MAC OSX - White screen of death? Options

[sixfive]

So I got, what I think is hardware failure. Went to the gym, came home, computer had frozen about an hour before I came back. Held the button to shut it down, hit the button to load and went to make dinner. Came back to a white screen with a blinking folder w/ a question mark. Any OSX pros? Holding option, C, etc doesn't seem to do anything when I load it back up.

[fameONE]

Yikes. I was actually just about to post a topic about a Mac problem. It seems that the Mac Book I share with a friend of mine has been infected with Malware. Do you have any Windows programs on your computer?

[sixfive]

Nah, nothing crazy done to it either. It might have been that I was running a heavy load, but that shouldn't have really done anything. It was running fine for hours after I closed all the programs. At the time it froze, I just had itunes, firefox, and my aim client open.

[fameONE]

Nah, nothing crazy done to it either. It might have been that I was running a heavy load, but that shouldn't have really done anything. It was running fine for hours after I closed all the programs. At the time it froze, I just had itunes, firefox, and my aim client open.

Did it overheat?

Obviously it's not the screen if you actually had some sort of image on it.

Are you confident enough in your comp skills to remove the harddrive and inspect it?

[sixfive]

I am, but what I worry about is if that would void the warranty. I have a warranty on this, but I really, really don't want to deal with tech support. They treat me like I'm computer illiterate.

Also, no overheating. Everything was running like normal. Fortunately if I have to replace, I only lost about two gigs of music that I can re-download.

[manic]

This has happened TWICE to me. The first time the hd had to be reinstalled, and then something similar happened again. I found out that the hard drive had to be replaced with a new one.

[fameONE]

Your harddrive is probably fried. When did you get your Macbook? last quarter of 2007 and first quarter of 2008 releases had some serious hardware problems.

[sdgdfgdfgdfgdfg]

So I got, what I think is hardware failure. Went to the gym, came home, computer had frozen about an hour before I came back. Held the button to shut it down, hit the button to load and went to make dinner. Came back to a white screen with a blinking folder w/ a question mark. Any OSX pros? Holding option, C, etc doesn't seem to do anything when I load it back up.

The question mark means it cant find an OS to boot into. Seams like a bad drive to me too, but try booting into the installation CD and go to 'Disk Utility'. If you can see the drive on there it could just be an os problem where you have to reinstall.

[mipadi]

Probably not a hard drive failure (could be, but probably not). Your operating system can't be loaded. Might mean your file system is hosed. Boot up from your install CD, and go to File > Disk Utility (or something like that, I think it's in the File menu) and run the diagnostic tools.

[sixfive]

Booting from the CD on a mac, do I just put the CD in and hold the 'C' key while I power on? I was reading the apple discussion boards and that seemed to be a popular response. Some also said to hold the option key when booting up. I've tried both, but neither with the OS cd in. My friend brought it up, but he's in class right now so I'm just waiting on him to get out.

[sixfive]

Alright so I put in the OSX cd and it loaded up the installer screen. When I went to disc utility, it's not recognizing a hard drive :( Meh

[sixfive]

So it is harddrive failure :] I went to the mac store or w/e, and they took a look at it. I have to commend their customer support. They said max two day turnaround for repairs and completely free.

[sixfive]

And I got it back.

[fameONE]

^time to start backing everything up with an external hd

[sixfive]

Yup, already did that. Have a 450gb external set to auto backup until it runs out of memory.

[fameONE]

Yup, already did that. Have a 450gb external set to auto backup until it runs out of memory.

I feel you on that one.

I'm still dealing my little Mac issue. When exactly did you get your computer?

[sixfive]

One year minus one day from when I got the problem :D The day I took it in was the last day for their warranty. I bought an extended one, but I didn't have the paperwork or receipt on me, and I'd have had to go home. Instead I just went to the most convenient apple store. I don't suppose they have those in Baghdad.

[fameONE]

One year minus one day from when I got the problem :D The day I took it in was the last day for their warranty. I bought an extended one, but I didn't have the paperwork or receipt on me, and I'd have had to go home. Instead I just went to the most convenient apple store. I don't suppose they have those in Baghdad.

That's about the timeframe when Apple started having issues with their Macbooks (batteries overheating, hard drive failures, startup malfunctions, etc). The issue has since been resolved with their new releases.

And no, there's no Apple store around here. There's a tiny little PX that's sold out of nearly everything, most of the time, so to get anything of importance, we suit up and go on a convoy.

[sixfive]

Ah well, hopefully I'll be set now. They replaced the harddrive, and I've not had any startup/battery issues. I purchased Leopard a few months ago using my school discount, only to realize that it's got no cd key and can just be passed around. To top things off, when I brought my computer in, they automatically assumed I was going to get Leopard, and they installed all the latest updates so I didn't have to go through any of that annoyance when I got it back.

[Melissa]

I have to commend their customer support.

lol, my friend's computer refused to start up and the apple store at 59th and 5th ave is open 24hrs, so we went around midnight. She accidentally set her appointment time for 12:40am on Wednesday instead of Sunday, but they were still able to see her and fix her macbook within the hour.

The Apple store is so fun :D