Posting this from a rented iPhone...my MacBook froze a couple of hours ago, so I pressed the power button for a long time,waited a bit, turned it on again and the startup screen appeared...but from there, nothing happens. Tried again and the startup screen has been on for like 20 minutes...nothing. Hard drive failure? Any advice? I'm not sure, but my warranty might actually have expired yesterday...as if they had built in a timer. Plus, I'm in Korea right now, so probably not easy to quickly get a replacement.
A broken MacBook? Impossible! In all seriousness, what you're describing to me does seem like a hard drive failure. Speaking from experience (I don't have a MacBook), I used to have a similar issue not too long ago particularly when starting my laptop as it would not start properly and turns out there was something wrong with my hard drive. Luckily, I was able to get it fixed by sending it in with a warranty but I see that such a solution is not possible for you . Sorry to hear that your warranty expired (at the worst possible time), I hope everything works out well for you.
Are you on the screen with the logo and the little black loading circle is spinning under it? If so, that is more than likely a hard drive failure.
With a Mac, if everything else is working and just your hard drive is bad eventually your spinning load up circle should turn into a box with a question mark inside of it smack dab in the middle of the screen. This is its way of saying it can't find the OS. If it's just spinning and spinning then you may actually have a bigger problem on your hands. Sorry, dude. I'm not trying to be negative.
www.mac-forums.com probably best place to look for answers. I would say do a reinstall of the OS if you don't have any important info you might lose on there.
Thank you guys for the kind replies. Using a computer in the hotel lounge now. Yes, it kept spinning and spinning for two hours, I think the hard drive is dead. The good news is that I still have warranty on it. Does anyone have experience with how this works under this Apple Care plan or whatever it is called, I guess I have to send in the computer and wait however long it takes them to get it fixed? I do not get a replacement in the meantime? When I bought the computer, I also bought this time capsule thingy and I think until July 23 or so (when I left home), everything should be backed up and whatever important data I had afterwards, I probably mailed to someone or it was mailed to me, so I am not too worried about data loss. But how does it work with this time capsule...if I get a new hard drive and when I finally get home (which will not be before Sep. 10 or so), can I just "pull the last backup" and my machine looks like it did on July 23 (with all programs installed and stuff)? Thanks again for your advice.
If your warranty is good, then take it to an Apple Store and they'll fix it. Bang, done, end of story.
Really? I don't have any documents with me, but I think they can check it by looking at the machine no.?
Yes, the serial number. If you don't have an Apple store near you, they will actually send you a box so you can put your laptop in it and ship it to them free of charge, of course. To check serial number, click on the Apple logo (top left of menu bar), hit About This Mac, and under where it says MAC OS X, in gray it should say Version 10.x.x, click that twice and it should show serial number.
In your machines current state, it doesn't sound like you'll be able to pull up your serial number using this method. You can also find it on the original box and on your receipt. I know you don't have these with you, but maybe someone back home can check for you and send you the number. Yes, when you get your new computer, you can use your last time capsule backup to set it up. If I remember right, you will be prompted when you launch about what type of setup you want. Actually, if I were you, I would just call 1800Myapple before booting up the new machine. Tell them you want to setup using your time capsule and they will talk you through it.
the serial is underneath your battery. They can just take it out and look, so no worries. If you're under warranty, it's the most easiest process ever to get it fix.
"They just work." I don't know anything about MacBooks, but usually if a computer doesn't boot, one of the components went bad. It could be the motherboard, memory, hard drive... probably not the CPU or graphics card since you get something displayed, though. Either way, it looks like there's probably nothing you can do yourself.
uhhh on my MBP the serial number is on the bottom side of the notebook. I'm pretty sure it's like that for every macbook model
Mine too, just checked. question: if i just get a 17 inch macbook now, could i pull my previous programs etc. from the time capsule onto that as well?
