IMac Disk Problems; Won't boot and other bizzare behaviour

Well I've been thru most that I can think of; My iMac won't boot. Problem with diskcorruption. fsck in single user won't fix, DiskWarrior stops at rebuilding directory, I have reset PRAM, booting to 10.3.6 stops at loading LoginWindow; DiskWarrior is been the only CD I've been able to boot with. I tried to boot with install Disks for 10.2 and 10.3 but as the boot starts these CDs get ejected. While in single user mode I can navigate around my filesystem except for my home directory; I get a disk error when I go there. Well it appears (1) to be a B-tree problem related to my home directory
(2) but why can't I boot from install CDs
(3) why can't I boot in safe mode?
(4) think there's going to be any way to save my data?

You can reset the PMU yourself. Only press it once. That may help you bootup on your install disk.
As far as the corruption goes, If DiskWarrior can't fix it, nothing will. You'll have to Erase and Install. First see if the free demo of Data Rescue can see your stuff. If it can and it's important enough, you can buy the full version. You could also try hooking up another Mac in Target Disk Mode, and see if you can retrieve you stuff that way.
This is the best way to Erase and Install. First backup all your important stuff, if you can, as the following will erase everything on your drive; it will be unrecoverable. Put your install disk in your Mac and Restart while holding down the C key. In Tiger, When you get to the install screen, don't click install and go to the title bar at the top of the screen and click on Utilities (in earlier OS's click on the installer menu).
Click on Disk Utility and choose the hard drive you want your OS on. Then click on the Erase tab. In Tiger, click on the Security Options button near the bottom (it's similiar for Panther and Jaguar).
Once in there choose Zero Out Data (write zero's in earlier versions). This will map out any bad blocks on your drive and bring it back to almost new condition (providing there's nothing wrong mechanically with it, bad bearings, defective or damaged surface, etc.).
Once this is done, go back to the install screen and begin the "Erase and Install" installation. This will put a factory fresh system on a clean hard drive.
Cheers!
DALE

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IMac 400 DV won't boot

My trusty iMac 400 DV won't boot, and it is currently our main email machine. It has 19 GB HD and 3+ GB available, according to Finder. I'm using 10.3.9 with 768 MB RAM. Please send any suggestions ...
Symptoms:
It had been bogging down lately, and making a few clicking sounds plus the usual whirring.
I did Repair Permissions, Onyx clean up recently. Did not help much.
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.
It took forever, but only got the bong, then the apple icon, a small colored square, then a blue screen.
Unplugged everything & retried. Could not get DVD out, even with paper clip.
Tried to zap PRAM on startup, but kept Restart message now after a long time.
Have not tried resetting PMU yet. Looks like its a square button by the RAM slot.
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?
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

My imac won't boot and is making a loud beeping sound

my imac won't boot and is making a loud beeping sound - any ideas. i tried replacing the ram but that didn't help.

Won't boot and fans go mental

since updating to 10.5.5 my 17" iMac has began to fail. not sure if this is a coincidence or something to do with the recent updates.
after about 10mins it started to freeze up with the spinning beach ball of death
then it would freeze after 2mins
now it won't boot and the fans go mental and it shuts itself off.
i held down some keys to get the text up of the booting process and first it went on about "intelPSU missing" or something and finally would say "I/O error" "14 majors" and stuff
could it be the hard drive?
could it be the ram?
could it be the power supply?
stupid mac
i can get it into target disc mode but my macbook pro doesn't see it.

It's probably a combination of a failing power supply unit and logic board. I suggest you take it in to be looked at.
Try booting from your install disc and running Disk Utility to check things out.
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Reboot from your hard drive and repair permissions.

Imac 7 1 won't boot

My imac 7 1 won't boot up without a cd. When I try to boot it up without a cd it just pops up with a blinking grey folder and a question mark inside the folder. When I boot it up with any cd (mac os x 10.4.10 or mac os x 10.5.4) it boots up and I have to select a language then a message pops up and says "THIS SOFTWARE CANNOT BE INSTALLED ON THIS COMPUTER."... THIS IS THE WEIRDEST THING TO ME: When I hold the power button and option key, I no longer sees MACINTOSH HD, it just shows the blinking grey folder. I said I no longer see Macintosh HD, is because there was a time when it was actually there. Macintosh HD also isn't in my startup disk as it suppose to be. When I use the disk utility on either cd, i actually see Macintosh HD....SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME, I'M NOT A MAC USER BUT A WINDOWS....I JUST WANTED TO TRY MAC OUT AND SO FAR ITS SO BAD.....

The 7,1 iMac is a mid-2007, 24 inch (can you confirm that's correct?), which came with OS 10.4.10 originally, so you seem to have the correct disks. It also sounds like you are able to boot from a CD successfully, and the fact that you can then see the HD icon is a good sign. It may be that Disk Utility can repair it, I would try that and report what DI tells you.
However, do you have a back up of files from this disk? Before doing anything else you should try to rescue any critical files from it. An external drive would be very useful for this if you don't have one already.
This machine is also user-repairable (I've replaced an internal hard-drive on this machine myself, tricky but not impossible!), or you could have a repair shop do it for several hundred $. Its also the case that you could just buy an external drive, load a new system on it and never replace the internal drive. This would be much cheaper and easier, cost depends on how much space you want and the quality of the drive, but for $100 you could have a much larger drive than what you have currently (probably a 320 or 500MB).

Power mac g5--won't boot, and I can't sleep

Hi all,
I'm hoping someone is awake and can help. My power mac g5, circa 2005, has always come with some problems, specifically, kernal panics. It's not bad RAM, but I have never tested the video card. Oddly enough, it seems to go down most often in the most in simple internet applications.
Today, it froze in Firefox and I cannot get it to reboot. It stalls/freezes in the gray apple screen. Called my IT friend, and he said to zap the PRAM. That brought it back up for a second, and then it froze again. I replaced the battery, no results.
I can't get it to boot in safe mode or even single-user- it freezes up as well. I certainly can't get it up long enough to load the boot disk.
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Help
Message was edited by: nigelsupercat

Hi, I'm having same problem. G5 1.8 dual processor purchased March '05, won't boot. Not from cd either.
Took it to the apple geniuses and first was told it might be a bad board or processor and that I might as well just buy a new system. Well, I can't, because I still need to run some classic applications for business reasons, and because of that I'm stuck at Mac OS X 10.3.9. Anyway... I left my system with the apple geniuses and got a call 3 days later saying it was fixed @ no charge and that the 3rd party USB card was bad. They pulled it and said all was well.Great!, saving me $800 charge for a new board and over $430 for a new processor. So on the way home I buy a new USB hub get home start up and nothing! No change. Back to the Apple Store and after some testing this time I'm told it's definitely a bad hard drive. So, on the way home I buy a new hard drive. Get back, install the new HD and, you guessed it, can't format the disk, system won't boot from CD. BACK TO THE APPLE GENIUSES AGAIN! Now they tell me it's definitely the logic board. After 5 days I'm back where I started... except I have an old USB card that is most likely fine and new USB hub and a new HD I purchased because the Apple Geniuses told me they were bad! I asked them if they would apply a credit of some sort for the unnecessary purchases and my time (The closest Apple Store is 30 miles away), They politely said we appologize for the inconvenience, but no, we can't do that. I've been using Macs of all kinds since the early 1980's. And have never had one fail! Since I started looking into G5 problems, I've found many others with this startup issue. I feel there is a known issue with this series that apple is intentionally sweeping under the rug instead of issuing a recall or credit.

HP ProBook 6540b won't boot and caps lock "blinking" continuously.

Hi,
I'm trying to help a friend with his laptop a Probook 6540b.
It won't boot and caps lock "blinking" continuously.
When I got it caps lock and num lock was "blinking" tre times... indicated memory problems, reseated the memory modules
and the the "tre time blinking" disappeared, but caps lock now blinking continuously and the only way to shot down the computer
is to disconnect the power.
Anyone with some ideas???
Janson

A neighbor had the same problem and asked for my assistance. I created a rescue disk using my HP desktop running Windows 7 64-bit. Even though her HP laptop was running Windows 7 32-bit, the disk allowed me to boot into windows on her computer. I then went to the HP web site and downloaded the latest BIOS and then flashed it to the BIOS chip following the instructions that came with the download. Everything is working fine now. Hope this helps.

IMac G4 800 won't boot

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.
Any help please!
Spec
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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?
Is the iMac shutdown overnight, or does it run 24/7?
Have you ever run any routine Maintenance procedures?
ali b

Lenovo G560 - Issue with won't boot and black screen after HDD upgrade

Lenovo G560 - Issue with won't boot and black screen after HDD upgrade.
What happen: My laptop was working fine, no blue screen issue, no funny business at all. I bought a new SSD Intel 120 GB and thought it would be a good idea to replace the HDD. I shutdown and disconnected the power adapter, waited a couple of minutes and removed the battery. I opened up the back case and replaced the HDD. And put all the screws back and put the battery back in.
Problem: The very first time I turned the power on, nothing happens besides a black screen. I pressed the dvd drive it works and opens up and closes. I waited for about 30 mins and still has blac screen. When I mean black screen, no bios menu, no logo, just a black screen with the fan sound on.
I have tried these:
1. Unplugged everything - battery, adapter, and pressed the power on button for about 60 seconds, nothing, the laptop turns on with the LED display on for both on and battery LED's. But nothing but black screen, no sound of windows loading just the fan and black screen.
2. I tried putting back my old 2.5" and nothing but black screen.
Thoughts and suggestions?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi Autoexit173,
Welcome to Lenovo Community!
As per the query we understood that you are facing issue with system not booting in your Lenovo G560 laptop.
As you have mentioned that the system not booting, please try to remove the RAM and turn on the system and check if you can hear any beep sound. Also try to clean the RAM slots and check for the issue.
Click here for the steps to remove the RAM and refer page number 40.
Hope this helps. Do post back if issue persists!
Best regards,
Ashwin.S
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My computer won´t boot and restarts at Apple logo with the spinning thing

My computer won´t boot and restarts at Apple logo with the spinning thing and I can´t get it to work.
Before this happen I had left the computer on without a cable plugged in and so it ran out of power.
I just pressed the startbutton again after I´ve plugged it in and this problem started.
Any ideas?
Mattias
Sweden

WRONG FORUM Sorry

My MacBook Pro won't boot and apparently my HDD is locked

My MacBook Pro won't boot up. And it's says my HDD is locked when i try and reinstall OS. Help me please good people.

you want to check how many threads with same question first, and look in
Mac OS version forum that you have; and the notebook MacBook instead of the workstation forum for Mac Pro (non-laptop)
Not a lot of detail to go by with "won't boot" though.
Mac OS X Help
Isolating Issues in Mac OS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388
https://www.apple.com/support/osx/
https://www.apple.com/support/quickassist/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
Assume you know what your OS, how to use the Recovery Mode, and how to repair or do Safe boot and other tasks.
General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide: Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems: Isolating an issue by using another user account
Identifying resource hogs and other tips: Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
Starting the computer in "safe mode": Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
To identify potential hardware problems: Apple Hardware Test
General Mac maintenance: Tips to keep your Mac in top form
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro

Pro Won't boot and need major help!

All of a sudden my MP won't boot. It turns on but won't boot and can't figure out why.
I had just shut it down and let it cool off for about 10 minutes because I had to move it upstairs to my internet connection to register some software....and then it wouldn't boot up. I've tried and re-tried and no go. Opened it up and re-sat the drives and RAM thinking something got loose. There's 4 drives in there including a backup clone. I guess what I need to do is figure out how to boot from the clone. Will pulling the drives and just inserting the clone do that?

It appears that one of the four drive slots in your Mac Pro already has a clone of the OS. If so, then all you need to do is to hold down the option key after you press the power button until you get a choice of which HD to boot from. You should see both your original boot drive and your clone HD. Select the clone HD, and hopefully you will boot up and be back in business. If you wish to continue to boot from the clone drive, then you will need to set that up in System Preferences as your boot drive. I would suggest that as soon as you get your Mac Pro to boot from the clone drive that you run Disk Warrior on that HD or at least try and repair it from within Apple's Disk Utility program. If your Mac Pro still will not boot from that HD, then it may be beyond repair and have a hardware failure.
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My laptop won't boot and caps lock blinking continuously (1blink in 4 sec.)

Sir,
Today morning I turned on laptop but laptop won't boot and wireless button glowing continuously and also caps lock blinking continuously as 1 blink per 4 sec.

do you mean 1 blink repeating and then a pause and 1 blink repeating again? The diagnostics show that as a CPU not functional issue.http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-15-Notebook-PC-series/6529948/model/6622489/document/c01732674#AbT2 Try a hard reset.Follow the instructions at the following web page.http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Pavilion-15-n209tx-Notebook-PC-(ENERGY-STAR)/6529948/model/6622489/document/c01684768 If a hard reset does not help, then contact HP for warranty service. Is your notebook still in warranty?Check your warranty status Here.

I installed Lion and now seem to have problems with Microsoft Silverlight and other plug ins and applications. I haven't ever used time machine to back up (my bad I know). Is there a way to go back to snow leopard with messing up all my files and my set

I installed Lion and now seem to have problems with Microsoft Silverlight and other plug ins and applications. I haven't ever used time machine to back up (my bad I know). Is there a way to go back to snow leopard with messing up all my files and my set?

Are you using the latest version of Silverkeeper? - v.2.0.2 is stated to be compatible with Snow Leopard.
http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper/
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Lion iMac won't boot and can't re-install OS as disk locked.

Hi, my iMac was purchased in 2011 and is running Lion, Mac OS X 10.7.5.
On Monday it stopped booting and gets stuck at the apple logo and spinning thingy.
I have tried to Verify and Repair the Macintosh HD disk but both fail. Next step I wanted to try was to re-install the OS which I understand will keep my settings and data. When I go into this option the disc is greyed out and it says "The disk is locked".
Do I need to unlock the disc, if so then any ideas how I do this ??
What other diagnostics should I try ??
Many thanks in advance for help.

When you try to install and check your hard drive, and you starting the computer from the recovery partition.
Restarting your computer by holding down the command + R, Additional if you have access to DiskWarrior you should give that a try to repair your hard drive.
Take a look at this link, http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/

IMac Disk Problems; Won't boot and other bizzare behaviour

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