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my mac book will not boot and is showing a blue screen after

 
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Customer Question

my mac book will not boot and is showing a blue screen after the initial start up noise, it also wont boot in safe mode

 

Optional Information:
Product: Macbook

Already Tried:
start in safe mode taken out all leads rebooted PRAM

Submitted: 338 days and 12 hours ago.
Category: Mac
Value: £21
Status: CLOSED
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Expert:  Mac Tech replied 338 days and 12 hours ago.

Hello and welcome to JustAnswer. I look forward to assisting you today with your question and providing the best answer possible.

Which model MacBook do you have and when did you purchase? If you can find the serial number, this would be very helpful.

Also, which version of OS X are you running on your MacBook?

Customer replied 338 days and 12 hours ago.

Hi i purchased it in 2010, i can't find a serial number on it, not sure what OS x version i am running.....not a techi :(

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Expert:  Mac Tech replied 338 days and 12 hours ago.

Thank you.

Try this first:

  1. Start from your Mac OS X Install disc: Insert the installation disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
  2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
    Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
  3. Click the First Aid tab.
  4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
  5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
  6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.

Once you're finished with the above, restart your Mac.

Please report back if you're still having trouble.

Thank you,

MT

Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!

Customer replied 338 days and 12 hours ago.

Hi MT

do i insert the disc while it is showing this blue screen? or try and insert the disk when it is off?

Customer replied 338 days and 11 hours ago.

Hi MT



Ok inserted the disk and pressed c it just continued with the blue screen

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Expert:  Mac Tech replied 338 days and 11 hours ago.

Power off the MacBook.

Power back on the MacBook while holding the "Option" key.

Select the installation disc option and continue with the previous instructions

Customer replied 338 days and 10 hours ago.

Hi MT

very excited as have managed to follow your instructions so far so good got to bit
'Select your Mac OS X volume'

am i to try the drive that has all my info on, not click on the MAC OS X install DVD which has also appeared in the lh column

Customer replied 338 days and 10 hours ago.

Hi MT

very excited as have managed to follow your instructions so far so good got to bit
'Select your Mac OS X volume'

am i to try the drive that has all my info on, not click on the MAC OS X install DVD which has also appeared in the lh column

....ok ....time has gone by so i repaired by drive it said that it was all ok, then i quit disk installer and restarted and just the damn blue screen came back after the chimes and the apple sign..... :(

scared i'm going to loose all my work

Customer replied 338 days and 10 hours ago.

Relist: Other.
no answer to my reply

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Expert:  iteachmac replied 338 days and 7 hours ago.

Hi , the Mac needs to be reinstalled , can you boot to DVD ok . ??

Do you have a OSX DVD installer ?

You need to use Archive and install with preserve user and network settings turned on .

We have options to fix the Mac HD keeping your settings and user account intact , and we shouldn't loose any DATA other than changes to the OS that can be updated using Software update as normal , documents will be preserved as the user account will be saved , although some applications may need to be reinstalled .

-

Using the Mac OSX install disk , we can use the Archive and install option keeping the User intact , If this fails we can try using a 10.6 leopard install we could try to update the OS or again Archive and install if possible , this will clear the whole OS for new as the 10.6 OSX is rewritten completely , we can keep the user settings and data as was before the crash of OSX . If using Lion please ask .

-

Procedure:

Please try to perform an Archive and install from the OSX install DVD Making sure you select :- "preserve user and network settings" before installing.

As follows :-

1 About Archive and Install:-

Available in Mac OS X 10.2 and later, an Archive and Install installation automatically moves existing system files to a folder named Previous System, then installs Mac OS X again.

You cannot start up your computer using a Previous System folder, nor can you "re-bless" the Previous System folder. We just delete the old system "Previous System" once were happy with our new install.

You can choose to preserve your user and network settings before installing.

This option automatically moves existing users, Home directories, and network settings. This also skips the Setup Assistant after installation.

Note: Because the "Preserve user and network settings" option moves, not copies, existing users, Home directories, and network settings, from the Previous Systems folder to the newly installed System, these items will not exist in the Previous Systems folder after the Archive and Install is complete. This is what we need to do as the previous system is broken in some way.


Lets start with the 10.5 OSX archive and install , we need to boot from the DVD holding the C key on start up using a USB keyboard.

1 Boot up in to the OSX 10.5 installer .

2 Before starting the installation, you may wish to use Disk Utility to verify and repair the volume, Select Disk Utilities from the Menu .
Choose to repair the Mac HD volume and then also repair disk permissions from within Disk utilities.

3 After using Disk Utilities , Choose Install Mac OSX or OSX Installer from the Menu.
to reopen the OSX 10.5 installer .

4 Select your language. The Welcome to the Mac OS X Installer window appears.

5 Click Continue.
The Important Information window appears.
After reading or printing the information, click Continue.
The Software License Agreement window appears.

6 After reading or printing the information, click Continue.
An agreement sheet appears. If you agree with the license agreement,
click Agree.

7 The Select a Destination window appears.
Click the HD volume that you wish to install to.
Choose your Mac HD boot volume that has stopped working correctly.

8 Click Options.
The installation options sheet appears.

9 Select Archive and Install.

10 Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed.
You should also select Preserve Users and Network Settings, to preserve network and Home directory settings.

11 Click OK.

12 Click Continue to begin the installation.

Wait for the installation to complete and restart the computer .
Hopefully the installer will complete successfully and your user and data are now active and as before the crash .

Restart and Login as your normal user and check your user is working correctly and your data is ok and intact .

Please let me know and if all is ok , we can clear the Time machine backup and Make a brand new backup of your system once this has been taken care of .

Update the system software using Software update , or preferably the OSX combo updater DMG downloaded from the Apple downloads section on apple.com .

Reinstall any applications that require a full install if they run in to problems testing , such as Photo shop or Final cut pro or Logic audio etc although they may still work ok , Most stand alone applications should still work fine as before in your applications folder , they may be in the old System folders Applications folder , move these to the new Applications folder if need be .

Once happy delete the old System folder . "Previous system folder ".

Please let me know once you have performed the "archive and install" using the Preserve Users and Network Settings , option checked on .
and we can work from there .

If you get stuck or are unsure , please ask .
Thanks .

Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!

Customer replied 338 days and 5 hours ago.

yikes!

Ok i have worked down your list ok so far up until point8



8 Click Options.
The installation options sheet appears.

there was not an 'options'

9 Select Archive and Install.

If i press install off it goes and i haven't done point 9 below the installation just begins, so i switched off the computer to stop it :(

10 Select the volume which already has Mac OS X installed.
You should also select Preserve Users and Network Settings, to preserve network and Home directory settings.

11 Click OK.

12 Click Continue to begin the installation.

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Expert:  iteachmac replied 338 days and 3 hours ago.

Hi , What version of the OSX install DVD do you have ?

try to find Select Archive and Install. , remember to select keep network and users intact .

If this is not an option do not install , you will need a second drive USB etc to make the install to . and fix the issue by ,

Install New working OS to USB drive or new fitted internal HD ,

Migrate user to new working OSX install on new drive , via from old drive to new drive , or place old drive in USB caddie , migration from old drive via usb to new internal install .

I can give fuller detail ,

Can you find Archive and install ? to avoid last option stated .

Remember, if for any reason you are unsatisfied with my answer, we can continue the conversation until you’re satisfied and Accept my answer. I can address follow up questions at no extra charge and I’m always here to help. Thank you for using JustAnswer!

 
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