My first post here so please go easy.....

My MacPro wont boot from cold. I have to use the keyboard 'option' key to select the boot drive manually and then the machine boots.

I have checked and reset the boot drive preferences and when SL came a long I took the opportunity of doing a 'nuke & pave' all to no avail.

When I reset or restart you can here the heads making a 'kurlunck' sound; the heads perhaps are looking for something that is not there. I took this to be a warning that the hard drive could be failing however the SMART report indicates that everything is in good health and I have been living with this for more than 6 months, so I think the hard drive is ok.

I know that google is your friend in such circumstances but this time the 'G' didnt produce anything that a mere mortal like me could read let alone understand.

Thanks in advance

Mel