Mac Mini won't boot with install disk

tried booting with install disc in and pushing "c" on keyboard and doesn't work. Using a apple wireless keyboard. Also used the keyboard that came with Mac Pro but didn't work nor did a wired logitech.
any ideas?
Thanks!

+What is the source of the idea that the mac aluminum keyboard won't work with the mini?+
Dozens of reports in this forum over the past year.
Keep in mind that by "not working" what was meant was that the startup keys wouldn't work. The Alu keyboard otherwise works fine with the Mini.
It has also been reported that the Alu Keyboard does work for startup keys if it is plugged into a hub with an external power supply.

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Mac mini won't boot into target disk mode

Hi
I just bought a Mac mini on eBay. I'm not sure of the spec but I think its a G4.
When it arrived I plugged it in and switched on to find the question mark folder appear.
I put in a 10.5 disk but it would not boot from it. [this was a disk I got with another s/h machine though so may not be bootable]
As I could not install from the disk I figured my best bet would be to target disk in and install osx from a powerbook I have here.
However I can't get target disk to work.
The keyboard is definitely working as it allows me to boot into OF and zap the PRAM
I've also tried pressing what I believe to be the SMU button just behind the connector board to the HD and DVD drive but no luck.
Anybody got any ideas as to whats going on?
Cheers

Ok, I can probably get a copy of OSX
The problem is I think the DVD drive is faulty as it wouldn't give me my disk back I tried "eject cd" in OF but it didn't work and I had to open it up with a screw driver and take it out.
If the disk is corrupted is there a way to erase it without putting it in another machine. ie can it be done from OF?
Thanks for your help btw

Mac Mini Won't Boot with VGA Monitor Connected

I have a new Mac Mini connected to an older VGA monitor using the Apple brand VGA adapter. The mini is fully up to date and runs perfectly when booted. However, if I reboot the mini with the VGA monitor connected, it fails to boot. I just hear the faint chime sound every other second. There is no output to the monitor and the only way I can get it to boot is to disconnect the monitor and then power cycle the mini. I can reconnect the monitor just seconds after powering back on and it finishes booting properly.
Anyone else experience this? It is very frustrating. I've also tested with an HDMI connected monitor (without the VGA adapter) and it boots just fine and the display works properly.
Thanks!

Okay, I'm back with good news: I have found two remedies for the problem which will hopefully solve it for you as well.
Given that the issue only occurs when certain monitors are connected, I concluded that the root of it must be a bug in the Mac's firmware related to DDC (Display Data Channel) handling, and that the most promising way to address it should be to just disable the DDC.
Workaround #1: If your monitor has BNC connectors, use a VGA to BNC cable.
In this configuration the DDC pins are not connected to the monitor at all. This did indeed fix the problem - my Mac mini booted without a problem with the monitor connected. However, I was not completely satisfied with this solution, because VGA to BNC cables are usually quite heavy and inflexible, and do no go together well with Apple's MDP to VGA adapter and the Mini Displayport/Thunderbolt port which has no locking mechanism.
Workaround #2: Remove pin 12 of the VGA plug.
Pin 12 of the VGA plug connects the serial data line of the DDC. Pulling out this pin with a pair of needle nose pliers will effectively disable DDC. I hesitated to do this to my cable (a direct MDP to VGA cable which eliminates the need for a separate adapter dangling from the Mac) and therefore bought a tiny VGA male to female adapter (also called port saver, e.g. Delock 65250) to perform the surgery on that. This has done the trick and my Mac mini has started up fine ever since.
Of course, without DDC the Mac won't know the model name and capabilities of the attached monitor and thus offer some resolution and frequency settings which the monitor may not support, but that's a small drawback compared to having to pull out the monitor cable everytime you turn on or restart your Mac.

Mac Mini won't Boot after Target Disk Mode

We just bought a new iMac and used target disk mode via firewire from our older Mac Mini running OSX 10.4 to transfer data. Now when we go to restart the mini, the grey screen appears with apple logo and it seems to try to boot up but after a long time alway just ends up with a blue screen. I don't think I "ejected" the mini properly from the imac after the target disk mode transfer. Could the mini be stuck in target disk mode? I've tried to restart in different modes eg. safe mode, pram by holding down keys on start up but doesnt make a difference at all almost as if the keyboard isn't registering (and its a wired keyboard). Any ideas???
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Try starting up from the Recovery Partition holding the Option (Alt) key and see if you can Repair your Macintosh HD, as per > OS X: About OS X Recovery

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My Mac mini won't boot anymore. It's been running fine for months.
It's running Leopard Server 10.5.2 Build 9C31
It starts to boot, I get the first spinning gear with the gray screen, then the blue desktop blinks, then a second spinning gear on a gray screen and it appears to hang (the gear stops spinning).
I booted off the install DVD, ran disk utility, repaired the HD, repaired the permissions: the behavior is the same.
Safe mode doesn't work (same hang as above).
Single user mode does work.
I can connect to it via Server Admin while it appears hung.
The last few lines of the system log are:
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: uid = 0 gid = 0
May 15 18:38:58 server emond[67]: SetUpLogs: opening /Library/Logs/EventMonitor/EventMonitor.error.log
May 15 18:38:59 server kextd[23]: writing kernel link data to /var/run/mach.sym
May 15 18:39:09 server KernelEventAgent[59]: tid 00000000 received unknown event (12)
May 15 18:39:20 server kernel[0]: display: Not usable
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[126]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:20 server com.apple.ATSServer[125]: FODBCheck: New annex file created
May 15 18:39:21 server ARDAgent [130]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:21 server com.apple.KerberosAutoConfig[132]: Kerberos configuration is up to date
May 15 18:39:22 server ARDAgent [130]: call logout from LoginLogoutProxyCallBackFunction
May 15 18:39:22 server com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.RemoteDesktop.agent): Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds
May 15 18:39:24 server loginwindow[58]: Login Window Started Security Agent
May 15 18:39:29 server servermgrd[53]: servermgr_calendar: created default calendar virtual host
May 15 18:39:31 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Launched******
May 15 18:39:32 server ARDAgent [146]: ******ARDAgent Ready******
May 15 18:39:33 server mdworker[109]: (Error) SyncInfo: Boot-cache avoidance timed out!
May 15 18:39:54 server Python[47]: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil
May 15 18:39:54 server com.apple.wikid[47]: Thu May 15 18:39:54 server.jeff.carpenter.name Python[47] <Error>: CGImageSourceCreateWithData data parameter is nil\n
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 1440, packet status bits: MII error
May 15 18:39:56 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000001 sk98osx sky2 - - sk98osx_sky2::replaceOrCopyPacket tried N times
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May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /dev/autofs_nowait 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:49:54 server kernel[0]: serialnumberd 194 FSREADDATA SBF /usr/sbin 13 (seatbelt)
May 15 18:55:12 server kernel[0]: AppleYukon2 - bad packet received. length: 23, packet status bits: MII error
Any ideas?

Yes, it's been running Server since I purchased it.
I doubt the serial number is in use elsewhere: I purchased the 10-user version at a retail store in a sealed package and I've only installed it once.

Mac Mini won't start after installing OS X 10.6.3

My Mac Mini won't start after installing Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3. When I turn it on, the Apple logo appears and the initialization line starts to fill, but it suddenly stops. It does that again and stops at the same point, but this time it shuts down. What should I do?

If you are coming from 10.5.8, hopefully you backed up your important data first. Your mini will need at minimum, 1 GB of RAM to install Snow Leopard and at least 5 GB of storage remaining on your boot drive.
I treat 10.6.3 as a fresh, full install over a 10.5.8 system. That means I choose Disk Utility from the Installer's menu and repartition the boot drive as a single partition, Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) format, and use the GUID partition scheme from the options button. At this point, while still in Disk Utility, I would verify the drive under First Aid.
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Recently upgrade HD to 320GB 7200 rpm and 3GB ram. Running 10.5.8 fine.
I tried to install Windows XP through Boot Camp, but wasn't successful, I terminated the installation. Then Mac Mini won't boot up. When powered on, you heard the chime, then grey screen showed and stayed. Tried starting with "C" (boot from CD), "OPT" (boot option), "T" (target), and reset PRAM. None of them worked.
What should I try next?
Thanks
Message was edited by: Yijian Cao

If you install XP on Bootcamp, your startup disc will be changed to XP Windows partitioned you did. To restore your startup disc back to Mac OS, make sure your Mac is turned off. 1. Plug the power back and press the power button ON. When you hear the power On sound, press and hold the ALT key on your keyboard until you see the hardrives. 2. Select the HD that says MAc OS, then your mac will boot back to Mac OS.
Let me know if you have more problems, maybe I can help.
Abel

Mac Mini won't boot up.

Mac Mini won't boot up! Just getting blank white screen, any ideas why? No apple, just a blank screen. It worked fine last night.

Have you tried booting into the Recovery HD by pressing/holding COMMAND+R at system start or the Option/Alt key and choosing Recovery HD to boot into?
If you can get into the Recovery HD, open Disk Utilities and Verify Disk. Repair if necessary.

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Got an ibook g4 1.33 ghz combo drive from original owner w/install disks. I want to reinstall original system but it won't boot from install disk 1. Tried starting holding down c but ignores disk. Holding down option just gives me the HD. Install disk shows up on desktop and opens. Tried disk utility from install disk but it doesn't allow me to erase the hd. Is there anything else I can do? Thanks.

OK, so let us suppose that you have the correct disk, the possibilities are:
• the optical drive is not functioning properly. However, since the disk shows up on the desktop the drive is apparently reading it.
• the disk itself is the issue. It could the wrong disk, but let us assume it is not. It could be damaged so that it is no longer bootable, or it could dirty. I would begin by giving the disk a good buffing and see if that will encourage it to boot the computer.
Good luck.
cornelius

Power Mac G5 won't boot with Lion?

After installing Lion, my early Intel 2010 Power Mac G5 won't boot. There were no problems for the first 2 days. The third day my G5 wouldn't boot at all. Not using Lion's recovery function, many attempts to boot from a previous system disk, and firewire target mode. The keyboard seems to be dead after attempting to boot except for the DVD eject key. All I get is a grey screen with an icon of a folder with a question mark within the folder. This icon blinks on and off continuously. Since the keyboard isn't working, I can't reset the PRAM, start in safe mode, or any other keyboard commands. The failed boot doesn't even get far enough for the Apple window to open. I replaced the hard drive and accomplished nothing except for spending even more money and time.
This is VERY frustrating! Has anyone else had a similar problem with booting after Lion't installation??
Thanks.

1) you have a Mac pro Early 2009, remember this. It avoids confusion here in forum
2) you're HDD's OS cannot be found by the firmware of the Mac hence it results to a question mark
perform the following(recommended to use a USB keyboard)
a) startup manager
press and hold option on startup. Do u see your HDD?
b) if you have a back up of your data then you can boot to the install disk and perform an erase and install
repairing the permission will not work since the disc's OS is different from the HDD's OS.

Mac mini won't boot after RAM upgrade.

Tried installing new RAM in my Mac Mini, 512MB stock to 2GB of Crucial. Followed the directions to a T, grounded myself the whole time.
Things I've tried so far:
1. Resetting the PRAM, no luck.
2. Holding option at start-up, shows no icon.
3. Holding shift, no luck.
4. Holding X, nothing.
How do I get it to accept a CD if it won't boot?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
You clearly have a problem, but you don't describe exactly what that is other than that your mini won't boot after the upgrade. What happens when it starts up? Does it attempt to start and hang up on the grey or blue screens, or does it start beeping at you almost immediately after you try and start it up, and also flash the power light?
If the former, then you may have dislodged a connector while working inside the system, in which case opening it up and checking that everything is firmly connected would be the first thing to do. If the latter, then the beeping/light flashing is the system telling you it has failed the power-on self test and the pattern of beeps/lights indicates why. In your case likely the system can't find workable memory. In that instance, opening the system and ensuring that the RAM is firmly and fully seated would be a good step, and if the mini continues to fail, then replacing the new RAM with the original to test that the system will then start.
It is not likely that anything had damaged your MacOS install in the process of upgrading, thus normally no reason to need to boot to CD as a result of a RAM issue.

Mac mini won't boot - hardware test error

my mac mini isn't booting... stuck on the grey apple screen with spinning circle.
have ran the hardware test on the OSX DVD and i get the following error
**ERROR*CODE***ERROR*CODE**
2STF/8/3: ATA-100 ata-6 - Master
**ERROR*CODE***ERROR*CODE**
i assume this means that the HDD is knackered ?

The variable reports on the hard drive are not entirely unusual with a drive that has problems, but it's not a good sign in general that you are having issues with booting to the install disk. That has potential to reflect a controller error that could be minor in nature and even be as simple as a poor connection on the drive carrier which has both drives mounted to it.
Try booting to the OS installer again. If you can get past the language selection screen it means OSX (the very basic version on the installer) has loaded, and that's a good sign. There's no reason from that point that the Utilities menu wouldn't pull down as normal and disk utility run from there. If you can get that far, see if the internal drive is visible on the left of the disk utility app, and if so, select it (there may be two entries for it, either will do) then click the repair disk button.

Mac Mini Won't Boot or Internet Restore - Hard Drive Boots on Macbook

Late 2012 Mac Mini. I cloned my 10.10.2 installation of Yosemite over from my Macbook pro 6,2 to a 1TB Samsung 840 SSD. It booted with no issues besides the keychain being lost and all passwords having to be re-entered.
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I pulled the SSD out of the Mac Mini and alt booted in from my Macbook 6,2. No issues (except the keychain thing again( and it loaded quickly. Nothing seemed to be wrong.
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Any ideas?

Fix The Bugs Please wrote:
It is unlikely to be a hardware failure as the Mac Mini was made in May 2014 and I bought factory refurbished. It seems to be an issue relating to the SSD as it boots other drives.
Any ideas?
Is this SSD an additional drive added to your Mac Mini or did you replace the HDD with it? If it's an additional drive and since it's a Samsung, depending where you purchased your drive doubler kit (iFixit or OWC) you can try swapping the drives in the bays. I know for a fact that Samsung SSDs do not work right with the iFixit drive doubler kit's SATA cable. But it does work correctly with the Apple supplied SATA cable. If it's the OWC SATA cable, I know for a fact those are much more reliable with Samsung, OWC, Intel, Crucial SSDs. Another thing, I would NOT enable TRIM (my opinion) using a 3rd party trim enabler if you're running Yosemite. There are issues with trim enablers and Yosemite. Just let the built-in Garbage Collection take care of things.
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EMac - won't boot to install disk

I've got a G4 eMac (512Mb, Jaguar) that randomly freezes. These freezes do not occur in Safe mode. So I'm trying to reformat the HD and clean reinstall the OS. However, I cannot get it to boot to the original install disk. Any ideas?
Here's what I've tried:
*TechTools Plus shows no hardware issues; all tests pass.
*Hard drive is verified.
*Repaired permissions (ran 4x).
*I've zapped PRAM (3x)
*I've entered "set-defaults" and "reset all" in Open Firmware command line interface.
*CD in the drive will mount. I can browse files on the CD.
*I've tested the CD in another eMac and it will boot the computer. I actually have another eMac with install disks and they will not boot this problem eMac either.
*When I launch the OS install program and press the "Restart" button, the computer restarts but winds up booting from the HD (I can first hear the CD read head accessing the CD).
*When I hold down the Alt/Opt key on start up, it will not list the install CD as a boot option.
*When I press the "C" on start up, it still boots from the HD.
Shall I say, "Arrggh"?
Any help appreciated.

Interesting results. I was able to clean install the OS from another computer to the flaky eMac using the target mode as you described. From the other computer, I can even boot from the flaky eMac hard drive in target mode (start flaky eMac in target mode, start the other Mac while holding the Alt key and select the flaky eMac hard disk as boot option from the two listed.)
But I still cannot directly boot the flaky eMac (and Safe mode doesn't boot now).
I have repeated the following after OS install.
*reset PRAM
*entered "set-defaults" and "reset-all" in Open Firmware command line interface.
Am I running up against a hardware problem?

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I just reinstalled 10.6.3 on a unibody Mac Mini, updated to 10.6.6 - and it booted fine. I ran another software update, and it suggested two more updates - which I believe was an Airport Utility update and a Java update. Now the Mac Mini fails to boot, stopping at the Apple logo.
The last lines of verbose startup goes like this:
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Aut result for: (MAC address) succeded
AirPort: Link Up on en1
AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1
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I experienced a similar problem today after a recent upgrade to 10.6.6. I ran Tech Tool Pro 5 on the machine, which reported everything as just dandy after about 6 hours of testing, but it still wouldn't boot. Next, I tried booting in Verbose mode, which revealed that my iMac was hanging on:
AppleBCM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?
I used Safe Single User mode (turn on power, then immediately press and hold Shift-Command-S until text starts appearing) to boot to a command line. Single User mode provides instructions on how to mount the file system read/write. I executed the `fsck` command as instructed, and after a few minutes it reported that it had made changes to the file system. At that point, I skipped the `mount` command and went directly to `exit` to continue the boot process, which completed. I turned AirPort back on (I had it turned off), then rebooted normally without any trouble.

Mac Mini won't boot with install disk

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