Mac mini start up

Hello,
this is my first time on here in years. I recently purchased mac min 1.42ghz. With the computer I received a wireless keyboard and mouse along with it. For the last three days I try to turn it on, and it seems like it stays on a blue screen forever. I thought that I could log in but I cant even do that it is getting frustrating. Help me please.
mac mini Mac OS X (10.4)

Wow, I was hoping after reading 30 various threads on this issue I'd feel good about my Mini not starting up.
My issue is very similar although not exact. As I have a non-system disk stuck in the drive, meaning I can't try the basic start-up from system disk troubleshoot.
I hope its not the wireless devices helping to cause this problem.
I'm going to be talking to Apple in the morning when the support offices open, hopefully I'll be able to resolve the issue without any data loss. If I get a solution, I'll post it.
For those that may help here.
My system stops at a grey screen, fan is running, optical drive spins, I think I here a bit of hard drive activity, but nothing computer like happens.
I've tried ever self fix listed on the various discussion pages, and apple OS X support.
reset PRAM, Reset Bios, Reset PMU, tried safe boot, tried to boot by selecting start disk.
After reseting the Bios, my fan is running at full spin, and the power light indicator doesn't come on. All of this is very odd and not very Apple like. I'm begining to think "what is an intel chip doing in my Apple?"
From the various threads it seems the most popular answer is a motherboard problem, which would be great as my data back-up was planned for next week. And if I can't recover my data, I'll cry.
I'll be looking at this post with great interest.

Similar Messages

2006 Intel Mac mini starts to load then turns off and sometime a kernel panic warning will appear

Mac mini starts then powers off before loading osx and sometimes gives a kernel panic warning

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).

Mac mini starts so slowly

Mac mini starts so slowly

After it does start open the Console app in the Utilities folder and look for log entry errors/problems during startup and post them here.
Running this and posting the results here may also help us determine what is going on
EtreCheck

Mac mini start up shut down code

I appreciate the two responses, from '300Tech' and TITOUMAX to my original question.
I was reluctant to take the "sudo halt" terminal suggestion since a warning loomed over the danger of losing data.
I was unable to post a copy of the code sequences suggested by TITOMAX since the problem was solved by the time I saw his post.
I received an answer from Apple.
I was able to halt display of start up and shut down code by shutting the Mac mini down and starting the machine while holding down "cmd option PR" keys until the computer gave the normal start sound followed by a repeat of the start sound. This procedure led to a normal start up process and also a normal shut down process without the display of the "start up code" during start up or the display of the "shut down code" during shut down.
By the way, holding down the "cmd option R" keys with my left hand while pressing the Mac mini start button with my right hand and quickly getting my right hand in place to hold the "P" key was tricky, but only took two tries to achieve success.
I was concerned that the display of those lines of code was an indicator of an impending problem. It turned out to be an unintended feature following replacement of the logic board.
By the way, Apple Care has been wortwhile for me.

Thanks for the report, that's called a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

My mac mini starts up no video

my mac mini starts up with a chime no video to the monitor any suggestions?

Restart the computer with the Option, Command, P, and R keys held down, and release them when you hear the second startup chime; this clears a setting which causes it to start up into verbose mode each time.
(35613)

URGENT Help: Mac mini starts up, then just "died down" (power down...)

Hello all. This is my sis's Mac mini Intel.
Was actually booting from Leopard OS X thinking of an upgrade OS, ran Disk Utility and it reported some error cannot be repaired:
Invalid sibling link
Volume check failed
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed
So I gave up the idea, quit the installer and restart, and press "Eject" to get the disc out.
*But now, it seems like when the Mac mini starts up, with the grey Apple logo and the spinning wheel, after a while, it just "stops", "fades away" and power off. Like a "sudden shut down" or "sudden sleep"*
So far I have *tried reset PRam* and also and SMU or something (plugging every cord out etc) but to no avail.
*HELP!! At least I want to be able to do a boot up to retrieve all the data before any hard re-format or something*
Thanks and cheers

It is possible, with the errors Disk Utility reported, that some (possibly even all) of the files on the drive will be damaged or inaccessible, so it is best to proceed with some caution.
There are several possibilities for recovering the files, all dependent on the situation. You could, for example, remove the hard drive from the mini, fit it in an external drive case and connect it to another system. That would, in my view, be the best option. Alternatively, you might be able to get the mini into firewire target disk mode (hold the T key down during bootup) and connected (via firewire) to another Mac, rescue files that way, or boot the system from an external drive which has a valid MacOS install for that system, and then rescue files from the internal drive.
You may find, if the drive's data structure is corrupt, that even if you can access the hard drive via any of the methods above, you'll need a utility such as Data Rescue II (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php) to locate and retrieve what you need. You might also consider use of a utility such as DiskWarrior (http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/index.html) as a means to attempt a repair of the disk so that it can be returned to use - though this is by no means certain to succeed, and may not resolve potential data loss.

My Mac Mini starts to boot up then after a few minutes turns off. Please help.

My Mac Mini starts to boot up then after a few minutes turns off. Please help.

seen this happen many times, usually always due to corrupt memory.......could be a power module in the Mini, but unlikely. hold down command R on startup, see if you can get into safe mode or ANY SCREEN ...If under warr. call mac for a service check, ....BUT if you have spare memory around that is compatable, try that first, process of elimination diagnostics.

Volume is muted when Mac Mini starts up.

Hi all,
I currently use my previous generation Mac Mini (Core 2 Duo 2.0) in my media center.
Whenever I restart the machine, the volume is muted when it starts back up.. I then have to go in and manually unmute it.
Because this is part of the entertainment center, it's kind of a pain.
Anyone have any idea what is set that would be causing it to do this?
Thanks for any info!

Hi Steve,
Can you use a keyboard to audio volume control? Sounds like something is overriding the system somewhere.
Read here before resetting the PRAM http://www.interrupt19.com/2008/08/07/what-does-resetting-your-macs-pram-do/
Carolyn

New Intel Mac Mini Start-up Problems

I've recently purchased a new Intel Mac Mini (my first Mac after switching from a PC). Several times (probably once a day), the mac mini won't start-up.
I've noticed it happens after I've used iPhoto or iDVD. The mini becomes busy and performance seems to slow. After the software has finished its task, I can exit the application fine and shut down the mini.
When I then go to boot the mini, the little blue light comes up, but nothing else happens. It's almost as though it's in sleep mode (which it isn't). I've tried different ways to wake it using the keyboard, mouse and start button, but nothing.
The Mac Mini will only start-up again if it is unplugged from the mains and left for several minutes.
Has anyone else had this problem? Is there something I'm doing wrong that my lack of Mac knowledge may not be aware of?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I have been frustrated by the same issue. My (admittedly non-professional) diagnosis is that the problem is related to heat build up. I am able to boot normally only after forcing a hard shut down and waiting for "a while" (5 minutes is not enough, 30 minutes does the trick). Thus my hypothesis that an appropriate cooling down period is needed.
Any similar thoughts? I'm calling Apple today...

Mac mini start up problems

good day! i have a problem with my mac mini and it wont start up i already follow the instructions at the manual but still problem occurs.. pls. help. tnx happy new year!

Hello Jaun,
Is this what you tried?
"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 partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.
If that doesn't help Reinstall the OS.

My Mac mini starts up with a black screen and white writing.

Okay basically I purchased a Mac mini (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHZ 1GB RAM model) in Feburay 2008, and in June 2008 i decieded to bring it to a store to get it upgraded to 2GB. At the store the guys told me my Mac mini wouldnt accept 2GB, they reckon it was 'cause of the logic board. So they put a new one in and was able to succesfully install 2GB.
Since that day my Mac mini stopped starting up with the apple logo. Now it starts up with the white/greyish background without the apple logo, then goes to a black screen and just runs pass loads of white text then its ready to use with no problems. It does this all the time.
I've read a little about the Kernal Panic and looked at pictures of it, but what I have doesn't look like the kernal panic pictures i'm seeing.
So i am writing this pose to find out whats wrong with my Mac mini, can anyone help me?
Oh, I nearly forgot. When i turn the Mac mini off it does the same black screen with white text stuff before fully shutting down.

Restart the computer with the Option, Command, P, and R keys held down, and release them when you hear the second startup chime; this clears a setting which causes it to start up into verbose mode each time.
(35613)

Wondering whether to get a mac mini starting at $599 or a mac-book air 11 inch.

Hi I'm wondering whether to get a mac mini 2012 starting at $599 or the 11 inch macbook air (newest version as of this post. For about a year and a half I will use it for light gaming (minecraft) and miscellaneous web surfing (Youtube, and other teenage time wasters. NO MASTERBATION JOKES PLEASE) but in a year and a half I will need it for school projects, traveling, and video/photo editing since im heading off too college. This is a hard decision because it is my hard earned money and im spending only about 600-1000.

I have both the Air and Mini, and 2 mac minis. I honestly cant decide between either of them,...my Mac Mini is the best desktop I have ever owned, however its purpose is almost totally different from that of my AIR, which is for travel, etc.
Since YOU are heading off to college and traveling, Id certainly get the AIR, between the two.
Both have the HIGHEST used resale value of any other laptop / desktop. Both are great choices.

Mac mini starts up slow

Durring the start up of my Mac Mini (2014 model, running Mac OSX Mavericks 10.9.2), when the screen changes from grey to the logon screen, there is a pause, and then a troublesome flicker of the screen. Is this normal? I have owned many Apple computers and this has never happened. Please Help.

Reset the SMC and PRAM 2-3 times. Also check the startup volume and ensure the internal HD is selected.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3603

Help! Mac Mini Start up issues

Help! I've had my Mac Mini since about November 2005. I've never had an issue with it, until now. I realize that there are other topics with this same issue, and I've looked through them, but I'm not sure if my problem is the same.
All of a sudden, I can't seem to get it to start up correctly. After hitting the power button, the screen will display a folder with an alternating finder icon and question mark. I checked the manual that came with the Mini itself, and followed the suggestion of holding down the option key at start up. When I do that, the screen only shows a back button and a forward, no hard disk icon to select, so I get stuck at that screen.
I was able to start up the computer by following the second suggestion in the manual of holding down the Command, Option, P and R keys until it makes the start up noise twice. After that, I replaced the keyboard/mouse from wireless to USB and the computer started up just fine for a day or two, and now it's back to requiring me to hold the Command, Option, P and R keys when starting up. I also tried to avert the problem by selecting the start up disk in the system preferences, and that didn't help either.
I have two questions:
1. Could this be due to a keyboard issue? The one I was using was a wireless Microsoft one (only thing I could find locally) and after reverting to the old keyboard off of my old iMac, the problem seemed to be solved, but has since returned (the keyboard off of the old iMac isn't reliable either).
2. Is there anyway to fix this without losing everything on my hard drive?
(note: this is running with a G4 processor, not the intel based one).
Thank you
Message was edited by: aroussell

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The alternating finder and question mark during attempted startup is an indicator that the system can't find the MacOS install on the hard drive, or that the hard drive is failing. The fact that when you started up with the Option key down you did not see the internal drive as a startup option also points to that issue.
1. Could this be due to a keyboard issue? The one I was using was a wireless Microsoft one (only thing I could find locally) and after reverting to the old keyboard off of my old iMac, the problem seemed to be solved, but has since returned (the keyboard off of the old iMac isn't reliable either).
No, this isn't a keyboard issue. Keyboards that are faulty or not entirely compatible will simply prevent you from changing the way the system boots, or from properly using the system once it's running. Swapping to the old keyboard is likely only associated with this problem because you also reset the parameter RAM at the same time.
2. Is there anyway to fix this without losing everything on my hard drive?
The problem is that if the hard drive is failing, your data may well be already corrupt, but a good first place to start is to find your original install disk - the one that came with the system - and insert that. Then reboot the system, and hold the C key down to try and get it to boot to the install disk. If that doesn't work, try holding the Option key down again to get to that same boot loader screen you had before, (with the install disk still inserted). That should give you the option to select the install disk and get the system started up from that.
If the boot loader screen still shows no available drive even with the correct install disk in the drive, then chances are that the hard drive has failed, though it may be the optical drive/hard drive stack has come disconnected.
If you can boot to the install disk, open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and see if the internal drive is shown. If it is, select it and then click 'Repair Disk'. That will try and identify any errors and if any are found, will attempt to repair them. If you get errors that it can't fix (typically it will report 'error on exit') then the drive has probably become corrupted and you'll either need a good utility such as Alsoft's Disk Warrior to try and fix it, or perform an Erase and Install to reformat the drive and install MacOS from scratch. This latter option will wipe your data of course, so should not be done unless you don't mind loosing your data, or have tried everything else and have no alternative!

Mac Mini Start Up problem?

I am having a start up problem with my powerpc mac mini which runs on max os x 10.4.11. About a week ago there was one day where it would not power on at all so I waited a day and it turned on again and was fine again. However today, when I connected a new WD hard drive to back-up my files, the computer froze. I assumed that was normal since this has happened every now again, I guess its because it doesn't have a lot of RAM. So i had to turn it off by holding down the power button at the back. I removed the hard drive then turned the mac mini on again but now all I see is a flashing folder which alternates between something that looks like finder and a question mark. Basically the folder looks like this: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-desktops/164988-folder-flashes-question-m ark.html
According to those people, it means that the mac mini doesn't have an operating system installed but that is impossible for me since i've been using this mac mini for 7 years. I've tried starting up in safe mode but that won't work. When I try to start up using the start up menu, I see no hard drive icon to select. All i see in this menu is an arrow that resembles the "undo" arrow in word and an arrow pointing to the right. I haven't tried re-installing the software that came with the mac since that might (or will) erase all my files.
So any ideas on what could be wrong? Has my mac mini given out because it's old? Is there something wrong with the hard drive? Thanks in advance for your answers.

Hello Jay,
The drive is either dead, dying, or having severe problems.
See if Disk Utility sees it at all.
"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 the 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 Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Mac mini start up

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for