IMac G5 booting into Terminal Window

At start up the fans come on and I get the opening white Apple screen then everything goes black. I am not sure but it would appear that my IMac G5 is booting into Terminal. I get a whole load of Unix code then it changes to a plain blue screen with the mouse able to drive the cursor but nothing else.
Can anyone suggest how to get out of Terminal into a normal GUI Mac screen.
I cannot boot from the original CD/DVD nor can I start up in safe mode.
Alan

With no responses I worked at it myself. Having zapped the PRAM many times it suddenly cleared

Similar Messages

  • Imac booting into terminal window

    Ever since updating to Mountain Lion my imac boots up showing the boot up script, sometimes it stops and I have to type exit or boot to get it going...I've spoken to Apple 'support' 6 times now and including a re-install they have talked me through a miriad of processes...none of them have worked.

    Have you done this?
    Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
    Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
    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.
    Erase the hard drive:
      1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
      2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click on
         the Erase tab in the DU main window.
      3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero
           Data option to one-pass. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
      4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
    Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
    Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

  • IMac only boots in to Windows

    Hi
    My feonca got a copy of windows today and wanted me to install it for her. I created the partition using bootcamp setup the inserted the windows cd and rebooted. Competed the installation. Then I inserted the Leopard cd and ran the setup for the drivers. Some of the drivers would not install. It was then that I discovered the copy of windows is 64-bit and I cant get leopard back. The iMac only boots in to windows. What can I do to fix this.
    thanks Dan

    Holding down the option (or alt)-key during booting--as soon as you hear the apple chime--doesn't work?

  • Help when i boot into the windows 7 instal disk it freezes at windows loading files

    Help when i boot into the windows 7 instal disk it freezes at windows loading files.

    1. Have you tried both Alt keys - maybe your Alt key is dead.
    2. Do you have wireless keyboard? Have you tried to change batteries? USB Keyboard?
    3. If your Win is installed correctly then you have also installed all windows support software.
    There should be Startup manager like on the Mac (next to the clock little bootcamp app or in control pannel) to restart your Mac into the Mac partition.

  • External HD causing imac to boot into windows.

    I recently connected my external HD to my Imac. I have windows 7 installed with bootcamp on the imac not the external HD.  For some reason now when I restart the computer it defaults to boot up in windows instead of OSX. Before I connected the HD it worked fine.  What can be causing this?

    Before you connect the external hard drive, select Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Startup Disk and select the Mac OS X system folder.  Then do it again once you connect the external hard drive.
    Then restart.  If it doesn't solve the issue, is the machine over 4 years old?

  • Imac auto boots into windows bootcamp

    I just installed windows 8 using bootcamp. Installed it without issue (magic mouse wouldn't work though), now i can't boot into mac. it won't even send me to the boot options. I turn on holding option, like apple says I should. But i get a blinking underscore for a second, then boots into windows 8. My magic mouse still doesn't have drivers to work. I'm not sure what to do. I have also tried holding down cmd + r, but nothing happens as well. my keyboard does work, just not my magic mouse.
    Thanks for the help!

    Yes, when you were in Boot Camp getting ready to install Windows you missed step 1
    Downloading the Windows Support Software, go back and do it now.

  • IMacs can boot Linux or Windows from usb stick

    iMacs 21' can boot Linux or Windows from usb stick? from Firewire 400 or 800 hdd/ssd? from USB HDD/SSD?
    May boot fromCD/DVD/DVDDL in internal DVD DRIVE, too?
    Exist Blu-ray drives able connect on Thunderbolt slot on iMac 21'?

    Here is the memo of the steps I followed. Hope this helps.
    <Create VHD image in temp folder at local drive>
    diskpart
    create vdisk file=C:\Temp\Win2go.vhd maximum=20480 type=fixed
    select vdisk file=C:\Temp\Win2go.vhd
    attach vdisk
    exit
    <Create partition in VHD, format in NTFS and assign drive letter "O">
    diskpart
    list disk
    select disk n （n is a number of VHD）
    clean
    create partition primary
    format fs=ntfs quick override
    assign letter=o
    active
    attribute volume set NODEFAULTDRIVELETTER
    exit
    <Execute "DISM" utility in Windows DVD and extract installer image to VHD>
    G:\sources\dism /apply-image /imagefile:G:\sources\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:O:\
    ** "G" is drive letter for Windows DVD
    ** "O" is drive letter for VHD partition
    <Write boot program into VHD>
    O:\windows\system32\bcdboot O:\windows /f ALL /s O:
    ** "O" is drive letter for VHD partition
    <Detach VHD>
    diskpart
    select vdisk file=C:\Temp\Win2go.vhd
    detach vdisk
    exit
    <Format USB thumb drive in NTFS>
    diskpart
    list disk
    select disk n （n is a number of USB thumb drive）
    clean
    create partition primary
    format fs=ntfs quick override
    active
    exit
    ** "E" is drive letter for USB thumb drive
    <Write loader into boot sector>
    G:\boot\bootsect /nt60 E:
    ** "G" is drive letter for Windows DVD
    ** "E" is drive letter for USB thumb drive
    <Copy VHD file to USB thumb drive and mount>
    copy C:\Temp\Win2go.vhd E:\
    diskpart
    select vdisk file=E:\Win2go.vhd
    attach vdisk
    exit
    <Write boot info into USB thumb drive>
    F:\Windows\system32\bcdboot F:\Windows /s E: /f ALL /v
    ** "E" is drive letter for USB thumb drive
    ** "F" is drive letter for VHD partition on USB thumb drive

  • IMac randomly booting into "safe boot" mode after a clean installation of OS X Lion 10.7 (??)

    Is anyone else having problems with their Mac (running a clean installation of OS X Lion 10.7) randomly booting into "safe boot" mode after a restart or shut down?
    (Indicators being: seeing the login screen even when "automatic login" is enabled, the proper video drivers not loading - indicated by laggy desktop animations, WiFi not working properly, Menu Bar icons that normally show - not showing, etc.)
    **Note: I migrated from a Snow Leopard Time Machine backup, but did not import "Settings". I thought this would be the best way to keep from encountering any issues with 10.6/10.7 incompatibility.

    Found this answer from another user. THE EXACT THING HAPPENS TO ME:
    Its really annoying Apple hasn't fix it.
    =================
    I think i got it :
    The progressbar while booting ( booting in safe-mode ) came from the wireless keybord and is reproduceable.
    At evening I shut down my iMac an put off my mouse and keyboard. To startup I put on the iMac and immediatly after I switch on keyboard and mouse. In tihs case the keyboards sends some event wich leads to safe-mode.
    Know I wait until I switch on the keyboard. In my opinion this is a bug, i can live this way but i hope it will be fixed.
    I will know take a look at it while not switching off the keybord, power consumption should be acceptable

  • IMac G5 boots into a hardly usable 'safe' mode.

    Hello,
    A lot has happened so I'll try to be brief. Initially ipod updater locked up the iMac (and trashed my ipod folders) until the only option was to use the power off. On trying to restart it would get to the grey screen (Apple icon and spinning gear) and go no further. I booted into safe mode which didn't really help, I then used the install disk and verified permissions and repaired the Mac HD several times (one error was reported initially but now all reported as ok).
    However, now when I do a normal start, i.e. touching nothing on the keyboard during start up, it starts up and seems to log me in to a regular screen, but the icons like connection strength, language, bluetooth etc do not appear. In the top left the Apple icon appears as does 'Finder', but they don't work, if I click on them they turn blue but no drop down menus. I can open Finder from the dock and iTunes and they work ok, but everything else like Safari, iDVD, iPhoto all crash before they even start and I get the option to submit a report to Apple.
    So I guess my questions are,
    1) What has caused this, what is the problem?
    2) Is this booting me into a 'safe mode' option? If so how can I just boot into the iMac normally?
    3) Is running fsck worthwhile even though I've run disk utility which reports everything is ok?
    4) Any other options apart from a reinstall?
    Many thanks for any help and suggestions.
    Regards,
    Ian Goose

    Hello Ian, welcome to Discussions. You might want to take a look at this, which will give you some insight into methods of dealing with your problem.
    Good luck,
    Miriam
    Rev A 20" iMac G5, 15"iMac G4, 15"iMac G3 DVD   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Can't boot into my windows pro 64 bit dvd to do clean install

    I am trying to do a clean reinstall of Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (Brazilian Portuguese) I keep getting a request to select  a cd-rom type 1 or 2. Neither works.
    I have researched this here and on Google. All I find are references to Mac installs and changing the bios settings.
    My drives are not set to AHCI - I have boot from CD/DVD first in the boot order. I did the original install of windows 7 64 bit to this same equipment and configuration with this same official windows disk without any problems. I recently began having
    problems with the system after almost two years of use - efforts to repair were not only unsuccessful they left the system almost unusable. I am running the OS on a separate partition from my data.
    I was planning on booting to the Windows disk and wiping the C: partiton and reinstalling but I am being prevented by a message saying that i need to select a cd-rom boot type 1 or 2. Neither works - it just goes on to boot to the present damaged OS on my
    computer. I have tried typing "3" at the message - also didn't work. While I have a backup of my D: drive data I would rather not lose it and have to try to recover that as well.
    I would appreciate any help - I find it really strange that the same disk I used to install the system won't work now.

    This may or may not be a BIOS related issue, I am only a user - but the Windows installation disk/system is certainly a MAJOR player in this problem. I booted to UBCD and deleted the c: drive to get rid of the old windows install (leaving the 100mb"system"
    partition) and tried the boot again. Same problem with the Win 7 64 bit DVD. Except that when I entered "1" and "enter" it a "windows repair" window opened that appeared to be triggered from the 100mb "system" partition.
    I shut down and, out of curiosity, I inserted the The Win 7 32 bit DVD and it booted. I cancelled the install and booted the UBCD and deleted the 100mb "system" partition and resized the c: partition and booted the 64 bit install disk again. This
    time, when the boot asked for "1 or 2", I entered "1" and it booted and began the install. On the first reset it asked for "1 or 2", I entered "1" and it asked to "enter" if I wanted to boot from the cd/dvd
    drive. I believe that I used "esc" and it booted from the hard drive and completed the install. Only the Windows install DVD creates this problem other bootable disks I have don't do this.
    Since my original install was from the same disk to a new Hard Drive I didn't have any problem installing. My problems began with the need to reinstall, which is a VERY common problem with Windows. Once I found the workaround, which did not involve the BIOS
    but "fooling" the Windows install/system on my official retail copy of Windows, I was able to reinstall.
    Since I am using a very common, high end, if old, Intel board and processor I can't believe that others don't encounter these problems and I think that it begs the question to say that the problem is Intel related and to go to them for help.
    Anyway, I do appreciate your taking the time to review my problem and trying to help. I have been as detailed as I could above in the hope that this will help any others who are encountering this problem. I would add that I am using Brazilian Portuguese
    install disk and I suppose that this could be a solution only  for similar disks. From what I have seen on this forum and the internet, it seems to be more generalized.
    Thank-you again

  • IMac boots into Terminal

    Grandkids have my G4 iMac with OS X 10.4.11 installed and has only 256 MB of memory.
    While a granddaughter was reading a Facebook listing the screen went black. Now when powered up the monitor remains black and is actually in the Terminal mode. Typing cal brings up April's calendar.
    I re-booted inserted the Tiger CD and held down the C key. After booting up on the CD and getting to the install screen I tried several things. First, I chose the Start Up Drive and selected the OS X 10.4.11 drive---this resulted in the black screen in the Terminal Mode again. After re-booting on the CD again I selected the Disk Utility and repaired permissions---same result-the black screen in Terminal. Another CD re-boot and attempted Disk Verify on Disk Utility---resulted in disk error---same result when Disk Repair selected.
    Basic questions: 1) Would re-installing Tiger be the best approach to resolve the issue? 2) Is there another procedure I am missing which also solves the problem? 3) Would exiting the Terminal mode resolve the problem?
    Royal

    The file's authoring info, album info, etc, may be lost, unless you can rescue the entire Music folder. If that info is in the actual physical file name, it is not lost. The music is still there regardless, unless something really bad happened to the hard drive.
    It won't mess up the iPod, just make sure the machine that syncs to the iPod has the entire desired library. You can always transfer music between computers, and between computer and iPod, but not from iPod to computer.
    Of course this is all subject to the license restrictions of the music itself.
    Message was edited by: a brody

  • IMac 24inch - Boot Camp and Windows XP Pro SP3 - ZERO Audio

    I've just used Boot Camp to install a fresh copy of Windows XP Pro SP3 onto my 24-inch, 2.4 gHz iMac.
    Everything seems OK, except there is ZERO audio.
    I've tried reinstalling drivers from RealTek, to no avail. I've downloaded RealTek's latest drivers (number 217) and they appear to install, but nothing works.
    My Device Manager does not show any sort of Audio card whatsoever. Have I got some sort of hardware problem? (Audio works without trouble in OS X.) Why can't Windows find my Audio Card at all?

    I also have the same problem. I installed the Bootcamp update for XP and then my audio does not work with XP anymore. It does work with Leopard still without a problem. I noticed that when I am in windows, and I turn the audio off of mute, there is a red light that illuminates from the Audio Jack. The Audio driver does show up on my control panel, but nothing is working. Is this a way to make us stop using windows?

  • IMac wont boot into OSX

    Hi, I'm experiencing a strange problem with my late 2010 27" iMac. This morning when I went to turn it on the start up chime didn't sound, then after the apple logo appeared on screen a loading bar flashed up underneath it then it just turned off.
    I tried booting from an external hard drive with Snow Leopard installed on it, by holding down option at start up, but after selecting the external drive the computer just hangs at the apple screen. I also tried to boot from my installation discs that came with the iMac but it just froze at the drive select screen after selecting the dvd, the same happened with a Snow Leopard installation disc.
    After resetting the pram and nvram the start up chime now sounds again, and the computer now hangs at the apple logo when I try to boot from the installation dvds instead of freezing at the boot selection.
    I did a hardware check by holding down command and d at starup and the scan returned no problems.
    If I try to boot in verbose mode i get an error saying that fsck exits through signal 8 (atleast that's the gist of it, it shuts down to quickly for me to copy it word for word).
    Here's where the problem gets really strange though, after trying multiple live cd's I have laying around most of them freezing at some point during the boot up, I've found that the Windows 7 64 bit installation disc and Ubuntu Natty 64 bit both boot fine from disc. From the Ubuntu live cd I've managed to mount my Mac's hard drive and everything still seems to be there. I've noticed that with both these discs I get 2 dvd boot options at the boot selection screen, one saying windows (regardless of weather it is actually the windows disc) and one saying efi boot, if I select the one saying efi boot, again, the computer just hangs at the apple screen.
    I've got no idea what to try now or where to go next, I've tried running fsck through ubuntu but unfortunately my disk is journeled, does anyone have any idea what happening?
    *edit, I forgot to mention that I dont have the necessary fire wire for target disk mode and I can't seem to type anything in single usr mode.

    Hi, I'm experiencing a strange problem with my late 2010 27" iMac. This morning when I went to turn it on the start up chime didn't sound, then after the apple logo appeared on screen a loading bar flashed up underneath it then it just turned off.
    I tried booting from an external hard drive with Snow Leopard installed on it, by holding down option at start up, but after selecting the external drive the computer just hangs at the apple screen. I also tried to boot from my installation discs that came with the iMac but it just froze at the drive select screen after selecting the dvd, the same happened with a Snow Leopard installation disc.
    After resetting the pram and nvram the start up chime now sounds again, and the computer now hangs at the apple logo when I try to boot from the installation dvds instead of freezing at the boot selection.
    I did a hardware check by holding down command and d at starup and the scan returned no problems.
    If I try to boot in verbose mode i get an error saying that fsck exits through signal 8 (atleast that's the gist of it, it shuts down to quickly for me to copy it word for word).
    Here's where the problem gets really strange though, after trying multiple live cd's I have laying around most of them freezing at some point during the boot up, I've found that the Windows 7 64 bit installation disc and Ubuntu Natty 64 bit both boot fine from disc. From the Ubuntu live cd I've managed to mount my Mac's hard drive and everything still seems to be there. I've noticed that with both these discs I get 2 dvd boot options at the boot selection screen, one saying windows (regardless of weather it is actually the windows disc) and one saying efi boot, if I select the one saying efi boot, again, the computer just hangs at the apple screen.
    I've got no idea what to try now or where to go next, I've tried running fsck through ubuntu but unfortunately my disk is journeled, does anyone have any idea what happening?
    *edit, I forgot to mention that I dont have the necessary fire wire for target disk mode and I can't seem to type anything in single usr mode.

  • After updating to 10.7.4 on my imac it booted into a brand new user like i had switched it on for the first time.

    Hello all!
    Im logging in with the same credentials that i used literally 15 minutes before the update.
    Its really odd. it will not log into my desktop. its a totally new user but using my credentials so all my settings are fresh.
    does anyone know a way of getting my machine back to its previous state? i dont use time machine (not sure that would help anyway)
    We log into a server here at work which gives us access to the internet and other servers for files etc. But our programs/details are kept locally. like i say the user folder still exists but i cannot log into it as the credentials open up a new user. There are no other credentials to log in with either.
    baffling!
    Hope someone has had this problem and managed to sort something out.
    Regards
    Chris

    well me and my collegue fixed this. It had renamed the user folder to 'imac' i simply changed the user folder that i originally logged into back to its original name and its now fixed and letting me log back into my proper desktop.

  • I installed and performed the Migration Assistant to transfer all my files and documents from my PC to iMac.  Nothing shows up in Finder on imac but Boot Camp Assistant window is on the screen. What is it, is it necessary, how do I proceed?

    I installed and ran Migration Assistant on my PC to tranfere files and documents to my iMac.  The process seemed to go as directed until the end when "Boot Camp Assistant" showed up on my iMac screen.  There was no mention of this in the Migration Assistant info. It seems I cannot proceed without it. What is it for, is it required, what is the process?

    I installed and ran Migration Assistant on my PC to tranfere files and documents to my iMac.  The process seemed to go as directed until the end when "Boot Camp Assistant" showed up on my iMac screen.  There was no mention of this in the Migration Assistant info. It seems I cannot proceed without it. What is it for, is it required, what is the process?

Maybe you are looking for