Imac 24-inch won't boot - OS disk inside

I have a 24 iMac that will not boot properly, and has the OS disk in the optical drive. I hear the optical drive grunt and spin upon powering up, but nothing more happens, leaving me with a black screen.
The three diagnostic LED's are all green.
The USB keyboard and mouse seem non-responsive and I've had no success at powering on with the mouse button pressed, or using any key stroke combination on startup.
I thought if I could get the OS disk out it might boot. (OS was upgraded to Lion, OS disk is Snow Leapord) Anyone know how to eject a disk without using the keyboard, mouse, or properly booted imac?
Thanks!

Five ways to eject a stuck CD or DVD from the optical drive
Ejecting the stuck disc can usually be done in one of the following ways:
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the left mouse button until the disc ejects.
2. Press the Eject button on your keyboard.
3. Click on the Eject button in the menubar.
4. Press COMMAND-E.
5. If none of the above work try this: Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following:
/usr/bin/drutil eject
If this fails then try this:
Boot the computer into Single-user Mode. At the prompt enter the same command as used above. To restart the computer enter "reboot" at the prompt without quotes.
This fifth option will only work if you can boot into single-user mode, but if the OS is badly hosed this won't work. So, you can try getting it to boot from the DVD.
However, it sounds like you may have a hardware failure if the keyboard is unresponsive. Since Lion was installed you can try booting to the Recovery HD:
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

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Hi,
My old G4 iMac flat panel won't boot (Spec and OS below). When you turn it on it gets stuck on the grey screen and nothing happens. I've tried holding down shift to get a safe boot but that doesn't work. I've then tried using the OS install disk to access disk utility but that doesn't work. Just the same grey screen. Now you can't use the power button to force it to turn off, you have to switch it off at the mains.
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Thanks

Hello Again Reelsick Productions!
As I Previously Replied, in your Other Topic;
What size is the Hard Drive, and how much space is available?
How much RAM is installed, and is it original or added?
What peripherals do you have connected? A keyboard, mouse, printer, external drive or modem, router, etc?
What happened between the last time the iMac started successfully, and when it didn't?
Have you made any changes, like upgrading the system, updated or installed any applications or programs, etc?
Have there been any unusual occurences, like freezes, crashes, power outages, etc?
Are you able to startup from the system install disc using John Huber's Startup Manager suggestion to run Repair Disk?
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Symptoms:
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THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

Hey tom and welcome to Apple discussions,
It had been bogging down lately, and making a few clicking sounds plus the usual whirring.
Sounds like the hard drive going bad.
Today I wanted to check hard drive, so I put in G4 install/recover DVD 1 of 2 for 10.3 & restarted with Control key.
Yah usually it's not going to like that since it's a machine specific disk.
Unplugged everything & retried. Could not get DVD out, even with paper clip.
This way?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2285
Suspect I have an immediate problem due to jammed DVD, then possible HD and PRAM. Do Radio Shack or other local computer stores usually sell the 3.5 V battery?
Yes but it's $16 vs $5 at OWC. Most likely you'll need a new HD and the proper installer.
Richard

Macbook Pro won't boot to disk.

So I seem to have an interesting problem. One of the new Macbook Pros we bought won't boot to disk... at all. One of two things happen:
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Tried booting by both holding down C and holding down the Option key (which brings up the boot menu, showing the hard drive and the disk. Even though I select the disk it just ignores the disk and boots the hard drive.
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Its under Apple Care so I was going to send it back, but was just wondering if anyone else had the problem and knew how to solve it.
Message was edited by: Ragnar-Kon

Hi, Ragnar-Kon. You can't start a Mac up using any older version of the Mac OS than the one that came installed on it. The unibody MBPs have all come equipped with at least 10.5.5, so three of the four discs you mentioned were certain to be nonstarters, though you didn't know it.
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Hey! I am going to make this all very clear and explain everything to the best of my ability (this might be long).
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Thankyou for your response!
Unfortunately, I have been to that support page. I cannot even get into disk utility, let alone the mac osx software.
is there anything else i can try? maybe something in open firmware since its the boot key that works

Won't boot, seems disk is gone?

Okay, I was on my iMac and it was running really slow, so reset it (Apple > Reset). It then comes up with a broken folder or whatever, and won't boot. I put in the installation disk, checked the Disk Utility and the only thing there is the Mac OSX Install Disk. I'm assuming that's not a good thing.
I didn't delete any system files (I barely even go anywhere outside of my user files) so I really just don't know what's going on. I can't even get the CD out of the drive now (because clearly that's the only thing it will boot from), so can't try anything else. Any suggestions, or is it pretty safe to say that my Mac is effed? I've only had it 3 months...
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Message was edited by: jason_guy13

Thanks rkaufmann87, I'll try that.
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My thing is, I've only had the thing for 3 months? Is it normal for it to just die that quickly?
I'll keep you guys posted, thanks for all the help so far. Much appreciated.

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The RAM mismatch might be the problem fix that.
Also backup/data recover naturally, assume TimeMacine or bootable clone is corrupted and backup only files to a storage drive
Most commonly used backup methods
Install OS X on a external drive and boot from it.
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Use Disk Utility on the booted clone to Erase with middle selection (Zero) the ENTIRE internal hard drive
Use Carbon Copy Cloner to reverse clone the clone onto the internal, copies the Recovery HD too.
That should fix it, or else the drive or another hardware issue
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's

My iMac (OS X) won't boot up. All I get is a blank screen with a blinking question mark (?). I've tried resetting the PRAM, but that doesn't help. What do I do?

My iMac won't boot up. I get only a blank screen w/question mark (?). I tried resetting he pram, but that didn't help. What do I do?

Thanks. Did a safe boot, repaired disk permissions, and took your advice on the combo update.
Running perfectly fine now, if not slightly faster.
For the benefit of others this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 will get you to the Apple Support article that covers safe boot and parameter reset in OS 10.4, 10.5, 10.6.
Thanks for all your help and advice.

IMac can't/won't boot from Leopard DVD

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I get stuck on the grey screen, the rotating bug stops rotating after about 5 minutes.
It will still boot from the hard disk fine, and will boot with other DVDs as well. Hardware diagnostics check out fine.
I did try single user mode, it will get there OK.
Verbose mode spits out a lot of messages (who knew? - lol), but nothing that seems to point to any one issue. It too stops spitting out messages after about 10 minutes.
Any ideas?

I did try the clicking the mouse thing just for the heck of it... no joy.
I do see a few other threads like this one, so I'm not alone on this.
The error messages I see are (not going to type them out all the way):
launchd[1]: Failed to count the number of files in /System/Library/StartupItems no such file or directory
Then a bunch of mDNSResponder errors, also saying either no such file/directory or invalid destination port.
Then a message saying Folder Manager is being asked to create a folder (cach) while running as uid 0
Then Cannot use ATS Persistent Store - switching to old FODB cache code
kextd[47]: root filesystem is read-only; skipping kernel link data generation
followed by a couple of errors from configdp[41]
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Still stuck...

Mac noob has an imac g3 that won't boot

i recently got a imac g3 from a friend to play with. i've never used a mac, so i was hoping to learn a bit.
at first, it seemed to work fine... nothing wrong
later, out of curiosity, i tried to boot from an ubuntu live cd and that's where everything went wrong.
it started to boot, then hung, so i ejected the CD and rebooted the computer... and ever since, the computer won't boot at all
it makes the chime, then sits at a grey screen for a long time (i usually walk away at this point) and eventually a folder with the mac logo pops up and nothing happens from there.
booting from CD also does nothing. the CD starts to spin up, then idles.
i don't have a firewire hard drive to test firewire boot either...
i've tried appleoption+pr and it made the chime twice, but i still get the same results.
any ideas?

Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open ourFirmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime. Then, before the screen lights up, hold down Command-Option-O-F until the Open Firmware screen appears. Then enter these lines, pressing Return after each one:
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all
"The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings."
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1812?viewlocale=en_US
How to eject a cd from the internal cd drive:
eject cd
List of devices:
devalias
List of variables:
printenv
Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
reset the PMU
http://mrjcd.com/junk/PMU.jpg
well, an external monitor did nothing
as for the firmware, it has 4.1.9f1...
That's a positive sign.
when i hold the option key on startup, i get two buttons, (a round arrow and a straight arrow) both of which i am unable to click. The firmware could not find a valid os. Should include icons for each partition or cd with a valid os. Why don't you try boot with the option key with a cd in the drive.
but is there a way i can use open firmware to redirect the boot partition?
I hadn't been able to fathom the syntax... until I listed a bunch of os's.
Used startup of system perferences to select disk/media then click on lock then
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
nvram boot-device
Now, we can guess meaning:
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@0:12,\\:tbxi
   | | Partition/location
   | on device
   |
   0 = master
   1 = slave
   for ata internal device
Why set nvram variable? I've had open-firmware based Pegasos PPC and it simply had boot command, so instead of:
setenv boot-device ud:3,\:tbxi
should be enough to write:
boot ud:3,\:tbxi
my setup,boot my internal harddrive Tiger partition:
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@0:12,\\:tbxi
my setup, boot my internal harddrive classic 9.2.2 partition
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@0:10,\\:tbxi
boot from Mac OS 9 cd???
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@1:9,\\:tbxi
boot 10.2 install cd
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@1:9,\\:tbxi
boot hardware test cd
boot-device mac-io/ata-4@1f000/@1:9,\\:tbxi
boot from external firewire hd with Tiger installed
boot-device fw/node@1d202009c115c/sbp-2@c000/@0:10,\\:tbxi
boot from external firewire cd/dvd drive Tiger DVD
boot-device fw/node@50770500071002/sbp-2@4000/@0:3,\\:tbxi
boot from external firewire cd/dvd drive 9.2.2 install cd
boot-device fw/node@50770500071002/sbp-2@4000/@0:9,\\:tbxi
boot from external firewire cd/dvd drive Hardware test
boot-device fw/node@50770500071002/sbp-2@4000/@0:9,\\:tbxi
network startup
boot-device enet:bootp
mac $ sudo pdisk -l
Password:
Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/rdisk0'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
2: Apple_Driver43*Macintosh 56 @ 64
3: Apple_Driver43*Macintosh 56 @ 120
4: Apple_Driver_ATA*Macintosh 56 @ 176
5: Apple_Driver_ATA*Macintosh 56 @ 232
6: Apple_FWDriver Macintosh 512 @ 288
7: Apple_Driver_IOKit Macintosh 512 @ 800
8: Apple_Patches Patch Partition 512 @ 1312
9: Apple_Free 262144 @ 1824 (128.0M)
10: Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_1 2254440 @ 263968 ( 1.1G)
11: Apple_Free 262144 @ 2518408 (128.0M)
12: Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_2 146538496 @ 2780552 ( 69.9G)
13: Apple_Free 6982440 @ 149319048 ( 3.3G)
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=156301488 (74.5G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
Drivers-
1: 23 @ 64, type=0x1
2: 36 @ 120, type=0xffff
3: 21 @ 176, type=0x701
4: 34 @ 232, type=0xf8ff
pdisk: No valid block 1 on '/dev/rdisk2'
Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/rdisk3'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
2: Apple_Driver_ATAPI*Macintosh 8 @ 64
3: Apple_HFS Mac_OS_X 5531656 @ 72 ( 2.6G)
4: Apple_Free 10 @ 5531728
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=5531738 (2.6G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
Drivers-
1: 4 @ 64, type=0x701
mac $
why am i now unable to boot from CD as well?
See Richard's second paragraph having to boot up from the original cd to get cd reader to work again.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5966197#5966197
i'd love to get this thing working again
Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343
Well, you could get an external firewire CD/DVD drive and use the option key to boot a cd/dvd in the drive.
thank you all for your help
-Randy
Message was edited by: rccharles

Another iMac G3 that won't boot

Hello! I too, have an iMac G3 (slot loading) that won't boot. I press the power button and get the "happy mac" icon, but nothing else. If a CD in, you can hear the CD drive. I have tried various tricks, including command option P R, but nothing seems to work. I am now going to try my CD that came with the computer, but am wondering which I should try first, Apple Hardware Test, Apple Software Restore, or what?
Thanks, Beth

No, your remark is NOT dumb. Sometimes you need to quit the disk utility and than re activate it to see all of your options such as "verify permissions" and "repair permissions" which should be on the left side while the verify disk and repair disk is found on the right side.
You also might want to try booting from the install disk and than running the disk utility program or if that's what you are doing than open the utility program as soon as it shows up on the screen.

Macintosh HD won't boot, but disk utility says "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." How do I repair the hard drive?

I have a MacBook that needs its internal hard drive's Macintosh HD partition repaired, as the boot screen freezes on startup. I am running a separate, working mac OS from an external hard drive in order to run disk utility and repair the MacBook's internal OS. The issue is, it has dismounted the internal Macintosh HD partition, and won't remount. And in addition to that, the Verify Disk option returns with, "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." I've run Verify Disk and Repair Disk a few times, all with that same result. And the internal OS still won't boot.
I have attempted to make a disk image of the internal Macintosh HD partition and save it to my external hard drive so I can wipe the internal hard drive clean and restore the image, but I receive errors when trying to create the disk image, and when trying to erase the hard drive (I know, I should try to erase the hard drive when I haven't made an image. When I tried to erase the hard drive, the image wasn't done and I thought it was. I got an error for erase, and I got an error for making the disk image) I have tried making a disk image multiple times and haven't been able to create one.
There is also a boot camp partition on the internal hard drive which is of no importance as to whether it stays or is erased.

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

HP Elitebook 8560w Won't Boot UP -- Disk Read Error Press CTRL ALT DEL to restart

Hello. I have an Elitebook 8560w, that won't boot up. The screen says "Disk Read Error Press CTRL ALT DEL to restart". The screen isn't all black...there are some random colored square pixels with a random flashing !, but it's mostly black.
I've run the diagnostics and the F4 Hard Disk Test has passed everytime I've run it. I can hear the hard drive running, so mechanically it's okay (not sure on the logic side).
The F3 Run-in Test fails under the Memory Test, it reads "Run-in test failed - Failed Memory Address 0x76B99000 Pattern expected - 0XFEFFFF Pattern Read - OxFFFFFF
I tried a new 4GB DDDR RAM (removed the old one), and it hasn't helped. I should add before I changed RAM, it failed memory test and said "Disk Not Found".
That made me think it was the hard drive, but the hard drive test has always passed.
Any help would be appreciated. I'm lost. I have a new drive and ram coming from HP, but hoping I can salvage info on HDD.
Also...the computer was set up with Windows 7 as new, but my company reimages everyone's computer and installs XP. So I'm not sure running the HP CD (assuming I can find it) would even help.

Disk read failure and disk not found are classic signs of a hard drive failure. The memory failed the test, so it looks like this had two issues at once.
The good news is that the right parts are on their way. If you want to save your data, do not use the recovery disks for the system. They will wipe the hard drive if it is still functional for them.
With regards to retrieving your data, have you talked to the IT team yet? Most IT departments have a process for data retrieval on company equipment.
If they do not have a process setup to do that, then you could try getting a notebook hard drive external enclosure. They usually run fairly cheap for a basic enclosure and that is enough to connect the hard drive externally to a different computer using a USB cable to copy data from it. This would work provided they do not encrypt the hard drive. If they do encrypt it, contact the IT team for their process as encryption limits the methods that are available.
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

IMac G5 iSight won't boot from external optical drive . . . FW or USB

Hello, all. I have an iMac G5 iSight with a busted optical drive. Every six months or so, OS 10.4 eats itself (directory structure goes corrupt), and I need to reinstall.
The issue I'm having is that the computer won't boot off of my external optical drive. It's not shown as a choice in the Startup Manager, whether it's connected via USB or FireWire. Any ideas?

Okay, sorry this took so long . . .
Reset the SMU, NVRAM, and PRAM, no luck. Tried different FireWire port on the iMac, no luck. Tried different FireWire port on optical drive--LUCK.
Ah.
Wipe and reinstall got underway, and finished the first part. Unfortunately, my OS 10.4 Disc 2 turned out to be scratched, and wiping the hard drive didn't get rid of the logic board error either.
Took it to Apple retail store, and it was BOA (bricked on arrival). Astoundingly, it would not power, POST, turn on the fans, nothing. They then replaced the power supply, so they could troubleshoot the hard drive/fan/whatever issue.
Now the computer POSTs, and they finished the reinstall, and said it passes their advanced diagnostics. I asked them to run the diags on the install CD, so they could see they fan error, and they agreed. That was around 7:00 last night.
Now, it's still at the store, and I'm eagerly awaiting word on what might REALLY be wrong. Thanks for your help so far!

Imac 24-inch won't boot - OS disk inside

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