2 cd's stuck in intel iMac.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats what my friend in Australia said to me (I am in New Zealand so 4 hours on a plane away! so cant go look)
Itunes was copying a cd and was about to burn it evidently and asked her to insert a blank disk so she stuck it gently in the slot and it sucked it in!!! now she thinks there are 2 cd disks in there ! there are 2 CD images on the desktop 1 for the music cd and 1 for the blank disk
This is what she recons happened though I cannot see how anyone could even with a great deal of force put 2 cd's in a slot drive at once !! and she used no force the drive grabbed it and sucked it in but now there seems no way to eject it/them
I am assuming there is one disk in there and suggested the eject button and dragging and reboot hold mouse idea and none of that works . The drive makes a few noises but nothing comes out
So whats the story with intel iMacs.. is there no physical way like paper clips or others to eject it/.. I also heard you could boot to open firmware and type in something to eject it that way but it doesnt seem to respond to the commands to start in open firmware.. maybe intel Imacs dont have open firmware ?
is there some command line way at boot up to do this ?
or some other way ?
Yes she is blonde but i cant believe this is her fault..

Yes thanks
it was only 1 cd
I thoguht she may have been confused with the 2 icons
evidently it was a Karaoke CD and it comes up as 2 disks
1 audio content
1 video content
I am glad no one can force 2 cd's in their iMac
thanks a bunch she was killer herself laughing

Similar Messages

Disc Stuck in Intel iMac... STILL After Trying Literally EVERYTHING!

It's been almost a month now and I still have a standard CD-R stuck in my disk drive. While my iMac is still useable, the disk drive cycles and taunts me every 4-5 seconds as it attempts to once again eject the disk. The battle has been fierce and I have literally tried EVERYTHING mentioned online up to the current day (5/16/2009). Here are couple key-points worth noting:
• When the computer boots up and I first log in, the disk actually shows up on the desktop as well as in iTunes. One quick tap on the eject button (or any other standard disk eject method) and the drama begins again as the disk drive comes to life and begins its relentless, endless cycle of ejection attempts.
• I have tried the plastic/laminated card method, the hold down the mouse-button and reboot method, the various key-combination methods, the terminal methods, the tipping the monitor methods, the trying to insert a second disk methods, the tweeze methods, the press the case together methods, the double-stick tape methods, and even the lay hands on it and pray method... ALL with no avail!
So, now what's left? Taking my iMac in to a professional Apple technician is not an option as I am past the warranty period and am literally broke financially!

Hey Jaber,
I've had the same issue with mine as well, and tried all the suggestions to no avail.
I think it's a Drive issue , because I've read several other post in reference to this.
I could not eject mine, even though I could see the icon, and click eject it, however, it would try to eject the CD but would not come out. The drive was running al the time in sleep mode. I finally got the CD out, but you are going to have to use some tools to do it and take it apart somewhat. This is at the point where you decide to find a replacement Drive and install it yourself, (some what skilled labor involved) or do what I did, which was to to pull the 4 screws off the bottom of the imac, slide the Bezel off slightly so you can now actually see the side of the drive. In my case, there was a small metal latch (to hold the CD in while it spins?) in the middle of the drive preventing the CD from ejecting. Once I took a small screwdriver and pressed this latch back, I was able to take a pair of tweezers and pull out my CD. At this point I closed everything up, and put a piece of scotch tape across the drive slot, (so no one would accidently stick another CD in) and purchased a $69 external F/W drive. My take was this..., it was more cost & time effective to purchase a external CD/DVD drive (plug & Play) as opposed to time and effort putting in a new drive in the iMac.
Hope this helps.

CD stuck in intel iMac

this is our family mac, and sombody recently put a music cd in the drive to upload to iTunes, it worked fine until it wouldnt eject. It would try to eject the disc, but then would never come out, eventually it stopped recognizing the disc completely, and i cant find a way to get it out. I have tried everything, restarting with the mouse button down, taping the felt back, i realized there was a small metal guard blocking the cd. Anyone have any tricks? or have had this same problem that can help me out??

You didn't by chance insert a mini-disc? If so you will need to have the computer disassembled and the optical drive removed in order to try to remove a mini-disc. Apple specifically warns not to use mini-discs.
Otherwise you can try this:
Open the Terminal application in the Utilities folder and enter or paste the following at the command prompt:
/usr/bin/drutil eject
Press RETURN
If this doesn't work then you have a mechanical problem with the drive.

Intel iMac stuck at desktop screen, no menu bar, no finder, spinning ball

Hi, I've just run into a serious problem with my 24" Intel iMac not starting up properly. At first it was getting stuck on the gray screen, then I got it to the blue screen, and now finally I can get it as far as loading the desktop picture, the cursor comes up and is responsive to the mouse, but has now become the spinning beachball. There is no menu bar, and the finder will not load. It's been in this state for about ten minutes. What I did to get it to this state is:
1. Disconnect all peripherals. I'm using an Apple wireless keyboard and mighty mouse, too.
2. Reset the PRAM.
3. Reset the PMU.
4. Used the installation disc to run Apple Hardware Test (the short version) successfully...no problems.
5. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Corrected a minor problem with the file structure.
6. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Repaired permissions.
7. Performed a Safe Boot, and got to the log-in screen, did not log in, but restarted normally as suggested in one of the Apple support articles.
8. Am now staring at my desktop picture without the menu bar or the Finder, but the spinning beachball is chugging along and is responsive to my mouse.
If it is of any help, I've noticed for several months that the computer would occasionally fail to wake from sleep, and I'd need to force a shut down by holding the power button for several seconds. Could this have been a precursor to the current problem?
At this point, I'm not certain which version of 10.5 I have, because I can't check. But I've installed all the Apple updates that have come through, so I must be at the current version of 10.5. I can't remember exactly how much RAM I have installed, either, but it might be 3 GB. I installed a second memory module at the time of purchase, which I bought from Crucial.com.
I'm having to write this on my ancient PowerBook G4, which is still performing admirably under OS X 10.4.11. Thanks for any help or suggestions anyone can provide! : )

It appears to have been a short of some sort on my power supply...it blew a capacitor somehow, though I don't know how/when that happened. Computer is on a surge protector, and generally sleeps during day while I'm away, but no power outages or other electrical issues occurred while I was out that I'm aware of.
Anyway, I had a new power supply installed by an Apple certified technician...opted not to do it myself...and discovered that the HD is perfectly fine. No data loss. Phew! Just two weeks w/o my computer, and no way to recover backup files on Time Capsule in the meantime.
Thanks for all the help and advice!

Intel iMac stuck in reboot loop

Since the last few days, my 6 month old Intel iMac is stuck in a reboot loop.
Configuration:
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac12,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core i5
Processor Speed:          2.5 GHz
Number of Processors:          1
Total Number of Cores:          4
OS: 10.6.8 (with patches applied as they become avaliable)
It is connected to a UPS at all times.
I always put it to sleep at night. Sometimes it stays in the Sleep mode for a couple of days (i travel and wife does not use for some time). But it always would "wake" up from Sleep on a keyboard touch. Magic mouse battery died a few days ago, so put in a new pair of battery, had the usual problem of "pairing", fixed that and continued on.
(Coincidentally, it almost also marks where my problems started).
Now, when i press any key, the iMac reboots. And then just before it looks like it will show the wallpaper, it reboots. and this continues on - sometimes 10-15 times. I press the power key and switch it OFF. Press the power key again, no go - stuck in the reboot loop. Run the Apple Hardware Test (exhaustive one included - it reports no issue found). Do a SMC reset (take off the power cord from the back of the iMac for 35 seconds) and put it back. Switch off the mouse and attach a USB mouse and press the Shift key to boot into the Safe mode. This works! Installed Pacifist to check for any non-Apple kernel extensions, none found...
Since AHT reports all fine - can hardware be ruled out?
Could it be the magic mouse? Need to try it (just wary of the reboot loop )?
If it is the mouse, is it covered in the 12 month initial warranty (I am in India)?
Console log reports this line:
08/06/12 7:20:59 PM
configd[13]
Sleep: Success - AC
com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.powermanagement.sleep
com.apple.message.signature: Success
com.apple.message.value: 0
com.apple.message.result: Success
com.apple.message.uuid: A9EDA79D-440F-4CD5-B3FA-5A6451E6677B
and this:
08/06/12 7:20:59 PM
configd[13]
Wake: Drivers Failure - AC - HDEF SATA
com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.powermanagement.wake
com.apple.message.signature: Drivers Failure
com.apple.message.result: Failure
Is it the HDD?
Any/all help is appreciated. I am going to carry it in to an Apple Care tomorrow, but was curious to see what the community had to say.
Thanks,

Well, it is getting odder now...when i read your message and click the console icon on the dock, the iMac just crashed and rebooted!
Here are the console messages just before and after the most recent crash (at 12:07):
08/06/12 11:53:34 PM
Console[919]
asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
08/06/12 11:53:35 PM
Console[919]
asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
08/06/12 11:53:36 PM
Console[919]
asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
08/06/12 11:53:37 PM
Console[919]
asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
09/06/12 12:07:00 AM
com.apple.launchd[1]
*** launchd[1] has started up. ***
09/06/12 12:07:18 AM
com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[87]
(com.apple.ReportCrash) Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
09/06/12 12:07:21 AM
com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[87]
(com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[112]) Exited with exit code: 1
09/06/12 12:07:22 AM
com.hp.messagecenter.launcher[115]
ThrottleProcessIO: throttling disk i/o
09/06/12 12:07:23 AM
com.apple.launchd[1]
(com.apple.xprotectupdater[20]) Exited with exit code: 252
09/06/12 12:08:37 AM
[0x0-0x14014].com.google.Chrome[147]
[0609/000837:INFO:breakpad_mac.mm(177)] Breakpad disabled
09/06/12 12:08:43 AM
[0x0-0x14014].com.google.Chrome[147]
[147:-1273409536:105210075659:ERROR:backend_impl.cc(1148)] Critical error found -8
Here are the console messages just before and after the most recent crash (at 12:07):
Jun 8 23:53:01 localhost Console[919]: asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
Jun 8 23:53:32: --- last message repeated 18 times ---
Jun 8 23:53:32 localhost Console[919]: asl_file_open_read() failed on path /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2012.06.04.asl with error Invalid Data Store
Jun 8 23:54:02: --- last message repeated 5 times ---
Jun 9 00:07:00 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 9 00:07:04 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 9 00:07:04 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 9 00:07:12 localhost fseventsd[34]: event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (14259 14 14295)
Jun 9 00:07:12 localhost fseventsd[34]: log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: 848839F3-1F7D-409B-A5F1-14170B9CD90D
Jun 9 00:07:12 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339180618 0
Jun 9 00:07:15 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[22]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[30]: Login Window Application Started
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost com.apple.kextd[10]: Can't load /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/InternalModemSu pport.kext - no code for running kernel's architecture.
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost com.apple.kextd[10]: Failed to load /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/InternalModemSu pport.kext - (libkern/kext) requested architecture/executable not found.
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost com.apple.kextd[10]: Load com.apple.driver.InternalModemSupport failed; removing personalities.
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost configd[13]: bootp_session_transmit: bpf_write(en1) failed: Network is down (50)
Jun 9 00:07:16 localhost configd[13]: DHCP en1: INIT-REBOOT transmit failed
Jun 9 00:07:18 localhost loginwindow[30]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Jun 9 00:07:18 localhost loginwindow[30]: Login Window - Returned from Security Agent
Jun 9 00:07:18 localhost loginwindow[30]: USER_PROCESS: 30 console
Jun 9 00:07:18 localhost com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[87] (com.apple.ReportCrash): Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
Jun 9 00:07:21 localhost configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Jun 9 00:07:21: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Jun 9 00:07:21 localhost com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[87] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[112]): Exited with exit code: 1
Jun 9 00:07:22 localhost com.hp.messagecenter.launcher[115]: ThrottleProcessIO: throttling disk i/o
Jun 9 00:07:23 localhost XProtectUpdater[20]: Ignoring new signature plist: Not an increase in version
Jun 9 00:07:23 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.xprotectupdater[20]): Exited with exit code: 252
Jun 9 00:07:32 localhost warmd[21]: [fetcher_open_file:936] open("/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64") => -1 (errno: 2)
Jun 9 00:07:35 localhost ntpd[19]: time reset +0.205296 s
Jun 9 00:08:37 localhost [0x0-0x14014].com.google.Chrome[147]: [0609/000837:INFO:breakpad_mac.mm(177)] Breakpad disabled
Jun 9 00:08:43 localhost [0x0-0x14014].com.google.Chrome[147]: [147:-1273409536:105210075659:ERROR:backend_impl.cc(1148)] Critical error found -8
Here is the system.log when the iMac was first sought be woken up from sleep:
Jun 8 07:21:47 Manoj-Satis-iMac loginwindow[30]: no spins reported for this wake
Jun 8 07:22:46 Manoj-Satis-iMac loginwindow[30]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac loginwindow[30]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:6/8/2012 7:22:54.006 AM - Waketime:6/8/2012 7:22:53.330 AM = Deltatime:0.676087976
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac applepushserviced[125]: <APSCourier: 0x106741520>: Stream error occurred for <APSTCPStream: 0x107315250>: Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=57 UserInfo=0x107539b80 "The operation couldn’t be completed. Socket is not connected"
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac applepushserviced[125]: <APSCourier: 0x106741520>: Stream error occurred for <APSTCPStream: 0x107529760>: Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=2 UserInfo=0x107318360 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 2.)"
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: bootp_session_transmit: bpf_write(en1) failed: Network is down (50)
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: DHCP en1: INIT-REBOOT transmit failed
Jun 8 07:22:54 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Jun 8 07:22:58 Manoj-Satis-iMac mDNSResponder[29]: DeregisterInterface: Frequent transitions for interface en1 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:E6CE:8FFF:FE5D:48C6)
Jun 8 07:22:58 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: Sleep: Success - AC - Software Sleep
Jun 8 07:22:58 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: Wake: Success - AC - EHC2
Jun 8 07:22:58 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: Hibernate Statistics
Jun 8 07:22:58 Manoj-Satis-iMac configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Jun 8 07:23:05 Manoj-Satis-iMac loginwindow[30]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Jun 8 19:20:45 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:20:48 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:20:48 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:20:55 localhost fseventsd[34]: event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (319516 12 362581)
Jun 8 19:20:55 localhost fseventsd[34]: log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: 42A22C99-8FAD-40F4-AC9A-8DE55586FDCF
Jun 8 19:20:55 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163443 0
Jun 8 19:20:58 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:20:58 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[22]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
Jun 8 19:20:59 localhost configd[13]: Sleep: Success - AC
Jun 8 19:20:59 localhost configd[13]: Wake: Drivers Failure - AC - HDEF SATA
Jun 8 19:21:19 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:21:24 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:21:25 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:21:26 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163476 0
Jun 8 19:21:29 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:21:30 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[22]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
Jun 8 19:21:56 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:22:01 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:22:02 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:22:03 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163515 0
Jun 8 19:22:06 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:22:33 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:22:38 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:22:39 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:22:40 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163552 0
Jun 8 19:22:43 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:22:44 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[22]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
Jun 8 19:23:07 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:23:13 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:23:14 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:23:15 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163587 0
Jun 8 19:23:18 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:23:19 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[22]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan 5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
Jun 8 19:23:46 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Jun 8 19:23:51 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Jun 8 19:23:52 localhost blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Jun 8 19:23:53 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1339163625 0
Jun 8 19:23:54 localhost fseventsd[34]: event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (147 9 179)
Jun 8 19:23:54 localhost fseventsd[34]: log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: 09B8A63F-56EF-4D9A-9E5C-A6D27EFCD26C
Jun 8 19:23:56 localhost mDNSResponder[29]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Jun 8 19:25:04 localhost com.apple.kextd[9]: Safe boot mode detected; invalidating system extensions caches.
Jun 8 19:24:28 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***

Intel iMac stuck at blue screen.

I have a 2007 model intel iMac running 10.4.11
Never had any problems until about a week ago, then it just locked up. Nothing was responsive although the mouse was still moving (spinning beach ball). I left it for about an hour or so before concluding it wasn't going to work itself out and held the power button on the back until it turned off. Now whenever I start it up it gets stuck at the blue screen. It goes through the grey screen with the apple then to the blue screen but never brings up the "Mac OS X" loading box. I left it for 30 min and still nothing.
So I started perusing these forums for help and have tried a few things.
First I loaded in the original grey disks and erased the hard drive and reinstalled the system software. This worked and the computer worked for about 2 hours before crashing again and having the same problem. Since then I've tried resetting the PRAM, using disk utility on the grey disks (came up with "invalid volume header").
I've taken it down to the apple support store here where I live and they told me it was a dead logic board. Would I still be able to reload the system software and use the computer without problems for 2+ hours with a dead logic board? Any help would be great, also I'll run vebose mode and post again with what it says.

I would suspect a bad HDD. What is the SMART status reported in Disk Utility when you highlight the drive itself, not the boot volume?
Dah•veed

Intel Imac stuck at white screen and 3 beeps sound continously....

Intel Imac stuck at white screen and 3 beeps sound continously when power on. Pls help......

Well Barry, as for the Ram, all this while are install by apple technician since very day i bought iMac on july 2008. Just wondering What's actually went wrong..
Very first day I bought iMac, few days later, system cant even on. AppleCare Centre exchanged a new set of iMac.
two weeks later, i notice several dead pixels appearing on screen, call to log a case with them, later on, they changed a new panel.
After several months pass, been using happily with iMac... but since now, this problem occurs. So fastrating... My third time encounters problem with iMac. sign
Any suggestion? If not, I guess i have to bring this bulky iMac to applecare centre again. sign

Intel iMac stuck at blue screen on start up

Our G5 Intel iMac flat panel is stuck at the blue screen on startup. Won't go past it, no sad mac, just blue screen. Yesterday it kept locking up with the rainbow circle of death in all our applications. Now it won't even start up, seems to be stuck in the startup process. Any suggestions?

Hi
Have a look at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
Though article says 10.3.9 or earlier, it also can apply to 10.4.
Also, you either have an iMac G5, Intel Core Duo (Jan-Aug 2006) or Intel Core 2 Duo (Sep 2006 onwards).
Steve

Intel iMac - won't start - grey screen & progress bar

I have a 2006 Intel iMac - 20" model, Intel Core Duo, 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, etc. It was one of the very earliest Intel iMacs. Kept updated, running OS 10.6, etc.
It has worked extremely well for over 5 years - apart from the Superdrive being temperamental sometimes - but has suddenly gone wrong.
Last week the machine completely froze for no apparent reason. I had to force a reboot. This failed - grey screen and the grey spinning wheel (if that's what it's called), indefinitely.
Forced reboot again and this time held down the shift key to go into safe boot mode. This time it was successful, and I was able to get to the logon screen & log myself in. I opened Disk Utility & attempted to do some diagnostics but the machine froze again.
Looking around various other forum postings...I rebooted the machine in single user mode and was able to get to the command line to type 'fsck -fy' to attempt to fix disk problems. This failed repeatedly, with an error message 'invalid node structure'.
I tried to boot my machine from the OS X disc but my Superdrive refused to play ball - it would not read the disc (or any other disc for that matter, including a copy of DiskWarrior that I have).
I have now got hold of an external DVD drive in the hope that this would show up as a boot device when I switch the machine on while holding the option key down. No such luck - the drive powers up ok (power via USB) but I'm not given the option to boot from it - in fact that screen doesn't appear at all.
All that happens now on powering up - regardless of what I do - is the grey apple symbol appears and a progress bar beneath it. The progress bar gets stuck about 5% of the way along, and then after about 10 minutes it disappears and is replaced with the grey spinning wheel thingy. And then it just gets stuck - nothing else happens.
HELP!
All my important data is backed up on an external drive via Time Machine, so that should be safe, but I'm desperate to get the machine running again.
One thing that occurred to me is that I've had a program called ReFit installed on the machine which allowed me to run the machine as dual boot etc. (and I do have a couple of other small partitions on the drive, not currently used) but the ReFit welcome screen stopped appearing a couple of weeks ago for some reason. I'm wondering if this has somehow messed things up...?
Grateful for any suggestions...
Thanks,
Alan.

For the drive, you should be OK with any SATA 2 at 3 MB/s transfer speed. You could also use a SATA 1, no jumpers needed. (Not SATA 3 - can't be jumpered down.) The early 2006 Intels were 1.5 MB/s -- at least the drives were, so I'm assuming the SATA controller on the logic board was also. Might just be SATA 2 hadn't yet been introduced and can run the faster SATA 3 without jumpers. My guess is not. You should be able to set jumpers on the drive for backwards compatibility. You'll have to contact the drive manufacturer or go to their website for that info.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac-core-2-duo-2.16-20-inch-sp ecs.html
As for the superdrive, I'd contact the manufacturer to check on compatibility.
Glad I'm able to help. BTW, in case you haven't noticed, maybe you want to have a look here.

Intel imac display glitch and involuntary restart

Just want to know if anyone else has experienced this specific problem, there are plenty of complaints about intel imac displays but I can't be bothered to sift through them all trying to find a match for my problem.
A couple of months ago I was watching a video in quicktime and noticed that my screen was glitching and flashing fragmented diagonal lines - like a commodore 64 loading type thing. Then the spinning-ball came up and a force quit didn't do anything so I had to force shut down. I started up and it occured again. Then the screen went blank/black, but still lit up, and restarted without me doing anything. It also got stuck during start up the second time this occured. I panicked and ran out to buy a 500GB external drive, backed up all of my work and then re-installed mac osx from disk, archive and install job. This seemed to sort it and for the following two months it seemed OK. No sign of any problems.
Since then I have updated from 10.4.7 to 10.4.10 (which I have suspicion that it screwed the firmware in my motu 828 firewire audio interface, costing me a £130 repair - but that's another painful story).
It happened again tonight (the screen thing, not the motu). And the ball came up and I couldn't do anything. Force shut down, restart - screen glitching again. Then I had 2 unexpected restarts, one getting stuck in startup. Then a successful startup but accompanied by the glitchy graphics, mainly red/pink pixellated diagonal lines flickering in and out. I ran a disk first aid - no problems. Did a disk permission repair. Shut down and ran a hardware test, the first few minutes of the test the screen was still at it but then stopped glitching, hardware test found no errors (it was an extended test too). Now I'm back on it and it's all OK.
Any suggestions/similar stories?
When it occured 2 months ago I had the original ram that came with the imac. Now I have 2x1GB sticks of crucial ram.

That's it! Well, that's what I have. Unfortunately, I don't know about the cause, but I don't ever recall having it prior to an update going back about a year ago. I recall an update, and that update being immediately followed by some sort of Apple Graphics something-or-other. I feel pretty certain that's when I first noticed this. I just had my LCD replaced for another reason, but I think you'll agree, it's not an LCD issue. In my case, browser activity, scrolling up or down in a page, seems to be the most common trigger. I've also seen "pieces" of the torn page, on the screen when minimizing the browser to the dock (usually Firefox, but I think I've seen it with Opera and Safari too). Is there a way to find update packages installed somewhere? I'd know it if I saw it, and I'd definitely try removing that suspect package/update.
Message was edited by: geekboy2000 - corrected OS

Intel iMac; upgraded adobe flash; bluetooth keyboard no longer pairs but magic mouse still OK. With Bluetooth switched on the screen splits into 4 areas and open windows seperate and shrink. Switch off Bluetooth and problem disappears and iMac works OK

Intel iMac; upgraded adobe flash; bluetooth keyboard no longer pairs but magic mouse still OK. With Bluetooth switched on the screen splits into 4 areas and open windows seperate and shrink. Switch off Bluetooth and problem disappears and iMac works OK with plug-in keyboard and mouse

Hi, Derek -
...the screen splits into 4 areas and open windows seperate and shrink.
Sounds like Spaces is being activated somehow. With the wired keyboard and mouse in use, select the Exposé & Spaces control pane in System Preferences, click the choice in that pane for Spaces. See what the settings are. There are some activation settings in that pane - by default, F8 activates it.
It could be that the bluetooth keyboard has some stuck keys and is activating Spaces; or that the activation command has somehow been reset to something that the bluetooth mouse, or bluetooth itself, is triggering.

Intel iMac with 10.5.8 - Grey Screen of Death but worse please help!

Okay, this has happened three times now in six months, and I'm about to go out of my mind. Everytime it's a little different but basically:
My iMac becomes unresponsive, whether by a system lock up, or I wake up in the morning (like this morning) to a black screen with the white light still on, as if it were asleep. Nothing I do wakes the computer or otherwise makes it respond, so I hold the power button down for a few seconds and it shuts off.
Now, when I boot up, I get a grey screen with the Apple logo with the spinning black/grey pinwheel.
Inserting a CD does nothing. In fact, now my only install CD of Leopard is stuck in the slot-loading drive. I've tried everything I can to eject it: hold down eject on boot, left mouse button on boot, option on boot, commandoption+pr, command+v, etc. etc. etc.
I'm a software developer for OS X and have extensive hardware knowledge, so I kind of know a bit about what I'm doing.
The iMac will not boot off of a CD. It doesn't even recognize the CD. I have an external USB 2.0 hard drive with a current Time Machine backup, but I don't think those are bootable.
Anyway, in the past, to resolve this issue, I've had to take the iMac apart, put the internal hard drive into an external enclosure, and mount the drive onto my MacBook Pro. Interestingly enough, when I do this the drive mounts perfectly fine and shows all files exactly as they should be. So it's something to do with Leopard destroying it's boot record, or some other system configuration.
Even worse, I cannot simply reinstall Mac OS X from the laptop, because the installer says the hard drive needs to be formatted before an install can occur. So either way I'm losing all my data (even though as I said I have a current backup).
Well this time I haven't taken it apart yet. But the install CD is stuck in the drive. Even if I got the hard drive out, and mounted on my MacBook, my other install CD is too damaged to use, so I MUST get this CD out of the iMac.
My questions are:
What do you do when the grey screen of death occurs, and the computer won't even boot off of the CD?
What do you do to get a CD stuck in an iMac out? Especially when the iMac is in the grey screen of death mode?
What in the world is causing this to happen EVERY 3-6 MONTHS??!
Someone please help... I'm going insane.

Hi I am having the identical problem with my 24" intel iMac 2007..... Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I'm on round 3 now and with a completely blank grey screen and it won't start up from the disk 1.. I also have diskwarrior and techtool pro as well as the osx leopard and snow leopard disk... The HD is new.. Replaced by apple 3 months ago.. Don't know the cause the first time this happened about 9 months ago.. 2nd time, 6 months ago it never rebooted from the office for mac 2008 critical update... Did a clean install after backing up to TC... Took it to apple replaced HD even though it appeared ok, they checked all hardware and I ran techtool pro daily ever since. Last week software update had several updates avail. Office for mac being one of them.. I updated and have never booted since.. . I swear to never ever use another Microsoft product as long as I live if I can just fix this once more... Help me please

Migrating from a 20" Intel iMac to a 24"... any gotcha's?

I want to buy a new 24" iMac, mainly for the increased speed and Firewire 800 port. I have to make the switch from one machine to the other quickly. A few questions...
Any know problems moving 3rd party app's using the Migration Assistant? How about with Apple app's such as FCS, iTunes (actually iTunes was hosed during the last upgrade so this isn't critical). Microsoft locks certain programs to the CPU S/N and system configuration in a Windows environment; same true on the iMac? After the migration, what's left on the source (20") computer; i.e. when the Migration Assistant moves programs to the new computer does it delete them from the old computer? I plan to sue my existing 20" Cinema display as the 2nd monitor with the 24" iMac. Any scaling problems? Basically, are there any gotcha's I should be aware of before spending all that money?
(This is my second posting of these questions. The original seems to have disappeared. If this ends up being a duplicate, my apologies.)
 20" Intel iMac + Cinema Display + Sony HDR-HC7 HD camera Mac OS X (10.4.10) All tools, no talent!

I simply took the FW400 HDD containing my most recent backup of my old computer, connected it to the new computer, booted to this drive, then did a 'backup' from from it to the internal HDD of the new computer. Once completed, I booted to the new computer and the job was done.
Interesting... when I tried Apple's approach I also got stuck around 6 hours into the process. I tried twice and finally gave up. The SuperDuper approach was fast and worked the first time I tried it. I should add the SuperDuper folks told me this wouldn't work, but I figured, worst case, I'd have to rebuild the new computer's boot drive from the supplied disks. Fortunately this wasn't necessary.
Message was edited by: transco

Mini disc stuck in my imac

How do I remove a mini disc that is stuck in my new intel imac? the eject button is useless. <Edited by Moderator>
Thanks
Steve

Hi Steve
You could turn it on it's side and hope that it falls out, but you'll probably have to take the iMac to your local Apple Service Provider or Apple Store and have them extract the disc from it.
Have a look at your Intel iMac User's Guide:
*Chapter 2 page 21 say's:* +It can write music, documents, and other files to standard-size CD-R,+
+CD-RW, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD±R Double Layer (DL) discs.+
and *Chapter 4 page 50 say's:* +Use only a _standard size_ disc.+
Dennis

IPod Nano 4G frozen at language screen. Tried holding down menu-click without success. Have gone through restore process, but it continues to stick at the language screen. Intel iMac 3ghz, OS X 10.6.7, iTunes 10.3.1 (55).

I have a frozen iPod Nano 4G. After syncing it gets stuck at the language screen and cannot proceed any further.
I have tried holding down the Menu and click buttons for >6 seconds, without luck. Have reset to factory settings and re-syncd, but it keeps getting stuck at the language screen.
I suspect it is the latest version of iTunes causing the problem, as I just installed it a couple of days ago and this is the first sync since the update.
24" Intel iMac 3ghz C2D, OS X 10.6.7, iTunes 10.3.1 (55).

+Do you have access to, another Firewire enabled Mac, that you could use, to attempt a retrieval of data, using Firewire Target Disk Mode?+
A question on this Firewire Target Disk Mode - If I could get access to another Firewire enabled Mac and connected the two together, host #2 to Target #1, with a Firewire cable (6-pin to 6-pin), and power the two up, even though #1 would not be booted up to the desktop but just have the hard drive powered up, would the hard drive of #1 be accessible to #2? If so, would I be able to perform any repairs or do anything to the drive to enable it to bootup the #1 computer? This would be similar to when I remove and hook up a 2.5" IDE-ATA PC laptop hard drive to another PC computer, usually a desktop, via a drive adapter and USB 2.0 cable, as an external drive. When I do this in a PC, it's usually one that is unable to boot up to Windows due to malware or other problems. I am able to see the files and folders on the #1 computer's hdd and then clean out any malware (virus/spyware), or add/replace any corrupt/damaged Windows files that might be keeping the #1 computer from booting up. After that, I can usually return the hdd to the #1 computer and boot up normally to finish any clean up or change any settings.
I had considered taking the hdd out of this damaged iMac computer and attempting to hook it up with a PC, but after seeing how difficult it is to get to this hdd and not sure of what I'd do when and if I did get the two connected together, I put the idea way back as a last resort. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to see any folders or files on the Mac hdd due to the differences between OS X and WinXP. And, after reading that Macs aren't susceptible to malware, I didn't know what I would be accomplishing.

2 cd's stuck in intel iMac.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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