IMac shutting down on startup - Can't enter safe mode as wireless keyboard doesn't connect quickly enough

Hi all,
I was planning to use bootcamp to install Windows 7 on my mid-2010 21.5" iMac.
Bootcamp recommended I usk disk utility to repair the drive. I had a snow leopard install disk in the drive, (I didn't realise Lion already had it's recovery tools built in to the hard drive.)
Disk utility said it can't repair the drive and recommended I start backing up my data (because the hard drive could be about to fail). Fine, so I restarted, with the intention of backing up everything (all my work for the last 12 months). So I press the power button, grey screen comes up, then the apple logo, then a progress bar appears (found this odd at first, but later found out it has something to do with disk utility and a bad hard drive) it gets to around 20% and then all power is cut from the iMac and the hard drive stops/everything powers down.
Now, I can't seem to get my iMac to boot into recovery utilities or into safe mode because it doesn't connect to the wireless keyboard in time before it shuts down. So, if I use a wired keyboard (I have a dell USB keyboard that I can take from the office), will I be able to boot into safe mode?
Also, if the disk in drive is causing the problem, then I can't remove it because the wireless keyboard won't connect/register any keypresses.

Ok so, status report:
Wired keyboard is non responsive when I plug it in before/during boot. So i guess it needs to be plugged in before the iMac shut down. That's that out the window.
Plugged in headphones and I can't hear the startup chime so don't know when to start holding buttons.
To make matters worse, the wireless keyboard is no longer paired with the iMac, getting a green blinking light which indicates it wants to connect to a computer or device.
So I can't enter any commands whatsoever, can't remove the disk in the drive or boot safe mode. It's my worst nightmare.

Similar Messages

My imac shuts down on startup help !!

my imac shuts down on startup help!

Like this:
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support
Barry

HT1338 I have macbook without a firewire port, I have usb 2.0 port, now my os is not working I can not get through apple logo loading , I can not enter safe mode, I can only enter one user mode, how can I backup my data, I have very important data in my h

I have macbook without a firewire port, I have usb 2.0 port, now my os is not working I can not get through apple logo loading , I can not enter safe mode, I can only enter one user mode, how can I backup my data, I have very important data in my hdd

Here is what worked for me:
My usb hub, being usb2, was too fast. I moved the wire to a usb port directory on my pc. That is a usb1 port which is slow enough to run your snyc.

IMac shuts down during startup

My 1.8GHz 20" iMac G5 will shut down soon after I hit the power button. Sometimes I get a grey screen for a few seconds before it shuts down and other times I only see the power light before it shuts down. You can hear things running but I am not sure if it is the fan, hard drive or both.
I took the back off and the first three LED's seem to check out okay. I also reset the PRAM to no avail.
My iMac had been in storage for a while and seemed to boot fine when I first tried. I plugged a portable hard drive into one of the USB jacks on the keyboard and got an error message about USB overcurrent. Before I could even finish reading the message and react to it the machine shut down and hasn't been able to start ever since.
Does anyone have suggestions on a self help fix before I take the machine in to the Apple Store?
Thanks,
Sean

"My iMac had been in storage for a while"
How long? It's possible you may need a new battery?
The CR2032 battery can be purchased/ordered for under $10.00 from: http://mac-batteries.com/
CR2032

Server won't finish booting...can't enter safe mode...won't read install

My G4 XServe starts to boot, I see the Apple, then it shifts to the Starting Mac.... screen, and then it just stops on an empty blue screen. I see the server going through and checking each of the four hard drives, system activity lights do their thing, but the blue screen remains.
I cannot get the server to boot from the install CD or DVD (using 10.4.8 and have the 10.4 disks). It will not let me set startup mode by holding down the system identifier button when powering up. I can't get it to accept holding down the C or D keys on the keyboard when starting. When I hold down the shift key it goes to the console and asks me to log in there instead of entering safe mode.
Any ideas or suggestions?

Are you able to start in Verbose mode?
Hold down "apple" and "v" at startup. This will take you through a logging bootup and into the GUI. Try and see if you can mount it to another machine via firewire disk mode. From there you can check it with Disk Utility or Diskwarrior (provided it mounts).
Or try start in single user mode "apple" and "s" and when you get to the prompt "#" type "fsck -f"
See if any volume repairs are conducted. If they complete or if it works you type "reboot" when done and the server should restart.
Good luck

Can't enter safe mode in XP

Im5tryingtoenter safe mode on an older Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop, model no. PSAU-813000. I re had reinstalled the XP OS earlier this year and the computer appeared to run as new.however, I never tried safe mode after the installation. I'm trying to enter safe mode so I can eliminate the sign in password. As the computer is booting up I press f8repeatedly but it keeps booting up to the signin screen.. any ideas? Thanks.

If you can boot into Windows XP...
1. You can get into Safe Mode this way. Open the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe), check /SAFEBOOT on the BOOT.INI tab, OK, and restart Windows.
2. You can bypass the Welcome (Windows sign-in) screen this way. Open the hidden User Accounts dialog by running this..
control userpasswords2
On its Users tab, clear the check box for...
Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.
You'll be asked for your password.
-Jerry

Old iMac shuts down on startup

Was hoping to help a friend erase his old iMac disk and reinstall OS so that he can recycle it, but it hung up at finding the hard drive on reinstall and then after quitting Install, it now shuts down on every startup. I've tried resetting PRAM, hardware test, etc., restarting from install disks with no success. Any suggestions?

Try holding down the option key then power on. This brings up the startup manager. Click on your hd. Click on right arrow key.
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 Firmware. 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

24" Imac shuts down during startup, HD replaced

So my iMac (running Mavericks) was running really slow and wouldn't respond often. It got to the point where it was freezing up or getting the spinning wheel all the time. I assume the HD was failing and bought a new one. I originally had a WD SATA 1TB drive in it (original from apple) So I basically ordered the same thing from Amazon. A WD SATA 1TB. I followed all instructions on iFixit for HD replacement. Overall the installation went fine. Not my first time under the hood of one of my Macs. I ran the recovery mode, formatted the new drive and restored from the time machine backup. All going smoothly. Now when it boots I get the gray screen, apple logo, spinning gear then complete shut down. Zapped PRAM, rest SMC. I'm at a total loss what to do next. PLEASE HELP!!

Try to boot up in Safe Mode. Hold down the "Shift" key as soon as you turn on the computer. This will force a check of the directory, turn off extensions and login items and more.
If that doesn't work, I recommend booting from the Mac OS X install disk and using disk utility to check the drive. Slide the install disk in the drive and then restart holding down the "C" key. Keep holding it down until it is booted up. From the menu select "Disk Utility", then highlight the hard drive, then click "Repair Volume".
Lastly, if that doesn't work - go get a copy of DiskWarrior which is known to fix just about any hard drive problem. Everybody should have a copy of this on hand anyway.
Good luck!!

HT1455 iMac shuts down itself in the middle of Safe Boot progress bar loading

Hi, Im using a late 2009 iMac 21.5'' on Mountain Lion. (Originally Snow Leopard I THINK)
I got the dreaded grey screen one day and after I did more reseach i tried using the Safe Boot way.
Now Ive encountered a new problem, everytime I turn on my mac, it shows the Apple logo and the Safe Boot progress bar.
Not even reaching halfway through the bar, it just shuts down itself, every single time.. please help?
Btw, I',m using a wireless keyboard, I had to go around borrowing a windows keyboard from my friends, I dont know if anyone can shade some light if i can use wireless to do the keyboard pressing thing when it starts up?
I've also tried inserting my original OS installation disc and press C..it just shows a grey screen, then the disc got ejected, then the Apple logo with the progress bar and then shuts down itself.
Please help, I just need to go into my system one more time and backup my important datas before i go for the 1TB Seagate Replacement Program.
Thank you so much, appreciate it!

hendry17 wrote:
Is that similar with this article http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1553 on 'Instruction for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk utility' ?
No, that copies the entire drive IF it's entirely readable which you don't need, you only REALLY need is your files as everything else (OSX and programs) can be replaced)
Ds store: I read your article on creating a data recovery.
This is designed to install OS X onto a external drive, boot from it and then:
1: Attempt data recovery via normal drag and drop methods on your Users folders.
2: If the above fails, to see if the internal drive is working via Disk Utility, and/or use Data Rescue software ($100) to attempt recovery of the files themselves, bypassing the file structure and whatever is causing the problem.
3: Build your extenral boot drive of everything the way you need it, then Carbon Copy Cloner the external onto the internal drive (new or erased whatever the case may be)
May I ask you why not port powered?
Mac's have been shutting off ports that are drawing too much current, like what port powered hard drives do.
Am planning to get myself a 3TB external HDD 3,5" for all my backups in time for my AASP journey
Too large for a boot drive, you basically want a external boot drive equal too or slightly larger than the boot drive your recovering from, because later you can use it as a bootable clone backup of the entire boot drive and store it for emergencies.
These large drives like 1TB and 3TB are sometimes problematic (especially with 10.6) when formatting. Also I advise all boot drives be Zero erased before OS X is installed or cloned onto it to reduce bad sectors, a zero erase on a 3TB drive could take 6-10 hours.
If you want to use the 3TB, use it for file backup, not for your bootable clone your creating with the instructions I gave.
You see later on, once you got all your data off the internal boot drive, you build the external boot drive just like you would do a brand new erased internal drive. You add programs and whatnot, tweak it how you like. Because later on your use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the external onto the erased or new internal drive. Get it?
So 3TB is excessive if your internal boot drive is only 500GB, you will have 2.5TB left over.
Sure you can partition, but I don't advise having so many backups on one piece of physical media, you drop it, lose it or fry it, you lost everything.
So more and seperate pieces of backup are safer in that regard, hardware and software redundancy.
Most commonly used backup methods
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

MacBook Pro 2009 stuck at startup, can't enter Recovery Mode, any ideas?

My Macbook Pro was working just fine until about a week ago when it froze and I had to do a force shutdown, then entered Recovery Mode and it seemed to work well after that. I got it back up and it was working until today when it froze again and I did another force shutdown, now it won't even do into Recovery Mode. I read on here that it might be a fan problem and cleaning it might help, that didn't work.
While it is booting up the upper left area gets quite hot, any ideas what could be causing this? Can I still salvage the stuff on the hard drive? Do I need to bite the bullet and just try and get a different machine?

You need to hold Command / R.
Try using this: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433
More Info: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Wireless keyboard doesn't connect on startup under leopard and alum imac

The white apple wireless keyboard worked just fine via bluetooth with my old Mac mini and 10.4.X
But just got a new Alum 20" imac with 10.5.6. I have paired the wireless keyboard via bluetooth and it does work once I'm up and running.
But every time I start up the computer after a shut-down or restart, the imac searches for the apple bluetooth keyboard and never finds it. I have to plug the wired keyboard to the mac to start it and then re-do the bluetooth pairing EVERTY TIME. Then the white wireless keyboard works via bluetooth again. I have changed the batteries on the keyboard and checked their strength- they are fine.
What's going on? How do I fix this? Does the white wireless keyboard work with the new imacs and Leopard?

Dodie,
There's nothing wrong with your bt keyboard since it was working fine with your old mac mini. Try this:
1. Backup the IOBluetoothFamily and IOBluetoothHIDDriver kexts in /System/Library/Extensions in your new imac.
2. Copy the same kexts from 10.4.x. In my case, I upgraded to Leopard using a new hard drive so these files were still on my old Tiger hard drive.
3. Clear your cache. If you not sure how to do this, download Leopard Cache Cleaner and do a 'deep clean'.
4. Restart and pair your bluetooth devices using Bluetooth Setup Assistant. My Apple wireless alum keyboard and wireless MM paired immediately. They continue to paired after I restarted / shutdown.

White Wireless keyboard doesn't connect on startup.

I have a new Mini and a older Apple Wireless Keyboard, the big one. Anyway the problem is it doesn't connect to the Mini on start up. This is major problem because I can't get past the login screen without it.

Having a similar problem. Keyboard paired fine before upgrade to leopard, now won't pair. Where is that "preference file" located?

Why does my iMac shut down before it can boot up After installing 7.3 update on my iMac?

After installing 7.3 last night, I hit restart and went to bed. My intel iMac i7 3.4ghz was powered down this morning, and only after unplugging,waiting, rep plugging,
It finally powered on, only to boot to the gray apple screen, go black and silent. (this exact issue had me lugging it back to apple a month after purchase, today is 93 days)
Recovery mode got me about one second further in bottling up before shutting off.
I was forced to upgrade from an unproblematic pc g5, after iCloud, so do not own snow leopard and was told I would never need a re install disc.
Has anyone having the powering off during boot after updating to 7.3?

omg. I would copy and paste your original post to the iMac section. You're talking about a fine piece of equipment, the Intel iMac i7 3.4ghz , and you should not be having such problems. Maybe others in the iMac i7 community might also have some ideas.
Re: the safe boot. That's good that it worked. This is fairly new and very, very helpful with a dead computer because at least you can get to Safari, get to the Internet and get ideas and seek help.
But why did it shut off after a while? That's not right. No reason it should have done that.
From something you said I would worry about your power supply problem or this PerIphrEa. I don't know what that is but Migration is built into Lion OS, no? Third party perificials (or apps) can certainly cause conflicts and not work as well as advertised.
Also, seriously, I would get some tape, like duct tape, and tape up that loose power supply.
Why do you need something extra for your migration? (Or is the reason your old PowerPC G5 needs to run Lion but it can't?).
If that is the problem, here's an idea. Continue the canibalization of your PowerPC G5, take out it's hard drive(s). Buy an 'enclosure' to put the hard drive in and allow you to connect this hard drive to your new machine, the beautiful iMac i7, using the old hard drive as an external drive.
I did exactly this with my old PowerPC G5, using this enclosure, a Macally G-S350SUA, info at: http://www.macally.com/en/product/ipod4show.asp?ArticleID=215
I now use this for my Time Machine backups.
Re:What is the proper amount of time the computer needs to be unplugged? This would worry me. I turn off my comuter NOT by unplugging it but by holding the power on button for about 3-4 seconds and then it turns off.
I then wait 5 long seconds before pressing the power on button again to turn the computer back on.
Having to plug in and unplug and plug in and having to wait ten minutes for it to work is not normal.
Is there a power supply issue in your home, perhaps?
Considering the value of this machine and the fact that it may still be under warrenty, I'd consider the weeklong diagnostic. Would the machine have the same need to wait ten minutes to turn on at the Apple place?
What if you plug it in at a friend's house, or an office or library? Would it still take ten minutes before you could turn the machine on?
It might seem horrible to have to wait a week...or to do this again and again but I'd recommend taking full advantage of your warrenty, keep sticking this problem back to Apple and insist it gets made right. It will be worth it in the long run.

Hi. There is a ghost search bar on my iMac screen which flashes constantly, even during start up and shut down. How can i make this go away? Please help. x

Hi There is a ghost search bar on my iMac that flashes continually, even during start up and shut down. How can i make this go away? Please help. x

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

When playing my music, the iMac shuts down after 5 or 6 songs. How can I lengthen the time?

When playing my music in I tunes, the iMac shuts down after 5 or 6 songs. How can I set it so it plays until I shut it off manually?

Never Mind, I figured it out.

IMac shutting down on startup - Can't enter safe mode as wireless keyboard doesn't connect quickly enough

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for