Friend's Dead Mac - How Can I Help?

[JamieP]

My friend's Macbook Pro won't boot. It just goes to a blue screen and nothing else.

Now in PC land I would try using a Live CD, or create a bootable USB key to try and diagnose the problem, is the hard drive readable etc?

Is there a quick and easy way for me to create a diagnostic CD/ USB key from Windows (Seven)

Google shows a multitude of possibilities but all required a second Mac which we don't have easy access to.

Thanks,

Jamie

[Jimi007]

If you have a copy of the OS on another drive or even on a DVD it should be able to boot off that, unless the logic board is bad... I'm not sure if you can create a bootable USB key or DVD on a Windows machine though. I know I can on a Mac.

[JamieP]

Thanks,

He's going to look to see if he can find an install disk.

Is it possible to do a repair or other non-destructive re-install? He has some important data on the machine.

Again in PC land I'd put the hard drive in a caddy but I'm not sure I want to start stripping his machine.

(Unfortunately while I know my way around PCs, I'm clueless about Mac.)

Edited March 14, 2013 by JamieP

[watcharacters]

I've never seen the windows "blue fatal error" on a Mac. Are you sure he has a Mac?

[rogerdee123]

If you have another Mac handy connect the two of them via firewire and start-up your broken Mac in "target" mode.

The HD on your broken Mac will show up as an external hard disk on the screen of the mother Mac.

If you've done this correctly and if the hard disk doesn't show up on the screen, the hard disk probably has an unrepairable problem and you need to replace it.

If the hard disk does show up on the screen as an external hard disk, you can then go thru the files and save what you need .... also try running a disk utility program on it and possibly fix it.

[GooEng]

i had a similar problem myself on my late model MPB - their HD's are apparently a known for failing.

(threads on this forum)

i couldn't make it work - even tried installing a new HD meself - in the end sent it to apple via one of the bkk authorised sellers and they replaced it. is he somewhere he can take it to an authorised re-seller? is it under warranty?

[nikster]

Under warranty -> Give to authorized reseller for repairs

Also you can try to boot with the rescue partition, recovery mode. Restart and hold down CMD-R

See here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Older versions of OS X and older Macs need a boot disk, insert and start with CMD-C to start from CD.

Once you're in recovery mode, select Disk Utility from the tools and run disk first aid and restore permissions.

And no you can't create an OS X boot disk from Windows. You need an OS X installer, then you can create a OS X install disk, and OS X install USB stick, or just install OS X on an external HDD, boot from that and diagnose the HDD from there.

Edited March 14, 2013 by nikster

[nikster]

Thanks,

He's going to look to see if he can find an install disk.

Is it possible to do a repair or other non-destructive re-install? He has some important data on the machine.

Again in PC land I'd put the hard drive in a caddy but I'm not sure I want to start stripping his machine.

(Unfortunately while I know my way around PCs, I'm clueless about Mac.)

The first thing you should do if you get the HDD back into working condition is make a backup, or at least copy out the files.

Disk first aid is non destructive, but it won't help if the disk has physical damage.

[JamieP]

I've never seen the windows "blue fatal error" on a Mac. Are you sure he has a Mac?

Yes. it's a MAC. To be more specific, the initial Apple logo appears at start up then it goes to a light blue background with a mouse pointer and hangs.

If you have another Mac handy connect the two of them via firewire and start-up your broken Mac in "target" mode.

Unfortunately neither of us know anyone else with a Mac.

i had a similar problem myself on my late model MPB - their HD's are apparently a known for failing.

(threads on this forum)

i couldn't make it work - even tried installing a new HD meself - in the end sent it to apple via one of the bkk authorised sellers and they replaced it. is he somewhere he can take it to an authorised re-seller? is it under warranty?

We're in Khon Kaen and the machine is well out of warranty. He also has an issue with the battery and a couple of other minor problems. If there is a problem with the HDD the repairs probably won't be economical. My gut instinct is that the HDD is gone but don't know how to prove it.

Under warranty -> Give to authorized reseller for repairs

Also you can try to boot with the rescue partition, recovery mode. Restart and hold down CMD-R

See here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Older versions of OS X and older Macs need a boot disk, insert and start with CMD-C to start from CD.

Once you're in recovery mode, select Disk Utility from the tools and run disk first aid and restore permissions.

And no you can't create an OS X boot disk from Windows. You need an OS X installer, then you can create a OS X install disk, and OS X install USB stick, or just install OS X on an external HDD, boot from that and diagnose the HDD from there.

We've looked around the web for various key combinations at start up,none of which proved very successful. The only one the worked (I think command and C?) was to show the available bootable devices. This at least appeared to show the HDD was being recognized. Do you know of any available CD images that I could download and burn to diagnose anything?

Anyway, thanks for all the input. It looks like we (or he ) may be screwed for now. He's going to take it to the local I-Studio and see what they say.

[nikster]

CMD-Option is the key to hold at startup to see all bootable partitions. So I guess you don't have a recovery CD or partition, in which case the iStudio is your only legal option.

You can boot from any OS X installer CD, just don't download the ISO off some torrents site 'cause that would be illegal.

Seriously though the iStudio would be the better option anyway, nothing to download or burn, they have installer CDs there and can do this for you

Edited March 17, 2013 by nikster

[JamieP]

Thanks nikster and everyone else.

I don't think I can do anything with the resources available to me,

So, I think I'm going to officially retire from my brief sojourn into Mac support.