Imac will not reboot.

I was attempting to change from Sophos to Avast software, when I tried to restart the progress wheel just kept spinning.
I tried restarting in verbose mode and got so far then this; "BootCacheControl: Unable to open/var/db/BootCache.playlist: 2 no such file or directory"
I am on an imac 20" / 2.66GHZ / 2 GB / 320 GB.
I'd really like to be able to recover my system without loosing all my files. any help would be greatly appreciated.

You posted in the Mavericks forum but your info shows you are running 10.5.6. Please confirm what version of OS X so we can give proper instructions.
If you are on Mavericks, boot into the Recovery Drive by holding down Command R when restarting.
Run Repair Drive and Repair Permissions using Disk Utility in Recovery.
You might need to reinstall OS X. This process should not damage your data but it's always advised that you backup first.
It's not necessary to have virus software on your Mac. I suggest you uninstall.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6433251

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Imac will not reboot after loading apple software update

I downloaded apple update software on imac air but it will not reboot. Just the apple and spinner. Never gets to sign in.

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

HT1199 After trying to install window 7 my new iMac will not reboot back to apple. Black screen "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". How do I get out of this?

After trying to install Windows 7 in my new iMac It will not boot up back to Apple. I have a black screen with the following "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". My iMac did not come with a boot disk. What can I do?

Try holding down the option/alt key during a restart and see if you can see/select your boot drive there.

Imac will not reboot in safe mode

Attempted to restart imac (10.8.4) by holding down shift key, went through progress bar, and now still apple logo with pinwheel - any suggestions?
I have unplugged the externals with time machine and the other external.

WZZZ,
I stand corrected sir - I have not been doing the bit highlighted below:
"To start up into Safe Mode (to Safe Boot), do this:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During startup in Mac OS X v10.4 through Mac OS X v10.6.8, you will see "Safe Boot" on the login window, which appears even if you normally log in automatically. During startup in Mac OS X v10.2 through v10.3.9, you will see "Safe Boot" on the Mac OS X startup screen.
To leave Safe Mode, restart the computer normally, without holding any keys during startup."
Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
Step 1 is NOT a requirement however as you suggested. If I follow step 3 I can boot into Safe Mode now with a restart as opposed to a shutdown.
regards,
dave

Imac keeping circling... will not reboot

imac 24" keeps circling... will not reboot.
I've tried doing a pram reset... it "rang' 10 times... still would not reboot
I tried booting to system cd... holding c key.... will not reboot

What backups do you have?

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 will not boot, hard drive file problem? Can't install OS in 2nd part.

The iMac will not boot. The Apple displays on the screen, the cursor spins for awhile, and then it loops into a reboot effort.
Last night, I was doing a lot of custom file sharing settings using the include enclosed folders option at the bottom of the Get Info window.
Question 1: Could that file sharing process have messed things up?
In an effort to get things going........ A few weeks back, I used Disk Utility to create a 2nd partition, with the intent of installing Ubuntu Linux there. I never attempted the install, as far as I can remember, while playing with the Ubuntu Live CD. So, I thought I would install 10.5.6 from the CD in the 2nd partition. But I get an error message that says "The installer could not create the folder "/Volumes/Ubuntu 9.10/BaseSystem.pkg.161nDNDdQ.""
Question 2: I also shared that partition, could that have caused the OS install failure?
Question 3: If I understand the book correctly, I can try to install the OS from the CD on the 1st partition, and not lose my data, correct? Unfortunately, I don't have any backup for the data, as I don't own any drives large enough yet to accommodate the data on the drive.
Question 4: Anyone have any other thoughts as to what ent wrong?

Hi, Grant.
Sometimes, it just pays to think on a problem. I awoke thinking, if it will boot the OS X install CD, it ought to boot my Ubuntu Live CD. And then, maybe I can change permissions on the first partition. As soon as I thought that, it occurred to me, if the problems are with the permissions, what if I used the OS X disk, and erased (formatted) the Ubuntu partition. That should set all the permissions on that partition back to default. Would OS X install then to the Ubuntu partition?
You better believe it did!! I'm typing this from the Mac after updating my 10.5.6 to 10.5.8 in the 2nd partition, and I'm booting from the 2nd partition.
I then did as you suggested, and from the Mac, I repaired the permissions to the first partition. But, the result was the same, there are a few permissions that do not match, and Disk Utility cannot, does not, or will not correct them.
I'm currently downloading the 10.5.8 combo update .dmg file. My thought is to burn that to a disk, and then install it over the version in partition 1. And trust that the current installation on partition 1 does not have any cross linked files that will destroy some data.
I do have some old ATA IDE drives I can hook externally to the Mac, and copy some of the information I have from the Mac to those drives before doing the 10.5.8 install.
Can you think of a better solution?

TS1587 I tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks Maja

My iMac won't start up, or wake from sleep. I've tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on, you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks!

Mac doesn't boot
Can you hear the fans and hard drive and see the white boot screen? Flashing question mark? The circle just runs and nothing happens? Only black screen and nothing else? These can be very helpful to diagnose the source of the problem. [1]
Flashing question mark [2]: This is usually a sign of a failed hard drive. This indicates that boot up volume can not be found.
Black screen: This is usually a sign of a failed logic board. There is no single reason for this and this may be caused by failed GPU, screen, CPU or RAM.
Circle of death/no circle/blue screen: This is usually a sign of a hard drive failure. This may NOT be a dead hard drive, just broken permissions or something
Gray screen/Apple logo/spinning gear or globe/prohibitory sign/folder with flashing question mark [3]: This could be a sign of faulty hardware but more likely a software issue, i.e. broken permissions, failed software update, etc.
[edit]
What to do
First, hold down the option key (also known as the alt key) just after you've pressed the power button. This should show all the available options to boot from, so if you have Windows installed through Bootcamp or a disk in your SuperDrive, you should be able to see them along with your OS X drive/partition. Select the OS X partition with arrow keys and press enter. Startup key combinations
If that doesn't help continue doing the steps from below:
1. SMC reset [4]. Shut down and unplug all cables including power cord for at least 30 seconds and then plug in power cord and keyboard/mouse.
2. PRAM reset [5]. Hold down option, command, P and R while booting. Start it when you hear the sound and don't let go before it reboots.
3. Safe boot [6]. Hold down shift while booting to boot into safe mode. If this works, open Disk Utility from Utilities and repair your permissions and verify the disk
4. Hardware test [7]. Insert the install disk (disk 1 in Mac which shipped with OS X 10.5.4 or earlier, disk 2 if shipped with OS X 10.5.5 or newer) and hold down "D" before the grey boot screen opens. Follow on screen instructions
5. Boot from install disk. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac. Hold C while booting. Select Disk Utility from top bar and repair permissions and verify the disk. Reboot normally and see if it works now.
6. Boot from another Mac (Firewire target disk mode). Connect the machines with a Firewire cable. Power on your Mac and press T. Select the other Mac's hard drive. Download the current OS X combo update. Run the combo update installer and select the drive that won't boot as the destination.
7. "Repair" OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and reinstall OS X. This should NOT erase any data, just replaces the system files which may have caused your booting problem. Now install the latest combo update for OS X and repair permissions on your drive with Disk Utility.
7.1. Install OS X into an external hard drive and then boot from it [8] and try to copy your data from the hard drive before proceeding. If you have done a backup recently, you don't have to do this.
8. Restore OS X from Time Machine backup. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac and choose the Time Machine restore option. This step will lose any changes made since your last backup but the system and your data will be put back to exactly as it was on that date.
8.1 Reinstall OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and select Disk Utility again. Now erase the whole hard drive and install OS X again. If you had a Time Machine backup and step 7 worked you don't have to do this.

My iMac will not boot through Snow Leopard but will boot through Windows OS

My 2010 iMac will not boot in Snow Leopard, only Windows. Have tried reinstalling Snow leopard a few times and works only for a couple of minutes before freezing and doesnt reboot. Windows works perfect. Snow leopard just doesnt want to boot up past the Apple Logo. It was working fine one day and the next day it froze up and was able to reboot back into Snow Leopard but kept freezing. Now it doesnt load at all into Mac OS.
Brian

Possible scenarios:
1: The 10.6.3 SL retail disk is bad, it happens.
2: Your not using the 10.6.3 SL retail disk but one from another machine which doesn't have the drivers for that machine.
3: Your optical drive is funky or some other hardware issues.
4: Your trying to install 10.6 onto a PowerPC based Mac, no can do.
5: Your not using a wired keyboard for boot key commands, have some other hardware conflicts.
Possible solutions.
1: Copy the SL 10.6.3 disk using Disk Utility to another DVD, the error checking may resolve the original disk's issue.
http://www.brokenhomeboy.co.uk/pierow/blog/2011/10/make-a-bootable-backup-snow-l eopard-install-disc/
2: Make a SL bootable USB
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
3: Call Apple for a new 10.6.3 disk (and make copies for backup before Apple discontinues selling it)
If your upgrading to 10.6 to get to 10.6.8 to upgrade to 10.7, be warned of this:
1: Your 10.5 software will not work in 10.7, no more Rosetta or PPC based code.
2: Your hardware will not qualify if it's a 32 bit Intel Core Duo, also you may experience slowdowns in performance over 10.6 (10.6 is the fastest OS X version for Intel Macs) in older Intel hardware (I suggest Early 2011 Mac's and later only for Lion)
3: Mountain Lion 10.8 is reportingly coming out this summer and will not run on a lot of older Intel based Mac's because of heftier graphics requirements.
4: 10.6 has the widest range of current avaialble software and drivers for third party hardware.
My advice, stick with 10.6.8 and stay there, buy a new Mountain Lion machine after this summer. Skip Lion completely.

My Mac desktop will not reboot?

I shut down my iMac and it will not reboot correctly. I power it on and it will sit for hours with the apple logo in the middle of the screen with the small rotating circle underneath which makes it look like it is thinking.

Hello,
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, 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 at top of the screen. (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. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitirion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

White iMac will not boot after 10.6.8 upgrade

I downloaded the 10.6.8 upgrade last night. This morning, the white plastic iMac will not boot.
I have tried evey known keyboard option.
I have tried booting from the snow leopard dvd.
I have zapped the pram.
Nothing!
Please, any help would be great.

We bought 2 iMac's 27inch with i7 Quad-core. Did the update a couple of hours ago. My Mac asked to reboot after update, but i didn't accept and worked with iTunes for a while. Then rebooted manually. After reboot it took about 15 minutes to reboot (light-blue screen with nothing on it, not even a mouse). My Wife also did the update of 10.6.8 and rebooted when asked. Her iMac also took 15 minutes to reboot, bus update was unsuccesful! So did update again and then denied reboot and rebooted manually! (Apple-logo and then choose "restart").
When we did that, iMac was very fast and updateproblem was solved! So deny reboot and reboot manually and problems are over. Same deal with 2 brandnew iMac. I'm guessing this is an issue. To much of a coincidence for me!

After updating from Lion 10.7.4 to 10.7.5, my MacBook Pro will not reboot. Why? What can I do about it?

After upating from Lion 10.7.4 to 10.7.5, my MacBook Pro will not reboot. Why? What can I do about it?

I ended up having to visit an Apple Store. They claimed that the update must have aggravated an already corrupted hard disk drive. The solution was to wipe my hard disk (fortunately I had recently backed up on Time Machine). The "Genius" also claimed this was the first time he had come across the problem. Although he was clearly able to diagnose it straightaway, and the next person he saw had exactly the same problem with his Mac, and I saw an awful lot of customers queuing up with their Macs and iMacs looking very suspiciously like they all had the same problem! So clearly Apple know what the problem is but as usual treat customers as if they're idiots in order to cover up the problem. But at least the problem is now solved (although having to take at trip out and wait in a queue at an Apple store, and then restoring from backups is a painstaking inconvenience I could well have done without). All I can suggest is that you might as well take it in. None of the "solutions" on the Forum are remotely on the ball, and all Apple "Geniuses" have clearly been told what the problem is and how to fix it. Good luck!

Imac will not boot past Apple Logo

My imac will not boot after the good chime and apple logo (i don't even get a spinning wheel). I have held the option key down and selected the OS 10.6 disk with the same result. I was able to erase the drive and reinstall OS 10.6 using target mode and another computer. In target mode I can boot the other computer from the IMac HD but not the IMac. Have also tried holding the shift key and booting into safe mode with the same result. Additional note: I reset the PRAM and the SMU. At first on PRAM reset it would take 45 seconds for the machine to chime again, after OS reinstall and SMU reset, PRAM reset chimes within 10 seconds.... any help would be appreciated...

Kind of late but your solution helped me remember what once worked for me, a few years back.
Started iMAC in Target mode Used a firewire cable to a MacBook Pro
Started the Macbook Pro using the option Key and then restarted with the iMac as the Hard drive
Then I updated to 10.6.8 and allof the other updates.
shut down and rebooted and everything was fine.
But first I did quite a few other things before the update such as
It all started with a DiskWarrior finding overlapped files, I have been around the block a time or two so after it found three overlapped files, I shut down diskwarrior started up disk utility did a restore of the messed up drive to another external drive,
of course this copied overlapped files and all to the new external drive It took 24 huors or so, to back up the drive once it was done, I also tried a few times to correct the overlapped files to no avail,
so then I started the iMac up in target mode used the MacBook to format and erase the original drive, used the 10.6.3 DVD installer to install onto the hard drive, using the macBook DVD. After I was finished with the install to the iMAC,,,,,,,,,,this is where I got the three beeps like bad ram So idid the PRAM and SMC to no avail.
The operating system was evidently not new enough so once I did what i said at the begining of this post all went well.
Sometimes It is tough to remember some of the stuff that you learned several years ago.
and tired hard to forget.
I hoped this post does not scare away to many people, I was just about done with this computer until I read your post, one of several dozen, and it all came back to me.
Thanks a Bunch
I hope this can help others
themacprofessor

G4 iMac will not start normally

My wife's G4 iMac will not start normally. I have used the procedures from http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393 and the "Disk Utility" on http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214 to no avail.
When trying to start, a message comes up saying that the computer must be rebooted. Trying to boot in "Safe Mode" fails after an hour and shuts down the computer, and the "Disk Utility" runs for an hour or two and then gives a message that it was unable to repair the "minor error" on the hard-drive.
After force starting the iMac by holding the power button until the command line appears, I tried running fsck, but the commands are unrecognized. However, if I type in "mac-boot" at the command prompt, the iMac will start. I have copied all of my wife's photos, movies and music, and Word and Excel documents, etc. to my XP PC's hard-drive using USB flash drives.
My question is two-fold:
#1. I have heard that "Disc Warrior" is excellent at resolving hard-drive errors. Can anyone comment on "Disc Warrior" and is there anything else out there that someone can recommend?
#2. I bought RAM to bring the total up to one gig, so I was thinking of upgrading the hard-drive and installing Tiger on the new and larger drive while in the "Ball" changing the RAM. What is the maximum capacity hard-drive I can put into the G4 800mhz iMac without any problems and is there any particular model hard-drive that seems to work best?

I tried reading the link that you posted http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html but I don't have a disk with the "Apple Hardware Test".
Since I made the post that you replied to, things have gotten worse. I can no longer get onto the internal hard-drive. I have tried many different methods including the methods written about in the linked article you supplied. I can get onto the Installation CD and I can run "Disk Utility" from the CD. I have repaired the file permissions, but when I run "Repair Disk", it runs for about two hours and then suspends operations with a dialog box stating, "First Aid failed. Disk Utility stopped repairing Volume because the following error was encountered: The underlying task reported failure on exit." and then in the progress box after the list of addresses, there is a message:
(in red) Incorrect number of thread records
Invalid leaf record count
Invalid Map Node
Invalid directory Item Count
Invalid directory Item Count
Invalid volume directory Count
Invalid volume file Count
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Invalid volume free block count
Volume header needs minor repair
(in green) repairing volume
(in red) The volume could not be repaired
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
(in black) 1 HFS volume checked.
(in red) 1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
(in black) repair attempted on 1 volume
(in red) 1 volume could not be repaired.
I recently bought the 1/2gb replaceable RAM and the 1/2gb "Hidden" or "Factory Installed" RAM. I was planning on installing them soon. Since the "Disk Utility" is telling me that there are faults on the internal hard-drive and I have to go into the "Ball" to replace the "Hidden" or "Factory Installed" RAM, I figured that I might as well replace the hard-drive and redo the system.
Unless someone comes up with something I can do which will not cost me much money, I figure that I might as well install the RAM and a 120gb Western Digital Hard-drive that is about a year old, but was only used for a few days in an XP PC. Will the 120gb drive be recognized? I was thinking of partitioning it as 80gb and 40gb partitions. Does that sound good? I would install the OS on both partitions so that I could always boot if there was a failure.

Imac will not boot after trying to upgrade OS

A friend gave me an iMac 266MHz, one of the old tangerine models. He thought the firmware was upgraded but it had an old OS. I installed my OSX on it but when it was shut down it will not reboot. I am getting the same error message as above. I tried to boot from an 8.5 installer disk but it will not work.
Do I need the original startup disks for this machine? I do not have them. Is there any tricks I should know about trying to boot from the disks? I have used macs for a little while but I am not very familiar with this area {boot errors}

ok you needed to upgrade the firmware before installing os x and now you need a reinstallation cd for the mac as well now don't panic you need to find a mac os 9.2.2 restore cd i use the gray cd on my imac and it works great then you need to insert the cd press c on the keyboard as the computer starts up then once the os 9.2.2 cd shows up and boots you need to format the hard drive let the mac choose the type of format then install os 9.2.2 then upgrade the firmware then reinstall mac os x but a warning here from what i have read at the forums here i don't know if mac os x is compatible with that version of mac so you may need to look at the support section here to find out or the os x section
I hope this helps

Imac will not reboot.

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