IMac cant get past startup screen

so here's what's happened:
-Boot iMac
-Grey background and apple logo comes up
-Loading bar appears at bottom part of screen. Loads about 10% and then it disappears.
-Another loading bar appears at the same spot. Same thing happens.
-Wheely thing starts turning.
-Stuck there.
I've tried:
1) Disk Utility: it couldn't verify my Mac HD.
2) /sbin/fsck -fy: the following text appears:
** /dev/rdisk0s2
** Root file system
Executing fsck_hfs (version diskdev_cmds-491~1)
** Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
** Checking extents overflow file
** Checking catalog file.
Invalid key length
(4, 39104)
** The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EXITED WITH SIGNAL 8
3) I've tried switching my RAM around as well.. I upgraded from 2 to 4gb. Same problems with old and new RAM.
So there's something wrong with my HD...What can be done to fix it?
Please help
Thanks!

If Disk Utility cannot Repair your disk, as Simon says, you may need to reinstall your operating system, etc. on the hard disk from your backups.
I would recommend going the extra step and repartition the disk as well which will erase your disk in the sense that your volume/file directory will be reset. If you only have one partition on the disk, just temporarily set it to two and then back to one partition to get it to write a new partition map. Use GPT (GUID Partition Map) for the partition scheme on the hard disk, and on the volume (e.g. Macintosh HD), use Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the volume format.

Similar Messages

  • Setting up imac cant get past welcome screen

    I have just taken my beautiful new iMac out of its box and turned it on..but now can't get past the welcome screen.  Won't let me click continue ?  I havn't owned a Mac since 1994...so things have changed.  Thank you in advance.

    Are you using a wired USB mouse and Keyboard?  If it's a bluetooth...
    Are there batteries in the mouse? Is the mouse turned on?
    Same for the keyboard.

  • IMac won't get past startup screen, no matter what. Pls help?

    I just inherited a mid-2010 iMac from a friend. It hadn't been used for months, and now when it is started up, it won't get past startup screen. It shows the 'slot' looking image on the bottom of the white loadup screen, then it's just the apple symbol and the whirly thing going around forever. I've had it going for over half an hour at one point, and nothing changes. I have tried all the different reboot key combos, such as C with a startup disk in it, D for hardware test, command S for safe mode, etc. The only thing which makes any difference at all is using the T key at startup, when I do get the three-pronged white symbol floating around screen.
    It is a 21 inch with 500gig, and I believe it's running Snow Leopard. They never had a problem with it before, but now after the months of disuse, it is doing this. Please, can anyone help? Thanks!

    I'm not sure if a dead PRAM battery would give you these symptoms, but one possibility is that if the computer was off wall power for months, the PRAM battery, a small coin cell battery that controls certain functions, may be drained and  dead.
    But, in any case, try an SMC Reset. You must follow the timing for this exactly.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
    And then a PRAM Reset.
    Hold down Option-Cmd-P-R together at the startup chime, listen for two more chimes, total three, then release all the keys to finish booting.
    You might also try a Safe Boot by holding down Shift at the startup chime. (Cmd-S isn't for Safe Boot, it's single user mode.) Give it much longer to boot than usual, but if it doesn't finish in perhaps 5 or 10 minutes, then you'll have to give up on that.

  • After running mac tuneup got a red dot on the hard drive icon, nothing would respond, now on restart cant get past white screen with apple logo, mac tune up disk still in laptop

    after running mac tuneup got a red dot on the hard drive icon, nothing would respond, now on restart cant get past white screen with apple logo, mac tune up disk still in laptop

    Restart your MBP holding the trackpad down and hopefully the disk will be ejected.  Then try to return it and get a refund or put it in the trash.  There is nothing that software does for your MBP that you cannot do yourself or with free software.
    If can get your MBP started, delete all traces of the offending software.  Worst case is that you may have to erase the HDD and reload the OS and your user data.  I trust that you have a backup (minus MacTuneUp).
    Courcoul has given you his opinion in a very succinct manner, and as you might surmise, I agree with him.
    Ciao.

  • Cant get past startup!

    Hi all. I have a older G5 that Im trying to connect to my TV. I can get the startup screen to show on my TV but as soon as it goes to the desktop I loss the signal and get the blue screen. Any ideas? A computer monitor works fine. Thanks. Dual 1.8 G5 stock. using a DVI to HDMI cable.

    Hi all. I have a older G5 that Im trying to connect to my TV. I can get the startup screen to show on my TV but as soon as it goes to the desktop I loss the signal and get the blue screen. Any ideas? A computer monitor works fine. Thanks. Dual 1.8 G5 stock. using a DVI to HDMI cable.

  • Elite pavilion m9040n won't get past startup screen

    For the past few weeks, my computer has been unable to load past the initial startup screen( blue hp screen) . The screen goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor and then after hearing what sounds like a click and a loading sound it restarts over and over. After several attempts running startup repairs , I am able to get to the hone screen however it freezes every few minutes or so. I'm inclined to think this may be a hdd issue because I have been receiving the black screen message : A disk read error has occurred. Press ctrl+alt+delete to restart.
    I should add that I haven't changed any hardware or software prior to this problem.
    Any help would be appreciated

    Sosa70 wrote: For the past few weeks, my computer has been unable to load past the initial startup screen( blue hp screen) . The screen goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor and then after hearing what sounds like a click and a loading sound it restarts over and over. After several attempts running startup repairs , I am able to get to the hone screen however it freezes every few minutes or so. I'm inclined to think this may be a hdd issue because I have been receiving the black screen message : A disk read error has occurred. Press ctrl+alt+delete to restart. I should add that I haven't changed any hardware or software prior to this problem. Any help would be appreciated
    Hello Sosa70, When the system completes the POST (Pre Operating System Test) successfully, it turns control of the system over to the operating system, and you would see the black screen with the blinking white cursor.
    Sometimes when the operating system has become corrupted, it cannot boot into the Windows desktop.
    It is also possible that the hard drive itself has become faulty. Since you mentioned you performed the hardware test and found no errors, you may just have a corrupted operating system.
    Please click the White Kudos star on the left, to say thanks.
    Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem.

  • Won't get past startup screen

    I have a MBP with a busted Optical drive (it never worked) and warrenty is void.
    I have never reinstalled my system but now would be a good time becuase
    My computer when starting up now cannot get past the first Grey Apple logo
    and shows the wheel (not rainbow other one) spinning for hours on end.
    What should I do?
    I think i'm going to try to rescue my files by connecting through firewire
    from another computer I got it into firewire mode.
    But I dunno what I should do to actually FIX the computer?
    Any ideas?

    I'll let u know now that my next intent is to give it to a tech to see if he can dl the data from the disk and if not to just replace he optical drive and then try to startup from the system install disk then if not that then use unix prompt to connect to disk and dl files . I'm sure it possible to do these things. The probl is with bad blocks of data on the disk that has curropted essential information that is used in the startup and running of os x. If I were u I would reconnect the cd drive and try booting from ur system disks.=)
    Message was edited by: JupiterSpaceport

  • Cant get past blue screen

    I've tried all the troubleshooting options on the site and none have worked so far. My computer will not start up in safe mode. I get past the gray screen with the apple logo. But when i get to the blue screen, it just goes from dark blue, to light blue, and back, forever. at one point i left it on all day to see if it went anywhere, and it did not. So safemode doesnt work, and there is no way for me to get into my computer at all. Beyond frustrating. If anyone can help, I'd be much obliged, because I want to catapult it out the window.
    thanks

    It sounds like there is a problem with the OS on the hard drive. Try starting the MB from the DVD that came with it. Then you can run Disk Utility from the DVD and see if it can repair the HDD.

  • Cannot get past startup screen

    My dad has the same MacBook pro as me but has been having some serious problems. It's running snow leopard but has recently not been sleeping, when the lid closes it seems to re start itself and cannot be shut down, only restarted.
    Then this weekend it fails to get pas the startup screen. The grey screen appears, a progress bar, as if it's updating goes about a tenth then stops, and after a while disappears, then the grey wheel just spins.
    I've searched for an answer have have tried the following
    Does not boot in safe mode
    Does not boot from disk
    Reset the pram
    Reset the SMC
    Booted in single user mode, and it says rebuilding catalog b tree, but cannot do it as erros on HD
    Not sure what else to try. Is there a way I can format the drive and reinstall osx? Not bothered about the data on the drive so long as I get it working again..
    PLEASE HELP
    cheers

    You need an appropriate OS installer disk to do what you want. If it won't boot from the OS installer disk then you can't do what you want. Bring it to an Apple store or AASP.

  • My iphone 5s went into recovery mode now i cant get past activation screen cause last owners i cloud is now on phone how can i bypass

    boughtn iphone5s second hand; the previous owner took their icloud acct off phone i put mine on, last night my phone crashed and now it wont let me restore or do anything says i need apple password from previous owner whobi cant get ahold of anymore, anyone know how to bypass this or am i screwed

    MikaholicA wrote:
    Their info was taken off because i had put mine onto it....and i know with the other ios 7.0.1 up to 7.0.6 you could bypass so there has got to be a way
    Not completely. Apparently it was still signed into their iCloud account with Find My iPhone enabled or you would not get the prompt. There is no way to bypass it. That is the whole point of it's design. It is a theft deterrent.
    Feel free to contact Apple although I highly doubt they will help you bypass the theft deterrent that they put in place. Apple Support Numbers

  • Macbook won't get past startup screen?

    I dropped my macbook, approximately from a 3/4 meter height. It beeped 1-5 times (i think)? Then froze. I Turned it off, then switched it back on, and it went through the usual startup phase, except it wont go past the loading screen and won't boot up in single user mode, help me please?

    You may have damaged the disk when you dropped it.  Here are some steps to diagnose that and possibly repair the filesystem.  (It may be some other problem but this is a good place to start.)
    Reset SMC:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Boot in OS X Recovery Mode overview.
        http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
       If it boots in standard recovery mode then
       at least part of your internal disk is working.
       If it boots in network recovery mode then your internal disk may be damaged
       but the rest of you Mac may be healthy.
    While in Recovery Mode check the S.M.A.R.T. disk status, try to repair the system disk (Macintosh HD).
    If that does not fix the problem then reïnstall OS X.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5477875?tstart=0

  • Cant get past Start Screen on Nokia E75

    i had a low free phone memory and turned the phone off.
    I have been trying to put the phone back on but it goes blank after showing the NOKIA start screen (i.e. doesnt get to show the UI).
    Any ideas people?
    Thanks for helping.

    Hi, first try to pull out the memorycard and try booting without it.
    Have you taken out the battery for 5 mins before turning on again?
    - If this does not fix it you can try the hard reset, but this will delete everything on your phonememory such as contacts, messages, calendarnotes etc.
    If nothing helps, or you don't want to hard reset it - take it to a nokia care point and see if they could get it back to life again without having to wipe your phonememory. - If you've made a backup - you should go ahead and try it your self first.

  • Ipad 2 Needs original account to get past startup screen.

    Please help! I rest my ipad 2 completely and now its asking for the original apple id and password but i deleted the email for itso i have no way of getting intoit. Any solutions to get passed the activation screen?

    You are encountering Activation Lock which is described here:
    iCloud: Find My iPhone Activation Lock in iOS 7
    If the original Apple ID and password were your own, contact Apple Support (as shown at the bottom of this post).  If the original Apple ID and password were someone else's, you would need to have that person unlock the iPad as described in the article above.

  • HT201210 Ive updated to ios 6 using wireless. once completed it has asked me to plug my phone into itunes. i'm away from home without itunes what can i do ? the phone cant get past this screen

    Ive just tried to install iOS 6 using wirless. Once completed it asks me to plug it into itunes.
    I'm away from home at the moment so i dont have access to itunes. is there anything i can do ? the phone will not do anything !!
    is there a way to get passed this or revert back ?

    I have the same problem and we can't simply just restore from the backup. It says that I have to set up my iPad through restoring. So I tried restoring it in iTunes but it won't restore until I have to turn off this **** "Find My iPad" crap but I couldn't because the set up's not complete and it won't let me go to my settings unless I set it up. So basically it's asking me to go to my settings but before I could go to it I have to restore, and in order to restore I have to go to settings. Get where I'm at?
    Please, Apple Tech people! Help this 14 year old girl on her period, PMS-ing, thinking about how I want  to strangle however made this mistake of a set up, updating her iPad in 3 am in the morning cursing the day she even thought of updating. I seriously need to get out of this loophole. I don't want to use my other iPad that only has 16GB. I just wanted the pretty graphics I saw in my parent's iPad airs, I don't ask for anything more :''''(

  • HT201274 I have wiped the old persons data and photos etc off my recently purchased ipod touch and now all the display shows is a usb lead and CD, please can someone tell me how to get past this screen so I can transfer my own music

    Please can anyone help, I recently purchased a second hand ipod touch and it had over 4000 photos on it, so to delete them I went to settings and found an option which said something like erase all content and data, I did this and the next morning I tried to turn it on to put my own music on, only to find that the only display on the screen is a usb lead with an arrow pointing to a CD. I cant get past this screen even after plugging it in to my itunes account, its like my computer can not find the ipod.

    Put it in Recovery Mode. If your computer won't recognize your iPod, try another one. How did you wiped the iPod? With iTunes or directly with the settings app?

Maybe you are looking for