Happy Mac icon

I've got a 4th gen iPod that decided today not to mount over FireWire. It charges ok, but when I plug it in, the screen freezes until I unplug it. The weirdest thing is, when I reset it while plugged in, it shows a happy Mac icon that I didn't know existed on the iPod. I can't find any support articles telling what it means, but the iPod works just fine as far as I can tell when I unplug it - it just won't mount.
What does the happy Mac icon mean, and how can I make it mount?

Yeah, it could be or may be not, please do the following see if it helps
For Mac computer
1. Open the disk utility, hope your iPod appears there (left hand side), highlight it
2. Go to Tab “Partition”, click either “Delete” or “Partition”, if fails, skip this step and go to 3
3. Go to Tab “Erase” , choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase, again if fails, skip it and go to 4
4. Same as step 3, but open the “Security Options....” and choose “Zero Out Data” before click Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete.
5. Eject your iPod and do a Reset
6. Open the iPod Updater and click “Restore”

Similar Messages

G3 is stuck on Happy Mac

I had bought a new fresh copy of OS X 10.0 and installed it on my Hard Drive...about 5 times now. Theres no third party hardware in the machine,but the videocard does tend to show trails of random things and colorwhen im working in Mac OS desktop and other programs. So i started to play a game and couldnt get out of it cause the screen went black so i hit the reset button on the front,the monitor showed black but the mac chime sounded. So i reset the PRAM by Command,Option,P and R and now the happy mac face is there only the hard drive does nothing,i hear no loading at all. The harddrive isnt old and works very well,im just wondering why the machine wont progress any further than the Happy Mac Icon. Ive actually reinstalled OS X 5 times now cause of this problem and each time something locks up the system. Firmware is up to date,it has plenty of RAM and Hard Drive Space so what could be the problem?

The minimum version of Mac OS X worth loading on a Mac is 10.2. Previous versions are not worth the pain and suffering.
Mac OS X 10.0 is really not very stable or very good. No one wants to support it because it works badly, if at all.

Delay when booting. First flashing folder with ?, then happy Mac...

Hi,
I recently tried to install ubuntu on my old CRT iMac DV model, but everything went miserable wrong so I tried to reinstall OS9 from my Install disc and again that didn't work either. After some helpful assistance from this forum I figured out that it was either the install disc (scratched) or the PRAM battery.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the Apple Tech Service Centre kindly burnt me a new copy of my install disc adn supplied me with a new battery. I ahve successfully installed OS 9.2.2 but when I boot the iMac I get a flashing folder at first with a "?" sign and then after 10-20 seconds it changes to a happy Mac icon adn starts to boot.
Has anyone got any idea what is happening and is it something I should be concerned about?
Cheers
Manuel
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5) also have iMac G3 OS 9.0.4

Hi, CMNG. Your Mac's behavior suggests that there is no startup disk designated in the Startup Disk control panel, so the Mac is taking extra time scanning all possible locations and busses for a potential startup volume before resorting to the only one that turns up. Open that control panel, select your hard drive, close the control panel, and the problem should be gone the next time you restart.

Flashing '?' switches to 'Happy Mac' but still doesn't boot

I recently had to reinstall OS X. After successfully doing so, everything works fine, including Classic. But when I try to boot into OS 9.2.2, I get the flashing question mark for about a minute, then it switches to the 'Happy Mac' icon, and I assume it will boot... but it doesn't. It just sits there. A re-install of OS 9.2.2/Classic was successful, but it hasn't changed the problem.
I never encountered this before, even in the 'old' days of OS 6, 7, and 8.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

Hi, Mike -
A couple of thoughts come to mind...
1) When you re-installed OSX and Classic, did you first reformat the drive? If so, perhaps the option to install OS 0 drivers was not selected during the formatting process. If the OS 9 drivers are not installed on a volume, OS 9 can not mount the volume - and this includes being able to use it as a boot volume.
2) Is it possible the OS 9 System Folder is not blessed? In OS 9 the 'blessed' status is indicated by a glyph of the Mac OS being superimposed on a standard folder icon; not sure whether OSX does the same, or if you have to find that status info elsewhere.
One other possibility, perhaps. If you have added any non-original hardware to the machine, hardware that requires proprietary software in order to be used in OS 9, if that software has not been re-installed in OS 9 then the machine may balk at booting to OS 9.

Beige g3 desktop. Broken mac icon, burned zif?

Hi People.
I recently bought a beige g3. It has 192 mb ram and a 8gb hd.
I took the hard disk and connected it to a firewire case to duplicate my os 9 system from my g4 computer. When I placed the drive back in the g3, I tought it would be nice to conect it to the zif (is it called so?), I mean, the card that is atached next to the pci slots, with ata and scsi ports, so that I could remove it whenever I wanted.
The mac didnt start up, and a chip in the zif card smells like it smoke. Now, when I start the computer, there is a broken mac icon (not a system folder icon but a broken computer icon).
I dont know if this could be fixed... I installed all parts in the places they were before but it wont start up.
Any help will be apreciated. I was so happy with my new old mac...
Pepo

Grant. I did not get back to you earlier because I wanted to make some tests.
The machine would not start up from any os cd. I disconected the hard drive and then it did start up (from cd of course). Replaced the hard disk and now everything is fine, Still the burned hard disk works perfect in a firewire enclosure. However, If I try to format it in os 9, it tells me it is unsuported... So I think some part of the disk got burned and was hanging the g3.
The personality card has a burned chip, but still, audio in and out work, but there is a lot of audio interference...
But it was thanks to you that I kept testing, otherwise I would have persisted with the idea that the computer would never start up again.
So thanks again.
BTW, I have been to Boston, beautiful city.
Pepo

Happy Mac Day To Me

Happy Mac Day To Me!!!
Its been 4 years since I brought home my G3 Graphite iMac. How time flys. I remember needing a computer. I had lost my job, my wife started working from home, and I was attending college part time. This meant the Gateway was now hers for the purpose of work. I was thinking about another Gateway, maybe a Dell. I also remembered that Comp USA had this neat little section for Apple. This section stood out from the rows of generic pc’s. This section was in a word cool.
It was different. From the carpeted floor, to Nanosaur on the iMacs to the aura that one would feel a sense of quality. The look and feel of these computers was well, superior. “Just looking” I would say to the helpful sales people. These machines are gorgeous, but a little tough on the budget. But I liked the seamless appearance and interface of the Mac. Even if they were an all in one. The pcs were just clones of each other, take off the manufactures label and you couldn’t tell one from the other. Pcs had no where near the software or extras like on the Macs.
Then it happened Mac World 2002. The incredible g4 iMac was released to an unsuspecting world. I pounced...on the g3. It was seriously marked down. All that power, speed and all those applications. I just couldn’t resist.
On January 12th 2002 I brought home my graphite 40 gb, 256 mb 600 mhz iMac. And immediately panicked!!! What was I thinking? I didn’t know Apple! Certainly I didn’t know this OS X stuff! No applications from Windows would work with this this THING! Right? I had seven days to see if I liked this Apple iMac, if not it goes back in the box and I get a nice safe Windows PC running 2000 or better yet XP. Day 1, 2, 3 went by. The box only feet away. Back to Apple store I thought. Back to the Apple store. I’ll just pick it up and put it in the box. Truth be told it almost happened. Divine intervention I speculate.
Some where around day four, my wife, she’s pretty smart, told me 2 magic words. Learning Curve. The box slowly got pushed aside. My iMac started to become...cool again, I didn’t know it could do that, Wow that was easy! This iTunes is awesome (V. 2), This is really cool!!! Words of praise started to come from my work area in the recently refinished basement. The box disappeared. It got donated to give an old Tangerine iMac that was loaned to me safe passage to a school in need of good working computers. Day 7 came and went. I think I was playing with iTunes, Quicken 2002, Nanosaur, and of course I was online, at the same time! My new trusty friend, my iMac was here to stay!!! The fun had just begun.
I started to learn and LOVE OS X. I switched back and forth between OS 9 and OS X. I found that I liked the stability of OS X that much more. I do like OS 9. I started to learn then love the applications. Most of my associates degree assignments were done on my iMac. Thank God for spell check!!! My job search changed from knocking on doors and reading the paper to e-mailing resumes and internet searches. Macintosh became an integral part of my life. Even Charlie, my tabby cat is learning OS X. He has the file renaming down to a science. Chelsea, the kitten loves HP printers. Cats! Must be the whole feline theme.
I look back on these past four years as a wonderful period of my life. My iMac was and is a big part of that. My Mac and my Jeep pick up with plow stand out as the two best purchases I have ever made. It snows a lot in Ma. Since I bought my iMac an iBook found a home here last Christmas. For a birthday present an iPod Photo resides here. My darling wife who after 15 plus years of crashes, viruses, as well as hang ups, and blue death screens from Windows 3.1 to 2000, switched. November 1, 2005 her Mac Mini arrived. Two days later she, (had to go to work due to job change) was saying “What took me so long, this is great” and “I love my Mac!!!” Told you she’s smart. She’s spreading the word. The Gateway has since been put out to pasture. That, by the way arrived on a Halloween. What does that tell you. Scary!
Now, just after Mac World 2006 the future looks bright. Strong leadership, bold innovation, and a sense of optimism and excitement. So if their is anyone on the fence here is a little advice from a former procrastinator. The question isn’t whether to buy a Mac or not, but which Mac to buy. Go to an Apple store,Comp USA, or other authorized reseller. Talk to them, tell them your wants and needs. No pressure, just a pleasant experience to say the least. Buy what suits YOU. You will not go wrong. You will be very, very happy that a Mac calls your place home.
I'll post this in Tiger as well.
Thank you all at Apple and the discussion boards too!
God Bless,
Lee Janerico

Lee
It certainly took some time, but every day's a Happy Mac Day! I started using Apple with a strange Apple2 running DOS in 1980 something.. possibly before 85, but cannot stretch the neurones that far. Bought a Mac+ (512K ram on system 5... wow) then a SE30, Centris610 then went mad on a PM8500, PM9600 and now started collecting imacs and other strange things like Newton Message Pads that nobody wants to know. OS9 is a wonderful thing, Hypercard is magic, GUI fun, and OSX is all very well, but itfor me is not as exciting as firing up my old SE from 1989-90, running up OS6 and watching things happen on a paper white screen... yes, I AM WIERDperson, but I am exstatically happy with my Macs

Happy Mac Day To Me A Success Story.

Happy Mac Day To Me!!!
Its been 4 years since I brought home my G3 Graphite iMac. How time flys. I remember needing a computer. I had lost my job, my wife started working from home, and I was attending college part time. This meant the Gateway was now hers for the purpose of work. I was thinking about another Gateway, maybe a Dell. I also remembered that Comp USA had this neat little section for Apple. This section stood out from the rows of generic pc’s. This section was in a word cool.
It was different. From the carpeted floor, to Nanosaur on the iMacs to the aura that one would feel a sense of quality. The look and feel of these computers was well, superior. “Just looking” I would say to the helpful sales people. These machines are gorgeous, but a little tough on the budget. But I liked the seamless appearance and interface of the Mac. Even if they were an all in one. The pcs were just clones of each other, take off the manufactures label and you couldn’t tell one from the other. Pcs had no where near the software or extras like on the Macs.
Then it happened Mac World 2002. The incredible g4 iMac was released to an unsuspecting world. I pounced...on the g3. It was seriously marked down. All that power, speed and all those applications. I just couldn’t resist.
On January 12th 2002 I brought home my graphite 40 gb, 256 mb 600 mhz iMac. And immediately panicked!!! What was I thinking? I didn’t know Apple! Certainly I didn’t know this OS X stuff! No applications from Windows would work with this this THING! Right? I had seven days to see if I liked this Apple iMac, if not it goes back in the box and I get a nice safe Windows PC running 2000 or better yet XP. Day 1, 2, 3 went by. The box only feet away. Back to Apple store I thought. Back to the Apple store. I’ll just pick it up and put it in the box. Truth be told it almost happened. Divine intervention I speculate.
Some where around day four, my wife, she’s pretty smart, told me 2 magic words. Learning Curve. The box slowly got pushed aside. My iMac started to become...cool again, I didn’t know it could do that, Wow that was easy! This iTunes is awesome (V. 2), This is really cool!!! Words of praise started to come from my work area in the recently refinished basement. The box disappeared. It got donated to give an old Tangerine iMac that was loaned to me safe passage to a school in need of good working computers. Day 7 came and went. I think I was playing with iTunes, Quicken 2002, Nanosaur, and of course I was online, at the same time! My new trusty friend, my iMac was here to stay!!! The fun had just begun.
I started to learn and LOVE OS X. I switched back and forth between OS 9 and OS X. I found that I liked the stability of OS X that much more. I do like OS 9. I started to learn then love the applications. Most of my associates degree assignments were done on my iMac. Thank God for spell check!!! My job search changed from knocking on doors and reading the paper to e-mailing resumes and internet searches. Macintosh became an integral part of my life. Even Charlie, my tabby cat is learning OS X. He has the file renaming down to a science. Chelsea, the kitten loves HP printers. Cats! Must be the whole feline theme.
I look back on these past four years as a wonderful period of my life. My iMac was and is a big part of that. My Mac and my Jeep pick up with plow stand out as the two best purchases I have ever made. It snows a lot in Ma. Since I bought my iMac an iBook found a home here last Christmas. For a birthday present an iPod Photo resides here. My darling wife who after 15 plus years of crashes, viruses, as well as hang ups, and blue death screens from Windows 3.1 to 2000, switched. November 1, 2005 her Mac Mini arrived. Two days later she, (had to go to work due to job change) was saying “What took me so long, this is great” and “I love my Mac!!!” Told you she’s smart. She’s spreading the word. The Gateway has since been put out to pasture. That, by the way arrived on a Halloween. What does that tell you. Scary!
Now, just after Mac World 2006 the future looks bright. Strong leadership, bold innovation, and a sense of optimism and excitement. So if their is anyone on the fence here is a little advice from a former procrastinator. The question isn’t whether to buy a Mac or not, but which Mac to buy. Go to an Apple store,Comp USA, or other authorized reseller. Talk to them, tell them your wants and needs. No pressure, just a pleasant experience to say the least. Buy what suits YOU. You will not go wrong. You will be very, very happy that a Mac calls your place home.
Originally posted in the iMac g3 section but i wanted to share with potential switchers.
Thank you all at Apple and the discussion boards too!
God Bless,
Lee Janerico

Lee:
What a beautiful story! And how well you tell it!
In a sense your story is every mac user's story, only the names and details are different. We love our macs, even when they challenge us.
Thank you for reminding us of the satisfaction and thrill of owning a mac.
Good luck.
cornelius
Pismo400, 100 GB 5400 Toshiba internal, 1 GB RAM; Pismo 500 OS 10.4.3 Mac OS X (10.3.9) Beige G3 OS 8.6

After i install window 8.1, i can't see window icon in my start up disk, i see only mac icon 10.10, but i can see both mac and win icon in my window boot camp control. i want to see window icon in my mac Yosemite 10.10.2,system preference, start up disk

After i install window 8.1, i can't see window icon in my start up disk, i see only mac icon 10.10, but i can see both mac and win icon in my window boot camp control. i want to see window icon in my mac Yosemite 10.10.2,system preference, start up disk.

Third-party NTFS software interferes with the Apple NTFS drivers, which control whether you can see the Bootcamp partition in the Startup Disk option. As a test, can you uninstall all third-party NTFS software and check System Preferences -> Startup Disk?

Mac IIsi, smily Mac icon comes on and off

Hi
I have two IIsi. When they are powered on, both displays smily Mac icon for few seconds then comes an icon with a question mark.
The problem is that sometimes they work as they should and comes a full desktop mode. But when the full desktop appears it comes on and goes off periodically.
But mostly the booting up process stops at the Mac icon with the quesstion marks in it.
I opened up the case and found out that a few capacitors were leaking.
Could it be the issue related to the symptom?
For example that the Simasi effect on the SE/30 is related to the leaky caps.
Thanks.

Electrolytic capacitors (the "little cans") are used to smooth out power. If they have deteriorated to the point where they are leaking, they cannot be doing their job.
The Samasi effect or "Zebra Stripes" appears on Macs with memory-mapped screens. You are looking directly into memory at the garbage that is there. Dynamic RAM is built from tiny capacitors, and cannot remain stable when there is not enough capacitance nearby to smooth out transient power effects.
Electrolytic capacitors are polarized, and must be installed with + and - facing the same way as the originals. They must be at least the same temperature range, and at least the same capacitance as the ones you replace. Higher temp range and higher capacitance is almost always OK, but may cost a little more and be a little larger in size.
Once you have replaced the failing capacitors, you will need to also replace the 1/2-AA sized PRAM backup battery and reset the PRAM to get the blinking question mark to resolve and stay resolved..

Stuck on Happy Mac?

Hello,
my old iMac G3 (summer 2000) is stuck on the Happy Mac during boot! I can put a CD in and boot from a software restore disk, which I did, but even after restoring it's not working! Help me please!
P.S. I'm running OS 9.0.x

It's good that it's the happy Mac & not the sad Mac. Look at this link.
Mac OS 7.x - 9.x: Troubleshooting Startup Issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1926
Try a startup with extensions Off (depress the Shift key at startup).
If that doesn't work, try a PRAM zap (Depress the following keys at startup; CommandOption+PR & listen for at least 2 bongs; then release the keys)
Once you get your startup problem resolved, you should update your OS to at least 9.1 (or higher). The freeware updaters are at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1387
 Cheers, Tom
Message was edited by: Texas Mac Man

Syncing Issues with ICAL & Missing .Mac Icon... related?

We have been having problems with our ICal syncing for weeks, to the point where we have just stopped using our ICAL all together.
But now, my .mac icon, which I use to access my backup database is missing off my computer as well, and also missing off one of the other network computers.
Are these things related?
Any updates on when the syncing problems will be resolved?

As an IT consultant, i'm in agreement with Mr Utts.    The promise of "it just works" died with Steve Jobs.   Mac OS has been in freefall since 10.5 .    I need a fully functional OS, not an iPad on my desk. ( this means YOU Forstall !! )
Why break Samba ( a standard ), why break WebDAV ( a standard ), why break CalDAV ( a standard )??    Apple has done ALL of these things and they seem to be doing it on purpose.
The Apple "ecosystem" is just fine, but removing functionality as fast as you can, and removing interoperablity as fast as you can... if Apple products ONLY work within the ecosystem... people can and will leave Apple.    You've already run off the business users by refusing to make a real Server or real Server software.   You ran off the video user with Final Cut Pro X.   Dumbing down (and breaking) the OS is running off the IT User.
Mac OS used to easily walk the line of "hard core enough for a Unix Guru, easy enough for your Mom". Now they just want the Moms.
And i disagree, we are ALL "qualified to say what Apple might do about this...", they will do nothing.   They don't beleive they have made a mistake. They beleive WE are the problem by stubbornly insisting that things that used to work should continue to work.

Flashing "?" alternating with Mac icon on display

I turned on my G5 for the 1st time and the only thing that shows on the monitor is a small folder in the center of the screen with a question mark "?" in the middle alternating back and forth with the Mac icon every couple seconds. There is no indication the keyboard or mouse are able to function although both are hooked up properly. Thank You--cm

Hi music50-
Greetings and welcome to the Apple boards.
That symbol means that your Mac cannot find a valid system drive from which to boot.
Boot from your Install disks and see if Disk Utility can find the hard drive.
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

G3 won't startup (grey screen with happy mac)

My sister has a iMac G3 that all of a sudden stopped working. When it's turned on, we get the chime, a grey screen and a happy mac, that's all. It just sits there. I've tried restarting with the C down, using the PRAM trick, putting in a CD startup disk (though not the one it came with), disconnecting the USB drve/hub, but get nothing. We've had problems with the CD drive before, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was broken too. Any help would be appreciated. It's a blue iMac (maybe a 350mhz?. Thanks in advance
iMAC G3 (350mhz) Mac OS 9.0.x

You may need to replace the PRAM battery. A weak or dead battery has been known to cause startup problems.
If you can startup from a Mac OS installation CD, you can run Disk First Aid from the CD (for Mac OS 9) in the Utilities folder, and verify (and repair if necessary) the internal drive.
If you suspect the CDROM drive, you can also try disconnecting the CDROM drive internally to see of this will allow the iMac to start up. Sometimes, a bad drive will prevent another drive on the IDE bus to not be recognized.

Happy Mac that will not go away

My worse case scenario is now in play. I tried starting in OS 9. I have a Happy Mac that will not go away. Hard shutdown and restart and it is the same story.
I read somewhere that you could hold down the "X" key after the tone to force the system to load OS X but as far as I can tell that is nothing more than a fairy tale. I have tried it in the past and I tried it repeatedly last night.
I have no apparent way to get this computer to start up without using CDs - I cannot use a startup CD or Disk Warrior or anything else because my G4 MMD is currently not recognizing that there is a combo drive present. It was part of troubleshooting that problem that caused me to try to startup in OS 9 to begin with.
IF I was able to get it to startup in Target mode, could I use a laptop to try to change the change the startup HD system back to 10.4.8? If ever I needed help before, I need it now. PLEASE, any ideas?

What I used was the Option key. That showed all of the OS that are in my machine. I chose OS 10.4.3 and started up. I clean permission both in OS X and OS9, and restarted with the drive with OS 10.4.8. I understand that will even work with external opticals with CDs.
The kicker is that even after repairing OS 9 permissions, I tired a restart and ran into the same issue. I got out of it the same way with the Option - a very powerful command at start up if your system is configured efficiently to use it. I did not try the OS 9 on the drive with OS 10.4.3 but I guess it would be the same. I'll try it if I am ever forced into it.
So I am to go - go back to figuring out why my 2 internal optical drives (who reappeared during all of the above) will not read media, that is. It does not reject them it just ignores them. But, that is another thread.
Thanks for you assistance, I really, really mean it. Lots of good karma generated.

"On my Mac" icon appears, disappears at launch

When I launch my Mail program, an "on my mac" icon appears in the mailboxes column for a few seconds and then disappears.
Why is this happening?

is there someone that can answer my question?

Happy Mac icon

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