in driving distance? If so, I would strongly suggest going there rather than best buy. No intention to "rub it in" but I hope people take this as a lesson to always back up their files. Hard drives file. Use time machine or back blaze or crash plan. There are so many easy ways to keep a back up.
Click to expand...
I don't. However, if they can help me get it back into shape then I will. Best buy will back it up for $150 with an ext hard drive included, should I do that first?
Norante said:
Hard drive is probably toast, with a SMART error - or worse.

You can try a number of things:

1 - Use another Mac to connect using the Target Disk mode. If this works, you can try to copy over some of your data.

2 - You can try to boot using either the Recovery Partition or a USB bootable OS installer, which will give you access to Disk Utility. You could then try to copy/image/diagnose the problem.

3 - Pop the laptop open, connect the hard drive to another Mac, try to save some data.

4 - Find a japanese girl, convince her to get into a relationship with you. After you have her trust and love, find a side girl, and let the japanese one find out about the affair. It will result in the end of your Macbook problems.
Click to expand...
lol wat @#4.

There isn't another mac around me at all. Not one that I can use anyway. I think my best bet would be to take it to apple or talk to apple but I'm wondering if I should back it up before anything.

MGrant said:
$150 to move your files? Jesus.
"It just works."

Sorry :( See if you can find a local computer shop that is Apple-authorized; should save you a bit of money, and you'll be supporting local businesses. Hope it works out.
Click to expand...
computer shop that is apple authorized? how would I go about finding that? Not asking you to do my work for me, just asking how exactly I would do it.

The $150 would also include a 500GB ext hard drive, though. so there's that.

mcfrank said:
It's a 6 year old hard drive. Failure is normal. I don't think this warrants mocking "it just works"
Click to expand...
yep, this is a 2009 model. what should I do guys?
 
J

jstripes

Banned
It's the hard drive. I can virtually guarantee that.

I had the exact same symptoms as you. But I had a backup. (Although it was 3 months old.

What you need to do:

Buy a new HDD. Or an SSD, depending on how much storage space you need. It's VERY easy to install.

Buy something like this. Once you get OS X up and running on your Mac, you can plug-in your old HDD and pray to the spinning disk gods that it works for just enough time to get that data you need off of it.

Then, buy an external drive, and use Time Machine from now on.
 
D

Dabanton

Member
I have a 2009 macbook. Your HD is probably toast unfortunately.

When mine died it was just over warranty but the guy at the apple store said they'd fix it for free because I asked nicely.

That fixed that HD but it died again last year. What I did was use my other mac as a drive and reinstalled the OS and that got it working again. But I then went and brought a new HD to put in my machine.

Can never stress this enough buy a standalone HD for your machine backups. It will save you heartache when your machine inevitably messes up. When it happened the first time I had to buy a HD program to deep search and piece files together which took all night and even then it didn't find everything.

Try and set aside a day each week for your mac to back up to time machine.
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
mcfrank said:
Ssds weren't an option on the 2009 MacBooks and he doesn't seem like the type to do the mod himself.
Click to expand...
This is only a problem with third party SSD upgrades as Apple restricts the use of Trim for them by default. With Yosemite they introduced some driver security that can mess up your boot if you clear PRAM. I looked back up and he claims to be using Maverics though.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
cyberheater said:
What do you mean you do not have a backup?
Click to expand...
I mean I do not own an ext hard drive with all my files on it.
Sch1sm said:
I think he means he doesn't have a back up.




ALWAYS KEEP A CARBON COPY, OP.
Click to expand...
carbon copy?

jstripes said:
It's the hard drive. I can virtually guarantee that.

I had the exact same symptoms as you. But I had a backup. (Although it was 3 months old.

What you need to do:

Buy a new HDD. Or an SSD, depending on how much storage space you need. It's VERY easy to install.

Buy something like this. Once you get OS X up and running on your Mac, you can plug-in your old HDD and pray to the spinning disk gods that it works for just enough time to get that data you need off of it.

Then, buy an external drive, and use Time Machine from now on.
Click to expand...
How am I supposed to install it when my laptop is not booting up properly? I believe you that this is most likely a hard drive problem, but I really don't see how there is anything I can do on my own to fix this problem at the moment.

jstripes said:
Also, if you're going to install a new HDD/SSD yourself, you're going to need to make a USB stick with the OS X installer on it. If you have access to another Mac, it's extremely simple.

http://liondiskmaker.com/
Click to expand...
wait, is the suggestion to unscrew the HD from inside the macbook and to simply take it out & replace it with a new one?

I suppose I could do that, but keep in mind I do not have access to another mac right now. Does this mean I can't go with this current plan?
Dabanton said:
I have a 2009 macbook. Your HD is probably toast unfortunately.

When mine died it was just over warranty but the guy at the apple store said they'd fix it for free because I asked nicely.

That fixed that HD but it died again last year. What I did was use my other mac as a drive and reinstalled the OS and that got it working again. But I then went and brought a new HD to put in my machine.

Can never stress this enough buy a standalone HD for your machine backups. It will save you heartache when your machine inevitably messes up. When it happened the first time I had to buy a HD program to deep search and piece files together which took all night and even then it didn't find everything.

Try and set aside a day each week for your mac to back up to time machine.
Click to expand...
OK, by standalone model do you guys mean external hard drives? And you say that apple fixed your problem for free, do you mean it was back to working order with all the files still intact?

I suppose that would be the best thing for me to do then, but that would mean having to travel to the apple store and I'm willing to do that as long as it is worth it.
mcfrank said:
Ssds weren't an option on the 2009 MacBooks and he doesn't seem like the type to do the mod himself.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm really not. Not that I'm too lazy to do it myself, but I'm not so familiar with such things and risk ruining the problem more than remedying it.
Theonik said:
Just to make sure. You weren't using an SSD in there with some third party Trim were you OP?
Click to expand...
No, no 3rd party stuff on there. And I know I'm gonna sound stupid for asking this... what does SSD even stand for?
M3d10n said:
Start saving for the trip to the Apple Care Center.
Click to expand...
OK, but should I have it backed up before I go over?

Thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate it and this is important to me.
 
D

Dreams-Visions

Member
Yea that's the HDD. It gave you faithful service for 6 years bro. Time to replace it.

You can probably get most if not all of your files off of it if you grab some recovery software and stick it in an external enclosure.

My little bro recently replaced his 2009 MBP that was giving him some issues of some kind as well. IMO, if a laptop gives you 6 going on 7 years of daily service, consider yourself fortunate and thank it for its support.

You should back it up before you take it in. Or take care of it yourself by buying a new HDD, installing OSX fresh on it, putting the old HDD in an enclosure and copying what you can off of it.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
Dreams-Visions said:
Yea that's the HDD. It gave you faithful service for 6 years bro. Time to replace it.

You can probably get most if not all of your files off of it if you grab some recovery software and stick it in an external enclosure.

My little bro recently replaced his 2009 MBP that was giving him some issues of some kind as well. IMO, if a laptop gives you 6 going on 7 years of daily service, consider yourself fortunate and thank it for its support.

You should back it up before you take it in. Or take care of it yourself by buying a new HDD, installing OSX fresh on it, putting the old HDD in an enclosure and copying what you can off of it.
Click to expand...
I'm not disputing whether it is a hard drive issue. How exactly though am I supposed to do a recovery myself if I cannot access it?

again, best buy says they'll back it up for me including an external hard drive for $150. is that a ripoff? I certainly don't know how I could do this on my own. Buying any new HDD can work on a 2009 mbp? and then I can extract files off of it later?

Always-honest said:
That's bad news. Hopefully they can save some of your stuff on the HDD. They could in my case.
It's dead bro.
Click to expand...
I know it's dead man, but I am trying to figure out how to handle this situation properly.

But I am not so savvy with laptop stuff.
 
B

BKatastrophe

Member
Looks like you need either a HDD replacement or a SATA cable failure. I've had both happen to me (the second one I thought was another hard drive failure and replaced it with another SSD).
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I hate to type the same old thing I do every time a thread like this comes up but I'll make it quick.

Hard drives cost nothing these days.

A copy of Carbon Copy Cloner is cheap compared to losing everything.

Hell, if you don't want to pay for backup software, there's free methods out there.

Always backup your stuff.

You could even just get DropBox and their $10 plan and just store all your important stuff with them. It'd still be safer than risking that you'll have a HDD that couldn't possibly ever fail.

Because they do fail. A lot. Fortunately they're cheap as dirt now.

6 years for a hard drive is pretty darn good. But you should never assume it'll last forever. Backup backup backup.

If you have to, buy an external laptop hard drive case and take the drive out of the computer and plug it into another one and save what you can while you can. That is if you can't get it to boot up right now.

You could find a company that sells a laptop drive replacement with a case for the old drive and try replacing it yourself and see if you can salvage anything. The hard part will be getting the OS onto it without the recovery partition. You might have better luck at an Apple Store. See what they charge to replace the drive and see if they can help save the old one at least to try and mount it.

Worse comes to worse, you lost everything and learned a lesson. A harsh lesson that I myself learned numerous times before I finally went to the store and bought a drive. (Which I promptly took home, backed up my stuff and literally had the old drive die immediately after.)
 
J

jstripes

Banned
The Artisan said:
wait, is the suggestion to unscrew the HD from inside the macbook and to simply take it out & replace it with a new one?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Replacing the HDD in a unibody MacBook Pro is literally one of the easiest computer repairs you can do.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2009+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1337

92Z9No9.jpg


The reason your computer isn't booting up is because it can't load the OS, which is on the HDD.

Anyway, there's probably a way to make a bootable OS X USB drive from Windows. I'll try to find a way for you.

The Real Abed said:
A copy of Carbon Copy Cloner is cheap compared to losing everything.
Click to expand...

Or just use TimeMachine, which is built into the OS, is brain-dead simple, and runs automatically.
 
T

The Artisan

Member
BKatastrophe said:
Looks like you need either a HDD replacement or a SATA cable failure. I've had both happen to me (the second one I thought was another hard drive failure and replaced it with another SSD).
Click to expand...
the general consensus seems to be that this is a HDD failure. so if that is indeed the case, would putting a new hard drive in the macbook be the cheapest way to fix this problem?

and once I get the original hard drive out, how do I back it up if at all?
The Real Abed said:
I hate to type the same old thing I do every time a thread like this comes up but I'll make it quick.

Hard drives cost nothing these days.

A copy of Carbon Copy Cloner is cheap compared to losing everything.

Hell, if you don't want to pay for backup software, there's free methods out there.

Always backup your stuff.

You could even just get DropBox and their $10 plan and just store all your important stuff with them. It'd still be safer than risking that you'll have a HDD that couldn't possibly ever fail.

Because they do fail. A lot. Fortunately they're cheap as dirt now.

6 years for a hard drive is pretty darn good. But you should never assume it'll last forever. Backup backup backup.

If you have to, buy an external laptop hard drive case and take the drive out of the computer and plug it into another one and save what you can while you can. That is if you can't get it to boot up right now.

You could find a company that sells a laptop drive replacement with a case for the old drive and try replacing it yourself and see if you can salvage anything. The hard part will be getting the OS onto it without the recovery partition. You might have better luck at an Apple Store. See what they charge to replace the drive and see if they can help save the old one at least to try and mount it.

Worse comes to worse, you lost everything and learned a lesson. A harsh lesson that I myself learned numerous times before I finally went to the store and bought a drive. (Which I promptly took home, backed up my stuff and literally had the old drive die immediately after.)
Click to expand...
OK, so what I want to do now is take the hard drive out and put a proper new one in, and my laptop is functional again? I don't have another macbook to plug this hard drive into. So would it be prudent to first go to best buy and have it backed up there?

jstripes said:
Yes.

Replacing the HDD in a unibody MacBook Pro is literally one of the easiest computer repairs you can do.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2009+Hard+Drive+Replacement/1337

92Z9No9.jpg


The reason your computer isn't booting up is because it can't load the OS, which is on the HDD.

Anyway, there's probably a way to make a bootable OS X USB drive from Windows. I'll try to find a way for you.



Or just use TimeMachine, which is built into the OS, is brain-dead simple, and runs automatically.
Click to expand...
Honestly, although I've been a macbook user for the past 6 years, I don't even really know what time machine is. there's 2 things I want: to have my files backed up, and to have a new hard drive. if a new hard drive is cheap, I can do that myself, I just need to know the right one to put in my macbook. as for the other, is there a way to back up the shit on the original hard drive after I take it out, or is that something I should take up with best buy?
 
N

Ninja Dom

Member
The Real Abed, do you know where OS X stores it's iMessages conversations??

I use iMessage religiously on my iOS devices and Mac, all in sync. And I'd love to be able to back up my iMessage conversations.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

How do people live in Mexico?
2 3
100
5K
TheDreadLord replied
Can I keep running Windows 11 in parallels 19 after the trial ends?
4
847
ReBurn replied
My car was just totalled. What do?
33
2K
SoloCamo replied
Thinking of traveling to Japan by myself. Need advice
39
2K
Billbofet replied
How do I deal with PTSD?
23
1K
Leopold replied
Top Bottom