IMac won't start from disk.

my son shut down my Mac while it was installing software. When I start up I get a circle with a line through it. Now it won't start up from disc.

Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)
Startup Issues - Resolve (3)

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IMac dead, grey screen, won't start from disks

I'm sure this is going to go over familiar territory.   We have a housefull of Macs and have had for a long time, and I'm fairly used to hunting down issues. This particular one is a problem I've fortunately not seen before. I suspect a serious hardware problem, but only got a look at it once it was fairly advanced.
My teen son was using this computer, a 21" iMac, I think from 2007 (it was a hand me down from his Mac-savvy Grandma).   He says that it was freezing on him for the last week or two, and he'd have to restart. Then a couple of days ago when he restarted he got a folder icon with a ?, so he took the install discs and reinstalled the OS, which was 10.4.   Yes, at this point he'd already goofed, because he'd gone over his data, and though he had an external HD, he had not used it with Time Machine for several months. I don't know what he was thinking, but he's 16...he probably was not.
This was where I finally came in. Yes, get old Dad involved once an issue has reached the crisis stage. :-\
At that point his desktop showed a fresh install of 10.4, which we wanted to update at least, and possibly retrieve his last Time Machine, but I figured there was likely an underlying problem.   Disk utility showed that the disk needed repairing, but I figured that needed to be done from an install disk, and for good measure, I should probably run the Hardware Test as well.
Now things got complicated, because I have been unable to get the computer to start from any install disk I've tried. We have two sets of original install disks from this generation of iMacs (two similar computers), and complete install discs for 10.5 and 10.6, as well as Disk Doctor.   The computer refuses to start up from any of them, with either 'C' or 'D' held down, nor will it start up in Safe Mode. And now the fresh install of 10.4 has disappeared as well.
All that occurs on restart, after the 'bong' is a grey screen. If a disk is in the optical drive, there is a brief sound of it spinning up, then silence for a good while, maybe 2 mins, then the disk is spit out. Nothing more. I have zapped the PRAM or whatever it's called these days, with no change.
We did have an external DVD drive somewhere and I'd like to try that, in case there's a problem with the optical drive itself, but I am thinking this computer may have both disk and hardware issues.
Any advice welcome...thanks in advance!

Hi, sounds like the Hard Drive is dying, & that can prevent booting up.
Hold alt key on bootup, what shows as boot choices?
Have you unplugged all peripherals, cords, & AC power, let sit 30 minutes & try just with AC connected?
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
Tough without the Install disc, but some things to try...
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

IMac won't startup from disk

After start-up issues, Apple replaced the hard drive on my iMac.
After getting it back today, I restored my files and settings from my last Time Machine backup.
However, after restarting it would not accept my password.
However, when I try to boot from the leopard disk, A circle-cross symbol appears instead of the usual apple one. Thus, I have no chance to reset the password. This cross symbol, with the spinning one beneath it, just goes on infinitely.

Try this.
1: Turn the machine on.
2: Hold down the Apple and S keys (this starts the machine in single user mode)
3: What to see the root prompt (hit the Return key a few times to make sure initialization is complete)
4: Type the following command followed by the Return key (see general warning below)
mount -uw /
5: The above command mounts your file system as modifiable
6: Type the following command, replacing shortname with your actual short name, followed by the Return key. Follow the prompts
passwd shortname
7: With the password reset, enter the following command followed by the Return key
reboot
Note 1: Your keychain may not unlock. Unlock it manually and then reset the password.
General warning: Single User Mode is all powerful and a mistake could result in loss of data, loss of function, or permanent damage to the operating system. Be careful. I am not responsible for any damage you may cause Research the information above if you have distrust.
Oh, and please, no debates about "security holes." This is a normal function of the machine and there are methods to prevent it.
Hope this helps.

Imac won't boot from disk or restart

I'm trying to erase the HD on my powerpc G4 imac (2003). I have two issues preventing me from doing so. The first seems to be that I can't boot from the Tiger disk because I have a newer wireless keyboard with no other options available to me (the old white keyboard is long gone). So, I think it's not responding when I hold down the C button. The second issue is that the computer won't restart or shut down. It goes through the motions and gets to the point where the dock disappears and just the desktop is showing and it stays there indefinitely. I have to hold down the power button to get it to turn off. Then when I turn it back on it says that OS X quit unexpectedly. So, I can't perform any functions that require a restart. It doesn't seem to finish the process before I shut the computer off.

Hi Sleepy Pants,
I'm sorry to hear about your computer.
Unforchently the wireless keyboard can not be used to perform disk boot. At least when the computer is not booting properly. Do you have any wired USB keyboard? Any usb keyboard should be enough to safeboot, or boot to the install disk.
Good Luck
-tt

MacBook frozen on logo screen! Won't start from disk or boot into safe mode

My MacBook was abnomally sluggish this morning. It froze several times as I checked my Mail, then I clicked 'Get Info' on an Application, and Finder restarted itself. I had to shut it down manually (hold down button.)
When I turned it back on it wouldn't start past the logo and spinning gear. I called Apple, he had me try Shift startup (Safe Mode, didn't work) and C startup (boot from install disk, my Mac spit the disk out).
I was wondering if there is anything else I can try. I don't feel like driving 40 minutes to my 'local' Apple Authorized Service Provider, but I need my laptop.
Details:
Late '06
Black MacBook2,1
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB RAM
Leopard 10.5.7
Message was edited by: Cory James22

<rant>
I wasn't given an option to increase my hard drive size, as I took it in to a "local" AASP. They keep telling me Apple is slow shipping out a new HD, but with my experiences Apple always FedExs a repair order very quickly. If I had known it was the d* hard drive I would have had the thing up and running 2 weeks ago.
I plan on contacting Apple and letting them know that their AASP is giving them a bad name. I know that Apple is not the problem here, but other people who take their Mac in to these bozos will believe Apple is at fault for their slow service.
</rant>

MBP won't start from Disk Warrior CD and now won't restart at all.

I tried starting my MBP from DW CD and I keep getting screen with Terminal type font and a message that says I need to restart my computer. When I restart I get the same screen over and over. (Now typing on iPhone so bare with me!)

What you will need to do is restore your OS.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11273
Follow the instructions on this page. If you need someone to help you walk through it just let me know. This process will bypass your computer trying to boot on the Operating System and will boot on a recovery partition. And from here you can try to see whats going on. You might try and go through disk utility and verify disk and see if it can locate the problem. If there is click repair and hopefully it will do the trick.
Hope this helps!
-Steven

IMac5,2 won't start from Raid formatted disk on Firewire

Hello,
I have an external disk with 2 drives. The disk is setup as RAID1 (I tried both, ApplesDisk Utilitie's RAID and SoftRaid). In both cases I can't bless the drive as startup disk and get the error Could not find IOKit entry for
IODeviceTree: ... and the iMac also won't start from the external FW drive.
As soon as I connect the drive via USB it works.
Any ideas?
thanks
Matthias

Hi Matthias
What make of external HD or enclosure are your drives in?
If it boots with the USB connection then you should try a different FireWire cable.
Dennis

IMac won't start - should I reinstall OS?

Recently my iMac won't start up - it goes to screen with folder + question mark. I've run Disk Utility, repaired hard drive, but there were no reported repairs to make.
Occassionally it will start up, and everything seems normal until suddenly the beach ball appears and everything freezes. 99% of tries it won't start up (i get the ? folder). Is it worth erasing the disk and reinstalling everything to see if a fresh start will help, or is it likely that the hardware is damaged?
Don't want to bother erasing it if there's no point... any advice greatly appreciated.
Also - anyone who's had their iMac repaired - what are the costs like?

I've just suddenly had the same problem - for no apparent reason as far as I can tell. The night before last I switched off my iMac as normal, and yesterday morning switched it back on. At first it would start, but crashed as soon as I tried to start any applications. Then it wouldn't start at all, and just got as far as the gray screen with the apple on it. After trying resetting the PRAM, switching on and holding the on button for 10 seconds, it was no different...
So, I tried doing a archive-reinstall from the original leopard DVD I bought from apple. This did a successful disk verification, but then said it couldn't install mac os due to a problem with the basesystem package. After that it wouldn't let me try another archive-install and only gave the options to install as new, or erase and install. The latter I don't want to do, and the former just gives the same basesystem error... All I get now is a flashing folder with a question mark and not even the gray screen...
I have tried using the diskutility to verify/ repair the hard drive and it says all is well...
I have heard this may all be due to dodgy RAM chips, but I have never messed with them or altered them. It just seems odd they should suddenly fail when they were working fine before.....
Any ideas would be much appreciated. A lot of data at risk
Dan.

G5 iSight iMac won't start up at all - big grey flashing folder icon

Hi
Acquired a second hand intel imac (iSight model) - when I first got it, it started up fine (it had 10.4 installed), then I tried to do a carbon copy clone on to it using Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my old mac's system on to my new one and now it's stuffed.
I get the flashing question mark when I try to boot it.
Tried booting from a black Tiger disk - won't start from that (holding down C key won't work, holding down Option key won't give a selection of disks to start up from shows nothing)
Tried starting it up in Target mode from my old iMac (angle poise one) and I can see it fine mounted on angle poise iMac's desktop. Erased it again using disk utils from the angle poise imac again to start again...
Can't start up from my bootable external HD attached to it (firewire)
Can't use fsck on it as I can't start up in Single User mode (nothing happens)
Anybody got any ideas? Can I have stuffed the machine by using CCC and trying to clone to it?
Have also tried Resetting PRAM and SMU.
I've run out of ideas....
Thanks for any help

First, I'm a bit confused with your reference to "angle poised" Mac - what is that?
Second, you said:
"then I tried to do a carbon copy clone on to it using Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my old mac's system on to my new one and now it's stuffed."
Since your old Mac is a PPC, it won't work if your new Mac is an Intel (and, if it is an Intel, it is NOT a G5 - the G5 iSight was the last PPC made before switching to Intel).
Third, the "black" Tiger disk you used - is that a retail version for a PPC or Intel Mac?
At this point, I'm guessing that your "new" Mac didn't like the fact that you installed a PPC version of the OS and/or the OS version you installed was older than what the "new" Mac came with.
Since you've already tried all the usual things, I'd ask the person who gave it to you for some information on the exact tech specs to see if we can figure out why this happened and, if necessary, call a local Apple repair shop for some advice - I'm assuming you're no longer under warranty?

IMac won't start without install disc

Hi, I'm new to all of this. I tried resetting my admin password using install disc on my iMac as I'd forgotten it. Now iMac won't start without disc. If disc is ejected on restart apple logo flashes between no entry sign and folder with "?" on it. Will start up with install disc in, but then wants me to choose language and install OS. Tried repairing and verifying HD and all seems ok. Tried holding option key and selecting HD on startup, but same outcome - choose language and install OS. How do I get back to normal desk top? Do I have to install OS again? Will I lose data? Please, please help! Thanks.

It should only take a minute or so at most to boot from the DVD.
If your sure you have the correct Install Disk for that iMac, I'd start over. Then if it still doesn't work then perhaps a trip to your Local Apple Service Provider with the Disk or Disk and iMac is in order.
http://www.apple.com/buy/locator/service/
Alternately using the correct Disk as per the following article, see if you can run the Apple Hardware Test? > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

IMac won't start up passed the grey screen

Last friday my iMac (late 2006, 24", 2.33 duo core Intel, OS 10.6.8) gave me the spinning beach ball.
Restarting resulted in: first the apple screen with the progress indicator, followed by grey screen..
That was it. It hangs at the grey screen.
I've been busy this weekend testing all kinds of ideas to get my imac to fully start up again.
I checked the RAM, it's fine.
I flushed NVRAM, wild guess, but nothing changed.
Starting up in safe mode doesn't work.
Starting up in recovery mode doesn't work.
On the upside, I was able to start my imac up in Target mode. Using the host computer and Disk Utlity I can see there's nothing wrong with the HD. All the data is still there!, so later today I'll make a copy of the complete HD, hoping/thinking that I won't copy whatever is wrong.
I had Disk Utility repair all the permissions.
I've used the host computer to reinstall the OS on my imac.
But on start up my beloved iMac still won't get passed the grey screen.
I'm thinking something goes wrong before my Mac even gets to the HD. Maybe it's the firmware, but I'm not really sure that firmware matters in this case. And I wouldn't know how to reinstall the latest version of firmware because my imac won't start up from it's disk drive
I'm thinking maybe something could be wrong with the graphic card's RAM, though on start up I can see the apple logo just fine.
I'm not able to start up from CD, I've tried that because I wanted to reinstall my OS (before I figured out how to do that in Target Mode) by putting the OS disk in my imac's own disk drive. Staring up with the C key still gets me the grey screen. Staring up with Option key shows no other option but the HD.
So is there anybody out there who has an idea that could help me further along?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Frank

Hi Jan,
If you have another firewire Mac you can check if the HD of your Mac is OK by connecting them with a firewire cable and use target-mode. That way I found out my HD was just fine.
It also offers you the chance to run a diagnostic program to check if anything else is fine. I used TechTool to do that. But everything checked out fine.
In the end I decided the problem is probably hardware. Some electronic part that broke. Very frustrating that some small transistor or so is keeping me from using my otherwise fine iMac.
I contacted a repairshop that also works for the local Mac retailer. They told me my iMac was concidered 'classic' and therefor it wasn't economically not worth the trouble trying to repair it.
I gave up, took two weeks to mourn the loss of my beloved iMac, and bought a Mac mini.
FrankV
Judging by your name I'm guessing I could've anwered this in Dutch.

G5 iMac won't start! Help needed.

Got a new intel iMac. Gave my husband my old G5 iMac (not intel). It was working perfectly. For some reason unknown to me, he decided he was going to reinstall everything from scratch so he grabbed the first disk he saw and put it in the computer. It was the startup disk for an intel computer & NOT for the iMac G5.
Did he fry the computer? It won't start up. Keypad & mouse won't respond.
The screen can't find the driver (no surprise) and says "panic: we are hanging here...." I can't get the disk out of the drive. Service contract is up. Is there a way I can connect my laptop to it and get it to respond & spit out that intel disk? Perhaps if I open the cover up, I can into the CD drive and get the disk out. All ideas appreciated.

Quote
J.C posted "Re: G5 iMac won't start! Help needed." on Feb 4, 2008 4:53:20 PM.
Hi Mel Kev
Have you tried holding down the left mouse button when you turn the computer on. Holding down the left mouse button should force eject the disk.
Hope this helps
J.C
UNQUOTE
And it WORKED! (I really wasn't in the mood to do surgery on the computer this evening). Thanks all!!! You are awesome!
Now, if I can just find the original installation disks.... They are in this drawer somewhere....

Intel iMac won't start - HELP!

My iMac won't start this morning. I get the white screen with the grey apple,
and the swirling progress thing, then after a few seconds I can hear
the sound you hear when the system shuts down. like a soft switch
going off, then it just continues swirling, still with the white
screen and grey apple, then it restarts by itself. Then we go through
the same routine. Tried booting up by holding C with the Leopard disc inside but nothing happens.I have just reinstalled Leopard as Snow Leopard left too many printers and programs lifeless, so I did an erase and install a few days ago. Since then I have used the Mac fine, switched down normally last night, but this morning it doesn't want to play.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in anticipation
Chris
Message was edited by: ChrisRR

Have you reset PRAM and SMC?
Do this first
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and then do this, if the PRAM does not help
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
The second one is basically disconnecting your iMac from power (and all cables), then reconnecting following a precise procedure.
If that does not help, I would restart with the Snow Leopard installation disc (insert disc and start up with the C key held down). You probably did an installation of Snow Leopard over your existing Leopard system the first time. This time, erase it completely first, then install Snow Leopard. I assume you backed up your data already.
When you get to the Installer screen (after selecting language), go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. In the sidebar, select the internal DRIVE, not the volume indented under the drive. Go to the Erase tab. Name the volume +Macintosh HD+ and set the format to +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+. Erase the drive. Since you have the drive selected in the sidebar (not the volume), it will also re-partition the drive.
It should take less than on minute to complete the process. Quit Disk Utility to go back to Installer. Run the standard installation onto the blank internal drive. Hopefully, a fresh Snow Leopard install on a reformatted/re-partitioned drive will work better for you.

IMac Won't Start Up/Boot

My iMac won't start up. I've tried holding all kinds of key combinations while I turn it on, but it doesn't even get that far. It gets stuck on a folder with the Apple picture alternating with a question mark. It doesn't do anything else for a while, and then the fan turns on (???).

This is indicative of a corrupted system or drive. The first thing to try is:
Repairing the Hard Drive
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If this doesn't solve the problem then you will have to reinstall OS X. If the drive tests out OK per the above then you can reinstall without erasing the hard drive:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
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20" imac won't start up-flashes between blank grey screen and black screen

20" imac
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Was running system 10.5.8 just fine. Worked great.
But then I wanted to give the imac to a relative. And so, I tried to boot from the original grey mac install dvd to wipe the hardrive and set the imac back to factory specs.
But it wouldn't boot off the dvd. All It would do at restart was to flash slowly back and forth between blank grey screen and black screen. So, I tried the Leopard update dvd. Same results. So I zapped the pram and tried again. Same results.
If I just pushed the start button tho.. the imac would start right up and run fine. However, I didn't want to give it to someone else with all our information on it.
I finally restarted it and held the "T" key to turn it into a giant firewire drive, hooked it up to our other 20" imac, and used the disk utility from the second imac to erase the drive of the first imac. Then I inserted the grey install dvd into the second imac and selected the drive of the first imac and ran the install process.
Now, the first imac won't start up at all. Just a continual grey screen for a bit, than a couple of buzz sounds in the machine and then the black screen... than back again.
It ran great before I erased the drive and re-installed OS 10.5
What's wrong? How do I get the machine to either boot off the install cd?

So, I've figured out a little more on the first machine. It's a 20" 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.5.8.
It ran great. But, I wanted to erase the hard drive and reinstall the OS system before giving it to a relative.
I found that although the optical drive would read and write to normal cds and dvds, the machine would NOT boot from the grey start-up disks I had on hand. ( I have two imacs, and I tried both sets of dvds without success.)
I zapped the PRAM, and used disk utilities via firewire connection from my other 20" imac to check the hardrive and make repairs. Disk Utilities couldn't find any problems. So, using disk utilities from the other imac, I erased the first imac's harddrive and then used the install dvds on the second imac to install the original OS to the hard drive of the first imac.
(looking on the hard drive of the first imac, I can see all the contents)
However, the first machine will not start up. It just switches from grey....to black..... then grey..... and then black again.... over and over
Why won't it boot from the newly installed OS on it's own hard drive?
And Why won't it boot from the original install dvds?
How can I get it to start up again?

IMac won't start from disk.

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