Mac Mini will not restart when told to

Hello everyone, I'm having a bit of trouble with my Mac in terms of restarting. Occasionally, and mostly after it hasn't been turned off in quite some time, I will hit restart from the Apple logo and once clicking the "Yes I do want to restart it" box, nothing happens.
This has happened quite a few times and I will usually get so frusterated that I'll yank the power cord from the back and turn it on from there. I don't know exactly what's causing this problem, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

It's sometimes the case that if a Mac won't sleep or shut down, it's because it is running something that it can't interrupt.
First thing I'd look at is Activity Monitor (in the applications/utilities folder). With this running so you can see all the processes the system is running, try shutting down, and then watching Activity Monitor to see if any process is actively loading the CPU.
Let us know what that shows.

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Mac mini will not restart

My friend has a mac Mini, i think it was the last one with an optical drive.
Anyway, he keeps getting mesages to update his software from Software Update, an when I checked it out sure enough there are over a gigbyte of updates 12 in all waiting to be downloaded and installed.
I went through the process and it said to restart the machine to perform the updates, I clicked restart, but all it did was log off and present me with a log in screen with username and password fields. This happened at least 6 times. In the end I turned the machine off manually, and it restarted normally, but when you ask it to restart from the Apple menu, all it does is log out and go back to a login screen as before.
Any idea why and how do I get the machine to update software?

Try going to Disk Utility and repairing the startup drive.

MAC Mini does not restart after Yosemite update

I bought my MAC mini in 2011 and I successfully updated to Mavericks with no problems. I am not sure why my MAC Mini will not restart after I updated to Yosemite. The completion bar gets stuck around 30%.
Any help or ideas appreciated
Larry

Okay, this is strange. I tried restarting three times yesterday with the same results. In fact I left it go overnight only to find the next morning that the bar was still stuck at 30%. I did a hard boot a little bit ago and waited a few seconds. I restarted an it booted up fine.
Larry

My Mac Mini will not read TDK disks from my iMac G3.

My Mac Mini will not read TDK disks from my iMac G3.
I used an iMac G3 (2001) -- the ones that looked like a big pod -- running on OS X and saved files to TDK CD-R, 700 MB disks, which worked fine. Now that I have a Mac Mini (model number A1347) I cannot get this computer to read those disks, made on the iMac G3. Once inserted each disk will open and I can retrieve files for a short period, then the problems start. The computer makes some noises, the beach-ball/pinwheel goes around and I cannot get the files to open or the disk to eject. After a while the disk does eject -- to my relief. I keep using Control+E until ejection happens.
My Mac Mini (2010-2011) is hooked up to a View Sonic HDMI LED monitor, an iOmega external hard-drive for backing up, an Epson Stylus C88 Plus printer and to the internet by a fibre 10MB feed. The Mac Mini runs on OS X version 10.6.8 Snow Leopard: Processor Speed:2.66 GHz
I took the Mac Mini to an Apple retailer and he hooked the computer up to one of his monitors and it read the TDK disks just fine. I am now using Sony CD-RW, 700 MB disks, but I would prefer to use my TDKs because I have such a large pile of blank ones to use and there are those TDK disks with information that I want to look at from time to time. Can anyone tell me what to do?
DJG

Try disconnecting everything attached to the Mini except the monitor.
If that doesn't work, try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later. If successful, copy the files to the original account Public/Dropbox.
Isolating an issue by using another user account
If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.
Safe Mode - About
Safe Mode

My mac mini will not shut down. I need to manually shut it off with the power button.

My mac mini will not shut down or restart. I need to manually shut it off with the power button.

If you have more than one user account, these instructions must be carried out as an administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Step 1
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes) in the search box. Note the timestamps of those log messages, which refer to the times when the system was booted. Now clear the search box and scroll back in the log to the last boot time after you had the problem. Select the messages logged before the boot, while the system was unresponsive or was failing to shut down. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V). Please include the BOOT_TIME message at the end of the log extract.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.
Step 2
Still in Console, look under System Diagnostic Reports for crash or panic logs, and post the entire contents of the most recent one, if any. In the interest of privacy, I suggest you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if present (it may not be.) Please don’t post any other kind of report — it will be very long and not helpful.

Hello, mac mini will not boot. I get a file symbol with a question mark, then a white screen, Hello, mac mini will not boot. I get a file symbol with a question mark, then a white screen

Hello, My mac mini will not boot. When I turn it on, I get the chime, then the white screen, then the apple symbol, then a file symbol with a question mark, then the white screen and then it stays like that.
Is this a bad hard drive?

Sounds like it. Try booting from your OSX restore DVDs - startup and hold down "C". This will take AGES! Then run Disk Utility from the menu.
The flashing ? means your system is corrupt, dead, not there, on a dying HD, etc...

Mac pro will not restart.

When I try to update software my mac pro will not restart. So the software does not update. What to do? I have tried unpluging all external drives. No luck. The screen just stays in the infinity picture. I have tried waiting 5 minutes. Still no restart.

You are still using 10.6.8, just to confirm, so you don't have Recovery Mode for one thing. But do you have a backup that is bootable? make one now before you do more. And try repairing the drive as well as doing a Safe Boot.
You may need to do a clean install to another drive. Apparently you have another Mac or something to post and get online so you could also use Target Disk Mode to access the system in trouble.
Update with what from what? what other internal drives are there?
Clone
How to clone your system:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
http://www.bombich.com/
Create an OS X Lion Install disc
OS X Lion Install to Different Drive
How to create an OS X Lion installation disc MacFixIt
Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard
http://www.apple.com/support/lion/installrecovery/
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20080989-263/how-to-create-an-os-x-lion-ins tallation-disc
http://www.coolestguyplanettech.com/how-to-make-a-bootable-osx-10-8-mountain-lio n-disc-or-drive-from-the-downloaded-mountain-lion-app/
General Mac maintenance: Tips to keep your Mac in top form
General purpose Mac troubleshooting guide: Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Creating a temporary account to isolate user-specific problems: Isolating an issue by using another user account
To resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance, use Disk Utility.
Safe Mode or "Safe Boot" is a troubleshooting mode that bypasses all third party system extensions and loads only required system components. Read about it: Starting up in Safe Mode

Mac Pro will not restart from dropdown menu

Hi all,
My Mac Pro will not restart from the dropdown menu or when clicking the 'restart computer' when installing software updates. I have an external firewire hard drive hooked up as part of my backup process. It contains a clone of my startup disk.
I have tried disconnecting the firewire drive, rebooting then attempting to restart from the dropdown menu. Still no joy. I always have to end up shutting down manually by holding the power button in and then restarting with the power button.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Dennis

You might try Safe Mode (It will take more time to startup in Safe Mode because it runs a directory check.)
If your Shutdown functions correctly that way, go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items, and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to ~(yourHome)/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving ~(yourHome)/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.
EDIT: Also, if you can launch Activity Monitor in your Utilities folder and see if you can find the process that is still running.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Mac Pro will not restart after installation of Lion. Help!

Mac Pro will not restart after installation of Lion. Help

Reinstalling Lion Without the Installer
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alterhatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

Mac Mini will not connect to Air on bluetooth.

Mac mini will not remain connected to Mac Book Air when pairing with bluetooth. Pairing initially goes as expected providing the code. When pair is pressed the two systems connect for about 1 second and then system states that they are not connected. I am operating 10.9 on the Mac Mini and 10.8.5 on the Air

To my knowledge, you cannot connect two computers using Bluetooth. You can connect them, of course, via a network.
Barry

My new iPad mini will not charge when plugged into adapter. Any suggestions?

my new ipad mini will not charge when plugged into adapter. What should I try?

Does the charger get warm at all? Plug the cable into your computer with iTunes open. Does it say not charging.? If it does, the cable is good. The iPad will charge very slowly when pluged into your computer.
The quickest way (and really the only way) to charge your iPad is with the included 10W or 12W USB Power Adapter. iPad will also charge, although more slowly, when attached to a computer with a high-power USB port (many recent Mac computers) or with an iPhone Power Adapter (5W). When attached to a computer via a standard USB port (2.5W, most PCs or older Mac computers) iPad will charge very slowly (but iPad indicates not charging). Make sure your computer is on while charging iPad via USB. If iPad is connected to a computer that’s turned off or is in sleep or standby mode, the iPad battery will continue to drain.
Apple recommends that once a month you let the iPad fully discharge & then recharge to 100%.
How to Calibrate Your Mac, iPhone, or iPad Battery
http://www.macblend.com/how-to-calibrate-your-mac-iphone-or-ipad-battery/
At this link http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/galaxy-tab-android-tablet,3014-11.html , tests show that the iPad 2 battery (25 watt-hours) will charge to 90% in 3 hours 1 minute. It will charge to 100% in 4 hours 2 minutes. The new iPad has a larger capacity battery (42 watt-hours), so using the 10W charger will obviously take longer. If you are using your iPad while charging, it will take even longer. It's best to turn your new iPad OFF and charge over night. Also look at The iPad's charging challenge explained http://www.macworld.com/article/1150356/ipadcharging.html
Also, if you have a 3rd generation iPad, look at
Apple: iPad Battery Nothing to Get Charged Up About
http://allthingsd.com/20120327/apple-ipad-battery-nothing-to-get-charged-up-abou t/
Apple Explains New iPad's Continued Charging Beyond 100% Battery Level
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/03/27/apple-explains-new-ipads-continued-charging- beyond-100-battery-level/
New iPad Takes Much Longer to Charge Than iPad 2
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2012/03/new-ipad-takes-much-longer-to-charge-than-ipa d-2.html
Apple Batteries - iPad http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipad.html
Extend iPad Battery Life (Look at pjl123 comment)
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3921324?tstart=30
New iPad Slow to Recharge, Barely Charges During Use
http://www.pcworld.com/article/252326/new_ipad_slow_to_recharge_barely_charges_d uring_use.html
Tips About Charging for New iPad 3
http://goodscool-electronics.blogspot.com/2012/04/tips-about-charging-for-new-ip ad-3.html
How to Save and Prolong the battery life of your new ipad
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4480944?tstart=0
Prolong battery lifespan for iPad / iPad 2 / iPad 3: charging tips
http://thehowto.wikidot.com/prolong-battery-lifespan-for-ipad
iPhone, iPod, Using the iPad Charger
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4327
Install and use Battery Doctor HD
http://itunes.apple.com/tw/app/battery-doctor-hd/id459702901?mt=8
To Extend a Device’s Battery Life, Get to Know It Better
http://tinyurl.com/b67c7xz
iPad Battery Replacement
http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html
In rare instances when using the Camera Connection Kit, you may notice that iPad does not charge after using the Camera Connection Kit. Disconnecting and reconnecting the iPad from the charger will resolve this issue.
 Cheers, Tom

Mac mini will not complete shutdown-closes desktop, goes to blue screen, and spinning icon just spins forever, so must power off to reboot.

Recently, My Mac-mini will not complete the "shutdown" or "restart" routine; it closes the desktop screen, goes to the light blue screen, but then the spinning indicator (not the "wheel of death") just keeps spinning forever with no shutdown (I've let it spin for >2 hrs.). Have run disk/permissions verifications and repairs from applejack, disk utility, Mactuneup.app & all report ok. Any suggestions, please?
Doug

Have you tried with
Control Option-Command-Eject

My mac mini will not let me log in. it says i can change my login info with my apple id. no good! help desk stumped! Help!

my new Mac Mini will not let me log in. I shut it down while away on vacation and now it will not accept my password. I tried to log in with my apple ID and it still would not accept it. I stumped the apple help desk. Help!

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My ipad mini does not restart when i press and hold the home and power buttons for a minute or more. what do i do? i really need to access some information on it. please help.

my ipad mini does not restart when i press and hold the home and power buttons for a minute or more. what do i do? i really need to access some information on it. please help.

You need to connect to iTunes and restore.
iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
You may need to put the device into recovery mode, this is covered in the link on this page.
Did you back up the device?

My mac mini will not shutdown with either Mavericks or Yosemite (following a clean install)

First noted while running Mavericks, my Mac-Mini will not shutdown. It just hangs on a black screen with the little icon. I created a clean user account and the problem went away. Rather than do a fresh install of Mavericks, I waited until Yosemite came out. I reformatted the drive and did a fresh Yosemite install. I then restored my apps and data only to find the problem is still present. I've also tried stopping many of the applications I would normally expect might cause the problem with no luck. And I tried the one Yosemite suggestion regarding deleting the Library/Caches folder content with no luck.
My naive question: following the fresh install of Mavericks, should I have done a re-install of my (very many) applications instead of a restore from an image?
I've tried looking at the system logs after I've forced a shutdown with the power button but there's nothing I could find that shows any problems.
Any other suggestions of things to try would be appreciated.

Hi,
Thanks.
It is running 10.5.8.
I am trying to boot up an external drive with 10.5.8 on it. It works on my Macbook Pro which is running 10.5.8, runs on my IMAC running SL. But doesnt work on the mac mini?
It had been running SL, however there are a number of programs I have like Windows Live Sync which are not yet compatable with SL so i downgraded to 10.5.6 which came with the Mac Mini then loaded all updates.
It seems to just go into an auto reboot as soon as i click on it.
i thought it might be the firmware? Is it possible to downgrade them and then re-install?
I have reset the PRAM.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Mac Mini will not restart when told to

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