[SOLVED] Macbook pro unable to startup (Blue/grey screen)

[TheOddNico]

Hello guys.

I want to start by saying i don't really know anything about Mac OS X. I've never really used a Mac before, so i hope you can help me.

Ok, let's get to the problem.

My sister has a MacBook pro, that won't start properly. When you try to start it, it acts like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLbbJlI4HbQ, sorry for the bad quality, i hope you still understand what's going on).

As the comments suggested, holding Shift while turning the Mac on let me boot into safe mode.

She has a lot of pictures and files on the Mac that she really want to safe, but after the pictures are safely stored somewhere else, she is okay with it being reset as a new Mac.

I will try to be as useful as i can, but my knowledge regarding Mac is limited.

I hope you can help me and my sister

 

[McHenryB]

Blue screen - https://support.apple.com/kb/ph11043?locale=en_GB
Gray screen - https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204325

If all else fails, take it to an Apple Store.

 

[MacTech]

Your concern seems to be her data. First see if you can hold the "T" key and startup the mac. If you get the yellow Firewire Symbol floating around on the screen you might then be able to use a thunderbolt or firewire cable to plug into another Mac and copy her user profile which would contain her data.

Users profile is located here: Mac Harddrive/Users/<herUserProfileName>

 

[jackrussell60]

You should definitely take it to an Apple store. Maybe it's a hard drive problem.

 

[McHenryB]

you might then be able to use a usb ... cable to plug into another Mac

No, no, no!

Even if you can find a USB-A to USB-A cable you should on no account plug it into two computers. The likely result of this would be that you burn out the USB port in one or both computers. There are special cables made that include a networking device that allow you to connect two PCs; I'm not sure whether these work with Target Mode in MAcs but I would doubt it. Stick with Apple's specifications and only connect Macs with a Firewire or Thunderbolt cable.

 

[MacTech]

you might then be able to use a usb ... cable to plug into another Mac

No, no, no!

Even if you can find a USB-A to USB-A cable you should on no account plug it into two computers. The likely result of this would be that you burn out the USB port in one or both computers. There are special cables made that include a networking device that allow you to connect two PCs; I'm not sure whether these work with Target Mode in MAcs but I would doubt it. Stick with Apple's specifications and only connect Macs with a Firewire or Thunderbolt cable.

Yikes! Good catch McHenryB... I meant to say Thunderbolt cable. I have corrected it so no one gets confused.