Mac OS X does not boot, but Windows does

[aryattack]

Mac OS X will not start up but if i hold option i can boot from windows vista. My vista does say incorrect partition 80 when its boot booting but it does start up. I have tried booting up from the leopard install disk but when i try to do anything with it it just says mac os x can not be installed on this computer. The problem, is that when I boot from OS X it just pretends to load and then says that You must restart your computer by holding the power button or by hitting restore. Any Help?

 

[Spartan1250]

Are you using a desktop or a notebook? Is it HDD or SSD?

 

[aryattack]

Hdd

Im using a MacBook that unfortianatley* is out of warranty. It is on core 2 duo and is the base model(the old one).

 

[petermcphee]

Do you have the original OS X install disks? I would try booting from the disk to repair the OS.

 

[Bengt77]

unfortianatley*

It's learning time: unfortunately

 

[Spartan1250]

Response

It sounds like the data on the Leopard partition may have been corrupted. Was it dropped at all recently? Or even (albeit, less likely) a virus?

 

[aryattack]

wasnt dropped

 

[Spartan1250]

The most likely reason that I can think of is damage to the OS X partition, I had a similar issue with my Compaq laptop back in 2004 after I installed Slackware on it, XP was erased entirely.

 

[aryattack]

i found the os x CD but one problem, it needs 11 gb to install but i dont have that much available because of the partition is their a way to erase some memmory from vista?

 

[aryattack]

i can even remove windows, but i dont know how to remove the partition through windows.

 

[Spartan1250]

I don't know if it works through Boot Camp, it should, but you can use the partition editor. go to the control panel, under system maintenance, and under administrative tools, click on "create and format hard disk partitions" you can manage the partitions through that.

 

[aryattack]

problem is, the partition manager wont recognise the mac partition.

 

[Vivaldi]

From the looks of it, your Mac OS X partition is corrupt. Since you say that you want to "remove Windows", I would assume you would have no reservations on deleting the Windows partition?

If so, here's what I'd have you do:

1. Obtain GParted Live and burn it onto a USB thumb drive or a CD. Boot the Mac up with the thumb drive/CD and delete the Windows partition.

2. Boot from the OS X CD, and see if you can resize your Mac OS X partition. If not, don't close Disk Utility just yet: find out the disk identifier of the partition (in the format disk*s*) by right-clicking/ctrl-clicking the partition. Then launch the Terminal (while still in the OS X CD) and try to run this command:

diskutil resizeVolume disk*s* *G

Where "disk*s*" is the disk identifier of the Mac OS X partition, and *G is the partition size you want in gigabytes (followed by a G: for example, 75G). You will receive a message telling you to restart, but this is not necessary.

3. After that, try installing Mac OS X again and see if that works. If not, you may have to say goodbye to your data — if you don't have a Time Machine backup to restore, see if you can copy data from your computer to an external drive via Terminal — that is, if the partition is accessible via Terminal.

 

[freep]

Just found this thread - im having a similar problem with my MBP. When I try and boot into OS X I get the white screen with Apple logo and spinning timer for a long time before the machine switches off. However, when press option - I can proceed to boot into Windows (Vista) normally. One interesting point is that I have MacDrive installed on Windows that states there are problems with the Mac hard drive and tries to repair it but is unsuccessful. I am then able to mount the disk and access it as normal from Windows (allbeit with some folders empty).

As I am able to boot into Windows normally im guessing that there is not a problem with the physical hard drive but that the Mac partition has become corrupted. Not sure how this has happened though because I have not dropped the machine.

Anyone have any ideas on how to proceed other than having to do a format and reinstall? I dont mind having a go at a reinstall but ideally want to save my data as not all of it is backed up.

 

[r.j.s]

Anyone have any ideas on how to proceed other than having to do a format and reinstall? I dont mind having a go at a reinstall but ideally want to save my data as not all of it is backed up.

Insert your Install Disc 1 and hold D on boot to run a hardware test.

 

[sascha h-k]

try diskwarrior 4.1.1, start this from an extern hdd or dw-dvd.
and then reinstall 10.5.6

this worked for me several years ago .... (naturaly with the latest versions at that time)

 

[crucesignati]

Had this problem too

It's been a while since I had this problem but, I believe what you need to do is wipe out the Master Boot Record (MBR) apparently now owned by Windows and unrecognized by Leopard's Disc Utility.

The fix is pretty simple if this is the case. Use a Windows boot disk and get to a command prompt (using a setup disc , recovery disc, etc..)

CAUTION: do not attempt if you have not backed up your data. This command will wipe out any Master Boot Record on Disk0, so use caution.

From a comand prompt run fdisk /mbr

This will take just a second to run. You may also want to run just FDISK and wipe out the Windows install altogether. But, either way, you should now be able to use Leopard's disc utility to reinstall or repair your Mac partition.

*If your Mac partition has not been manually deleted - your data should still be there.*

happy computing!