Imac startup prob.

when I turn on my imac it starts up, you pick your user and it goes into the desktop, then within 30 seconds the pinwheel pops up and the comp. sits there frozen.
I tried to startup is safe mode but it will not, after the tone i hold shift wait till the gray apple screen with gear spinning let go of shift, then i sits for a min and shuts off.
I need help!

ok i did a hardware check, all was good.
then I did the disk repair as you said and it stopped and a pop up said
error encountered:the underlying task reported failure on exit.
in the repair list it said..
verify and repair disk "-"
checking hfs plus volume
checking extent overflow file
catalog file
ivalid key length (in red fonts)
volume check failed( red)
error: the underlying task reported failure on exit(red)
1 hfs volumed checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error(red)
now what do i do?

Similar Messages

TM drive doesn't always mount on iMac startup

Hi,
TM seems to work well most of the time. Once in a great while though, TM drive doesn't mount on iMac startup, and if I don't notice the missing icon on the desktop, backups don't happen.
TM drive is a Seagate Free Agent USB 500G. It's connected directly, not through a hub. The drive has no power switch, so I leave it alone -- out of sight, out of mind.
Two questions:
1. Is is something that I am doing or the way I'm set up that causes this infrequent failure?
2. When I notice the missing connection, what's the best way to get the TM drive reconnected? What I do now to reconnect is: shut down the computer, pull the power plug on the TM drive, restart the computer, plug the drive back in.
Your thoughts appreciated.
Jerry

My understanding is that the disk doesn't mount, ie not visible to the system. In that event I can't see that changing Time Machine's disk allocation will achieve anything. It's a hardware initialisation issue.
If the disk isn't mounted (personally I'd check System Profiler to be absolutely sure) then there can't be any transfers going on so you should be safe to just unplug, pause to let the electronics settle and then plug back in. If that works, and the problem is rare, that might be the best way to go, although it might be that there is some problem with the drive which is not good if you are relying on it for back up. I don't know enough about hard drives to comment on that aspect (maybe it's just a driver issue?).

TS2570 Hi, MacBook Pro & Snow Leopard- startup probs. I have tried repairing with the disk utility, resetting PRAM, booting in safe mode, and finally trying to get to archive&install the o/s, but it cannot find the destination volume. IsAn erase the only

(10.6.8 Intel core duo 2009)
Hi,
I have a grey screen and grey rotating wheel startup probs. I have tried repairing with the disk utility, resetting PRAM, booting in safe mode (which gave a subset of the errors that 'disk repair' did- namely- 'invalid sibling link,invalid record count, invalid node structure, invalid key length) and finally trying to get to archive&install the o/s, but it cannot find the destination volume. Is an erase the only option? PS I have backed up most files individually, but my daughter did not back up any from her user account. Any help would be appreciated. J

Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
Why is my computer slow?
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Imac startup: three beeps continuously, monitor remains dark.

imac startup: three loud beeps continuously, monitor remains dark.

According to Apple's "Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2" doc, 3 beeps means "no good banks".
Do what Niel says. Reseat all the dimms. Maybe even shuffle them around.

TS3148 iMac Startup Apple Logo Progress Bar Hangs.....

I Lost my Installation Disk what can i do.. please help in this.... iMac Startup Apple Logo Progress Bar Hangs.....

You likely have a problem with the drive as the progres bar is trying to fix the drive and it can't.
You need to backup your user info off the machine as soon as possible.
hold the shift key on booting, that may get you in.
see this
 Mac won't boot or "You need to restart"
 Step by Step to fix your Mac
order a new 10.6 machine specific disk from Apple, your going to need it.

New IMac is crashing randomly because of "Panic Kernel Error." Now IMac startup disk is not visible and will not mount. What the story with this machine. Running 10.6.7

New IMac is crashing randomly because of "Panic Kernel Error." Now IMac startup disk is not visible and will not mount. What the story with this machine. Running 10.6.7

Almost certainly, some sort of hardware problem on your logic board.
Make an appointment and take it to your local Apple Store: http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Any suggestions to improve slow iMac startup?

My iMac takes about 4 minutes to start up. I get a grey screen for about 2 minutes, then it takes another 2 minutes to load all the icons. It seems to have got worse since I upgraded to Mavericks (and to MS Office 2011 at the same time).
EtreCheck report follows:
Hardware Information:
          iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)
          iMac - model: iMac11,2
          1 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 CPU: 2 cores
          4 GB RAM
Video Information:
          ATI Radeon HD 4670 - VRAM: 256 MB
System Software:
          OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 0:4:25
Disk Information:
          WDC WD5000AAKS-40V6A0 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
                    EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
                    Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (363.06 GB free)
                    Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB
          OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H
USB Information:
          Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
          Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
          Apple Internal Memory Card Reader
          Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
                    Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
FireWire Information:
Thunderbolt Information:
Kernel Extensions:
          com.eltima.SyncMate.kext          (0.2.5b15)
          com.McAfee.kext.AppProtection          (3.1)
          com.McAfee.SFKext          (1)
          com.mcafee.kext.Virex          (1.1.0d1)
Launch Daemons:
          [System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [invalid] com.mcafee.ssm.ScanFactory.plist
          [invalid] com.mcafee.ssm.ScanManager.plist
          [System] com.mcafee.virusscan.fmpd.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] rapiback.plist 3rd-Party support link
Launch Agents:
          [System] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.citrix.ReceiverHelper.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.epson.eventmanager.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.mcafee.menulet.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] com.mcafee.reporter.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [System] syncmateStarter.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Launch Agents:
          [not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist 3rd-Party support link
          [not loaded] com.microsoft.LaunchAgent.SyncServicesAgent.plist 3rd-Party support link
User Login Items:
          Microsoft AU Daemon
          Dropbox
          iAntiVirus
Internet Plug-ins:
          SiteAdvisor: Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 3rd-Party support link
          Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
          npBTEmailConfig: Version: 1.0 3rd-Party support link
          AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.44 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7
          CitrixICAClientPlugIn: Version: 11.8.2 - SDK 10.7 3rd-Party support link
          QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
          AdobePDFViewer: Version: 11.0.06 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          CANONiMAGEGATEWAYDL: Version: 2.1.0.1 3rd-Party support link
          CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: Version: 1.1.10 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          CANONiMAGEGATEWAYLI: Version: 2.1.0.1 3rd-Party support link
          SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
          JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.9 Outdated! Update
Safari Extensions:
          GiveasyouLive: Version: 4.0.1
          SiteAdvisor: Version: 2.0
Audio Plug-ins:
          BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
          AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
          AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
          iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9
iTunes Plug-ins:
          Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9
User Internet Plug-ins:
          Picasa: Version: 1.0 3rd-Party support link
3rd Party Preference Panes:
          Flash Player 3rd-Party support link
Old Applications:
          /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0
                    Microsoft Error Reporting:          Version: 2.2.9 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Ship Asserts:          Version: 1.1.4 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
          SiteAdvisor:          Version: 2.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/SiteAdvisor/SiteAdvisor.app
          Solver:          Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office
                    Microsoft Graph:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Utility:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Office Reminders:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Upload Center:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    My Day:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    SyncServicesAgent:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Open XML for Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Alerts Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Database Daemon:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Chart Converter:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Clip Gallery:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011
                    Microsoft PowerPoint:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Excel:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Outlook:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Word:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    Microsoft Document Connection:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
          Microsoft Language Register:          Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
                    /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app
          Microsoft AutoUpdate:          Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
                    /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app
          Family Tree Maker:          Version: 19.2.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Time Machine:
          Skip System Files: NO
          Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off
          Volumes being backed up:
                    Macintosh HD: Disk size: 464.96 GB Disk used: 126.84 GB
          Destinations:
                    Time Machine Backups [Local] (Last used)
                    Total size: 465.44 GB
                    Total number of backups: 85
                    Oldest backup: 2011-06-28 11:14:24 +0000
                    Last backup: 2014-02-16 17:42:32 +0000
                    Size of backup disk: Adequate
                              Backup size 465.44 GB > (Disk used 126.84 GB X 3)
          Time Machine details may not be accurate.
          All volumes being backed up may not be listed.
Top Processes by CPU:
               1%          WindowServer
               1%          mds
               1%          EtreCheck
               0%          opendirectoryd
               0%          coreservicesd
Top Processes by Memory:
          127 MB          mds_stores
          98 MB          VShieldScanner
          74 MB          com.apple.IconServicesAgent
          66 MB          Microsoft Outlook
          66 MB          Dropbox
Virtual Memory Information:
          1.83 GB          Free RAM
          1.13 GB          Active RAM
          488 MB          Inactive RAM
          572 MB          Wired RAM
          281 MB          Page-ins
          0 B          Page-outs

MacAfee comes as part of my BT Broadband package, and I'm reluctant to disable it as I've been advised that if I don't have some form of AntiVirus (even on a Mac), I would not be eligible for any recompense if my details were hacked.
That seems to be a bit of a deceptive statement on the part of BT, since I seriously doubt they would give you anything you would consider to be "recompense" in any event, whether you follow their recommendations or not. And McAfee really wouldn't protect you that well anyway... it caught only around half of the malware I threw at it in recent testing:
Mac anti-virus testing 2014
Note the actual data file, which shows historical data from last year's testing as well. McAfee is nothing if not consistent...
Uninstall McAfee completely. There should be an uninstaller in the Applications folder somewhere. Don't just drag the McAfee app to the trash, and don't use any kind of all-purpose third-party uninstaller.
I also note that you've got iAntivirus installed. Although that one's not going to be causing any issues, it's also almost completely worthless, worse by far than McAfee. See the same testing results for details. Drag that one to the trash.
Once those are gone, if the problem doesn't go away, see my Mac Performance Guide.

Imac startup issues- green vertical lines changing to grey screen

Help! I think my 27" i7 iMac just died!
Yesterday morning, I had a kernal panic while using Safari. Restarted, ran disk utility twice. A bunch of "library shoyuld be r- instead of -rw" type errors that could not be repaired were found both times.
After second round of computer restart/disk utility, the computer started displaying green lines running vertically down the grey screen.
After around a minute and a half, the screen became grey only, no green lines- no apple logo.
I attempted to restart holding down the shift key, I saw the startup/repair process "kick in" (the horizontal repair bar running across the bottom of the screen).
Once that was finished, I got about a minute and a half worth of "spinning cursor" and then a pretty blue-lined screen (of death)
(NOTE--bright white lights are flash from camera- not on screen)
I cannot access anything now. I know that I am running whatever the current version of OS 10.8X is now.
I am stuck- anybody got any ideas?

BrBea wrote:
I have to have my serial number to give them to start the call. I have no way to access the serial number on the computer because I cannot advance past the grey/blue screen to access it. Is there a way to get the serial number on this computer off of the hardware itself?
Look on the bottom of the stand, Apple used to print them there I don't know if they still do or not. Also if you have the original box it's printed on that too.
In addition if you click about this Mac and click the version of OS X installed a couple of times the serial number will appear. In addition you can run System Information and get the serial number there too.
Finally it's not going to do much good to call Apple, you need to take the machine in for repair at your local Apple Store or AASP. I suspect your graphics card has failed.

24" iMac Startup Sound

I recently upgraded my PPC G4 to a brand new 24" iMac.
On my G4, the mac startup sound would play over the external speakers, and when booting the computer late at night, I could turn down the volume to avoid waking my roommates.
The new iMac 24" seems to blast the startup sound, even if I mute the volume before shutting down.
Does anyone else have external speakers hooked up to their new 24"? Does the boot sound come from the external or internal speakers?

One of the oddities of the iMac line is that the startup sound comes from the internal speakers. If you have external speakers plugged in and unpowered, it makes no difference, you still get a "BLING" when you start up. And since the 24" machine has extra big speakers and bigger audio amp, you get an extra big BLING! Nice, eh?
You might try the freeware utility called "Psst" <http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25458>. I haven't tried it, but it does seem to be able to silence the startup sound on most Macs.
Griff

27" iMac startup hangs freezes

I have a 27" iMac and am having trouble starting up. I get the startup chime but the startup hangs or freezes and the iMac tries to restart again after a little while.
So I tried starting up from a Techtools CD in the external drive (there is no internal CD drive on the iMac). Unfortunately the iMac would not start from the CD and the CD is now stuck in the external drive. I was able to eject the CD by holding down the mouse button or trackpad while restarting. I tried starting up from an OS X 10.6.3 install DVD but it didn't seem to read it while holding down the C key at startup.
I tried a PRAM zap (holding down the Option + Cmd + P + R keys for two or three chimes) but the startup still hangs freezes.
I tried starting up holding down Cmd + S to boot Unix but I don't really know Unix so only entered exit.
I tried starting up holding down Cmd + R which I think is the recovery system but the startup still got stuck.
Holding down the Shift key while starting up brings up the "safe mode" and a grey bar which didn't fill before it disappeared and the startup froze.
Holding down the Option key while starting up brought up the hard drive to select as the startup disk but startup still hung.
Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Thanks for getting back to me quickly.
I get the startup chime when the iMac starts up, the little daisy goes around a few times but then gets stuck. The iMac will shut itself down and continue to try to restart.
Holding down Shift during startup brings up the safe mode grey bar on the bottom of the screen but this fills only to about one-third before the startup freezes.
I tried starting up holding down the C key with a OS X 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard) install DVD in an external CD/DVD drive but just as you said, it would not boot from that.
I tried holding down the D key at startup to perform the Apple Hardware Test. Even the extended test did not detect any hardware problems.
Holding Cmd + R during startup would not start the recovery mode for me. However, holding Option down at startup did give me the choice of the Recovery 10.8.2 partition. Unfortunately, this froze as it was starting up too.
So I tried your suggestion of holding down Opt + Cmd + R to boot from Apple's remote servers. This started up but even then froze too.
I think you might be right that it could be a logic board problem. So I will take it in for repair.
Thanks Ralph, I much appreciate your help with this.

Troubleshooting iMac Startup Problem

I've been trying to troubleshoot a problem with my mid-2007 iMac 24" where it sometimes will not startup. I can hear it turn on when I press the power button but it doesn't chime. I can also hear the fan. I don't boot from the internal drive as my main drive and instead boot from a larger firewire external drive attached directly to the iMac. When the iMac won't start up, I usually let it sit for about ten minutes and it will startup again. Yesterday though, this procedure wasn't working but it did eventually startup after I left it alone for several hours to run some errands.
After using it for about an hour, the internal drive unmounted and disappeared from my desktop -- I got the usual "disk was not properly ejected" warning when it happened. I ran Disk Utility but the drive did not show up on the list. I also ran System Profiler and it did not locate the drive either. Instead it said "There was an error scanning for Serial-ATA Devices".
My question is this, could it be that the internal hard drive has been slowly failing and has been the cause of the startup problem? Does the internal HD have to be in working order to be able to startup properly and boot up from my external? I've been told by others that it does appear to be a logic board or video card problem and I've inspected and reseated the RAM and it has not been the issue.
My iMac is out of warranty and I'm gonna have to bring it in for repair. If it is the internal drive that is the problem, I don't want to shut it down for any reason until I'm ready to have it repaired. Thankfully, I have full backups.

This sounds very similar to my situation. When I restart the computer it usually gives me the grey screen with ?-folder. Using the Install Disc to boot, I ran Disk Utility but the drive did not show up on the list. I also ran System Profiler and it did not locate the drive either. Instead it said "There was an error scanning for Serial-ATA Devices". Wait a while or repeated restarts eventually boots the system. When I can get the iMac to boot up I used the Install disc and ran Disc Utility Repair but no errors were detected. I have ran the extended AHT a couple of times and no errors were returned.
Did you resolve your problem? Bad HD?

IMac startup failure

Earlier today my iMac crashed in a whole new way for me. The display tore (best way I can think to decribe it) then went to a gray screen. I waited hoping it fix itself, but the random colors started flashing on the screen. I had booted then restartwd after thirty seconds. Everything came back, sent the error report to apple and then it happened again say thirty minutes later. Now it won't even boot. I get an error screen saying to reboot during startup. It will not let me launch the hardware diagnostic tools, nor boot from the startup disk. I'm having to resort to sending this on my iPhone. I think I'll have to take it in for service, but I need it for finals this week. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

HI,
Here's a list of startup key combinations for Intel iMacs. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533
You might be able to boot in Safe Mode holding down the Shift key while starting up the iMac.
What is Safe Mode? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
If there is any chance of getting your important files off the drive and you have another Mac, you could try Firewire Target Disk Mode
Carolyn

IMac startup error

I've been having some issues with my iMac freezing (especially after sleep) and sometimes not starting up. It usually makes a scratchy noise when this happens and I wonder if there is something wrong with the hard drive. However I have run several tests, hardware tests, verifying the disk, anything like that that I could find, and nothing ever shows up to have an error. The only error message I have is sometimes when it starts up and has trouble it will go to a terminal screen and tells me: respawning to quickly throttling
too many failures in succession
local host:/ I have no name! #
That's not the entire message per se but that's the gist of it and I don't where to find a log of errors like that. Also sometimes when it won't start up at all I have had to reinstall the software to make it work again, and once when I tried it was unable to find the disk. I ended up calling Apple and they had me erase the harddrive and then reinstall, it worked but it is still having occasional startup issues.
So my question is basically either does anyone know what's wrong, or what should I tell Apple support because right now it is running fine, and usually the problem goes away after a bit but I am living in fear of it crashing again on me during a school project or something. If anyone could help I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
I would backup your data frequently, and just be wary of what could happen. Otherwise I wouldn't obsess about it. See my FAQ on backing up*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Obsession can quicken failure.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

HT3964 iMac Startup Screen is All White

Intel based iMac ~ 2007 boots to a blank white screen. It will not boot. The problem just started when I attempted to reboot and reset holding SHIFT-CMD-P-R. I'm not all that knowledgeable of tech things on the iMac. But if possible to get the iMac to boot up again what should I do? Any assist is appreciated.

Several steps ... first, have you tried a safe boot by holding down the shift key when you boot? That may take awhile to complete. If that works, try a normal boot.
If that doesn't do it, do an SMC and PRAM reset:
SMC:
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM:
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Now try to reboot.
If that doesn't do it, find your original OS X disks that came with your iMac (or the Snow Leopard disk), insert the first one and reboot holding the C key down. That will cause it to boot to the DVD. Under utilities on the menu bar, bring up Disk Utility and repair the hard drive. Also repair permissions while you're there. Try booting from the hard drive again.

10.7.5 imac startup problems

imac; 10.7.5 takes a long time to startup (BOOT)?

Hi Sergio,
10.7.5 introduces more problems than the previous one ... This is the TITEL of your topic.
I never and I'm sure about this that many when not millions of using Lion 10.7.4 never ever hat a problem with the system.
When you got problems already before updating to 10.7.5 than you are NOT solving problems with it.
When you got a stable system than there is nothing wrong wit a update.
I have to admit and report that the last update 10.7.5 didn't came with same bugs, like Spotlight indexing that is related to TimeMachine. There is temporally a workaround for it, but NOT a solution to it yet.
Some posters reporting that downloading AGAIN the update everything is fine ... you could also considering to download the Combo Update 10.7.5 from the Apple support website.
Good luck ...
Dimaxum

Imac startup prob.

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