Imac intel circa 2005 will not boot

I was woundering if anybody might point me in the direction of resolution to this problem. My intel circa 2005 iMac will not boot - OS Tiger - get a blue screen. Funny thing is that when I reinstall OS the computer works alright for a day or two then crashes when I open a programme such as iPhoto. I then reboot and get the blue screen of death again. I have done this several times. The reinstall works again only for a day or two then back to square one. I have clean installed reformated the hard drive etc all the resets etc. I have also run the hardware test extended and this said all was ok. Ran disk utility and seemed to write 'zero' alright on the whole disk. My gut feeling is the hard drive is on the way out but the ability to write zeros to the whole disk has stopped me from replacing this. Has anybody experienced this before and found a fix without buying a new iMac?

Hello, have you blown the dust out lately? Let it cool for an hour & see if you can get these...
Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor
iStat Menus...
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
And/or iStat Pro...
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

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Hi
My home imac has crashed and will not boot up and I'm not sure where to start.
It wouldn't shut down properly so I turned off the power, and now it won't go beyond the apple logo and timeer when I try to restart it.
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hi there --
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IMac modell 8.1. will not boot, screen issues

Hi!
My iMac 24" modell 8.1. (IC2D - 2,8 GHz) will not boot from install disc OS X 10.6. When I turn the machin on I hear the sound ok, then the grey screen appear with the black apple logo and the spinning wheel starts up. Then nothing happens. I hear that the superdrive is spinning up with the install disc, but nothing happens on the screen.
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Eric Ross wrote:
You need to start the iMac with the original DVD that came your with your computer. Then run disk utility to repair your hard drive and premissions. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
No, you want to run DU from whatever version is on the boot volume. The original version it shipped with was 10.5, but if it's now 10.6, he wants to use a 10.6 disc to repair with.
For the video symptoms, I would run the Hardware Test, in extended from the 10.5 disc, if it will boot to that.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1509
And Roam's suggestion to try a Safe Boot is a must.
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Message was edited by: WZZZ

IMAC 21.5 " allinone will not boot after OS re-installed

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Try a safe boot by holding the Shift key down between the startup tone and logo.
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Help! iMac G3 Indigo crt will not boot

Hello,
I'm an A+ PC technician and I'm trying to get an G3 iMac Indigo back up and running for a friend. I own a G4 Mac Pro so I'm somewhat familiar with Mac hardware and OSX and System 9.
Here's what I've done so far to get this little machine going again and it symptoms presented when I received it:
1. The system when powered up would chime once and boot to a smiley Mac then do nothing else.
2. When alternately booting using the option key to get to the drive option screen it would only show the HD and no CDROM drive. No other key combination would change this (CMD-OPT-P-R zapping the PROM) or booting into Open Firmware and reset-all.
3. I purchased a retail copy of System 9.0.4 that is bootable (I checked it in my G4 system) and held down the "C" key to boot from the CDROM-No go-as well as the Option key-no CDROM displayed.
4. I removed the HD, changed the jumper to slave and installed the HD in my G4 Mac and checked the drive integrity via OSX Hard Drive utility and the HD was repaired. The HD had a version of System 9 installed. Once the HD was reinstalled the G3 would still not boot.
5. I again removed the HD and again installed the disk as slave in my G4. I did a clean install of System 9.0.4 to the drive and removed the drive from the G4 and reinstalled the disk into the G3. Still no boot and now the G3 iMac displays the dreaded flashing ? mark folder after booting. The Option key also shows no drives attached now. No HD or CD.
6. I purchased a used replacement CDROM drive and installed it in the system-still no boot, no drives attached, nothing changed via zapping the PROM.
7. I changed the jumper settings in the G3 to master for the CDROM drive on the new CDROM and Slave for the HD. Still no boot,no drives displayed, zapping the PROM-no change.
8. Today I changed the PROM battery by exchanging the PROM batteries from my G4 system to the G3 and there was still no change. The old battery from the G3 is fine since my G4 system rebooted with it installed. I have also reset the PMU switch after the battery install.
I've probably done more harm to this system than was necessary by my trouble shooting actions. The HD was probably bootable before I did the clean reformat and install of System 9.0.4. but I'm not certain.
Tell me if I've overlooked something or done something wrong along the line.
Thank you for any assistance this community can give.
Kurt Klatt

rccharles wrote:
kurtklatt wrote:
Hello,
I'm an A+ PC technician and I'm trying to get an G3 iMac Indigo back up and running for a friend. I own a G4 Mac Pro so I'm somewhat familiar with Mac hardware and OSX and System 9.
Here's what I've done so far to get this little machine going again and it symptoms presented when I received it:
1. The system when powered up would chime once and boot to a smiley Mac then do nothing else.
seeing the smiley Mac means that you have a classic version of Mac OS installed on the hard drive.
2. When alternately booting using the option key to get to the drive option screen it would only show the HD and no CDROM drive. No other key combination would change this (CMD-OPT-P-R zapping the PROM) or booting into Open Firmware and reset-all.
you need to have a bootable CD in the drive for you to see the CD in a drive. Mac OS X works with media not devices.
I have a bootable System 9.0.4 CD.
only show the HD
So, Mac OS is showing a bootable partition, not a hard drive.
3. I purchased a retail copy of System 9.0.4 that is bootable (I checked it in my G4 system) and held down the "C" key to boot from the CDROM-No go-as well as the Option key-no CDROM displayed.
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'll try disconnecting the HD and leaving the CD drive connected to see if this works however it should be set as master on the cable.
4. I removed the HD, changed the jumper to slave and installed the HD in my G4 Mac and checked the drive integrity via OSX Hard Drive utility and the HD was repaired. The HD had a version of System 9 installed. Once the HD was reinstalled the G3 would still not boot.
Did you set the harddrive to master? Master is a must. Cable select doesn't work. You need to set the hard drive to master mode. There is usually a label on the hard drive that tells you what jumpers you need to set. If you are not sure, give us the name and model number of the hard drive and usually someone will be able to tell you how to set that drive.
Did you check all of the cables? Put everything back and verify that all works.
The HD is set to Master and the CD is set to slave with the correct jumper settings and the cable is attached.
5. I again removed the HD and again installed the disk as slave in my G4. I did a clean install of System 9.0.4 to the drive and removed the drive from the G4 and reinstalled the disk into the G3. Still no boot and now the G3 iMac displays the dreaded flashing ? mark folder after booting. The Option key also shows no drives attached now. No HD or CD.
I suggest that you reformat the drive then re-installed your software.
When I did the clean install of MacOS 9 it was after a reformat and reinstall of the OS.
6. I purchased a used replacement CDROM drive and installed it in the system-still no boot, no drives attached, nothing changed via zapping the PROM.
7. I changed the jumper settings in the G3 to master for the CDROM drive on the new CDROM and Slave for the HD. Still no boot,no drives displayed, zapping the PROM-no change.
8. Today I changed the PROM battery by exchanging the PROM batteries from my G4 system to the G3 and there was still no change. The old battery from the G3 is fine since my G4 system rebooted with it installed. I have also reset the PMU switch after the battery install.
I've probably done more harm to this system than was necessary by my trouble shooting actions. The HD was probably bootable before I did the clean reformat and install of System 9.0.4. but I'm not certain.
Tell me if I've overlooked something or done something wrong along the line.
Do you have firewire? You can use target disk mode. Some people have claimed success when installing through target disk mode. Use your g4 to load the software onto the target disk.
Firewire is not an option with this G3 iMac. The Indigo G3 doesn't have Firewire installed.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583

IMac DV G3 400MHz will not boot with OS8.6 or 9.2.2 CD-ROMs

Here is the situation: I have burned copies of the install disks for OS 8.6 and OS 9.2.2 that I wish to install onto our iMac DV. I insert them into the computer while running OS X and it reads it correctly. However, when I attempt to boot from the CD, it skips it and starts booting from the hard drive.
When I am in OS X, I check the Startup Disk preference, and I set it to the CD-ROM, which it detects as containing a system folder. Then when I reboot, it continues to skip the CD and go right to the hard drive.
When the hard drive is formatted and does not contain an OS, and it only has the CD-ROM inside, it gives the Missing System Folder icon upon boot.
The machine has Firmware 4.1.9 and works well in OS X. It is currently formatted with five partitions on a 10GB hard drive, all formatted as Mac OS Extended. All partitions have the OS 9 drivers within. It has a 400MHz G3 with 256MB RAM.
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While I am working on acquiring a pressed version of OS 9.0 and OS 8.6, I have additional information for you: I am able to boot and install from burned media for OS 10.2, 10.3 and 10.4 on this machine (which is an Orange iMac DV per the above note about the SE version). This tells me the machine can boot from burned media, but not into those OSes.
Another interesting fact: on a hunch, I copied the System Folder from the OS 9 install disk to the root of one of the hard drive's partitions, and then switched the Startup preference to that folder and tried it. It booted far enough into OS 9 to give me a happy Mac icon, then show the Mac OS 9.0 logo, but then popped up a message saying that the media was only able to boot from a removable drive, and that I would have to restart. Predictable, to be sure, but it shows the machine is at least capable of booting to OS9 somehow...

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My iMac will not start up when shut down, or awake from sleep.
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If i Restart it, it switches off, and will not power back on. The machine still works great but is begining to be a pain in the back-side cycling the power every morning.
I have done an SMC Reset, and that did not change it.
I have also added a new user, and when i logged in as the new user, it did restart a couple of times (cannot remember the exact amount) and then when i switched back to my normal account it restarted fine... i assumed it was fixed... but after that it's gone back to it's old painful self..
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I just installed snow leopard yesterday through a disk I brought from apple., I had to keep the mouse moving during installation because every time it started sleeping I would need to cycle power which then restarted install!
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Macbook Pro intel core duo, will not boot to anything.

Greetings, I am currently having issues with my MacBook Pro. I get the flashing folder with the ?, but I can't boot to any of the startup utilities. I have tried all that I have read about on other posts, such as, trying to boot with the C key held down (it just gets to the folder ?), booting to disk utility didn't work ( held down keys and it went to the folder ?), I also tried getting to the hardware test, by holding D and having the applications disk in. And still everything I try gets me to the flashing folder ?. Also I do have the CD's that came with the laptop and tried to install from the mas os install CD and still get to the flashing folder ?. The reason it started doing this was because of this...... I had boot camp installed and was running dual boot with windows 7, then I had deleted the mac osx on the drive so I would only be using windows 7. I wanted to reformat the drive after this, but had a hard time finding out a way to actually do this, as the MacBook unlike PC's, doesn't have any BIOS, and at that time didn't know all the key commands to use at startup. So I downloaded a program from the net that can run at windows start and delete the HD before the computer fully boots windows 7. So after I deleted the HD I could not install any program or start any of the mac utilities at startup, and I did the PRAM reset, still everything that I try it gets me to the flashing folder ?, in the end. Could I have deleted all of the startup utilities when I wiped the HD? If so how can I get these back on my MacBook pro if I can't get the MacBook pro to read any files or start up utilities? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: I found a way to download firmware, I thought that it could be the reason I get the flashing folder with ?, because maybe I somehow damaged the firmware on my computer when I did the reformat. Alas I followed the directions to re-install the firmware and still I get to the same flashing folder. I used FirmwareRestorationCD1.4 I think it is the one I needed for my model, MacBook Pro 15" intel core 2 duo, and comes with osx 10.5 leopard I think, the OSX CD is stamped 2008 for 15" MacBook Pro. I can't check the properties of my MacBook because it has no programs on it, but this is what I think it is from memory and deduction. Well now I guess I have to ask the question, is the firmware the programs installed such as disk utility, and recovery mode? I need to read more I guess, and also I thought I needed to take the 1.4 off the end of the FirmwareRestorationCD in order for it to work, but the instructions for making and using the firmware CD is a bit vague. Another factor in this to make things more difficult, is that this computer is my second computer and it's a PC laptop, so I used a program download from the net to write .dmg files to disk, it's called Transmac, could this be another fault in my creation of the CD? I am out of ideas again as to what I need to do to get mac OSX back on my computer, I am still a bit new to the way macs work, so I could definatley use some advice. thanks.

IMac. Ppc g5 will not boot up past apple sign

I have the iMac G5 PPC with 10.5.8 leopard running it. I go to turn it on and I get to the apple sign and the cog wheel and the fan kicks into hyper drive and that's it! What do I do?

Have you tried booting from your install disc? Try that and then use
Disk Utility
   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.
You can also try booting with the option key held down, or boot holding the s key to boot into single use mode.. Last but not least, try booting into safe mode by holding down the shift key at startup.

Imac freezese an now will not boot up

I have a 24in imac late 2006 which has recently been difficult to wake up with screen pixilation etc. Now it just freezes as soon as you touch anything and I cannot even get it to boot up now. Have reset smc and pram and now just have a blank screen. Have read how there is a problem with video card over heating but think it might even be more than that. Have applecare thank goodness.

I had the same thing happen to my 2006 24" iMac - the screen image had a strange grid pattern covering it, and I couldn't get past the grey apple loading screen before what looked like a kernel panic.
I took the mac in for repair at my local Apple-Authorised place, and it turned out to be a defective graphics card causing the problem. It was replaced, and now things seem to be running fine once more.
I suggest getting your mac checked out :o)

Intel IMac will not boot OSX Tiger

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that I am reading and trying to do my home work on why my Intel I-Mac will not boot. It all started after running Windows Vista using Apple Boot Camp. I just wanted to list a few things I have tried after getting replies from posting in some other forums. I will try here since a few people are having similar issues. Any tips would be appreciated. Please no flames
1. If I hold the C button while booting to boot from CD-ROM I get a panic alert.(panic alert meaning lockup, I have to restart or press and hold power button)
2. Holding down D button upon startup will run Apple Hardware test just fine, but no errors found.
3. I can press Option-Command-P-R to reset NVRAM successfully.
4. I can press Option during startup to start the Startup Manager. I can see my Macintosh Hard Drive and CD-ROM, but get a panic alert if I click on either icon. I’m not sure what happened with the Windows Vista hard drive Icon.
5. I can press N during startup to start up from a compatible network server. I see a flashing globe and then a panic alert. Not sure what this function is for.
6. If I press T during startup for Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode, I get a weird symbol that looks like a Y floating around the screen. I have no idea what target disk mode means.
7. If I press Shift during startup to boot in Safe Boot mode, I get a panic alert.
8. If I press Command V during startup for Verbose mode, it appears that I am at a Unix style Command Prompt that hangs.
9. If I press Command S during startup for Single-User mode, I am at the Unix Command prompt which works, but I do not know any commands except fsck –fy which I guess is like a DOS CHKDSK command that tells me my Volume appears OK.
10. Pressing Option-N during startup to start from a NetBoot server using the default boot image gives me the flashing globe icon again, and then hangs.
11. I tried resetting the System Management Unit thanks to the Unix forum guys, but still have the same problems.
12. My next step is to find a Mac friend to burn the Firmware Restoration CD file I downloaded thanks to Michael from the Unix forum. If that does not work I will try whatever you ask.
13. I can boot my I-Mac using a Linux Live CD called Slax and surf the net and play with the software. It runs just great; I just don’t think this 200MB version has the capabilities to format the hard drive or Install to hard disk like Fedora Live does. By the way, the Fedora Live version of Linux hangs after booting from the CD. It boots just fine on my PC.

Greetings,
Somehow or other you will need to be able to boot to the Installation Disk #1 that came with your computer - as you know they are specific to each machine model. After a successful boot to that disk, you can use Disk Utility to remove all of the partitions, wipe that puppy clean, then repartition and make sure you use the GUID partition scheme - you really only need the Bootcamp Assistant if you have multiple drives, internally, and since you have an iMac, your good to go.
When you booted to your Linux disk, could you see the internal hard disk? If so you should be able to open one or two of the folders just to be sure that the disk is OK.
A worst case scenario would be to have to install a fresh hard drive. Do you have any way of borrowing another install DVD for that model to try to get it to boot? That's the key to this whole project.
Try this - Go back into single user mode and issue these two commands in this order:
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
Watch the spaces and then issue a "reboot" at the prompt.
During this, the fans will likely come on at a high speed and may stay on for a while and maybe until you do a shutdown and reboot.
I hope this helps a little, and once you get the machine booting to the Installation Disk #1, again, you'll be all set.
You don't say, but is this unit under warranty - I know it may be a stupid question on my part, but if it is, give them (Apple) a call and get some advice on the waranty actions.
Good Luck my friend.
Cheers,
M.

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen
my system:
new (month old) 24" intel imac, 2.8 ghz, 4 gb ram.
running: leopard (upgraded from tiger, which was pre-installed at purchase), installed 10.5.1 update right before this huge problem occurred.
install discs on-hand: two-disc tiget set, single leopard upgrade disc.
what led to this:
i wanted to install windows using bootcamp on a 50 gb partition.
at this point i was running leopard 10.5
i followed all bootcamp instructions, printing out the guide, as well. once i got into the windows setup, i was prompted to choose a partition to install windows. unlike the bootcamp guide, which showed three partitions, one clearly labeled "bootcamp", i saw only one partition. not wanting to risk writing over my mac partition, i quit the setup and rebooted the mac os. after some googling around, i looked for firmware updates (didn't need any), and then software updates. i decided to try updating to 10.5.1.
i then ran through boot camp again, deleting my previous windows partition, creating a new one, and moving forward as before. once again, i was only shown one partition to choose from in the windows setup. i exited the setup again to reboot through the mac os, but this time, i was only given a blank gray screen.
here's what i have tried so far:
booting from a CD, holding down the C or D keys: no response (in fact, i have to restart the computer holding down the mouse button to be able to eject the CD)
booting with option key held down: gray screen
booting with option key held down with external bootable firewire drive attached: the firewire drive appears as a boot icon, and i can click on it within a five second window, but then the screen freezes after that time period, and nothing changes
booting into target mode while attached to another mac: gray screen (no firewire icon, and drive never shows up on other mac)
resetting NVRAM: i'm able to hear the boot chimes, but no difference in performance. gray screen every time
Safe boot: nothing but a gray screen
Verbose mode: gray screen
Single user mode: gray screen
Single user mode with firewire drive attached: occasionally (not every time), i am able to get the white on black terminal to show up. from here, i'm able to run fsck, but it appears to only be checking the firewire drive. i have tried several times to boot from here, and once it took me to a blue screen with movable arrow cursor, but it never went beyond this.
is there anything else left to try before taking it to apple?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Casey Burns
Casey Burns Illustration and Design
http://CaseyBurns.com

I'd call Apple support at this point. You'll need
to put this issue on the record.
Call U.S. iPod and Mac technical support: 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273)
The wait may be long for an agent to come on the line
so expect that and have some other stuff to do in the meantime.
If you have the applecare protection plan, I'd ask about "onsite"
service.
I like your work ! Good luck !
Slim
Message was edited by: slimpikkunz

Imac intel circa 2005 will not boot

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