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Hello
My MacBook freezes at startup login, i’ve tried many options that i saw in others posts but it still freezes in this panel with this symbol like traffic sign “closed to all vehicles” circle with a \.
Anyone have this problem and solved it?
Is this a good question?
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Here's a good reference on what the different startup screens mean: About the screens you see when your Mac starts up
As you can see the 'Prohibitory symbol' implies your startup volume does not have the correct OS on it. Its also possible the hard drive or the SATA cable are bad.
I would first recommend you make a good backup of anything important if you can get your system to start up one more time. If not, you'll need to find a friend with a Mac with which you can create a bootable OS installer drive or connect via Target Disk Mode do you can make the backup. Once you have a backup you should check the drive using Disk Utility (don't fix yet). Let us know what errors you got if any.
References:
Once you get your stuff copied off we do need to do some repairs before we re-format the drive.
I'm suspecting your root problem here is a bad HD SATA cable. This series (unibody) cable routes across the upper case which tends to abrade the cable causing it to breakdown and the bends fatigue. I would replace it following this guide: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2009 Hard Drive Cable Replacement and you want the newer version of the cable as it handles bends better. This is the cable you want: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable and yes its the 2012 version not the 2009! The second thing I do is place a stripe of electricians tape across the upper case when the cable rests.
Its only after I do this do I try to reformat the drive as a weak cable is likely to create low level corruptions within the HD once you start pushing it.
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Hello,
I’ve create the bootable OS install drive on a USB flash disk, but when i use verify disk it shows nothing. Repair button is not available.
I can’t access the disk to do a file backup.
If i re-install the OS Will i lose all my files ?
Best Regards
André,
Sorry thats not good ;-{
That sounds like the drives boot sectors are in bad shape. You need to reformat the drive to hopefully recover it.
Are you sure you booted with the USB drive? When start up hold the 'Option' key to get the startup manager and make sure you picked the USB drive.
If that still didn't alter anything see if you can find a friend who has a Mac which you can connect via Target Disk Mode so you can copy off your stuff using Migration assistant to a second drive.
Reference: Startup key combinations for Mac
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