Brand new imac won't start HELP!!

Just got an iMac, fresh out of the box I hit the power button, everything looks normal, OS X does its normal checks, then the desktop comes up with multicolour stripes - the desktop is cluttered with all kinds of files - a darwin console opens up then an application called Phoenix starts does a few things that were too quick and then just says PAUSED in an orange box at the top and nothing else.
I have a bluetooth mouse and keyboard so I can't actually control the thing in any way either.
It also looks like OS X 10.5 has not been pre-installed.
Please can someone help me with a suggestions as to what I can do.
(I am an experienced Mac User having used them since the original SE - I've never experienced something like this before)
Thanks

it sounds like the iBook went to sleep during the transfer or at least it's hard drive spun down.
what you need to know is hope that simply booting from your install DVD will let you repair the iMac's hard drive. You could also try booting holding down the Command S keys on startup and when you get to the Single User Mode command line prompt follow the directions there for running fsck to repair your hard drive.
Do you have a FW hard drive? Can you copy files from iBook to FW and then from there to iMac?
And, it is always nice to have a FW emergency/backup hard drive. The iMac needs a different partition scheme to be bootable from FW than the iBook does, but you can create the proper partition type etc from a Tiger Installer and put OS X on FireWire, then see if you can backup and repair your iMac's hard drive.
MicroMat's TechTool Pro 4.5.1 is now shipping and is compatible, Universal Binary and bootable. Always good to have some 3rd party utility handy.
If you are just starting out, you probably don't have much if anything installed yet, so you may want to just erase your iMac drive and restore to what it was. That would be the easiest if Disk Utility won't repair it.
Instead of powering off the iBook, I would have tried to force quit whatever was running, like Migration Assistant.

Similar Messages

My brand new iMac won't start up now and I've only had it 3 weeks...

my brand new iMac has worked for 3 weeks, then all of the sudden won't start. It shows the apple icon and the spinning wheel but never gets past that screen. We already formatted our old iMac to sell it so I really need to recover this. Any ideas on how to get it to get past this screen? I already tried safe mode but it went to this apple logo and spinning wheel icon after the bar

2nd. This is a warranty issue.
You realize this is a forum of other comsumers right?
Grant

Please HELP!! Brand New iMac- Won't turn on!!!!!

Someone please help!!
I JUST purchased a brand new iMac today, no more than 4 hours ago! I brought it home and followed the set up instructions and pressed the "power" button.
The fan comes on- it sounds weak to me, then it slows down, the little white light at the botton right hand side comes on, but the screen remains BLACK!!! Nothing comes on my screen!!
I am NEW to Apple, so I am CLUELESS as to why this is happening or what is going on- not to mention EXTREMELY AGGRAVATED that I cannot find any tech support AT ALL- not on the phone, not on chat, not anywhere!!! I have waited almost 2 yrs to purchase a new computer- I chose an iMac, and this is the crap I get.
Please help!!!!
iMac 17inch Mac OS X (10.4.4) New

Dawn,
Having suffered my share of 'difficult' products, I can understand your frustration. This is compounded by the financial restraint you exhibited for 2 years of saving. Your experience should not just be good, it should be exceptional.
There may be something wrong with your machine. The white light is on when the machine is booting or the display is sleeping. The light will softly flash on and off while the machine is sleeping.
The fan should be as quiet as possible, to the point of being a low rumble/whisper or not even heard. It sounds like your computer is stuck in a startup mode.
Calling Apple will get this issue resolved to your satisfaction in a timely manner. If you state the issues they should be more than helpful. You can try a few things for now.
Press and hold the power button on your machine for a while and see if it reboots.
If you look on this page:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303124
You will notice the instructions for zapping the pram (keys held down when you press the power button and held continuously) : Press Option-Command-P-R until you hear two beeps (release)
Try that next. Your machine should be restarting when you toggle the power button.
Another quick thing you may want to try is shutting down the machine, unplugging everything (every cable including the power cable), waiting about 2 minutes, then plugging in just the keyboard and mouse and starting the machine with the power button.
Good Luck,
-j

Intel iMac won't start - HELP!

My iMac won't start this morning. I get the white screen with the grey apple,
and the swirling progress thing, then after a few seconds I can hear
the sound you hear when the system shuts down. like a soft switch
going off, then it just continues swirling, still with the white
screen and grey apple, then it restarts by itself. Then we go through
the same routine. Tried booting up by holding C with the Leopard disc inside but nothing happens.I have just reinstalled Leopard as Snow Leopard left too many printers and programs lifeless, so I did an erase and install a few days ago. Since then I have used the Mac fine, switched down normally last night, but this morning it doesn't want to play.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in anticipation
Chris
Message was edited by: ChrisRR

Have you reset PRAM and SMC?
Do this first
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and then do this, if the PRAM does not help
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
The second one is basically disconnecting your iMac from power (and all cables), then reconnecting following a precise procedure.
If that does not help, I would restart with the Snow Leopard installation disc (insert disc and start up with the C key held down). You probably did an installation of Snow Leopard over your existing Leopard system the first time. This time, erase it completely first, then install Snow Leopard. I assume you backed up your data already.
When you get to the Installer screen (after selecting language), go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. In the sidebar, select the internal DRIVE, not the volume indented under the drive. Go to the Erase tab. Name the volume +Macintosh HD+ and set the format to +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+. Erase the drive. Since you have the drive selected in the sidebar (not the volume), it will also re-partition the drive.
It should take less than on minute to complete the process. Quit Disk Utility to go back to Installer. Run the standard installation onto the blank internal drive. Hopefully, a fresh Snow Leopard install on a reformatted/re-partitioned drive will work better for you.

My Brand New MacBook Won't Start Up!!!!!

My new MacBook won't start up - from the first time I ever switched it on!!!
All I have is a black screen, the sleep light is on either permanently or flashing and now the install disc is stuck in the drive and I can't get it out!
Help please!

From my experience, resetting the PRAM and PMU do not work in this situation, at least with my MacBook. I have a feeling that 10.4.7 update didn't flash correctly or the firmware is buggy in some way.

Brand new iMac won't boot :-(

Hi All,
I just got a brand new iMac. I did a clean install of Leopard, imported a couple of CDs into iTunes, and then thought I'd give Bootcamp a go.
I created the disk and the machine duly rebooted into Windows setup. As the installer couldn't see the Bootcamp partition (I was using XP without SP2). I told the installer to quit and reboot.
Now all I get is a hanging white screen when I power up my iMac. If i hold down the Alt key I get a mouse pointer which locks up after a couple of seconds and that's it.
I've tried:
- Holding down alt on bootup - this brings up a pointer which locks after about 2 seconds
- Holding down alt+C - with Leopard in the drive - nothing happens
- Zapping the PVRAM - AltCMD+PR" - this had no effect
- Resetting the SMU - hold down power whilst plugging in - now all the fans are running at maximum speed
- An open firmware update as per this post:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5984118
Is the machine completely toast?

The same thing happened to me this last week. After talking to Apple on the phone for hours they decided that it was dead and declared it doa (even though it was working for a few hours before boot camp). I am getting my new one this week. I can promise you that boot camp will not be put used on this one.
-Billy

Brand new macbook won't start up. Help.

I recently received a brand new macbook as a graduation gift about 3 weeks ago. All has been absolutely fine until yesterday. I checked my email in the morning, closed the macbook and left for work. When I came home, I opened the macbook and pushed the power button. The screen flashed for a split second and remained black. No start up sound. The power light is on, battery light on the bottom says it's fully charged. When it's plugged in, the charging light is orange. Otherwise, no signs of life. I have an appointment tomorrow to meet with someone at the macstore, but I'm impatient and highly stressed and wonder what the problem is and what will be done about it.
Thanks.

See if any of this helps. Troubleshooting a MacBook that won't turn on

My iMac won't start, , help!

Hi, I have a new imac which I have just setup, all of a sudden the screen went black and the fan started running loudly. I can't get any response from it other than the fan. Tried turning on and off again but don't know what else to do Any ideas guys??

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Do a SMC reset > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 Also, reset the PRAM > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
If it doesn't work, take the iMac to the place where you purchased it and it will be replaced free of charge

My brand new iMac won't connect to the internet - the Air is fine?

Hi All,
Loved my Air so much I bought an Imac today to do some serious work - but it won't connect to the internet. It won't load any external webpages, the wireless symbol in the menu bar is at full strength and in settings it says its connected to the modem. Its also finally recognising local time. It can also 'see' my Macbook Air in the 'Migration Assistant' but doesn't connect. The Air can't find the Imac in the 'migration assistant' and just spins. I've rebooted the modem, turned both on and off, checked Safari settings eg extensions (none loaded - its new today).
Essentially I've not been able to view a webpage with the new Imac at all - very frustrating and disappointing. (The Air was a breeze to set up).
I'm not very technical so does anyone have any suggestions? Or do I just return it? TIA.

You have 90 days of free AppleCare telephone support. Please give them a call right away, you can find the number by clicking AppleCare Contact Info

Brand new imac won't turn on.

I decided to swtich from PC to apple. My new imac arrived today. I was so excited. I took it out of the box, plugged it and turned it on. I heard the Mac chime and then within seconds it sounded like I was in an airport. The fan was so loud I was in shock. No picture every came on the computer, it remained black. So, I turned it off, checked the cable. I then turned it on again. The same thing happened, the mac chime, then the extremley loud fan noise and a dark screen with nothing. I am so mad and sad I'm trying not cry. I thought apples were reliable and such great computers. I just gave Apple $2700 and I got a big lemon.
Any suggestions?

Contact Apple's Express Lane and ask for a replacement. Not knowing where you reside or where you bought the machine, see this for contact information.

New iMac won't start up

I had some kind of conflict with a USB key today (the iMac would not eject it) and finally I had to power down manually. Now, when restarting the iMac, I get to the blue screen and the rotating dial, which freezes after a few moments and won't proceed any further. This is a four-month-old iMac using the most up-to-date version of Snow Leopard. I have a Time Machine disk, so everything is backed up to within an hour of the problem. Resetting the SMC and zapping the PRAM haven't worked. Next?

Hi, when my HD went kaput" I had the same symptoms..
Call Apple Help..or visit your local AppleGenius/Apple Approved Service Agent..L

Brand New iMac Won't Turn On - What To Expect From Support?

Hello,
I've been wanting to purchase an iMac for about a year now. Unfortunately I'm destitute, so puchasing this was a huge deal. I finally absolutely had to order it after using a PowerBook for two weeks that I have to plug an ancient monitor into, and recently I've had to use the track pad, inverted, as the one USB port fried and I have to position the laptop a certain way because of how I run the cables.
Anyway... today felt like Christmas. Such a beautiful computer. I installed World of Warcraft, ripped a few CDs onto iTunes and then randomly, "fzzt." I knew it was bad... it sounded like something "blew" and, sure enough, it won't shut on.
I've tried everything possible and I'm pretty sure it's the motherboard or power supply. I'm obviously incredibly upset, but to soothe myself until I can call phone support in the morning I'm wondering... what should I expect with this experience? I purchased through Amazon, but I'm assuming that doesn't matter. Will I get a new computer since this was obviously a lemon, or will they refurb mine? Will they retain my HD? How long does this usually take? I need this for work, which is most worrying. Kind of feel like crying. Is it okay to cry, and how hard? Do I have to send my pretty little mouse and keyboard back, too?

Hi I am a totally new mac user myself, how did the WoW install go, Im swithcing from a PC to an Imac? and I have been playing WoW since vanilla, so Im quite apprehensive about the change.
Should I expect the same problems, my Mac's are being delivered next week some time?

My brand new iMac won't boot up...

I've used my iMac about 10 times since June, and I'm having problems boting it up... when i switch it on, it cycles forever. Not sure what to do ??

I would first reset the SMC:
Shut down and unplug the Mac.
Keep the Mac unplugged for at least fifteen seconds.
Plug the Mac back in and do not turn it back on for at least five seconds.
Press the power button to turn the Mac back on.
Then I would reset the PRAM by rebooting the iMac while simultaneously holding the Command-Option-P-R keys until the machine restarts a second time.
Let us know if these procedures don't solve the problems.
Hope this helps

Re: Brand new computer won't start. Debug code 04 60 55

try to boot with mainboard out of PC case placed over non conductive surface like a wooden table
with barabone setup

I've tried to plug only one stick of RAM, in every slot, with both sticks and redoing connection to the motherboard. Haven't had time yet to check the CPU but I'm pretty sure it's fine as I really really paid attention when positioning it.

HELP! brand new iMac froze during firewire transfer and won't start!!!

During my setup for my brand new iMac I follwed the directions and connected my iBook via firewire to transfer my files. I noticed after a while that my iMac was frozen on "45 minutes remaining" and the blue line wasn't wavering a bit, and after over half an hour it hadn't moved. I powered off the iBook, and still nothing happened to the iMac screen--it remained frozen. I went to the guidebook and nothing seemed to work, so I powered off and on again, only to get a flashing question mark. All this and I just bought the darn thing tonight!
Help! Anyone know what happened and more importantly how to fix it?
Thanks.
Lindsay

it sounds like the iBook went to sleep during the transfer or at least it's hard drive spun down.
what you need to know is hope that simply booting from your install DVD will let you repair the iMac's hard drive. You could also try booting holding down the Command S keys on startup and when you get to the Single User Mode command line prompt follow the directions there for running fsck to repair your hard drive.
Do you have a FW hard drive? Can you copy files from iBook to FW and then from there to iMac?
And, it is always nice to have a FW emergency/backup hard drive. The iMac needs a different partition scheme to be bootable from FW than the iBook does, but you can create the proper partition type etc from a Tiger Installer and put OS X on FireWire, then see if you can backup and repair your iMac's hard drive.
MicroMat's TechTool Pro 4.5.1 is now shipping and is compatible, Universal Binary and bootable. Always good to have some 3rd party utility handy.
If you are just starting out, you probably don't have much if anything installed yet, so you may want to just erase your iMac drive and restore to what it was. That would be the easiest if Disk Utility won't repair it.
Instead of powering off the iBook, I would have tried to force quit whatever was running, like Migration Assistant.

Brand new imac won't start HELP!!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for