When good Macs go bad: Steps to take when your Mac won't start up
My friend Julian Velard is a musician and a geek. But as hard as JV drives his MacBook Pro—and he does push it to its limits, using live audio plug-ins for his keyboards onstage–when the computer acts up, I’m the one he texts for support. (Fair’s fair: If I can’t remember how to play a minor major seventh, Julian’s the one I call. We’re all experts in something.)
When Julian called late last week, his MacBook Pro wouldn’t turn on; it would get stuck on the Gray Screen of Stomach Pain Inducement and never move forward. Over chat, phone, and then in person when he made the trek from Brooklyn to my New Jersey home, I walked JV through my steps for resuscitating a Mac that won’t start up. Let me share them with you too, since you may not have my number.
Step 1: Run Disk Utility
Recovery mode offers a number of useful troubleshooting options.
If your Mac won’t boot, there could be many issues at play. But the one I like to rule out right away—or repair, if possible—is any problem afflicting the hard drive. The easiest first step on that front is to run Disk Utility. On a Mac running Mountain Lion, you can run Disk Utility by booting into OS X Recovery Mode.
Make sure the Mac is off. (If it’s not responsive because it’s stuck on a gray, blue, or white screen, just hold down the Mac’s power button for several long seconds until it gives up and shuts off.) Hold down the Command and R keys, and power the Mac back up again.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
http://www.macworld.com/article/2018853/when-good-macs-go-bad-steps-to-take-when-your-mac-wont-start-up.html
