Sudden failure to boot after 2.5+ years

[verymodern]

Hi there, finished my build in early 2012 & all's been pretty solid since. I recall having left the OS alone at about 10.7.2 & getting HDMI audio working successfully after wonderful help gleaned here. It's not a multi-boot sort of system, it goes straight to 10.7.2 and has worked nicely all this time, until...

Two nights ago I was trying to watch something on Netflix and got a message about a Silverlight error. Seemed the sort of thing that a simple reboot would fix.

Only - the machine has never rebooted since!

At startup:
It beeps with the post checking out fine. Loading operating system ...........
and then in the upper corner where it once might've done an animated | / | \ sort of sequence... gets stuck at / and never proceeds. I believe when things were working fine, I'd usually get the Apple splash screen after this, then my desktop.

I pulled the SSD that's set as the startup disk, put it into an enclosure & I attached it to a working iMac running 10.7.5, used Disk Utility to verify/repair. I was able to set it for the startup disk on that machine, and it boots fine - works great. I can get to files and there seem to be no issues at all with it.

Back to the troubled build: I tried booting from my old UniBeast USB - that has a similar issue - it never makes it past loading the operating system.

I tried a Windows NT install CD - that seems to boot up fine.

I had an old rRisk utility (CD) from tonymacx86 and that boots fine (I think, I don't remember what it used to do and didn't find much on it when searching).

I just feel very rusty. Having confirmed the SSD is valid and working - I don't know where else to go. Could the problem be the boot loader? I would appreciate a push in the right direction if someone has an idea how might be smart for me to proceed.

Kindest thanks!

 

[bmoag]

The boot loader can get corrupted and can be repaired but you have to be able to boot with Unibeast to your SSD. There are several sources about how to reinitiate the drive via terminal. Again you must be able to boot to that SSD via Unibeast.

It is not clear that Unibeast gets you to the install screen: if so the best option is to restore from Time Machine. If you can boot to the install screen does disc utility recognize your SSD?

Since you cannot boot to what otherwise seems a working SSD perhaps something has changed in your BIOS/UEFI settings: the simple things are to make sure that AHCI is selected for the drive type and that the BIOS/UEFI is pointing to the correct drive to boot from, the rest of the settings can be the default choices for most users. If those settings are correct try a new drive cable or at least reseating the old ones. It is unlikely the BIOS/UEFI is corrupted but you can look for an update from the mobo manufacturer.

It is also possible that you have a hardware problem and any software messages were coincidence, failed power supplies can cause what you are seeing. If there is no "good power signal" you will get to the boot initiation sequence and no farther.

If you can get it running consider upgrading the OS as well.

 

[clipper99]

and then in the upper corner where it once might've done an animated | / | \ sort of sequence... gets stuck at / and never proceeds.

I just had the exact same thing happen about 20 minutes ago while I was playing with installing another OS on a completely separate drive. I had a mini-freakout then disconnected the drive I was fooling around with and I booted right back as normal.


Try disconnecting all drives except the boot drive that was working. Will it boot?

 

[verymodern]

I just had the exact same thing happen about 20 minutes ago while I was playing with installing another OS on a completely separate drive. I had a mini-freakout then disconnected the drive I was fooling around with and I booted right back as normal.


Try disconnecting all drives except the boot drive that was working. Will it boot?

Thank you both very much for your replies. Clipper - since yours was the more simple approach, I tried disconnecting the other two hard drives I had attached.... and it started right up like always.


bmoag, UniBeast ITSELF wasn't booting properly from the USB stick. I suspect Clipper's suggestion of disconnecting other drives may have been the issue for that as well. As for considering upgrade of OS - I worked so long and hard to get something stable and functional that I'm not really interested in changing until I must!

Now that I'm up again, I'll see if I can repair anything amiss with the two add'l hard drives and get things back to my typical setup. I'll update when I know more. THANK YOU

 

[clipper99]

Glad it worked and yes, my Unibeast drive also wouldn't boot until the drive in question was disconnected.

 

[verymodern]

Adding one more drive at a time concludes that the drive at fault is my backup drive (Time Machine uses it). There are two partitions and the non-backup one repairs/verifies fine with Disk Utility.

The backup one? It gets to a point saying 32 minutes remaining and makes no further progress. Somewhere I have another disk maintenance application so I'll give it a whirl with that or wipe the drive and try starting over again.

I'm very grateful and feel an awful lot of relief to have my machine running again. It really made my week to have resolution to this issue & I thank you two once again for your thoughtful and very helpful replies to my plea.