HELP!! iMac won't start, on button turns orange immediately, no display

Went on vacation for a few weeks. Turned off monitor and power strip. Returned home and pushed on button. I can hear the ring that indicates it's starting to load but then the on button turns to orange and any start up noises stop. There was never anything displayed on monitor. I try to restart by poking the computer on the side w/paper click, and it simply makes a clicking noise, but nothing happens. The only way to restart or shut down is to unplug it or turn off power strip. Does anyone have an idea of what could be wrong? I did not unplug the dial-up modem phone cord before going on vacation.

mayita...
Unfortunately when missing which iMac model we are discussing here things are left to guessing.
What I know about the tray loading iMac 233-333MHz computers is that a yellow light indicates the monitor is off (or sleep) in normal operation. If it happens during startup and gets no further there can be an issue where the monitor cable either develops some resistance in its connection or possibly when some work was done the screws got stripped off (flush inside the standoff) causing a connection problem in itself.
All I can say is to post back if I am not close with the important details of your iMac.
Please avoid the G3 thing, as all CRT models are just that. xxxMhz is far more helpful.
...Ron

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Please help--iMac won't start up

My daughter has an iMac G4 flat panel (OS X 10.4.8), and a serious problem. I've been trying to help her but have run out of ideas. She recently downloaded and installed some updates. After installation, she clicked the restart button, but only got a blue screen with the beach ball appearing (apparently not steadily, but kind of intermittently). She turned it off and tried to restart several times and got the same thing. Then, she tried to start up from the disk. I'm not too clear what happened at this point. But she did manage to repair permissions. But this didn't help. Then, she tried to repair disk, but the computer told her she couldn't do that (I'm not sure why). Finally, she reinstalled OS X. Upon doing that, all she gets is a blue screed with a box containing her name and two buttons--quit and restart. She has tried to restart many times, but just comes back to the box with the the two buttons. I have been trying to help her over the phone (she's in MD and I'm in WI). So, having not witnessed any of this first-hand, I can't be much clearer about the situation. Obviously, one possibility is going to the Apple Store. But she really can't afford that. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thank you,
Carl Kalwaitis

Hi Supreme D,
first check your internal battery.
With your computer you have to keep a certain order of installations.
1. Backup!
2. Boot up from the 9.2.2 install CD and reformat the hard disk (this is important because you need a bootable OS 9 for the firmware upgrade)
3. Install OS 9.
4. Make sure you can boot into OS 9!
5. Upgrade your firmware: Mac OS X: Chart of Available Firmware Updates
6. Insert the 10.4 install DVD and reboot while holding down the c-key
7. Once the installer has started and you selected your language select "Disk Utility" from the MENU
8. Repair the disk and select "repair OS 9 privilegies" from the MENU
9. Quit disk utility and proceed with the installation of MacOS X
10. After the restart Repair permissions!
11. Download and apply the standalone Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo Update (PPC)
12. Repair permissions again.
13. Run software update from the Apple menu and apply all available updates.
Good luck!
If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

Help. iMac won't start up anymore...

And it's making a weird 3 beep sound. I've checked Apple's web site and according to them it's a memory problem, but I haven't added any since I bought this computer 3 years ago. I tried resetting my PRAM and PMU and still get a 3 beep and no start up.
I'm running Panther, but not sure which version and can't find my start up disk...
Any suggestions??
Thanks.

Thanks guys. I broke down and took it into the shop...it's way past my expertise and since we've moved we have no idea where the disks are.
Hopefully it won't be too expensive...
Lisa.
iMac G4 Flat Panel

My 06 iMac won't start up. Turns on (light is on), but black screen and no bell ding.

I read other similar queries, and tried the install disc, but that didn't help.
I know I have Mac OSX, but I'm not sure which version. Hoping not to have to take it to the Apple store, but that's looking more like a reality. Any help is welcome and appreciated.

And, what did happen when you tried booting from the Snow Leopard DVD? If you don't hear a chime then there has been a major hardware failure. Make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

Imac won't start white screen apple icon spinning gear

imac won't start. when turn on, I just get a white screen with apple icon and a spinning gear below the apple icon. what should I do to get it started and fix the problem? Thanks.

See if any of the suggestions in this link help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

G5 iMac won't start! Help needed.

Got a new intel iMac. Gave my husband my old G5 iMac (not intel). It was working perfectly. For some reason unknown to me, he decided he was going to reinstall everything from scratch so he grabbed the first disk he saw and put it in the computer. It was the startup disk for an intel computer & NOT for the iMac G5.
Did he fry the computer? It won't start up. Keypad & mouse won't respond.
The screen can't find the driver (no surprise) and says "panic: we are hanging here...." I can't get the disk out of the drive. Service contract is up. Is there a way I can connect my laptop to it and get it to respond & spit out that intel disk? Perhaps if I open the cover up, I can into the CD drive and get the disk out. All ideas appreciated.

Quote
J.C posted "Re: G5 iMac won't start! Help needed." on Feb 4, 2008 4:53:20 PM.
Hi Mel Kev
Have you tried holding down the left mouse button when you turn the computer on. Holding down the left mouse button should force eject the disk.
Hope this helps
J.C
UNQUOTE
And it WORKED! (I really wasn't in the mood to do surgery on the computer this evening). Thanks all!!! You are awesome!
Now, if I can just find the original installation disks.... They are in this drawer somewhere....

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.

I upgraded the OS on my iMac to Lion from the App store; and after installation, it restarted and now the operating system won't start up.... it keeps displaying the apple/folder with a question mark and a circle with a line through it! Please help!

I upgraded the OS on my iMac to Lion from the App store; and after installation, it restarted and now the operating system won't start up.... it keeps displaying the apple/folder with a question mark and a circle with a line through it! Please help!

Try starting up with your Snow Leopard DVD and see if the disk can be repaired. Once you are at the installer screen go to the Utilities Menu and choose Disk Utility and choose repair disk. You might also want to try Diskwarrior.
Hope this helps.
Ben

IMac Won't Start Up/Boot

My iMac won't start up. I've tried holding all kinds of key combinations while I turn it on, but it doesn't even get that far. It gets stuck on a folder with the Apple picture alternating with a question mark. It doesn't do anything else for a while, and then the fan turns on (???).

This is indicative of a corrupted system or drive. The first thing to try is:
Repairing the Hard Drive
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If this doesn't solve the problem then you will have to reinstall OS X. If the drive tests out OK per the above then you can reinstall without erasing the hard drive:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Early 2008 iMac won't start up. Goes to apple logo and freezes

Early 2008 iMac won't start up. Goes to the apple logo but it has a couple of yellowish stripes on it. Then the whole screen gets the stripes and it freezes. Does the same thing using another start up drive or a recovery drive. Running Maverics. Help!

I work at an Authorized Apple Reseller and we are having the same problem with one of our showfloor models.
Model: iMac 21.5" (Brand New Core i3, etc)
Problem Description: When you press the power button, you hear the Apple chime and the screen turns on. Instead of booting normally, the screen shows the Apple logo, a spinning 'loading' circle (I call it a ferris wheel), and a loading bar below that. Typically the loading bar is for an EFI Firmware update, but I don't remember updating the iMac recently. Anyways, the loading bar moves once, starts over, and then the iMac shuts down.
Possibly Related Issue: Several days leading up to this issue, the computer was very noisy. It sounded like the hard drive was working overtime on indexing or something, but it ran fine and spotlight wasn't even indexing at all. I walked by it yesterday and noticed it wasn't on. I pushed the power button, and the problem it has now started.
I will keep searching the forum for a solution, but I have a feeling this is a hardware issue that will need to be serviced by Apple.
Sidenote: If anyone has any experience contacting apple as an Apple Reseller about repairing a computer before the warranty starts, any advice would be greatly appreciated

IMac DV slot-loading power button glows orange after shutdown, cant start

Hi,
I have iMac DV SE (graphite model) of 1999, 320MB RAM, 40 GB HD, running Mac OS X 10.4.7.
Everything seems to work fine, but when I go to Shutdown, it shuts down fine and power light goes off...Then several minutes later, the power button turns orange and stays like that for a few hours and then goes off again.... Then several hours later or the next day, I have a hard time getting it to turn on again by hitting the power button.. the keyboard (old iMac keyboard) power button never works to turn on the iMac (should it?) but when I hit it while in Mac OS X, it shows me the menu to shutdown, restart, sleep, etc...
Also, by PRAM battery seems good (I measured it at 3.6 V) and it seems to keep track of the date and time just fine, so I cant imagine it's the battery....
So in the past when this happens, it just keep hitting the power button and/or remove the power cord and re-insert, etc, and some combination of that after many tries the iMac finally starts up...
Any idea what's going on? I cant find any discussion of the power button going orange after a shutdown and the fact that my keyboard power button doesnt work to turn on the Mac...
Help...
Andrew

Ah.. very interesting... I'm surprised I couldnt find any info on the 'net about this orange power light...
Anyways, I found have some interesting stuff since...
1. On this last occasion when it didnt turn on, I was jiggling some stuff (plugging and unplugging the power cord several times.... then I tilted the iMac slightly and let it "drop" to jostle/jiggle it)... and after the slight "drop," I hit the power button and it turned on just fine... d'oh... I wonder if something's just "loose" somehow... I dont have a random shutdown problem, once it's turned on and inside Mac OS X, it works fine for hours and hours until I tell it to shutdown. hehehe...
2. Just last night, before going to bed, I shut it down and since it's plugged into a power surge, I turned the power OFF to the power surge, so now it doesnt have any power to it... so this morning, I turned power to the power surge, and hit the power button on the Mac and it turned on just fine! d'oh again.. hehe... so it almost leads me to believe somehow that leaving the power cord with electricity flowing to the Mac when the Mac is shutdown is "hurting" it somehow, and if there is no power connected when it's shutdown, it works normally (I think)...
Very strange indeed...
Anyways, I got this Mac second hand so I am wondering if this was a problem for the original owner... when I first got it , I knew the hard drive was missing, so I put a 40GB IDE hard drive from a PC and formatted it, etc... so not sure if the hard drive could cause a boot issue...
Oh, well, I guess I'll keep using this iMac until it no longer turns on.. lets see how long I can keep going like this ..heheh..
Andrew

IMac won't start - should I reinstall OS?

Recently my iMac won't start up - it goes to screen with folder + question mark. I've run Disk Utility, repaired hard drive, but there were no reported repairs to make.
Occassionally it will start up, and everything seems normal until suddenly the beach ball appears and everything freezes. 99% of tries it won't start up (i get the ? folder). Is it worth erasing the disk and reinstalling everything to see if a fresh start will help, or is it likely that the hardware is damaged?
Don't want to bother erasing it if there's no point... any advice greatly appreciated.
Also - anyone who's had their iMac repaired - what are the costs like?

I've just suddenly had the same problem - for no apparent reason as far as I can tell. The night before last I switched off my iMac as normal, and yesterday morning switched it back on. At first it would start, but crashed as soon as I tried to start any applications. Then it wouldn't start at all, and just got as far as the gray screen with the apple on it. After trying resetting the PRAM, switching on and holding the on button for 10 seconds, it was no different...
So, I tried doing a archive-reinstall from the original leopard DVD I bought from apple. This did a successful disk verification, but then said it couldn't install mac os due to a problem with the basesystem package. After that it wouldn't let me try another archive-install and only gave the options to install as new, or erase and install. The latter I don't want to do, and the former just gives the same basesystem error... All I get now is a flashing folder with a question mark and not even the gray screen...
I have tried using the diskutility to verify/ repair the hard drive and it says all is well...
I have heard this may all be due to dodgy RAM chips, but I have never messed with them or altered them. It just seems odd they should suddenly fail when they were working fine before.....
Any ideas would be much appreciated. A lot of data at risk
Dan.

20" imac won't start up-flashes between blank grey screen and black screen

20" imac
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Was running system 10.5.8 just fine. Worked great.
But then I wanted to give the imac to a relative. And so, I tried to boot from the original grey mac install dvd to wipe the hardrive and set the imac back to factory specs.
But it wouldn't boot off the dvd. All It would do at restart was to flash slowly back and forth between blank grey screen and black screen. So, I tried the Leopard update dvd. Same results. So I zapped the pram and tried again. Same results.
If I just pushed the start button tho.. the imac would start right up and run fine. However, I didn't want to give it to someone else with all our information on it.
I finally restarted it and held the "T" key to turn it into a giant firewire drive, hooked it up to our other 20" imac, and used the disk utility from the second imac to erase the drive of the first imac. Then I inserted the grey install dvd into the second imac and selected the drive of the first imac and ran the install process.
Now, the first imac won't start up at all. Just a continual grey screen for a bit, than a couple of buzz sounds in the machine and then the black screen... than back again.
It ran great before I erased the drive and re-installed OS 10.5
What's wrong? How do I get the machine to either boot off the install cd?

So, I've figured out a little more on the first machine. It's a 20" 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.5.8.
It ran great. But, I wanted to erase the hard drive and reinstall the OS system before giving it to a relative.
I found that although the optical drive would read and write to normal cds and dvds, the machine would NOT boot from the grey start-up disks I had on hand. ( I have two imacs, and I tried both sets of dvds without success.)
I zapped the PRAM, and used disk utilities via firewire connection from my other 20" imac to check the hardrive and make repairs. Disk Utilities couldn't find any problems. So, using disk utilities from the other imac, I erased the first imac's harddrive and then used the install dvds on the second imac to install the original OS to the hard drive of the first imac.
(looking on the hard drive of the first imac, I can see all the contents)
However, the first machine will not start up. It just switches from grey....to black..... then grey..... and then black again.... over and over
Why won't it boot from the newly installed OS on it's own hard drive?
And Why won't it boot from the original install dvds?
How can I get it to start up again?

My iMac won't start normally it will start on safe boot unless I start in verbus mode single user mode or reset the pram but if I start this way it won't sleep

help mi imac won't start normally

Hello!
Can you tell us what happens?
I’ve offered the steps below to similar posts in the past and they helped out getting to the solution (or at least find the cause). I suggest them to you too in this case. It will take you about 30 minutes or less to do these, depending on how bad the problem on your Mac is.
The goal here is to boot your Mac to the so-called Recovery partition where you’ll have a chance to repair the disk and the disk permissions using the Disk Utility and Password Utility. This might solve your issue and even if it doesn’t- it’s still a decent maintenance step to perform. These steps won’t erase your data or reinstall your Mac in any way if you follow instructions carefully.
Here’s how:
1/ Make sure your computer is completely shut down.
2/ You’ll have to be quick next: Press the Mac’s power button. As soon as you either hear the loud chime, or see the display light up - usually after a second or 2 - on your keyboard press [cmd] + [r] Keep these keys on your keyboard pressed until you either see an Apple Logo with a loading bar or a spinning gear.
After a few minutes, you’ll be presented with a Utilities screen. This is the Recovery partition. If this step is already giving you problems, try using a USB-keyboard. It doesn’t have to be an Apple-keyboard. If you have a Windows-tailored keyboard laying around, use the “Windows-flag” key in stead of the [cmd]-key and it should also work.
3/ Choose Disk Utility and click [continue]
Disk Utility will display your computer’s harddrive in the left column. The default name for it is “Macintosh HD” and is usually the second one from the top. Click on it and click on the [verify disk] button. This will check your “Macintosh HD” harddrive partition for errors. If found, click [repair disk] unless you have a Fusion drive in your Mac and it says [fix] instead of [repair disk] please tell us before you continue! For a screenshot of what I mean, check this article from Apple: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202574
4/ Once done with the verifying or repairing of your “Macintosh HD” click [repair disk permissions]
This will check your partition for permissions errors. A common myth about this feature is that it will fix all permissions issues on your Mac, which is not true, but it will fix most systemwide issues. Also, here is a list of error messages that you can safely ignore if they pop up:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203172
5/ Lastly we shall do a permissions/Access Control List repair on specifically your user’s home folder with a somewhat hidden tool in the Recovery partition. Close Disk Utility and find the menu called “utilities” in the top left corner of your computer’s display. It’s in between the menus “edit” and “window” Don’t be confused with the menu called “os x utilities”
Choose Terminal. A somewhat old-fashioned looking window will pop up, waiting for a text command from you. This is the Terminal.
After the # type: resetpassword and press return. Note that there is no space between ‘reset’ and ‘password’
What you’ll see next is an rectangular window that gives you the option to reset passwords. We are not going to that, however. Instead, click on “Macintosh HD” at the top. In the pull-down menu below that, choose your user's accountname. Skip all the rest and at the very bottom click the [reset]-button.
A spinning gear will appear and may stay on for a second or several minutes. It’s hard to predict exactly how long.
If you have multiple users on your Mac, I advise you to repeat this step for all your users.
We’re ready to reboot your Mac now. Click on the Apple Menu and choose “startup disk” Choose to boot from “Macintosh HD” Please let us know if this solved your issue, or if the steps above did not work, or could not be performed for some reason.

IMac won't start with Thunderbolt Display connected after firmware update

After updating my thunderbolt display firmware to version 1.2 this morning via the App Store, my mid-2014 iMac won't start up with the external display connected. I can get the iMac to start up only by disconnecting the display's thunderbolt connector. After the iMac comes up, I can reconnect the display and everything appears to function normally. I've tried several restarts and the iMac won't start up with the display connected. Anyone else experience this?

Hello rameta,
It may help to reset your Mac's SMC and PRAM.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Reset your computer’s PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Cheers,
Allen

HELP!! iMac won't start, on button turns orange immediately, no display

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