IMac wont boot after change

Well I come from a linux background, so always have a lot of terminals open. Was getting a lot of prefork errors, and after looking all over I found it seemed I was running out of files. I googled around, saw a suggestion and made a change to a system file (not the /etc/sysctl.conf). Somewhere 6 or so levels down. It said you needed to reboot, so this am I did and now I am stuck at a white apple screen with the spinning gear.
I tried safe mode (which I read is just shift on boot). I saw a the same boot sequence except a grey progress bar, but after the bar disapeared, I am in the same spot.
I'm looking for my original install disks, but while I look, is that the correct way for safe mode?
Also, I tried booting off a live linux CD but when I mounted the drive, the .bash_history was not updated since the terminal was closed and not <exited> I guess.
Thanks

The correct way to restart in Safe Mode is when you hear the "Bong" sound hold down and continue to hold down the Shift key until a progress bar appears. Here are Apple's instructions on how to correctly restart in Safe Mode.
I would recommend that you also look over Gray screen appears during startup.

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Intel imac wont start after changing permission

intel imac wont start after i changed my hard drive permission to let me read and write, then i clicked apply to all enclosed files.i turned it off no problem. then it never started up again in os x. the grey screen with apple logo appears,then after a minute it restarts, and will keep doing that if i let it. i can start up in windows xp, but i dont know how to do anything in windows xp that will affect os x. i can use the hard drive in target mode, but i cant figure out how that can help me. i use a macbook to view target disk. ive spent hours looking through help and support. finally i do not have the os install disks. PLEASE HELP!

My apologies for the inept instructions.
Restart normally. Open Terminal in the Utilities folder. Paste the commands in the Terminal application to avoid typos:
sudo su
Press RETURN. Enter your admin password when prompted. It will not be echoed to the screen. Press RETURN again. Now paste each of the following at the prompt and press RETURN after each.
chown root:admin /Applications
chmod 0775 /Applications
chown root:admin /Library
chmod 1775 /Library
chown root:admin /System
chmod 0775 /System
chown root:admin /Users
chmod 0775 /Users
chmod -R -N /Applications
chown -R :admin /Applications/*
Again, my apologies.

Imac wont boot after long time without restart

Hi
I've got a two month old new Imac 21,5" with fusion drive 1TB, i had it just before mavericks was launched..
i update to mavericks. All was fine, But i allmost never shut down, or restart the imac.
After some time, I did for a reason i dont remember, had to restart the imac. while booting, it was stuck on the grey screen.. i wasn't able to get it started up, not in safe mode, not after disk repair.. i think i might have tried all the little tricks to get it running again...
luckily i did have a time machine back up...
after installing this back up, everything was fine again..
until 2 weeks later, for some reason i had to reboot again.. and again, it was stuck.. only thing to get the imac working again.. reinstall from time machine back up
after this , it tried rebooting everyday, and the imac kept working..
after a few days, i forgot to reboot for a few days.. and what did you think.. the imac is stuk again.. so while reinstalling the time machine back up. I am writing this. anyone else having this rather strange problem.. if i restart the imac now and then i keeps working.. if i dont after a few days, and i do reboot the imac.. is wont boot anymore..
Any suggestions are welcome
greetings

The long tone is an indication that a firmware update is installing. Do you get a progress bar at the bottom of you screen after letting the power button go?
Have you reset the PRAM? (cmdalt+PR when you restart the machine)
Also repair permissions when the machine is up and running.

Imac wont boot after this last update

I downloaded an update (automatically through software update). After it installed it told me to wait for computer to restart and then hold power button until the long tone, then it should be done. I did that with no problem.
Ever since then though it wont boot regularly. It wither sits at grey screen forever OR gives me the prohibit sign. The only way to get it to work it to hold that power button until the long tone again.
Any idea whats wrong and how i fix it??
Thanks in advance for any help.

The long tone is an indication that a firmware update is installing. Do you get a progress bar at the bottom of you screen after letting the power button go?
Have you reset the PRAM? (cmdalt+PR when you restart the machine)
Also repair permissions when the machine is up and running.

Satellite Pro L40 wont boot after changing BIOS settings

Alright changed a few settings in the bios last night and now when I boot I get a black screen lights flash and that hard drive light comes on but nothing on screen.
There was no password on bios,... how would I reset BIOS to normal?
I put a windows disk on I can hear the disk spinning but nothing on the screen
(I think I have come to the right place on the forum)
Its a Toshiba Satellite Pro L40 model psl4be.
Thanks

>There was no password on bios,... how would I reset BIOS to normal?
You can set the BIOS to default ONLY inside the BIOS so you have to access the BIOS pressing F2 or at the beginning of the booting order
But I doubt that this problem is related to the BIOS.
Maybe its just a simple bad luck that this issue happened just exactly after changing something in BIOS.
Try to connect an external monitor and check if you can see something on 2nd display.

Imac wont boot after 10.8.5

white screen after update. 2012 imac 27". was originally leopard i think. actually third time the same machine has done this on updates since lion installed. Last two times took full erase and re-install to get started. Boots fine in safe mode. disc utility runs fine although repair permisions shows a ton of itunes issues that wont clear in safe mode. Boot in R mode and they show to clear but show up again after restart. Ready to go Office Space on this thing. nothing connected. add on software is Quickbooks and office only

updates
jan 6 - erased drive, reinstalled 10.6 using disc, update software. gets to 10.8 and white screens on restart. disc utilities agian, repair disc-no errors, repair permission has a few that wont go away
jan 7 - erased drive, reinstalled 10.6 using disc - works great, update software to 10.6.8 - works great, download and install 10.9.1 - white screen, agian with disc utility etc, also tried internet recovery
jan 8 - wiped drive again. downloaded discmaker x and bought new 8gb jump drive. download full version installer 10.9.1. make bootable disc. restart and boot from disc. installs and restarts to finish install. then grey screen
i dont know what else to try here. ive called several local places and left msg's. im currently doing the erase thing again but this time with secure 3x overwrite option.
drive is 1TB ST31000528AS
since 10.9.1 install there are two other drives showing up on disc utility.
disk 2 - OS X Install ESD
disk 3 - OSX X base system

IMac wont boot after file transfer from Windows laptop

Hi folks,
I am looking for some advice if anyone can help?
Sunday evening I transferred asome data off an old knackered Windows laptop via my home network. During the transfer, my 2013 iMac 27" started to really slow down and became unresponsive (i tried to cancel the data transfer and restart). In the end I have to force shut down by holding the power button in. Now, upon reboot of the machine, it won't get passed half way of the progress bar - and I've left it an hour at the most and given up.
I have attempted a verify and repair in Disk Utility, and even though I have managed to Verify Disk and Repair Disk, they took an absolute age to get through - I was chatting to an Apple Customer Care person, and they told me to chat back once it was done, which was probably 20-30mins after I started.
I then went on to Verify Disk Permission, which I left running for around 2 hours until it finished, and then moved onto Repair Disk Permissions, of which I cancelled after about 4 hours worth of it doing not a lot!
When I try and boot, it gets to a stage where the hdd is making a repetitive noise, as if it is stuck in a loop somehow.
I am running Yosemite 10.10.1, and have reset the PRAM to no avail.
I am fearing the worst tbh, but my main concern is the data on the drive - any tips on how to attempt to recover that data - or to fix the drive itself?
Thanks
Andy

The correct way to restart in Safe Mode is when you hear the "Bong" sound hold down and continue to hold down the Shift key until a progress bar appears. Here are Apple's instructions on how to correctly restart in Safe Mode.
I would recommend that you also look over Gray screen appears during startup.

IMac wont boot after displaying a black screen and then switching off

Help! My iMac screen suddenly went black, with a huge purple cursor and then a text box with hugely magnified text appeared momentarily and then disapeared, (the text block was just the standard "You are now connected to ...... " the name of our Network ) after some time and nothing happening I quit using the power off button, when I came back after a short while and powered up again now I cant get past the white screen with the Apple logo and the spinning disc? No start up tone either.

Yes, boot from the install disc and then use Disk Utility to repair the drive:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.

IMac wont boot after update had an error.

My iMac freezes when trying to start up after an error occured when trying to do it's automatic apple software update. Stays on a white screen with time cirlce going round and another circle with a diagonal line thru it. Said it would re-download updates when it had booted back up. but now it will not boot. Is there anything I can do or is it serious?

Start your Mac with the original DVD that came with the computer and run disk utility on your hard drive to repair it. Also repair your permission then restart your iMac normally.

RS480M2-IL wont boot after change in BIOS, CMOS reset doesnt work!

Hi,
I bought the RS480M2 to use with a E6 stepping Venice 3000+ CPU using the onboard graphics card. I ran into problems right from the start, CPU temps were high (PC health in BIOS says 51-58 over a few minutes). Looking at the BIOS updates available i noticed that i had BIOS v.3.2, and i needed a higher version to support the E6 stepping, so i thought maybe the motherboard was using a wrong voltage for the CPU. In order to ensure that i could do a BIOS flash update i thought id better UNDERclock the CPU so it wouldnt overheat while flashing. I changed the LDT setting to 200Mhz(from 800 i think), subsequently on booting nothing happened(note that i never got around to do any BIOS flashing). My drives powers up, but i do not get a boot display. I checked the manual on how to reset the CMOS/BIOS and it says i should change the JCMOS1 jumper from 1-2 to 2-3. I was confused about whether or not to restart before or after putting it back to 1-2, so in the begining i just moved the jumper to 2-3 waited a few seconds and moved it back before powering up. This didnt help. A newer online version on the manual gave the order as 2-3 , power on, wait for CMOS error, power off, 1-2, power on. Unfortunately when i start up with the jumper on 2-3, i still get nothing. No boot, no error message. Ive tried clearing the CMOS multiple times(by following the sequence above), and nothing seems to work.
The only thing strange about my setup is that im using a fanless heatsink(the Sonic Tower from ThermalTake) running open case. Can this problem be related to a CPU fan speed protection?
Im totally at a loss as what to do about this, any help would be incredibly appreciated!

Quote from: dannol48 on 20-August-05, 09:28:59
If you carefully check the MSI processor compatibility chart for the RS480M2-IL, you'll see that there is no current Bios support for the Venice with Stepping E6.
I hope that radical CMOS clear procedure that I and others use will clear the post problem. Mine was primarily due to incompatible memory.
Danno
When i bought this board i didnt realize it might only support some A64's since it just listed A64's as supported. Also, when i look at the BIOS updates i can see that BIOS 3.4 lists "Support AMD K8 reversion E stepping CPU." (my Venice is E6) as being the change, so i thought it would be okay, after all when someone says they support E stepping, one would assume that it is all E stepping CPUs. When people buy CPU's its not always they know what stepping they will receive. I actually thought i was getting the E3 until i checked the model number and found it to be an E6.
My memory is Kingston Value Ram(2x256MB, im just building a HTPC, so i really didnt go after the expensive stuff). I got the newest venice because of its extremely low power use.
Btw, when reinserting the battery and restarting should i have JCMOS1 jumper at Clear data or keep data?

Imac wont boot after power failure.

I can boot in target mode and plug another mac in via firewire and run disk utility, but cannot boot the imac on its own. Anyone know what causes this? I have tried to boot holding down command-r, nothing, don't have install disks as they don't ship with them anymore.

Hello
Try boot in safe mode - Hold on at start-up SHIFT key , at least for one min , see if you ah safe mode start up
Try boot in single user mode - Hold on at start-up CMD-S , see if you have a comande line interface - type exit comande to try boot graphic interface
Try boot Apple Hardware Test - boot with D key
This 2 try need an valid Internet acces ( ethernet cable or wifi enable )
Try boot Recover mode - CMD - R
Try boot Apple Hardware Test - CMD - D
HTH
Pierre

Imac wont boot after update. twice!

I tried to install an update the other night and it finished. I restarted my computer and it ran fine for about 20 minutes. It slowly started to run worse and worse. Finally i restarted and this time the gray apple screen came up with a loading bar. It loaded and then the loading wheel came up and never left. I restarted and it would go to the apple screen with the loading wheel and would not make it past. Today i took it to the apple store and they tried a few things that failed. We ended up re-imaging my computer. I get home tonight it runs fine i try to update and once again the computer crashes on me. Any help?

I would hate for you to have to make another trip to the Apple Store, but if they "reimaged" your iMac, which I assume to mean reinstalled Snow Leopard, then I would probably suggest taking it back to them and have them do whatever they did again and this time followup with doing the update themselves for you in the store. That way they can see the problem firsthand if it recurs or perhaps correct anything you may be doing wrong, not to suggest that it is your fault however.
Regards,
Steve M.
Message was edited by: Steve M.

My imac wont boot and a small square shows up next to the cursor

Hi
my imac wont boot and a small square shows up next to the cursor. I can open in safe mode. I have reinstalled the OSX, but can't boot from back-up.
Any advice?

OK.....I figured it out.....after reading endless threads on the cursor issue, I found out that apple calls the cursor a MOUSE POINTER..! and the square that follows it a 'corruption'...GO FIGURE!
Anyway, this is what I did.
I tried reinstalling Mountain Lion....online install. It didn't resolve the issue. Same problems
Then, I tried reinstalling from the original DVD install disc....this wasn't possible (no access sign over install icon).
So I finally erased my hard drive (after rebooting command - r), BUT NOT BEFORE BACKING UP MY FILES, APPLICATIONS, SETTINGS and any other important data!!!!!!!
Then started up command R
Then reinstalled Mountain Lion online
My iMac started up like it does when you install 'out of the box'...follow the instructions....
my cursor, or mouse pointer is now free of it's 'corruption', and boots up just fine!
Hope this helps anyone out there with the same issue

Imac wont boot - i get a white screen with apple logo, and it loads to about 10%, then screen goes black

imac wont boot - i get a white screen with apple logo, and it loads to about 10%, then screen goes black

Hey there mtriest,
It sounds like you are unable to boot the iMac successfully as it keeps shutting down when you try to boot. I suggest the troubleshooting from the following article named:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Disconnect, test peripheral devices and network cables
Note: "Peripheral devices" refers to external devices other than what came with your Mac, such as hard drives, printers, or hubs that you connect via a USB or FireWire cable.
Shut down your Mac. If necessary, hold your Mac's power button for several seconds to force it to power down.
Disconnect all peripheral devices such as external hard drives or printers (leave only the display, a keyboard, and mouse connected).
Disconnect any Ethernet cables.
Start up your Mac.
If you can start up this way, one or more of your peripheral devices (or installed software related to the device) is probably causing the gray screen issue. Connect one device, then restart your Mac to test for the issue. Repeat the process until you locate the device at issue. Make sure the device is powered if it needs to be to operate correctly. Check with the manufacturer of the device for support or possible software driver or firmware updates that may be available for the device. Try a different cable with the device if possible (such as a different USB or FireWire cable).
Note: If you have multiple peripheral devices and the issue only occurs when they are all connected, but not when each device is the only peripheral connected, see the Additional Information section below.
If you are using a desktop Mac with a third-party keyboard and/or mouse device, and the issue still occurs, try starting up with an Apple keyboard and mouse connected instead. Try starting with no keyboard and mouse connected, then connect them after start up. Also, try a different USB port on your Mac.
If the gray screen issue persists with no devices connected, go to the next section (with the peripherals still disconnected).
Perform a Safe BootSimply performing a Safe Boot may resolve this issue.
Shut down your Mac. If necessary, hold your Mac's power button for several seconds to force it to power down.
Start your Mac, then immediately hold the Shift key. This performs a Safe Boot. Advanced tip: If you want to see the status of a Safe Boot as it progresses, you can hold Shift-Command-V during start up (instead of just Shift).
Note: A Safe Boot takes longer than a typical start up because it includes a disk check and other operations.
If your Mac starts up as expected, immediately try restarting.
If the Safe Boot does not work, or the restart after a successful Safe Boot does not work, go to the next section.
There is additional information in the article with further troubleshooting if needed.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Sterling

Imac wont boot, stuck loading, all i see is apple logo and spinning cycle

My 27 inch iMac wont boot, i am runnign snow leopard. I just see the apple sign and the cycle spinning meaning its still loading. I cant use disk utility because leopard install disc wont boot, also i cant run any commands in single user mode, doing /sbin/fsck -fy does nothing, i dont see a # sign or anything, whatever i type it doesnt matter whenever i hit return the cursor just goes to the line below.

dudix wrote:
I cant use disk utility because leopard install disc wont boot
Power down (assume you have already tried the SMC reset) and insert the Applications DVD that came with your new iMac. Boot up while holding the "D" key down (may be best with a wired keyboard) to run the Apple Hardware Test according to these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

IMac wont boot after change

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