Mac mini won't boot - hardware test error

my mac mini isn't booting... stuck on the grey apple screen with spinning circle.
have ran the hardware test on the OSX DVD and i get the following error
**ERROR*CODE***ERROR*CODE**
2STF/8/3: ATA-100 ata-6 - Master
**ERROR*CODE***ERROR*CODE**
i assume this means that the HDD is knackered ?

The variable reports on the hard drive are not entirely unusual with a drive that has problems, but it's not a good sign in general that you are having issues with booting to the install disk. That has potential to reflect a controller error that could be minor in nature and even be as simple as a poor connection on the drive carrier which has both drives mounted to it.
Try booting to the OS installer again. If you can get past the language selection screen it means OSX (the very basic version on the installer) has loaded, and that's a good sign. There's no reason from that point that the Utilities menu wouldn't pull down as normal and disk utility run from there. If you can get that far, see if the internal drive is visible on the left of the disk utility app, and if so, select it (there may be two entries for it, either will do) then click the repair disk button.

Similar Messages

Mac Mini won't boot after PRAM reset

My mac mini has been running very slow, VERY VERY SLOW, then it would seem it would catch up with itself and run fine for a few minutes, then slow down again. It got to the point where I would have to do hard resets, but it still wouldn't work all that great. So I read on here to do a PRAM reset, which I did by holding down controloption+PR, and i got a gray screen with a status bar. But now the mac won't even boot up, even when I try safe mode. I turn it on, and i hear the start up tone, and get to the gray screen with status bar, but then it just shuts off. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Message was edited by: akiemele

From your user guide:
1 Disconnect all external devices from your Mac mini, except the keyboard and mouse.
If you have an Ethernet cable connected, disconnect it.
2 Restart your Mac mini while holding down the D key.
3 When the Apple Hardware Test chooser screen appears, select the language you want
to use.
4 Press the Return key or click the right arrow button.
5 When the Apple Hardware Test main screen appears (after about 45 seconds), follow
the onscreen instructions.
6 If Apple Hardware Test detects a problem, it displays an error code. Make a note of the
error code before pursuing support options. If Apple Hardware Test doesn’t detect a
hardware failure, the problem may be software-related.
If this procedure doesn’t work, you can insert the Applications Install DVD that came
with your Mac mini to use Apple Hardware Test. For more information, see the Apple
Hardware Test Read Me file on the Applications Install DVD.
When prompted, choose the extended test.

Mac mini won't boot anymore

My Mac mini won't boot anymore. It's been running fine for months.
It's running Leopard Server 10.5.2 Build 9C31
It starts to boot, I get the first spinning gear with the gray screen, then the blue desktop blinks, then a second spinning gear on a gray screen and it appears to hang (the gear stops spinning).
I booted off the install DVD, ran disk utility, repaired the HD, repaired the permissions: the behavior is the same.
Safe mode doesn't work (same hang as above).
Single user mode does work.
I can connect to it via Server Admin while it appears hung.
The last few lines of the system log are:
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: uid = 0 gid = 0
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: opening /Library/Logs/EventMonitor/EventMonitor.error.log
May 15 18:38:59 server kextd[23]: writing kernel link data to /var/run/mach.sym
May 15 18:39:09 server KernelEventAgent[59]: tid 00000000 received unknown event (12)
May 15 18:39:20 server kernel[0]: display: Not usable
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[126]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.ATSServer[125]: FODBCheck: New annex file created
May 15 18:39:21 server ARDAgent [130]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:21 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[132]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:22 server ARDAgent [130]: call logout from LoginLogoutProxyCallBackFunction
May 15 18:39:22 server com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.agent): Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds
May 15 18:39:24 server loginwindow[58]: Login Window Started Security Agent
May 15 18:39:29 server servermgrd[53]: servermgr_calendar: created default calendar virtual host
May 15 18:39:31 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:32 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Ready******
May 15 18:39:33 server mdworker[109]: (Error) SyncInfo: Boot-cache avoidance timed out!
May 15 18:39:54 server Python[47]: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil
May 15 18:39:54 server com.apple.wikid[47]: Thu May 15 18:39:54 server.jeff.carpenter.name Python[47] <Error>: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil\n
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 1440, packet status bits: MII error
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000001 sk98osx sky2 - - sk98osx_sky2::replaceOrCopyPacket tried N times
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSWRITEDATA SBF /dev/dtracehelper 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /dev/autofs_nowait 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /usr/sbin 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:55:12 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 23, packet status bits: MII error
Any ideas?

Yes, it's been running Server since I purchased it.
I doubt the serial number is in use elsewhere: I purchased the 10-user version at a retail store in a sealed package and I've only installed it once.

Mac Mini won't boot up.

Mac Mini won't boot up! Just getting blank white screen, any ideas why? No apple, just a blank screen. It worked fine last night.

Have you tried booting into the Recovery HD by pressing/holding COMMAND+R at system start or the Option/Alt key and choosing Recovery HD to boot into?
If you can get into the Recovery HD, open Disk Utilities and Verify Disk. Repair if necessary.

Mac Mini won't boot after failed XP installation

Recently upgrade HD to 320GB 7200 rpm and 3GB ram. Running 10.5.8 fine.
I tried to install Windows XP through Boot Camp, but wasn't successful, I terminated the installation. Then Mac Mini won't boot up. When powered on, you heard the chime, then grey screen showed and stayed. Tried starting with "C" (boot from CD), "OPT" (boot option), "T" (target), and reset PRAM. None of them worked.
What should I try next?
Thanks
Message was edited by: Yijian Cao

If you install XP on Bootcamp, your startup disc will be changed to XP Windows partitioned you did. To restore your startup disc back to Mac OS, make sure your Mac is turned off. 1. Plug the power back and press the power button ON. When you hear the power On sound, press and hold the ALT key on your keyboard until you see the hardrives. 2. Select the HD that says MAc OS, then your mac will boot back to Mac OS.
Let me know if you have more problems, maybe I can help.
Abel

Mac Mini Won't Boot or Internet Restore - Hard Drive Boots on Macbook

Late 2012 Mac Mini. I cloned my 10.10.2 installation of Yosemite over from my Macbook pro 6,2 to a 1TB Samsung 840 SSD. It booted with no issues besides the keychain being lost and all passwords having to be re-entered.
After a week of going perfectly, it stops recognizing the USB keyboard after I unplugged it and plugged it back in. So I rebooted and get the dreaded stop sign after the boot failed. Oops. I enabled trim before I cloned, but forgot to check if it was working in the cloned drive (seems it was in the end). Since there was no recovery partition, I booted into Internet Recovery, but that hung using both WPA and WPA2 router logins. It obviously was syncing with router, but I got error -2002f in every configuration I tried. It also didn't seem to recognize an ethernet connection. Weird stuff.
I remembered I had an issue with a previous Mac Mini of the same model and the permissions after a clone. I repaired permissions and that was that. This is different because it wouldn't boot into Safe Mode. Resetting the PRAM did bring back an audible chime at least.
I pulled the SSD out of the Mac Mini and alt booted in from my Macbook 6,2. No issues (except the keychain thing again( and it loaded quickly. Nothing seemed to be wrong.
Then I put it back in the Mac Mini and tested it with known working RAM. Still the same thing. So now I am going to sleep on it and try to figure it out. It is unlikely to be a hardware failure as the Mac Mini was made in May 2014 and I bought factory refurbished. It seems to be an issue relating to the SSD as it boots other drives.
Any ideas?

Fix The Bugs Please wrote:
It is unlikely to be a hardware failure as the Mac Mini was made in May 2014 and I bought factory refurbished. It seems to be an issue relating to the SSD as it boots other drives.
Any ideas?
Is this SSD an additional drive added to your Mac Mini or did you replace the HDD with it? If it's an additional drive and since it's a Samsung, depending where you purchased your drive doubler kit (iFixit or OWC) you can try swapping the drives in the bays. I know for a fact that Samsung SSDs do not work right with the iFixit drive doubler kit's SATA cable. But it does work correctly with the Apple supplied SATA cable. If it's the OWC SATA cable, I know for a fact those are much more reliable with Samsung, OWC, Intel, Crucial SSDs. Another thing, I would NOT enable TRIM (my opinion) using a 3rd party trim enabler if you're running Yosemite. There are issues with trim enablers and Yosemite. Just let the built-in Garbage Collection take care of things.
If it's not an additional drive that was added, does your Mac Mini boot and work fine with the stock drive that it came with? Even though it's a 2012 model, if you purchased it refurbished from Apple in May 2014, you're still under warranty (same 1yr as new Macs) and if it's having same or similar issues working with the stock drive, you can take it to a local Apple Store for warranty repair. You would need to have only the stock drive installed (no SSD) before you setup an appointment.

Mac mini won't boot after RAM upgrade.

Tried installing new RAM in my Mac Mini, 512MB stock to 2GB of Crucial. Followed the directions to a T, grounded myself the whole time.
Things I've tried so far:
1. Resetting the PRAM, no luck.
2. Holding option at start-up, shows no icon.
3. Holding shift, no luck.
4. Holding X, nothing.
How do I get it to accept a CD if it won't boot?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
You clearly have a problem, but you don't describe exactly what that is other than that your mini won't boot after the upgrade. What happens when it starts up? Does it attempt to start and hang up on the grey or blue screens, or does it start beeping at you almost immediately after you try and start it up, and also flash the power light?
If the former, then you may have dislodged a connector while working inside the system, in which case opening it up and checking that everything is firmly connected would be the first thing to do. If the latter, then the beeping/light flashing is the system telling you it has failed the power-on self test and the pattern of beeps/lights indicates why. In your case likely the system can't find workable memory. In that instance, opening the system and ensuring that the RAM is firmly and fully seated would be a good step, and if the mini continues to fail, then replacing the new RAM with the original to test that the system will then start.
It is not likely that anything had damaged your MacOS install in the process of upgrading, thus normally no reason to need to boot to CD as a result of a RAM issue.

Mac Mini won't boot after 10.6.6 / Airport update

I just reinstalled 10.6.3 on a unibody Mac Mini, updated to 10.6.6 - and it booted fine. I ran another software update, and it suggested two more updates - which I believe was an Airport Utility update and a Java update. Now the Mac Mini fails to boot, stopping at the Apple logo.
The last lines of verbose startup goes like this:
Airport: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Aut result for: (MAC address) succeded
AirPort: Link Up on en1
AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1
AppleBCM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?
Suggestions?
H

I experienced a similar problem today after a recent upgrade to 10.6.6. I ran Tech Tool Pro 5 on the machine, which reported everything as just dandy after about 6 hours of testing, but it still wouldn't boot. Next, I tried booting in Verbose mode, which revealed that my iMac was hanging on:
AppleBCM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?
I used Safe Single User mode (turn on power, then immediately press and hold Shift-Command-S until text starts appearing) to boot to a command line. Single User mode provides instructions on how to mount the file system read/write. I executed the `fsck` command as instructed, and after a few minutes it reported that it had made changes to the file system. At that point, I skipped the `mount` command and went directly to `exit` to continue the boot process, which completed. I turned AirPort back on (I had it turned off), then rebooted normally without any trouble.

FileMaker Server problem on Mac Mini Server - Mac Mini won't boot

I just installed a brand new Mac Mini Server today, and also FileMaker Server 11. A first-timer for both Mac OS X Server and FileMaker Server, I made an error as explained below, and right now I don't know how to get back on track with the system. It won't boot.
So, how did this happen?
At first everything was proceeding according to plan. I configured the pre-installed Mac OS X Server on the Mac Mini with users, groups and services. This was tested from clients and this seemed to work just fine. Then I installed and configured FileMaker Server. This was also tested from a client, and the example database that came with FMS was served up just fine.
The problem arose when I tried to install my existing FileMaker databases. I simply checked to see where in the file system the example database was located, and then copied my old databases to that location (I think it was Library > FileMaker Server > Data > Databases or something close to it - can't check it now...). I had the FileMaker Server Admin Console running, and hit the Refresh button hoping that this would make FileMaker Server find the databases.
This was my first error. I should have read ahead in the instructions to see that one is supposed to use an Upload Database assistant instead...
What happened when I hit refresh was that the FileMaker Server Admin Console became completely unresponsive with a spinning ball as cursor. I left it for about an hour hoping it would terminate, but gave up and tried to shut it down. It wouldn't close, so I force quit it from the Finder. Then I tried to shut down FileMaker Server, but I needed to force quit this as well. After this I thought it would be best to reboot the Mac Mini, so I shut it down, but now it won't even boot, it just stays on the screen with the spinning wheel for ever!
I have tried all the keyboard options while booting, but nothing seems to help. In safe mode, the grey progress bar just grows to about one third, then disappears and leaves the eternally spinning wheel.
The server version of the Mac Mini doesn't have an optical drive, only two internal hard drives. I tried to reinstall from scratch using the optical drive on another Mac on the network. The startup disk appeared when I tried to boot the Mac Mini holding down the option key, and after about 20 minutes or so of the spinning wheel I could actually access the discs. I started by running Disk Utility to check disk permissions. There were a lot of repairs concerning permissions and groups, especially on "Library". It said "ACL differs on Library", I don't know what this is but this was repaired. I then ran Repair Disk. The volume appeared to be OK.
When I tried to reinstall Mac OS X Server however, this failed with the message
"You can't upgrade this version of Mac OS X because a newer version is installed. Mac OS X Server couldn't be installed on this disk." I don't know how this can be, but I may have run software update earlier today.
What should I try next? Should I erase the primary HD and try to install again? Or should I install the system software on the secondary HD? Or should I just try to reboot as is in the hope that the disk permission repairs did the trick...?
Any helpful pointers would be greatly appreciated!

Hello there, I came across your post when browsing the forum for passive advice. I am in the same boat as you and am a first timer for both of these tools. I work for a company who now needs to expand its network and database capabilities. I have been assigned this task and these are the tools i have opted for. I have not yet purchased them and i am pleased to find someone who has my desired setup. Could you please advise on the simplicity of the setup and whether an advanced knowledge is required.
I want to use it in a mixed operating system environment. Is this possible?
Regards
Matthew

Mac Mini won't boot - can't select start-up disk!

Hi all -
mid way through an important project, my Mac mini 2.1 hung and I restarted using the power button. When it came back on I just get the grey screen with flashing folder & ?.
I have tried booting from the install cd & it does this successfully, but when I access disk utility, all the options for repair etc. are greyed out. I can't even reinstall OSX because the startup disk isn't available as an option to write to.
I've tried running the hardware test by booting and holding d. This came back with no errors.
I've tried zapping the PRAM and done the SMC thing. No joy.
Any ideas on how to make the mini see the startup disk?
Thankyou so much!

Cheers. Am trying it now, have partitioned a fresh drive and specified it to be bootable thru GUID, then I selected the Leopard dvd as the source and the partition as the destination in the RESTORE function of Disk Utility. Is this correct?
Will look into Diskwarrior too. Many thanks.

Mac Mini won't boot, distorted startup chime, gray screen

Hi all --
I've seen similar posts (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12170891&#12170891) but thought I'd start a new one, mainly because I haven't heard anyone mention the startup chime.
I woke up my 2007 stock Mac Mini Friday morning and the cursor was frozen. Unplugged and replugged the mouse to no avail. Couldn't force quit, so I had to power down. Restarted with a badly distored startup chime (not "speaker breakup" from excessive volume, just distortion, and some "stuttering") and a gray screen that didn't go away. Restarted many, many times. Inserted Snow Leopard DVD to run Disc Utility but it wasn't recognized -- just a gray screen. Tried resetting the PMU and SMC with no results. Tried booting into single-user mode (with a wired USB keyboard) to eject the DVD, but no luck. Tried open firmware, but nothing. Once in an while I would get the Apple icon and a spinning progress bar that never went away.
Took it to the Genius Bar, where they tried to boot from a Firewire drive, with no success. The best they could do was tell me my 17-month old Mac was out of warranty. That confirmed, I took it home, cracked it open and removed the Snow Leopard DVD (with a credit card) to insert the install disc it shipped with. That didn't work. A couple of times it looked like it would, but then after the spinning bar I got the multilingual system bomb message. Tried to run Hardware Test, but nothing. Put in original Disc 2... and that gave me a flashing folder! Progress! Forced the DVD out and slipped in Disc 1. That started to read, and then I got some kernel-panic looking text and a shutdown. My last attempt was to create a USB boot drive from the original install discs, but my old Sawtooth won't let me run the installer.
Is there any hope at this point? I just bought the thing last May, so I've had it less than a year and a half. The distorted startup chime makes me think the logic board is fried and no amount of fooling with the startup drive will make a difference. The only thing out of the ordinary in this case was that it went to sleep last Thursday night with a DV camera hooked up via Firewire.
I'm not thrilled about giving Apple any more money for another Mini, but I'm heavily invested in Logic Studio so I don't have much of a choice of platform.
I'm pretty sure I'm doomed, but I thought I'd post anyway. A quick internet search shows I'm not the only one with the gray screen of death on a fairly new Mini. Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Thanks.
The Genius was able to get to the Apple logo and spinning... thing (what used to be the beachball). His theory was that as long as the Snow Leopard disc was in there, the boot process would never get to the Firewire port. Once I got home I literally pried the Snow Leopard disc out and put in the original install disc. But any progress whatsoever ends in the system bomb message.
Thing is, I had tried to eject the disc by booting with the mouse button down. But on restarting, the laser in the optical mouse flashes quickly, once. I don't think the USB ports are going "live" at all... so I can't get into single user mode, safe mode, hardware test, anything. The Genius' keyboard was no help in that regard. So yeah, I suspect a hardware problem.
A search of "gray screen of death" shows this happening to a lot of models.

Mac Mini won't boot after update

I have a Mac Mini that won't boot after the most recent software update. Since the Mini has only a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, a number of the usual options (hold down shift, etc.) won't work. I've tried a reset, also no luck. At the moment, I can't locate my Tiger install CD either.
When holding the power button on during boot, I get a series of flashes from the status light on the front (a set of very rapid flashes, followed by a slower set, followed by a slow set) but no startup chime, or fan, or video. My display and power source are both known-good (work fine with my Powerbook)
Any suggestions, other than buying a hardwired keyboard/mouse?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The 'newer version of OS X" error occurs because the installer on the DVD you have booted to has by default been set to update the version of MacOS on the hard drive, which of course it can't do because the version of MacOS it is installing is newer. The only way to install in this situation is to select a different option. However, that isn't what you want to do at this point, because as it says, you'll loose your data if you do an 'erase and install'.
Instead, you should see menus at the top of the screen when it's booted to that install disk. Click the Utilities menu, select Disk Utility, and then click the top entry for the internal hard drive on the left. Once done, click on the 'Repair Disk' button (not Repair Permissions). This will test the drive to make sure it's OK. If it reports errors, and then reports 'error or exit' with the drive not repaired, you will either need a 3rd party application such as Alsoft's Disk Warrior, or to perform an erase and install (which of course you don't want to do at this point because your data is not backed up).
If the Repair Disk process completes with no errors, next select Repair Permissions, and let that process complete, then reboot the system as normal to see if you can now access the drive.

Mac Mini won't boot after wind storm flickered lights

My Mac Mini running OS X 10.5 will start up but won't go beyond the Apple logo.
I can't even get it to start in Safe Mode. Is there any way around this problem besides
buying a new computer?

Usually, if there is a power disruption (or a static shock to the computer) and it does
not work correctly, you may be able to perform a power management unit re-set;
if the computer is a G4 PPC Mac Mini, that would be a PMU reset. If the computer
happens to be a later Intel-based Mac Mini, the procedure would be an SMC reset
and different rules would apply. I have added links to both methods in this post.
There is a chance some hardware damages may have occurred to the computer due
to being unprotected and not isolated from grid power fluctuations; such as provided
by use of an 'uninterruptible power supply' or 'backup power supply' which would be
able to switch to battery backup automatically when the main power goes haywire.
Which model Mini do you have? Since I have a G4 PowerPC Mini, I know something
about resetting Power Management Unit procedures since I've notice the Mini is more
likely to need a reset due to static shock when normally touching the computer; with
winter weather and less indoor humidity. (Otherwise, I have UPS power protection.)
Links to both kinds of power/system management reset procedure are below.
• PPC-based G4 Mac Mini: How to reset the PMU
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2183
• *Intel-based Macs:* Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 (mini reset instructions, as follows)
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
4. Release the power button.
5. Attach the computers power cable.
6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
{You may wish to read through the entire Intel-based Mac article if your Mini
is of this architecture, since there may be applicable hints for all Intel-Macs.}
Not sure about your other continuing issues; I'd have to re-read the posts,
since I have been interrupted three times during this post, locally...
If the computer does run, eventually, it may be some directory damages or
other sector or data errors have occurred in the computer's hard disk drive;
and you may have to consider buying Disk Warrior on disc so you can boot
the computer from its disc to repair the Directory on the hard disk drive.
Restoring is easier if you should have a complete clone of the computer on
an external hard disk drive; one that is capable of booting the computer.
Good luck & happy computing!

Mac Mini Won't Boot with VGA Monitor Connected

I have a new Mac Mini connected to an older VGA monitor using the Apple brand VGA adapter. The mini is fully up to date and runs perfectly when booted. However, if I reboot the mini with the VGA monitor connected, it fails to boot. I just hear the faint chime sound every other second. There is no output to the monitor and the only way I can get it to boot is to disconnect the monitor and then power cycle the mini. I can reconnect the monitor just seconds after powering back on and it finishes booting properly.
Anyone else experience this? It is very frustrating. I've also tested with an HDMI connected monitor (without the VGA adapter) and it boots just fine and the display works properly.
Thanks!

Okay, I'm back with good news: I have found two remedies for the problem which will hopefully solve it for you as well.
Given that the issue only occurs when certain monitors are connected, I concluded that the root of it must be a bug in the Mac's firmware related to DDC (Display Data Channel) handling, and that the most promising way to address it should be to just disable the DDC.
Workaround #1: If your monitor has BNC connectors, use a VGA to BNC cable.
In this configuration the DDC pins are not connected to the monitor at all. This did indeed fix the problem - my Mac mini booted without a problem with the monitor connected. However, I was not completely satisfied with this solution, because VGA to BNC cables are usually quite heavy and inflexible, and do no go together well with Apple's MDP to VGA adapter and the Mini Displayport/Thunderbolt port which has no locking mechanism.
Workaround #2: Remove pin 12 of the VGA plug.
Pin 12 of the VGA plug connects the serial data line of the DDC. Pulling out this pin with a pair of needle nose pliers will effectively disable DDC. I hesitated to do this to my cable (a direct MDP to VGA cable which eliminates the need for a separate adapter dangling from the Mac) and therefore bought a tiny VGA male to female adapter (also called port saver, e.g. Delock 65250) to perform the surgery on that. This has done the trick and my Mac mini has started up fine ever since.
Of course, without DDC the Mac won't know the model name and capabilities of the attached monitor and thus offer some resolution and frequency settings which the monitor may not support, but that's a small drawback compared to having to pull out the monitor cable everytime you turn on or restart your Mac.

Mac Mini won't boot past Apple logo and spinning wheel

Hello,
I have a Mac mini (late 2009) running 10.8.2. Today, I tried to log into the computer. It accepted my username and password, but then the screen turned gray instead of logging in. I left it like that for about twenty minutes, then gave up on waiting and Ctrl-Command-Power rebooted it. It then wouldn't reboot: it gets to the Apple logo and spinning loading wheel, but won't go past there.
So I went into single-user mode and was able to access the HD fine. I ran a filesystems check using the recommended syntax (/sbin/fsck -fy, I think). It said that the volume looked okay, and that it had been modified. I took this as a good sign (that it had been repaired) and typed "reboot" to restart the machine. I held Command-Shift-V to perform a Verbose Safe Boot.
The computer makes no further progress after the following four lines:
vboxdrv: fAsync=0 offMin0x809 offMax=0x2bc3
VBoxDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302; IOCtl version 0x140001; IDC version 0x10000; dev major=34
VBoxFltDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302
VBoxAdpDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302
I'm assuming all the instances of "vbox" are in reference to Oracle's VirtualBox VM. I do have VirtualBox installed, but haven't used it in a while (months), so I don't see why it's suddenly causing a problem.
To clarify, the computer doesn't "hang" after these lines: I can still type text into the terminal. The entire log is being saved to /dev/console, so I could probably grab it from Single-User Mode if necessary.
Everything else seems to be working properly: even the wl0 drivers are loaded.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix this, or at least disable VirtualBox so the computer can start?
Thanks!
WC

Cult of Mac post:
When the Apple Logo appears your Mac has found a valid system disk, and Mac OS X begins loading.
Apple Logo with Spinning Gear
Once the spinning gear appears the BSD kernel (Darwin) has assumed command and begins loading device drivers. Shortly thereafter it transfers command to the almighty (and controversial) launchd process. Such are the workings of UNIX.
What this means for us mortals is that when a Mac stalls at the Apple logo or the logo with a spinning gear, it probably has a corrupt Mac OS X installation. It may also be having trouble accessing an internal or external hardware component, but this is less-likely.
Rebooting your Mac in Safe Mode can sometimes get things working well-enough that a second, normal reboot then works normally Hold down the Shift key at startup to boot in Safe Mode. DiskWarrior is also worth a shot (this is by far my most used disk utility). If that doesn’t work, an Archive & Install may be needed.
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/50685/how-to-fix-common-mac-startup-problems-macrx/#CGI mG3jeGEBtysX1.99

Mac mini won't boot - hardware test error

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