Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Andhee · Mar 10, 2008, 04:22 PM

Hey, my mid 2007 2.16 macbook has just frozen completely and something inside was clicking, so I did the hard reset (holding the power button down for a while). I turned it back on, it went to the blue screen with the apple logo, and the loading thing. It stays on forever. I think it is the harddrive which is clicking. Is there anything i can do to test for hardware failure or the like? Please enlighten asap!

Cold Warrior · Mar 10, 2008, 04:25 PM

Boot from your Leopard install DVD and run Disk Utility. Use the 'Verify Disk' or 'Repair Disk' options to scan for or repair, respectively, your MacBook's hard drive.

Andhee · Mar 10, 2008, 04:26 PM

Thanks for rapid reply, will do that now.

Andhee · Mar 10, 2008, 04:31 PM

What do I do? Ive put the disk in and restarted it, its now just the blue screen??

Cold Warrior · Mar 10, 2008, 04:35 PM

You need to hold down the c key right when you hear the startup chime. This forces the machine to boot from the disc.

Andhee · Mar 10, 2008, 04:39 PM

It keeps ejecting it, then coming up with a folder icon with a question mark in it which flashes. Disaster!

Andhee · Mar 10, 2008, 04:48 PM

What to do now? Anyone?

Cold Warrior · Mar 10, 2008, 05:05 PM

Force it to shut down (hold down power button until it shuts off). Then, right after pressing the power button to turn it on, insert the disc and hold down the c key. See if it'll hold it in then.

If that doesn't work, do you have another Intel Mac or an external DVD drive?

amazing · Mar 10, 2008, 05:12 PM

are you sure you're using the same install disk that you received with the MB? and that you're holding down only the C key during startup, for as long as it takes to get to the install dialogue?

another thing you could try is to hold the shift key down during startup, for as long as it takes. This is called a safe boot, and it does a lot of background stuff while you're holding the shift key down, so it seems to take forever.

if you've got access to another Mac, you could also connect the 2 Macs together via a firewire cable, and then hold the T key down on the MB during startup, until the bouncing firewire symbol appears on screen. At that point, the MB would theoretically show up on the 2nd Mac as a firewire drive (and allow you to try to save some of your docs.)

Simon · Mar 11, 2008, 02:56 AM

Or boot holding option-s and report back on where it stalls.

Andhee · Mar 11, 2008, 01:42 PM

Rightt... updates:

Taken my macbook to a certified apple retailer and they said they'll fix it for me and phone me when all is well. Having to revert back to the computer I used before having a mac.. the agony.

seanc · Mar 11, 2008, 03:02 PM

Sounds like the HDD to me as well. I see you have Leopard, hooray for Time Machine, assuming you were using it

I don't suppose you know what the manufacturer of the drive was do you? I know Seagates had a habit of crapping out in the earlier MacBooks.

Andhee · Mar 11, 2008, 03:14 PM

Ah yes I was indeed using Time machine - hooray, otherwise I'd have lost all my college work and media files which would have been a disaster! And I don't know what drive it was I'm afraid. Hopefully I'll get it back pretty sharpish as I can't stand this computer I'm on at the moment, took about 15 minutes to boot up and then nearly crashed in the process (Yes, it runs windows).

seanc · Mar 11, 2008, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by Andhee

Ah yes I was indeed using Time machine - hooray, otherwise I'd have lost all my college work and media files which would have been a disaster! And I don't know what drive it was I'm afraid. Hopefully I'll get it back pretty sharpish as I can't stand this computer I'm on at the moment, took about 15 minutes to boot up and then nearly crashed in the process (Yes, it runs windows).

Wipe the damn thing and start fresh. You'll be surprised at how much better it runs, unless of course it's low end hardware in the first place, below 1GHZ with less than 256MB RAM.

Hope you get your MacBook back soon and glad Time Machine was there for you.

Andhee · Mar 11, 2008, 03:29 PM

Its a pretty decent processor I think, 1.66GHz, not too shabby, but its only got 512mb ram. My dad uses it most of the time, but hes not really played on a good computer before, so he thinks its acceptable that it takes forever to boot up/do anything. I keep suggesting he should get 2GB ram, because it'll make a massive increase in speed.

Andhee · Mar 14, 2008, 01:14 PM

My mac now back in action! Just collected it from the shop and transferring all my files back to it... thank god for time machine.

DCJ001 · Mar 16, 2008, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by Andhee

Its a pretty decent processor I think, 1.66GHz, not too shabby, but its only got 512mb ram. My dad uses it most of the time, but hes not really played on a good computer before, so he thinks its acceptable that it takes forever to boot up/do anything. I keep suggesting he should get 2GB ram, because it'll make a massive increase in speed.

Actually, I recommend maxing the RAM at 4GB. I realize that Apple says 2GB max. And others will say 3GB max. But your MacBook will actually take 4GB and recognize a little bit over 3GB.

Based on the following information about maxing performance:

Performance testing of Apple MacBook Core Duo and Core 2 Duo Models with various Memory configurationsOtherWorldComputing.com

I went with 4GB in my May 2007 MacBook for a price below $80 with free shipping:

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Laptop Memory - Retail

And the performance is greatly increased!