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Can someone help me with a Mac problem please

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vangirl_2
vangirl_2 Posts: 1,956 Forumite
edited 13 April 2010 at 12:33AM in Techie Stuff
A friend of mine has a problem with her Mac OS, model number A1181 , if anyone could help that would be great thanks.

She was just working on her assignments and it went off. When she turned it back on all that came up was a ? .. Tried that a few times and now when we start it up it is just a blank screen. We dont have the original disc that came with it but am sure her work is still on the HD.

Is there any way to get the HD to boot without the disc?

She really needs the work by Monday so any advice would be great thanks.
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Comments

  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    Try holding down the X key while starting up.
  • Poppytime
    Poppytime Posts: 8,353 Forumite
    Marty_J wrote: »
    Try holding down the X key while starting up.

    Trying that now but nothing is happening. There is just a blank screen
    I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun ;)

  • Poppytime
    Poppytime Posts: 8,353 Forumite
    If anybody could help with this you would be a life saver. Daughter has 3 assignments on there that have to be in by Monday.
    I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun ;)

  • jack_spratt_2
    jack_spratt_2 Posts: 577 Forumite
    You could try http://www.macuser.co.uk/forum/ if you do not get a response from here or try http://forum.macformat.co.uk/
  • Poppytime
    Poppytime Posts: 8,353 Forumite
    Thanks for that Jack . Getting towards desperate measures now. If I had the installation disc would be so much easier!!
    I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun ;)

  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Bit off topic but ... get your daughter to contact her tutors ASAP, these things do happen and the later you inform your tutors the worse it looks. If you sort it by Monday she can hand in as normal, if not with evidence she should be able to get an extension on the work.
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • Marty_J
    Marty_J Posts: 6,594 Forumite
    Hold T while starting up. This puts the Mac in Target Disk Mode, essentially making it a really expensive external harddrive.

    Then, connect it to another computer with a FireWire cable. If the computer you're connecting it to is a Mac, you can just plug it in, and the hard drive in it will pop up on the desktop. If it's a PC, you'll need to install a trial of MacDrive to be able to access the data. Once you've got everything off the sickly Mac's hard drive, buy yourself a copy of Snow Leopard (£20 on Amazon) and reinstall everything
  • Poppytime
    Poppytime Posts: 8,353 Forumite
    Fire_Fox wrote: »
    Bit off topic but ... get your daughter to contact her tutors ASAP, these things do happen and the later you inform your tutors the worse it looks. If you sort it by Monday she can hand in as normal, if not with evidence she should be able to get an extension on the work.
    This did cross my mind tbh but on speaking with my daughter this morning she has said that only one of them has to be in by Monday, one by Wednesday and the other by April 30th but, as she had completed them, wanted to hand them all in together. She is spending all day today redoing the one that has to be in by Monday and hopefully can get the files off the HD this evening for the others.
    Marty_J wrote: »
    Hold T while starting up. This puts the Mac in Target Disk Mode, essentially making it a really expensive external harddrive.

    Then, connect it to another computer with a FireWire cable. If the computer you're connecting it to is a Mac, you can just plug it in, and the hard drive in it will pop up on the desktop. If it's a PC, you'll need to install a trial of MacDrive to be able to access the data. Once you've got everything off the sickly Mac's hard drive, buy yourself a copy of Snow Leopard (£20 on Amazon) and reinstall everything

    I have taken the HD out of the Mac and attached it to my laptop with USB to SATA/IDE cable - is this essentially the same as above? Have downloaded MacDrive and the HD is showing up on my laptop but don't seem able to extract the files. Could it be that the HD is failing? Have read that I may have to install software called GetDataBack to help with this - Does this sound right to you?
    Thanks for your help
    I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun ;)

  • Scrilla
    Scrilla Posts: 242 Forumite
    edited 13 April 2010 at 7:03PM
    Poppytime wrote: »
    Marty_J wrote: »
    Try holding down the X key while starting up.

    Trying that now but nothing is happening. There is just a blank screen
    This may not work since you've tried the "X" option, but try holding down Shift while starting up. This will take longer to boot (if it boots at all).
    Poppytime wrote: »
    I have taken the HD out of the Mac and attached it to my laptop with USB to SATA/IDE cable - is this essentially the same as above? Have downloaded MacDrive and the HD is showing up on my laptop but don't seem able to extract the files. Could it be that the HD is failing? Have read that I may have to install software called GetDataBack to help with this - Does this sound right to you?
    Thanks for your help
    Yes, the procedure is similar in effect. I have no experience with MacDrive, so I will leave Marty J to help you with that.
  • gaming_guy
    gaming_guy Posts: 6,128 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 12 June 2012 at 11:02AM
    .............
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