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Problems with a MacBook

ratman743ratman743
edited January 2017 in Hardware
I have a MacBook from circa 2011 that was working when I got it, but suddenly began running slow and glitching out. Long story short, I got mad, didn't think about what I was doing, and forced it to shut down a few times. Now, when I boot it up, I only get a blank white screen, none of the key combinations (Like the key combination to boot off of an external device, for example) are working. The SuperDrive in it is dead, and then only thing I have capable to boot off of a USB is a MacOS Lion .DMG I downloaded from thepiratebay, converted into a .ISO image, and then used in DriveDroid on my phone.

I feel like it's a dead brick. I've never been so frustrated with a computer in my life.

If it had an actual BIOS, with actual boot order, it would be no problem.



But no, it doesn't. It has nothing but a blank white screen. I can't tell what's wrong. No output. Nothing.

Excuse me if I seem angry, because I am. Very angry.


Thanks to all that help.

[EDIT]
I even tried plugging it in with ethernet into my router to try 'Internet Recovery'.
Nothing.

Comments

  • BigCJBigCJ
    If all you did was shut it down a couple of times, that computer was probably on it's way out already. You said it was acting glitchy and slow, whatever caused that may be the root of your problem. What was it doing that made you so mad?
  • ratman743ratman743
    I bought it for USD $20 and it worked just fine.

    The OSX version was way out of date, and has the previous user's files all in it.
    I tried the macOS sierra upgrade from the Apple Store, but it said the purchase couldn't be completed because sierra couldn't run or whatever. But it should have. The system met the requirements, and it's an Intel mac.

    I don't remember what I did to cause the issue to start, but I did something and it ran a bit slow, showing the spinning ball of death a few times, so I force restarted it each time I did, as I was already confused and frustrated as to what was going on.

    I have never used a MacBook before, but I don't think I'll ever be using one again, unless I somehow, magically get this fixed.
  • BigCJBigCJ
    I don't know what could have caused any of that, but since you can't even get configuration options, I'd say you've got a bad component on the Mobo or corrupted firmware. I don't know anymore, sorry.
  • ratman743ratman743
    I still get the system chime, though. Doesn't that mean POST was successfully completed?
  • BigCJBigCJ
    Not sure because I'm not extremely familiar with Mac, but if you can't get to the BIOS config like you said, something may be up with your firmware or Mobo.
  • HorayyHorayy
    Mac os x version? :?:
  • ubuntuxpubuntuxp
    ratman743 wrote:
    I still get the system chime, though. Doesn't that mean POST was successfully completed?
    Yes, you're correct. Try booting a DVD or USB flash drive containing Ubuntu by pressing option right after the boot chime, and check the internal hard drive for errors. If there are errors, you can try to repair/format it, or replace the hard drive completely.
  • stitchstitch
    If you get a bong and it's still just a white screen it's probably hanging up on reading your disk. It eventually should show a flashing question mark if it can't find a system folder.

    It does have a proper boot order. It's the menu when you hold down Option. If the USB key doesn't come up on that, you probably wrote it to a USB key incorrectly. If you did this from Windows, then it's almost certainly not in a way the Mac's firmware will be happy with.
  • HotFudgeMuffinHotFudgeMuffin
    I had this problem too when I got a used macbook, I had the same issue. What I did was exchange the hard disk, since it was at the same white screen, then I was able to boot off of a installer for 10.6 on a usb. Did you try holding down the option key at the chime?
  • garirrygarirry
    ratman743 wrote:
    The SuperDrive in it is dead, and then only thing I have capable to boot off of a USB is a MacOS Lion .DMG I downloaded from thepiratebay, converted into a .ISO image, and then used in DriveDroid on my phone.
    There's your answer for why it doesn't read the USB as bootable.

    Unfortunately the only real way of "burning" a DMG to a flash drive (or a disc for that matter) is through a Mac. If you can get your hands on one even if it's for 15 minutes, you can use the Disk Utility function to restore the image to the target device. And trust me, I've tried, if you mess with the installer file you'll end up corrupting it. You could also try using an external disc reader, that works too.

    As stitch said, if it's stuck on a white screen then it means it's looking for a boot device. If you hold option while booting up, it should show all bootable devices, but it won't do that if there's no bootable device. IIRC I think the cursor appears regardless of if there are devices to boot from. So if you see it you're doing it correctly.

    As for Internet Recovery, keep it mind it will ONLY have it if either came with Lion or newer, or if it's one of a few 2010-ish models that had their firmware updated (officially) to support Internet Recovery. Either way, to make sure you're actually doing it right you must hold Option+Command+R while booting the computer. If it doesn't get into IR then it probably doesn't have it in the first place.
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