Problems Booting my macbook pro

[disler85]

Let me start by saying that my macbook pro is from 2008. I also have a macbook air that I got a year or so ago. When I got my macbook air, I backed up all of my data from the pro (it had been working up until this point) and then shut it down. About a week ago I tried to boot it up, to no avail. I tried to Restore my OSX via internet and it gets as far as this screen (see attached), Yes I have verified and repaired permissions. I have also verified and repaired the HD. I have done this via the diskutility tool as well as via terminal. I have tried to boot via a dvd (yes mine has a built in one), to no avail. I have tried to get the the hardware utility to check my HD, again to no avail- I have tried Option D, Option R etc. I have also tried to run in terminal "sudo" commands, but I get a "command not found error". Im able to switch directories successfully, but I can nver get "sudo" to work.


HELP! & THANKS

I KEEP SEEING THIS SCREEN!! HELP!!!!

 

[CoastalOR]

Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R) is not supported by your 2008 MBP since Internet Recovery downloads the OS that shipped with your Mac. Your original OS was via DVD which was never distributed via the internet.

Which OS version were you using on the MBP (I might assume it was Yosemite since this thread is in the Yosemite forum, but please confirm)?

Since you were not able to boot from the original install DVD, then there could also be a problem with the DVD or DVD drive. You could download OS 10.11.6 from Apple (the max OS that the 2008 can use) on your MBA (if the MBA can run 10.11.6) and make a El Capitan USB installer and try to boot the MBP. If the USB installer can not boot the MBP then you may be looking at a hardware problem.

Links:
Download 10.11.6:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

Make USB El Capitan 10.11.6 installer:
https://www.macworld.com/article/29...le-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-installer-drive.html
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

 

[disler85]

Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R) is not supported by your 2008 MBP since Internet Recovery downloads the OS that shipped with your Mac. Your original OS was via DVD which was never distributed via the internet.

Which OS version were you using on the MBP (I might assume it was Yosemite since this thread is in the Yosemite forum, but please confirm)?

Since you were not able to boot from the original install DVD, then there could also be a problem with the DVD or DVD drive. You could download OS 10.11.6 from Apple (the max OS that the 2008 can use) on your MBA (if the MBA can run 10.11.6) and make a El Capitan USB installer and try to boot the MBP. If the USB installer can not boot the MBP then you may be looking at a hardware problem.

Links:
Download 10.11.6:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12

Make USB El Capitan 10.11.6 installer:
https://www.macworld.com/article/29...le-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-installer-drive.html
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

[doublepost=1515611073][/doublepost]interestingly enough it does go into the web and goes thru the install process by logging into my apple id, asking for language, etc....then it gets stuck on that black screen with the donut. When it does that install process, it tries to install OSX Yosemite. The DVD that came with my macbookpro is MAC OSX Snow Leopard, but the dVD doesnt work - -the drive has been sketchy for a long time, so I knew that wasnt the way to go.

I will try ur ideas! Thanks!
[doublepost=1515611247][/doublepost]

[doublepost=1515611073][/doublepost]
interestingly enough it does go into the web and goes thru the install process by logging into my apple id, asking for language, etc....then it gets stuck on that black screen with the donut. When it does that install process, it tries to install OSX Yosemite. The DVD that came with my macbookpro is MAC OSX Snow Leopard, but the dVD doesnt work - -the drive has been sketchy for a long time, so I knew that wasnt the way to go.

I will try ur ideas! Thanks!

one more question; I just tried to download the USB El Capitan (I figured it would be a DMG) onto my macbook air ( then I could put it onto a USB stick) but it said I had too new a version of the OS.....ideas???

 

[CoastalOR]

interestingly enough it does go into the web and goes thru the install process by logging into my apple id, asking for language, etc....then it gets stuck on that black screen with the donut. When it does that install process, it tries to install OSX Yosemite. The DVD that came with my macbookpro is MAC OSX Snow Leopard, but the dVD doesnt work - -the drive has been sketchy for a long time, so I knew that wasnt the way to go.
I will try ur ideas! Thanks!

It checks to confirm that you previously downloaded ("purchased") Yosemite using that Apple ID. It sounds like you were using Yosemite and you were using the Recovery Partition on the internal drive.

When you choose to reinstall the Yosemite OS from recovery then it has to download the Yosemite OS to install a fresh copy. It can take awhile depending on your internet connection and how busy the Apple servers are. The wheel (donut) is a indication your system is busy working. How long have you waited?
Here are some links about using Recovery:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-reinstall-mac-os-x-using-internet-recovery-3593641/
https://www.lifewire.com/use-recovery-hd-volume-to-reinstall-os-x-2259971

one more question; I just tried to download the USB El Capitan (I figured it would be a DMG) onto my macbook air ( then I could put it onto a USB stick) but it said I had too new a version of the OS.....ideas???

Did you look at the links I provided for creating a USB installer?
What is the message exactly? Depending on the message, there are 2 possibilities.
1) Your MBA is too new to run El Capitan and it will not let you download it because the El Capitan app automatically launches after download. Something like this message (Note as an example; would say El Capitan instead of Mountain Lion):


If you get the above then you can not download the El Capitan installer on the MBA.

2) Your MBA is running a OS newer than El Capitan, but it could download it and install it:


If you get the above message then you can click continue and it will download the El Capitan installer. When the installer is downloaded it will automatically launch. As it launches Quit the installer at the first question. That will leave you with a "Install OS X El Capitan" installer app (about 6 GB) in the Applications folder. I would recommend saving the Installer app somewhere safe on another drive and leave the original installer app in the Application folder for creating the USB installer drive.
Now you are ready to create a El Capitan USB Installer. After you create the USB installer successfully then you can delete the "Install OS X El Capitan" installer app from the Applications folder.

 

[disler85]

OK so I tried to install via the internet to no avail. I was able to put a bootable copy of OSX Yosemite on my external HD which is connected via USB. When I boot with the [option] key depressed, it only sees the MAC HD and the Recovery HD (neither of which will boot). I can see the USB connected external HD via terminal as /dev/disk2s1 but idk how to boot from there......ideas please! THANKS!