Messed up my Macbook real well: HELP!

Hey Ashtray

Hey guys, I made a big mistake while trying to get Bootcamp to work. Long story short, it didn't really create a partition like it said it would and I ended up installing windows on the main drive. And then, once it was installed through the blue screen, it would restart and go through the whole process again. So, in my cleverness I formatted what I thought was the partition, but then quickly realized that it was the whole shootin match because when I start it up I just get a folder with a question mark.

So I pop in the OSX disk, and no it boots up, white screen, shows the apple logo, and then restarts, and has been doing this for quite a while. What do I have to do to reinstall OSX and just back on the go? Any help is appreciated, thanks. Also, assume I don't really know anything about macs (because apparently I don't...)

blakfeld

Hmm... You may want to Dban the drive first. wipe the fucker clean. Also, I ahve a macbook, but I dont know if it defaults to booting to the CD-Rom drive, so thats a google search worth doing.

Hey Ashtray

Hey, I don't even know how to do that. I mean, if I don't have a CD in, it just goes white screen, then folder with ? mark blinking. If the disk is in, it goes white screen, then apple logo, then restart.

Virum

Pretty sure you have to hold down the C key as it boots.

Hey Ashtray

Tried holding down C, no change. Just goes to the blinking question-mark folder.

Virum

So if you boot it with the CD in, it doesn't restart anymore, but goes to the blinking question mark folder now?

supabeast

If you can’t manage to boot from the CD you’ll probably need to enter the boot ROM command line to figure out what’s going on. Resetting the PRAM might help if this is a config issue. If you have any Solaris admin friends they might be able to help.

blakfeld

Hold the option key when you turn on your computer, that seems to be the answer

Wulf

Yeah, Blakfeld is right. That will force it to let you choose what to boot off of. Just make sure to have the CD handy when you do this, so you can select it as an option.

Hey Ashtray

Hey, update here. So I can get into the Mac OSX installing screen, pick english, it looks like it's going to prepare to do it, then says Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. So I go to disk utility, erase the Harddrive, reboot thinking that it just need to be formatted in Mac format, rather than microsoft's format, and hope for the best. Same thing happens, Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer.

The only thing I can think of is that these are no MY Mac OS X disks, I'm home for Christmas break and I've left mine at school. These are my friend's, he bought his macbook in January of this year, and I see no reason they shouldn't work.

ANYWAY, I even called Apple support, and he told me to format the drives and everything would be fine, and of course I didn't actually check while he was on the phone, and now it's not working. Any help would be great, I have no idea why it won't install.

Hey Ashtray

Well, it turns out OS X install disks are hardware specific. I'm not sure if that's a brilliant idea or just really super annoying. Guess I have to wait till I get back to school. Anyway, for anyone else using Boot Camp, make sure you can actually SEE the partitions when installing windows. And check the size to make sure it is the actual part of the harddrive you meant to install it on.

Thanks for the help in this thread, it can go away.

FF

Ah yes, the disks that come with the computer are usually hardware specific (Since they're restore disks not full retail OS X disks)

See if you can find someone with a retail version of the Install Disks. Barring that, you'll probably be waiting till you get back to school. Sometimes, depending on the Apple Store you go to someone there might let you borrow an install disk if it's a newer Mac. 'Course that all depends on if you're near an Apple Store.

Lewisham

Hey Ashtray wrote: »

Well, it turns out OS X install disks are hardware specific. I'm not sure if that's a brilliant idea or just really super annoying.

The idea is to stop you using your disks to install a new version of Mac OS X on other machines you may own.

I think it's complete bullshit. Apple is, and always has been, a hardware business, and if you're already one of the precious few that owns more than one Mac, then you deserve a little bit of free software.

Hey Ashtray

So they're restore disks. Even though my harddrive is now completely empty, my OWN disks should install the full OS X, correct? There's no reason why, when I get them, things won't work?

FF

Hey Ashtray wrote: »

So they're restore disks. Even though my harddrive is now completely empty, my OWN disks should install the full OS X, correct? There's no reason why, when I get them, things won't work?

Correct. They have all that is necessary to bring your MacBook back to factory defaults. Depending on when you bought your MacBook you may have to do a bunch of software updates as your restore disks might only be version 10.5 or lower of the OS.

blakfeld

Lewisham wrote: »

Hey Ashtray wrote: »

Well, it turns out OS X install disks are hardware specific. I'm not sure if that's a brilliant idea or just really super annoying.

The idea is to stop you using your disks to install a new version of Mac OS X on other machines you may own.

I think it's complete bullshit. Apple is, and always has been, a hardware business, and if you're already one of the precious few that owns more than one Mac, then you deserve a little bit of free software.

PCs do that too. You can sometimes trick it, but I know HP is a bitch about it. When you boot to it it actually informs you "Disk not compatible with this machine". Fuckers. And fun side note, as a computer tech, I'm not allowed to order them for you by law. Crazy.

gredavin

Also, flashing question mark on bootup generally means you need a harddrive replacement around 90% of the time.

Hey Ashtray

No, it's ok. It only flashed the question mark on the folder when there was no CD in the drive. When the restore disks are in, it goes through expected process.

proXimity

gredavin wrote: »

Also, flashing question mark on bootup generally means you need a harddrive replacement around 90% of the time.

It just means the system files are corrupt/missing

Gafoto

proXimity wrote: »

gredavin wrote: »

Also, flashing question mark on bootup generally means you need a harddrive replacement around 90% of the time.

It just means the system files are corrupt/missing

Everytime I've had a harddrive failure on my macbooks/ibooks it's given me a flashing question mark over a little hardrive icon. Not saying that is the problem here though.

capnrico

Flashing question mark when you would expect everything to be working normally is something to be concerned about. Flashing question mark when you've inadvertently formatted your drive is to be expected

FF

The flashing question mark is meant to be a visual representation indicating that the boot loader cannot find a valid startup volume. So, it'll show up for a bunch of different reasons.

Bad/clicking HD? Flashing question mark.
Erased disk/volume? Flashing question mark.
No HD? (or other startup volume such as a netboot volume) Flashing question mark.
Startup disk set to a disk that is no longer available? Flashing question mark.*

*In that particular case you'd probably see the flashing question mark briefly before the boot loader found a valid startup volume.

Hey Ashtray

Yeah, in this case it's more of a 'What the hell did you do, where are my folders' kind of symbol.