Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

MacBook Pro not Booting and the Startup sound is looping

by WTwistedM Jan 10, 2010 3:05PM PST

Good day

I am having an odd pproblem with a MacBook Pro. When I boot, 95% of the time, the Apple sound will loop continuously and the Notebook will not boot. In every 10 tries, I will have a chance to get the machine to boot up into the OS, and after a little while the Display will start to flash randomly and the machine will freeze. only a force shutdown seems to bring you out the freeze, but then you can't always get back into the OS because of the looping Apple Startup sound.

It gets stuck at the exact same moment, right after the apple sound is finished, but loops.. So What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't get stuck at random moments, only just as the apple sound is finished playing, then it plays over, and over and over...

It's difficult running software to target the problem as there is almost no way of getting in, or booting from a Disk.

I have changed the RAM completely and still no difference.

Any advise would be appreciate just to narrow down this problem.
MacBook Pro
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 256MB VRAM, 160 GB 5400rpm

Thanks
T

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Curious
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Jan 10, 2010 8:53PM PST

does it do that when you attempt to boot from the Restore disks that came with the machine?

Can you ZAP the PRAM? Command + Option + P + R at the first chime and hold down for a further 2 chimes.

If there is any sort of warranty on this machine, I would call Apple and tell them all about it.

I doubt changing out things, RAM and Hard Drive, will have a deal of difference as the problem seems to be in the Firmware that controls how to boot.

P

- Collapse -
Didn't try it like that
by WTwistedM Jan 11, 2010 2:38PM PST

Hi.

Thank you for coming back to me. I didn't try that. I will give it a try as soon as I get to the machine again today. And I will let you know.

I have tried a booting from the HDD diagnostics CD, but couldn't get further from the Chime startup sound.

I will post the result soon.

Many thanks for the help so far.
T

- Collapse -
Exact same problem
by e-ane Feb 19, 2011 11:29PM PST

I have the sale problem, did you solve it?
Im desparate!

Thanks

- Collapse -
I just had a system like this
by Jimmy Greystone Feb 20, 2011 1:27AM PST

I just had a system like this come to me at work. Think it was a slightly older model, but symptoms were pretty much identical, and long story short I replaced the logic board to fix it.

- Collapse -
(NT) ChaChing!
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Feb 20, 2011 8:28AM PST
Back to Mac OS forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info