MacBook Pro is stuck on grey screen

C

cathymac

Registered
My 15" MacBook Pro is stuck on the grey screen with the logo and the spinning thing. This happened after I tried to recover admin access to it, since I forgot my password and had simply been using the user account with "standard" permissions.

I tried to follow the instructions on http://www.macshadows.com/kb/index.php?title=Gain_Administrative_Control_of_Mac_OS_X

I tried all the commands to boot to cd, to force a restart, apple-s, apple-v, to get to safe mode, etc... it won't respond. This is the timing of the problem, but also I want to mention that it's getting very hot. I don't know what's up with that or if that's a separate issue (that maybe already existed and I didn't notice before).

Any help would greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Ok, so I can get into safe mode now, I also reset the nvram/pram stuff but no luck. I'm more hopefully now though...

Any chance anything in the safe mode screen dump would tell me what's wrong? Also, can I try and repair my os from safe mode? I tried to type in commands but nothing happened...
 
Ok, actually safe boot doesn't work. When I do a normal safe boot a load bar shows up and when it progresses to the end it disappears and I'm left with the same old grey screen with logo and spinning wheel. When I do safe boot in text mode ("verbose") it spits a bunch of stuff out and then stops. I understand now that thats why I wasn't able to enter commands because it never actually finishes booting.

This is really frustrating me and I'm looking everywhere for information but nothing is working. Unfortunately I do not have the original mac disk either as I bought this one off of craigslist and the previous owner had lost it. I tried a friend's mac install disk but it wouldn't recognize it (when I hold down the option key only the hard drive shows up).

Please please someone help.

~ cathy

UPDATE:
these are the last six lines osx spits out before it gets stuck:

AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement: initialization complete

launchctl: Please convert the following to launched: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist

launch_msg(): Socket is not connected

launch_msg(): Socket is not connected

BootCacheControl: could not create temporary playlist file: No such file or directory

BootCacheControl: could not write playlist
 
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Really, a bad HD? So it didn't have anything to do with my attempt to gain admin access afterall? I noticed and continue to notice that it is running really really hot, even though it's not doing much. I don't know if I'm just now noticing this or it's a new problem. Could the HD or other components be overheating?
 
cathymac said:
I noticed and continue to notice that it is running really really hot, even though it's not doing much. I don't know if I'm just now noticing this or it's a new problem. Could the HD or other components be overheating?
Click to expand...

Yes, when the computer is sitting on a desk or table, feel under the bottom left side. Is that where it seems to be hottest?

If it is just a HD, luckily in those they are fairly cheap and easy to change (if it's a unibody MBP). But you will need an install disk.
 
djackmac said:
Yes, when the computer is sitting on a desk or table, feel under the bottom left side. Is that where it seems to be hottest?

If it is just a HD, luckily in those they are fairly cheap and easy to change (if it's a unibody MBP). But you will need an install disk.
Click to expand...

The left side is definitely hot. Also the back of the computer, say three inches from the very back is really hot from the center to the left side. This is actually where the most heat is.

Does this mean that even if I get a startup disk I still won't be able to fix it?
 
cathymac said:
The left side is definitely hot. Also the back of the computer, say three inches from the very back is really hot from the center to the left side. This is actually where the most heat is.

Does this mean that even if I get a startup disk I still won't be able to fix it?
Click to expand...

Probably more than just an OS reload is needed.
 
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