# Apple Macbook Won't Load Past Apple Screen!



## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Hello techguys. I'm facing a problem with my macbook 2010 edition. To be specific, it's Apple Macbook MC516LL/A. 

Everything was fine until two months ago; I downloaded an access program called citrix receiver and since then I had all sorts of problems. When trying to download this program, I learned that it was no longer supported by Mac, which should have probably raised a red flag but I continued to pursue it for the sake of accessing applications from an institution. About a week later, the screen didn't even want to load up. It was as if it was in sleep mode. I left the laptop on and I don't think it came on until I hard powered it on and saw that the battery was down to 0%. It gave me a message along the lines saying that windows had to restart because of a problem; I'm paraphrasing but it was close to that message. But since downloading it, I noticed that my desktop took quite some time to load (I think it loaded before any other applications) and programs like Firefox eventually became slow and started getting many errors. Firefox would freeze up and force me to force quit to get out of the program. It got so bad, I started using Safari. I don't know if it's a coincidence that firefox started to mess up around the time of the citrix receiver download or it it's related but I thought it would be worth giving out the info. Nonetheless, I still continued to deal with the issue and work around it. 

Now the issue begins-A few days ago when I charged up my laptop overnight, I cut it on, and nothing happened. It cut on and then went to black as if it never even cut on. I then hard powered it on again and the apple logo would only load up to a certain portion before I got a bunch of coding over it. I was hoping the problem would fix by itself but no. It's been about 3 days and still no sign of coming back. I'm pointing towards the citrix receiver as being the source of this issue. With that said, all I want to do is have the desktop miraculously launch successfully and then I will manage to take the program off my system, take off my important files and then do a clean install.

But I can't even get my desktop to launch. Like I said, my apple logo doesn't load all the way. It gets stuck at a certain point and just sits there until I power it down or hit buttons and then it gives me coding and restarts. In the beginning, it would get stuck and then eventually some of the coding with kernel messaging and threading would distort over the apple logo screen and would then restart giving me a message saying, "Your computer restarted because of a problem. Press a key or wait a few seconds to continue starting up." 

I've went into disk utility to try to repair permissions but nothing happens. I think it's a kernel(not sure) or maybe software issue, particularly the citrix software doing this.
I've tried to do the PRAM reset, took out my battery, and put it back in, and put it back out but no avail. I'm stuck now!


Please help me fix this problem. I feel I can solve this myself without taking it to apple. All I want is to remove the problem program first (if possible), or remove the important files I want somehow. Please help


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

This could be many things, but have you tried the following:
1) Can you start in Safe Mode (Holding shift key while booting)
2) Can you start in Recovery Mode or Internet Recover Mode without issues?
( https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201314 )

Do you have a external HD for testing/backup?


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Hi there headrush. 

I can't start in safe mode. Been trying it for days.

Recovery mode: This was the first time I tried command+R but I've accessed the same disk utility features using opt+command+p+r

Yes, I have an external HD; it's filled with items though.


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

RAIDSpay said:


> Recovery mode: This was the first time I tried command+R but I've accessed the same disk utility features using opt+command+p+r


We don't want to start in Recovery Mode to use Disk Utility.
By starting off Recovery Mode or even better Internet Recovery Mode, we can try to isolate the problem between a hardware issue or a problem with your System Drive.

You can install OS X onto your external HD without erasing everything.
(Make sure you do NOT select the format issue.)

If you can then boot from the external HD and trying recovery files from the internal HD after.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

OK I have a 2TB HD with like pics and so many files on this. So what you're saying is that I can somehow boot an operating system onto it without ruining anything that's on there by simply not selecting format? OK I'll trust your expertise on that one if that's correct.

But how do I go about doing this and then booting from HD? When I hit command+R, I get "Use English for the main language" and I hit continue and then I get four options, " Reinstall OS X," "Reinstall from Time Machine," "Disk Utility," and "Get Help Online." I'm assuming that I have to hit "reinstall OS X". But I think the original operating system was snow leopard but I upgraded to Yosemite. When I hit reinstall OS X, I see Yosemite, so I guess the internal system recognizes that the system uses yosemite?

So I'm guessing that all I do is plug in my external HD to the USB port, follow the prompt and then install the OS onto the HD without reformatting as you highlighted? Is that all I have to do? Is there not somewhere I have to check or uncheck to make sure it won't format the external HD? Because losing my files is the biggest fear and the risk in all of this. But I'm trusting you.

Also if all this goes through, then what? How does me putting a fresh OS onto an external HD help me go about grabbing files from an internal HD? You might want to go step by step. lol. I trust you but kind of nervous about this because I've never done it before. So bare with me. lol.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Hmm so today, I went ahead and tried to install the OS X on my 2TB external HD as Headrush suggested. So what I did was hit command+R, go to "reinstall OS X" and it took me to a screen that said, "OS X Yosemite" as the heading and underneathe that, it read, "To set up the installation of OS X 10.10, click Continue." I hit the "Continue" arrow at the bottom and got a prompt that said, "To download and restore OS X, your computer's eligibility will be verified with Apple." I hit continue and a few seconds later, I got a message saying, "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again." I've tried the same steps twice to running this application since then. So assuming that I took the correct steps to try to install the OSX on my external HD, what do I do now that I face this sudden roadblock?

Should I try to use my yosemite on a usb to install on my HD? I know if I hold OPT around the time I cut on the laptop I could go into the OS and perhaps install on the HD.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

OK. so I just put in my yosemite installer from a USB in my PC and also connected my external HD in a USB slot next to it. I attempted to make an install directly from the yosemite disk to the external HD but my external HD isn't even showing up as a directory option to install an OS on. Now, I've really hit a brick wall. What do I do now?


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Okay, so today I was just going to reboot the entire system with a clean install and ran into more issues. Seems like the issue is getting deeper and deeper the more I go in:

I put in my Yosemite USB installer and tried to install a clean copy of it via holding down the OPT key at startup and it gave me a message saying; "OS X could not be installed on your computer. Unable to umount volume for repair. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again." There was a restart button underneathe the message so I hit restart and naturally tried to try again and ran into the same error message.

I've went back to disk utility and when I click "Repair Disk", I get this message in red saying, "Error: Unable to unmount volume for repair." 

I need help. I've been searching all over for solutions but not sure. Is there anyone here that can help with this or have any idea what is happening?


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

1) Can you successfully boot from your USB Installer stick?
2) Is your external HD formatted HFS+ (The format OS X uses by default), or is it a different format because you share it with a Windows PC?

3) I don't know the complete specs of your MacBook, but acquiring and additional smaller USB stick or SD Card (8GB) to install a clean bootable system would be the best start.

If your internal HD is mechanically failing, you want to boot off something different and recover the files you need and not keep trying to run disk repair on it.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

1) USB installer disk meaning my Yosemite OS X that is on USB, then I guess the answer is yes. I put that USB disk into one of the ethernet ports, I hold option when cutting the computer on, and I can then choose to boot from the Yosemite OS X

2) I'm not sure of the format my external HD is in but I save files interchangeable with it on both Mac and PC.

3) I have an empty USB disk but how do I install a clean bootable disk on it. I already have about an 8gb USB disk with Yosemite and I can't seem to do anything with it booting from it. It won't let me clean install as I jotted down in this thread earlier. What do I need another USB disk with an OS for? An SD card on a Mac? Where the hell do you input an SD card on a mac laptop?

I don't even care about recovering the files anymore. The problem now is that I'm unable to "unmount volume for repair." When I try to repair disk or erase, that is the error message I get. I can't seem to do anything. The problem is unmount. How do I unmount so I can get to fixing the issue?


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

You have to be exact in your answers, remember we don't know all the details so we have to approach this systematically.



RAIDSpay said:


> 1) USB installer disk meaning my Yosemite OS X that is on USB, then I guess the answer is yes. I put that USB disk into one of the ethernet ports, I hold option when cutting the computer on, and I can then choose to boot from the Yosemite OS X


Just to be clear, this is a USB stick with the Yosemite Installer on it, not a install of OS X on a USB stick that has the Yosemite Installer? The difference being the first boots directly into the installer. The second one boots OS X, then you can run the installer? You are not plugging your USB stick into Ethernet?



RAIDSpay said:


> 2) I'm not sure of the format my external HD is in but I save files interchangeable with it on both Mac and PC.


If this is the case the format is in a format that OS X can not be installed onto, why you weren't given that option in the installer.



RAIDSpay said:


> 3) I have an empty USB disk but how do I install a clean bootable disk on it. I already have about an 8gb USB disk with Yosemite and I can't seem to do anything with it booting from it. It won't let me clean install as I jotted down in this thread earlier. What do I need another USB disk with an OS for? An SD card on a Mac? Where the hell do you input an SD card on a mac laptop?


You have an empty USB disk?
So far you said you had the internal HD, the USB stick with Yosemite on it and the external HD with files on it.
I can't can't help if the details keep changing, we need to be clean.
If you have an EMPTY USB disk, you can boot from he USB Installer stick, go to Disk Utility from the installer, format that USB disk and proceed to install a clean OS X, which you can boot from after.

(P.S. I said I don't know you exact specs, some Macs have SD card readers)



RAIDSpay said:


> I don't even care about recovering the files anymore. The problem now is that I'm unable to "unmount volume for repair." When I try to repair disk or erase, that is the error message I get. I can't seem to do anything. The problem is unmount. How do I unmount so I can get to fixing the issue?


The goal has changed again. The point of getting a clean install on another HD or USB stick was to help with recovering files. If the internal HD is mechanically failing, continuing using it (running Disk Utility) may cause more harm.

If don't care about the files on the internal HD, start the USB Installer, go to Disk Utility, and try to format the internal HD. Formatting can correct some issues. If that fails, the HD could be more severely damaged and your may need a new internal HD. There are other 3rd party repair applications, but walking you through using them on a forum would likely be too hard and they cost $$. A new HD might be just as cheap.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Headrush said:


> You have to be exact in your answers, remember we don't know all the details so we have to approach this systematically.


I'm trying to be in laymen's terms as possible. I'm trying to be as simplified as possible. Trust me.



Headrush said:


> Just to be clear, this is a USB stick with the Yosemite Installer on it, not a install of OS X on a USB stick that has the Yosemite Installer? The difference being the first boots directly into the installer. The second one boots OS X, then you can run the installer? You are not plugging your USB stick into Ethernet?


I don't know if you're asking me or telling me what it is but when I plug in my USB into 1 of the ethernet ports, I hold OPT. As I descrbed in post #3 when I tried to install Yosemite on my OS X, it boots directly into the installer screen. Right on the very page, I get a prompt about installation and I hit continue. It gives me a time for how long reinstallation may take, gives me a bar and then bam it goes away in like a second and then I got an error message saying: "OS X could not be installed on your computer. Unable to umount volume for repair." The point is that it boots right into an installation prompt where I choose to install OS X or not. Is this not were you were asking me about? Is it supposed to just automatically installl with no questions? I don't get it. Is this not right?



Headrush said:


> If this is the case the format is in a format that OS X can not be installed onto, why you weren't given that option in the installer.


What format does an external HD have to be in in order to format an OS X onto it? Mac OS X Journaled?



Headrush said:


> You have an empty USB disk?


The details are still the same. In post #9, you said something about acquiring an additional smaller USB stick. I responded back by saying that I have an extra empty USB stisk laying around. I don't know if there is anything else I can potentially do with it or if you have any ideas how an extra USB stick can help with the situation but I'm letting you know what I have to work with. You said it may be for the purpose of the clean install but like the conversation above, I think I have a USB stick with Yosemite that can do the job. I just don't want to waste my time creating something I already have. I could be wrong though and I may not have what you described in terms of the USB installer.



Headrush said:


> If you have an EMPTY USB disk, you can boot from he USB Installer stick, go to Disk Utility from the installer, format that USB disk and proceed to install a clean OS X, which you can boot from after.


I will go ahead and try this to see what happens.



Headrush said:


> The goal has changed again. The point of getting a clean install on another HD or USB stick was to help with recovering files. If the internal HD is mechanically failing, continuing using it (running Disk Utility) may cause more harm.


The goal is to get this thing running normally. If I can access some of my mp3 files, then great. But if not, no big deal.



Headrush said:


> If don't care about the files on the internal HD, start the USB Installer, go to Disk Utility, and try to format the internal HD. Formatting can correct some issues.


How do you format? Isn't erasing part formatting? I tried erasing, it didn't work



Headrush said:


> There are other 3rd party repair applications, but walking you through using them on a forum would likely be too hard and they cost $$. A new HD might be just as cheap.


Name the other 3rd party apps. I want to know as much info as I can and possibly know other routes I can take for future reference.


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Let me ask this; does the amount of memory on a USB stick matter to putting an OS X on there? I have a 1 gig USB disk that I formatted. I formatted it as Mac OS X Journaled and then erased it. But when I quit out and went to the installer page, it still did not recognize my newly formatted USB disk? The only thing it recognized was my hard drive and my Yosemite disk which was greyed out because it said there wasn't enough free space on there to install OS. But what's odd is that my newly formatted USB stick was plugged in to the ethernet port next to the Yosemite USB disk yet, it still wasn't being picked up by the system to do an OS install on. It was the same situation with my external HD not being picked up by the system. I don't get it.


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

RAIDSpay said:


> I'm trying to be in laymen's terms as possible. I'm trying to be as simplified as possible. Trust me.
> 
> I don't know if you're asking me or telling me what it is but when I plug in my USB into 1 of the ethernet ports, I hold OPT.


Sorry, it's confusing when you just call is "USB" and then you say you plug it into the ethernet port.
USB sticks go in the USB ports.



RAIDSpay said:


> As I descrbed in post #3 when I tried to install Yosemite on my OS X, it boots directly into the installer screen. Right on the very page, I get a prompt about installation and I hit continue. It gives me a time for how long reinstallation may take, gives me a bar and then bam it goes away in like a second and then I got an error message saying: "OS X could not be installed on your computer. Unable to umount volume for repair." The point is that it boots right into an installation prompt where I choose to install OS X or not. Is this not were you were asking me about? Is it supposed to just automatically installl with no questions? I don't get it. Is this not right?


The USB stick boots into the OS X installer, but it should not proceed until we tell it.
We know it can't unmount the internal HD, that is the issue we are trying to work around.



RAIDSpay said:


> What format does an external HD have to be in in order to format an OS X onto it? Mac OS X Journaled?


Yes, OS X has to be installed on on a disk with Mac OS X Journaled.
Your external HD won't work because it is a different format.
(It has to be if Windows can read it without extra software)



RAIDSpay said:


> The details are still the same. In post #9, you said something about acquiring an additional smaller USB stick. I responded back by saying that I have an extra empty USB stisk laying around. I don't know if there is anything else I can potentially do with it or if you have any ideas how an extra USB stick can help with the situation but I'm letting you know what I have to work with. You said it may be for the purpose of the clean install but like the conversation above, I think I have a USB stick with Yosemite that can do the job. I just don't want to waste my time creating something I already have. I could be wrong though and I may not have what you described in terms of the USB installer.


The original idea was to boot your USB stick with the OS X installer, and than install OS X onto the second USB stick. After that we could boot from the second USB stick, have a working OS X system, and we now could use the external HD you had to try to recover some files from the internal HD.
(We can use the external HD once OS X is booted, but we can't boot OS X from it)



RAIDSpay said:


> The goal is to get this thing running normally. If I can access some of my mp3 files, then great. But if not, no big deal.


You have to decide because the steps will be different. If you want to try to recover files, we have to use the second USB stick and install OS X on it. There is no guarantee we will recover any files though.



RAIDSpay said:


> How do you format? Isn't erasing part formatting? I tried erasing, it didn't work


From the OS X installer, you should be able to start Disk Utility from the menubar.
Erasing is NOT the same as formatting.
Formatting/Partitioning can fix some disk issues and also makes sure some other things are right.
The partition type needs to be GUID to boot OS X from. (That can be found in the Options button of Disk Utility when partitioning.)



RAIDSpay said:


> Name the other 3rd party apps. I want to know as much info as I can and possibly know other routes I can take for future reference.


Disk Warrior http://alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html
Data Rescue https://www.prosofteng.com/data-rescue-4/
Drive Genius https://www.prosofteng.com/drive-genius-4/


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## RAIDSpay (Jun 26, 2007)

Thanks Headrush. Finally was able to take it to the Apple store. The rep confirmed that the Hard Drive is indeed on it's way out. They were going to replace it and maybe send it out within days but I told them that I would do it myself. The guy recommended that if I upgrade myself that I should probably upgrade to SSD. He said all the latest macs use SSD and that the traditional HDs are out of style and used to die quite often which helped prompt Mac to change. I just want to ask you about Hybrid drives. I've seen Hybrid drives that are compatible with my system and much cheaper but I need an opinion. I know hybrid drives are basically a mix of the traditional hard drives and SSD's but do you recommend it?

You can check out the hybrid drives in case, you want to see it for yourself a little towards the bottom;
http://www.drivesolutions.com/cgi/s...items&kind=apl&pos=0&type=itemid&itemid=apl54


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## Headrush (Feb 9, 2005)

Hybrid drives still have spinning platters and can fail at the same rate as normal HDs.
I don't know your requirements, or what size your original HD is, but if it's possible, I would try to go with a pure SSD option. The difference on your system will be dramatic.

I use a Fusion Drive, which pairs a regular HD and an SSD, but that would not be an option on your notebook unless you wanted to replace the optical drive with a SSD and replace the normal HD also.

You can check macsales.com or amazon.com and gets some good deals on SSDs. <$200 for 500GB.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-I...UTF8&qid=1449229677&sr=1-1&keywords=500gb+ssd

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-BX200...UTF8&qid=1449229677&sr=1-4&keywords=500gb+ssd

Obviously a hybrid drive will be faster than just a normal HD, so if you had to I'd take that route.


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