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.
Then I turn the installer loose, and reboot into a working 10.6.3 system, ready for the software updates that take the machine to 10.6.8.
So, following the above guidelines, reinstall 10.6.3.

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Mac Mini Won't Sleep after installing 10.4.6

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This is for a Mac that won't sleep.
First, read things in Apple doc.#25801 on sleep settings.
USB devices and hubs often cause Macs to not sleep or wake quickly from sleep (notably HP printers and scanners, HP all in ones, and Cannon scanners). Disconnect all USB except for keyboard and mouse and try. If it sleeps, add one back at a time testing after each one to find the culprit.
If you've set your Mac to recieve faxes, it may not be able to sleep. It might also have a damaged preferences file.
If you use your Mac for faxing, open System Preferences. click Print & Fax, click the Faxing tab, and uncheck the Recieve Faxes On This Computer box.
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"I have had this problem with my IMac G5. It is surprisingly irritating. LaCie's Silverkeeper backup software was the cause. By default it gave itself permission to wake up the computer to check if a backup was needed. Do you have this or a similar program installed which has scheduled activities including wake-up permissions as an option?"
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Welcome to Apple Discussions, though I suspect the circumstances could be better!
It's not unusual for 'bad RAM' to cause a system to fail to boot, but the disturbing feature of your problem is that when the previous memory is reinserted, the system continues to fail. What makes it worse is that you describe the system shutting off after failing to boot - that is not a common symptom of something simple like bad memory, and may mean that in the initial upgrade, something was damaged or dislodged, or not reconnected correctly.
I would open up the system again, and disassemble it sufficiently that you can reseat the original RAM which was working correctly prior to the upgrade, then check that everything is connected correctly internally, and the CPU heatsink is firmly attached. If that doesn't result in the system working, or at least in different symptoms such as being stuck on the grey screen but no longer shutting down, then I would look for an Apple store in the area and make an appointment at the genius bar for them to have a look - that would not bear a cost in the first instance for them to give their opinion.

Mac Pro Won't Start After Installing Security Update Tonight

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Mac Pro tower or MacBook Pro notebook? Which model?
If you are encountering kernel panics, check in the logs as suggested here and post a recent kernel panic log:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2546
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Mac mini won't start up. Grey screen with apple just freezes.

Mac mini won't start up. just get a grey screen with the apple and it freezes. Please help.

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"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 partitirion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

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My New Mac Mini won't start up. I bought it online from J&R a week ago. My monitor says "no input detected" and the power light blinks. I recently fed it the gray mac os x install disk one, which it won't give back. Holding the mouse button when it turns on doesn't have any effect. So now i can't put a disk in or start it up.

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
No video with the power light blinking once per second means either bad or no memory. See this Apple note: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303083 . Specifically, below is from that note:
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I have the same situation.
I think the drive thinks it has a disc to eject or part of the mechanism is stuck and can't return to it's resting position. I was going to disconnect as you tried but now I think I'll try to disassemble the drive to see if there might be some debris jamming things up.
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Safari won't start, after installing X Lion

Safari won't start, after installing X Lion

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 page that opens.
Step 1
Enter the name of the crashed application or process in the Filter text field. Post the messages from the time of the last crash, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out by search-and-replace in a text editor before posting.
Step 2
Still in the Console window, look under User Diagnostic Reports for crash reports related to the process. The report name starts with the name of the crashed process, and ends with ".crash". Select the most recent report and post the contents — again, the text, not a screenshot. In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.) Please don’t post shutdownStall, spin, or hang logs — they're very long and not helpful.

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My mac mini won't start up but it will turn on, staying at the gray apple logo screen and nothing else.
I came home yesterday and it wouldn't 'wake up' from 'sleep' mode so I turned it off and tried to turn it back on. There's a netflix cd in there that I also can't get out. My friend suggested i slip a piece of paper in there and that it will eject, but this isn't working (maybe I'm doing this wrong?)
help! thanks.

I have the same problem. In addition, the same happens when attempting to boot from a DVD. I was able to boot it up in Target Disc Mode, and even erase the internal HD entirely, but I still cannot boot from DVD to reinstall the OS. I have tried the SMC reset, but to no avail. Also, while I can reset the PRAM, I cannot reset the Open Firmware. Any suggestions?

Mac Mini won't start with scheduler after power loss

Hello,
I have a Mac Mini here. It is configured to start at a certain time (say 1:00 AM). In the evening I shut down the Mac Mini and power off the socket where it is connected. In the morning I switch on the power socket and the Mac Mini is not starting.
When I do the same thing with an iMac everything works. The iMac will start because he missed the 1:00 AM.
I checked this with the current Mac Mini MC815D/A: here it works again!
So, what is wrong with my Mac Mini? I have this model:
APPLE #MAC MINI 2.4GHz (MC270LL/A)
Model No: A1347 (EMC 2364)
Model ID: Macmini 4,1
Can this be verified my some other user?
I use the latest firmware, and this behaviour shows up on several OSes (Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion)
Best regards
Matthias

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then move these files to the Desktop.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.AutoWake.plist
(Then Trash the original of these last two, as "moving" them only copies them.)
Then reboot once more.

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 after failed XP installation

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 start up - I have Leopard DVD, what can I do?

Hey friends,
I need some serious help. My brother's intel Mac Mini will not start up - it stays on the progress wheel interminably, until it goes to an error screen - and so I want to fix it using my Leopard install DVD. (FWIW, Tiger is currently installed on the Mac Mini).
What can I do to start the computer up with the DVD? I eventually want to Archive & Install.
Thanks so much for your help!

If it were me ... and if there is more free space on the external hard drive than there is "stuff" on the Mini that needs to be saved ... I would probably connect the Mini to the G5 with a firewire cable, connect the external to the G5, and startup the Mini in Target Disk Mode (which will mount it on the G5's desktop.) Then I'd rescue everything of value from the Mini's hard drive by copying it in small chunks to the external drive.
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(The actual details might vary slightly.)
(I see Nick had the same simultaneous thought -- though he expresses the process more clearly than I.)
Message was edited by: Boece

Boot Camp: Mac Pro won't start after Windows install

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Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I put Vista on its own dedicated drive, 64GB Vista, the rest as FAT32 to make it easier to share files. I had to remove the OS X drives in order to allow Windows/Vista to install. Once installed, had a black screen and some blue crash screen, until I ran the BootCamp driver updates.
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Mac won't start after installing Mountain Lion

After installing Moutian Lion (from 10.6.x) overnight I returned home yesterday evening and wasn't able to start up the mac.
I get the white screen of death and a little spinning wheel and then the mac shuts down.
I tried rebooting in recovery mode and did a "repair disk".....it said that it couldnt repair the disk.
I tried the "reinstall the OS X" option but the two drives it showed me are both locked so I couldnt do that either!
I didnt have time to do anything else.......what do I need to do now? WHat are the next steps? Sledgehammer? Dynamite?
Thank you
HMHB

Thanks Arthur,
Point 1 sounds scary and expensive!
thanks for the link I will try some of these when I get home and will report back.
HMHB

Mac Mini won't start after installing OS X 10.6.3

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