Major HD Failure on 1.66 Mini

Upon Startup a week ago I got the Question Mark folder. I first tried to boot from the Tech Tool Deluxe disk that comes with Apple care....no go. The I booted from install disk 1, and though it showed the HD in the list of volumes in Disk Utility, it was unmounted, and would fail on each command. I have no idea what anyone means about hardware test, Ive never seen it. I should say I dont hold down c to boot, I start the mac, and when the ? folder comes up, I insert the install 1 disk. I wasnt able to get C to boot it. anyway both verify and repair gave me a ton of red messages which Apple told me was a D3 error Directory damage and suggested Disk warrior. It wont boot from Disk Warrior, but Disk Warrior can see it from another mac in target disk mode. It seems the initial directory is so damaged, Disk Warrior coukd not repair it, but it may be possible to migrate some files to an external HD, which will be occuring tomorrow. My question is this...is the drive dead? It wont respond to any commands from the Install disks, including erase since it wont mount...this is an important point as I have AppleCare which wont cover software, but will cover the HD. I am disabled and cannot afford extensive software repair, and aside from Warrior, Disk Utility and Tech Tool I dont know what else can help. In my Apple history....since Apple II, Ive never encountered something I couldnt fix...this is so maddening, can anyone help?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
One of two things has happened to your hard drive - either there is directory damage due to something relatively innocuous such as the system attempting to write to the drive when power was disconnected, or the drive has developed hardware problems. In the case of the former, the drive is likely recoverable, while in the second, likely not and would need replacing.
Since you can access the drive from another system using FW target disk mode, I would take the opportunity to recover any and all files you can - not applications etc, just documents and personal data you want to try and keep. Bear in mind doing this that if the directory is damaged, your data may actually be garbled anyway, so even if you can see file names, the files themselves may not contain all the data they should.
Assuming you've recovered everything possible, either the mini's hard drive is sufficiently damaged that it would be best to reformat it, or it has failed, meaning it requires replacement. To see which, boot the system, and when you see the flashing '?', insert the install disk. When the system has booted to that, select the option to 'Erase and Install', which will attempt to reformat the drive and install a fresh new copy of MacOS (basically returning the system to the new out-of-the-box condition). If this works, then the drive is likely OK, and you should test the system out for a while to see if it continues to behave, then slowly begin to reinstall software. If the erase and install fails, then in all probability you have a hardware failure for which AppleCare should provide a resolution.

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Premiere Elements 9 PC: Major Importer Failure

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b. System Restore (as well as a restore of an earlier version of the installed Premiere Elements 9.
c. Removal of possible interferring program, such as, Nero InCD.
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f. Have looked at permissions, running as Administrator, etc.
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If anyone has the time, I would appreciate any comments on a troubleshooting avenue that I may have overlooked. This appears to be another Deja Vu all over again. I hope not.
Thanks.
ATR

Neale
Thank you for your interest in this issue.
I still have not pin pointed why my Premiere Elements 9 works great EXCEPT it will not import media into the Organize with Get Media/Files and Folders and attempts to do that drive the program into unresponsiveness and extreme difficult closure, even with the Task Manager.
Yes, I have already looked at the workaround that you suggested for moving forward in my Premiere Elements 9 PC project, that is, entering all my source media into the Elements Organizer (can do from Photoshop Elements side) so that the source media thumbnail will be in the Premiere Elements Organize "ahead of time", and I will not have to depend upon Get Media/Files and Folders to get that job done.
But, until I hit the key to this, I think I have an almost perfect better way. My computer is now Windows 7 Professional 64 bit that comes with the Windows XP Mode. Essentially what you have in this mode is a virtual Windows XP Professional SP3 32 bit machine (best I can determine, Microsoft Generic Card). I can install Premiere Elements 9 (same serial number as on the Windows 7), and IT WORKS, no problem with the Get Media/Files and Folders. The one glitch in this perfect solution is setting up to burn to DVD. The Windows 7 Windows XP Mode Virtual Machine will not recognize installed internal DVD/CD drives when you go to write a DVD. The explanation is that the optical drive in XP Mode is a virtual device - read only. I have confirmed this. In order to use Premiere Elements 9 PC burn to disc in this Windows XP Mode , my answer here appears to be plugging in an external DVD burner USB and then using the USB Attach of the Windows XP Mode.
When Premiere Elements 9 PC was released, I was forced into much troubleshooting of the display issues which are very widely documented here. But then I was using "a real" Windows XP Professional SP3 32 bit" with a NVIDIA card. In the trial version, the BadDrivers.txt and VideoRenderer.dll got me through that episode. For me, the purchased version "essentially" was not afflicted with these same problems, and it has been running great. Now when I go to a new computer system for better performance/greater computer resources (by the way, Intel HD Graphics card), Premiere Elements 9 runs great for two weeks and then this no Get Media/Files and Folders matter sets in accompanied by program going completely knocked out by the event. In all of this, old or new, I have Premiere Elements 7, 8, and 9 installed on the same computer. While Premiere Elements 9 is being hit with these issues, Premiere Elements 7 and 8 are not , same computer environment, same source media, same project preset, et al. For me, the Premiere Elements 9.0.1 has not hit the mark.
I have done extensive troubleshooting of the this current matter, too long and involved to go into now. I am preparing a full detailed description of the issue and the troubleshooting that went into the search for a fix. I will be posting it at the forum that I frequent. When I post it there, I will supply a link to it for whomever is interested. I have filed a bug report with Adobe on this matter in abridged format as per the space provided in its bug report online form.
Thanks again for posting.
ATR

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<Edited By Host>

Driver installation failure on 2009 Mac Mini

After successfully installing Windows XP SP2 on my new 2009 Mac Mini (2 GB RAM, 360GB HD model) I am unable to install the drivers off of the Leopard disk. I insert the disk while in Windows, the driver installation begins, gets to the Broadcom driver and then reboots. Multiple attempts to install the drivers results in the same problem.
I may have a CD with the drivers from Boot Camp Beta, so I may try to install the drivers from there, but I have doubts they will work.
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Well, I solved my own problem. Turns out that when the instructions say to install the drivers by booting into Windows and inserting your Leopard disc, what they really mean is to insert the Installation/Boot disc that came with the computer. A disc that coincidentally does not actually have the word "Leopard" on it at all. I was instead using the Leopard OS disc that came with my purchase of the Leopard OS.
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Major system failure--crashed and could not reboot

At about 1 am (it's 3 something now) this morning I told my computer to print a simple, one page document. I received an error message, and after a few more tries my MacBook Pro froze, and the CommandOptionEscape combination was having no effect. So, I did what I did not want to do, I held down the power button and forced my computer to shut down. After waiting a few seconds and pushing the button the start-up chime sounded, and the Apple logo appeared on the screen. Everything was fine so far. Before getting to the small circle thing that normally appears below the Apple logo, the screen changed to a black screen with white font, which looked somewhat like DOS. This message was displayed:
/etc/master.passwd: No such file or directory
-Sh-2.05b# CSRHID TransitionDriver::stop
IOBluetoothHCIController::start IdleTimerStopped
I believe that I have all of the spacing correct, but I am not positive. Also, I can no longer tell wether the "-Sh-2.05b" was really "-5h-2.05b".
I tried to enter the few commands that I knew in this form, such as "macboot", but as I suspected it was futile. I attempted to reset the PRAM by forcing it to shut down, and restarting and holding down CommandOption+PR, but that did not make any noticeable changes. I tried again by forcing it off and holding down Option while restarting, and I got the black screen with white font again.
I was able to reinstall Mac OS X version 10.4.5 from the installation DVDs that came with my MacBook Pro. (I am currently running 10.4.5, but I had 10.4.6 in the previous system.) I was able to "archive" the previous OS which I booted from by selecting that option. I can luckily access these files (and have placed the most important safely on my flash drive).
I have not tried to restart or shut down since. Please respond as soon as you can. For now I can live off of this, and by setting up the Mail app and the bare necessities. I have Internet access to by AirPort.
By the way, I have never used Bluetooth devices with this (or any) computer, I have never tried to use Boot Camp to partition my hard drive to run Windows. I did not open my System Folder and tamper with it. I do not know what caused this system failure.
Thank you.
EDIT: I now have all of my email. And I discovered that my apps are in the new Applications folder. Some just need to be reconfigured.
Message was edited by: macbookdemon

Thanks. It makes sense, since everything froze and when I forced the computer to shut down unsaved files, and some saved ones could be corrupted. I'm glad that Apple had the insight to have the option of reinstalling the OS and archiving all the old system files on the HD. All I had to do was drop the folders, ie. Desktop, Pictures, Movies, Documents, etc, onto my new desktop and drop the files into the corresponding places in my home folder. I did have to reset the minor things, such as configure iChat, Mail and a few others (the most annoying would be that I lost all of my saved passwords, and it took several tries to remember some of them because with Firefox and Safari I save them all). There really is no longer any evidence that I ever had this problem anymore.
And I'm back in control!

Major MBP Failures

This is the string of what is going on.
I have pretty much EVERY application crashing on me as it opens or some time during the time I have it open. Firefox and Mac Mail seem to stay open the longest, which is how I have gotten around having to spend some serious time dealing with it as this is my primary use of the system on site.
When I went to run repair permissions in Disk Utility it wouldn't even begin but crash. Repair disk, also in Disk Utility, same issue. I then tried to use Tech Tool Pro to rectify the failures, but it crashes on opening.
I have also been having daily Kernel panics/ system crashing occur. Or, I will walk away from my MBP when it is not plugged in, having 30-40% battery. I return a few minutes later to find it, not asleep but off. When turned on while plugged in it shows 30-40% juice.
I did a reboot with the install disk and WAS able to do a repair permission, then tried a repair disk and it failed.
This is when I called Applecare, it was suggested there that I do an Archive and install, and if that did not help a full wipe and reload.
I attempted the Archive and install and it did not work, it failed right in the beginning, twice.
One last attempt to work with the machine, and bide my time was to restart and trash all of the files in my permissions folder, all of the .plist files (another suggestion from the apple care guy). This morning the apps are still crashing in a big way.
It is now time for a wipe and reload.

A few chief crash & kernel panic causes on MBP's:
1) RAM - they are very sensitive to RAM, especially mixed capacities, less know brands etc.; try removing the second stick if there is one
2) Airport - faulty airport cards cause kernel panics, but it doesn't seem like that's the case with you
3) Battery - faulty batteries cause unexpected shutdowns
Maybe it's a mix of all this that's causing your problems. In any case, i think it would be best to bring your machine in for service - doesn't look like a software failure, especially if it shuts down by itself.

Emergency !! Major Power Failure - Publisher / Subscriber& Connection wont start...

We have had a major outage, after power restored Publisher services wont start.
In addition Unity connection has a corrupt database and another subscriber is screwed.
However - first things first - I desperately need to get my publisher live.
I have restarted it many times now -
The GUI doesnt work and at the command line when I type
utils services list -
they are all in [STARTING] -
Uptime is now 2 hours.
Any ideas ?? Hopefully someone is working on a saturday !

Thanks for all the feedback -
I contacted TAC and raised a P1. We lost one publisher and one subscriber - we only had one working subscriber
we went down the road of SUB to PUB recovery.
At the end I downloaded the missing COP files and we were good to go.
The only 'gotcha' seems to be dial-plans - there were causing me a little heart ache and needed to be re-installed. Also MoH - but I didnt have much of that to begin with.
Apparently the underling Linux OS doesn't like sudden power downs !

Major Aperture failures...again.

After using Aperture for the last six months and mistakenly putting my faith in it, it appears that I have now lost my entire library of almost 280,000 images.
The backup vaults (4 of them) are all failing when attempting to restore the library. They crash the computer (G5 Dual Core) with no errors, just a freeze and then the fans rev up.
The computer has been back to Apple three times in six months and they refuse to do anything to resolve the issue after failing to replicate the crashing at the apple store. Of course, their idea of testing is to fire up a fractal generator and let it run and see if it crashes. Today, I have had 24 crashes in 5.5 hours just working in Aperture, or should I say, just trying to recover my images.
If I had only backed up to one vault, I could understand it but all FOUR of my vaults are failing to recover the images. I am a full time working photographer and this mistake of a system is on the verge of putting me out of business.
The really sad part about this is that I have a three year old PC running XP that I use for accounting that NEVER crashes!
I'm ready to take this G5 out back, load up some 00 in the 12 gauge and put it out of it's misery. After spending twenty years as a dedicated Mac user, I am through with it. I am ready to buy a PC and a copy of Lightroom and get some work done.
And what is this I hear about apple firing the entire Aperture development group? Is this true? If so, Apple needs to go public and warn people to stop using this software until it gets past beta stage. Apple is starting to follow in the footsteps of SGI, and we know where they are going.
I am open to any suggestions.

This may sound silly, but I have to ask and suggest
it, as it has been documented and it also affected my
system.
I have a G5 dual core. When I first received the
machine, it was crashing all the time and the fans
rev'd up exactly the same as you described. The
machine was seriously flawed and I also was ready to
send it back to Apple, until........
I read that there is/was a problem with the energy
saver portion of OS X and the G5. Once I turned off
the energy saver options in OS X and did all the
usual zapping and rebuilding of stuff, my machine has
run flawlessly.
I hope that this is the case in your situation, as it
is easy to fix.
Should this fail, I would simply take the entire
machine back and demand a replacement. Don't leave
the store without one. If necessary, demonstrate the
crashing for Apple. Video tape it, do it in person,
show a log file from the computer, do whatever you
need to do.
Thanks for the info on the energy saver...I'll try that and see what happens.
As for Apple and their response to my claims of a bad computer...they refuse to do anything unless they can replicate the problem in the store. The flaw in their testing is that they load a fractal generator, launch it and walk away. If it doesn't crash, there isn't a problem. They do not put the computer under any real world testing.
I brought up the video taping idea and they just kind of laughed. I asked if they reviewed the logfiles and they said that they wouldn't be able to tell anything from a logfile. Sure glad the computer is generating a logfile since it's so useful.
Here's my crash log for the last three + weeks...tell me that there isn't a problem with this computer.
Date Time Details
5-Jul 11:21AM Photoshop Action
5-Jul 1-40PM Firefox browsing while iTunes playing
5-Jul 5:07PM Yahoo IM/Firefox
6-Jul 12:05PM Photoshop - text layers edit - lost all work
6-Jul 1:47PM Aperture - Emailing Images
7-Jul 4:20PM Firefox - clicked back button
7-Jul 4:30PM Firefox - IDLE
8-Jul 3:09AM IDLE
8-Jul 10:45AM Crashed on Startup
8-Jul 10:47AM Crashed on Startup
9-Jul 6:50PM Crashed launching Aperture
10-Jul 3:45PM INSTALLED NEW HARD DRIVE & Installed OSX
10-Jul 3:50PM Crashed during OS install
10-Jul 3:55PM Crashed at "Wilkommen" screen
10-Jul 3:57PM Crashed at "Wilkommen" screen
10-Jul 4:02PM Crashed at "Chinese" screen
10-Jul 4:06PM Crashed at "Chinese" screen
10-Jul Second OSX Re-Install
10-Jul 4:54PM Crashed at "Valkommen" screen
10-Jul 5:35PM Crashed at "Select your keyboard"
10-Jul 6:15PM Crash launching Safari
10-Jul 6:22PM Crash closing Safari
10-Jul 6:25PM Crash - opening applications directory
10-Jul 6:30PM Crash - Launching Firefox
10-Jul 6:35PM Crash - moved mouse
10-Jul 6:38PM Crash - Loading mozilla.org in Firefox
10-Jul 6:45PM Crash on boot
10-Jul 6:46PM Crash on boot
10-Jul 6:50PM Crash on software update
10-Jul 6:55PM Crash on software update - Java 1.3.1 8MB downloaded
10-Jul 7:02PM Crash on software update - Java 1.3.1
10-Jul 7:07PM Crash on software update - Quicktime 7.1.2 4MB downloaded
10-Jul 8:37PM Crash on software update - OSX Update 16.6MB downloaded
10-Jul 8:45PM Crash on software update - OSX Update ?MB downloaded
11-Jul In Corpus Christi all day - Did not use computer
12-Jul 2:47PM Crash - Scrolling in Firefox and backing up Aperture vault
12-Jul 5:15PM Crash - Updating Aperture Vault
12-Jul 5:20PM Crash - Updating Aperture Vault
13-Jul 3:30PM Crash - Aperture
13-Jul 3:45PM Crash - Aperture
14-Jul 11:40AM Crash - Opening folder in home directory
14-Jul 11:00PM CRASH - IMPORTING IMAGES INTO APERTURE
14-Jul 11:05PM CRASH - IMPORTING IMAGES INTO APERTURE
14-Jul 11:10PM CRASH - IMPORTING IMAGES INTO APERTURE
15-Jul 5:00AM Crash - IDLE
15-Jul 5:59PM Crash - Google Earth
16-Jul 6:50PM Crash - Opening Dashboard
18-Jul 4:00PM Crash - IDLE
18-Jul 5:10PM Crash - Google Earth
18-Jul 5:20PM Crash - Google Earth
18-Jul 5:40PM Crash - Idle
19-Jul 10:42AM Crash - Firefox
22-Jul 9:51AM Crash - Firefox
22-Jul 12:14PM Crash - Windows Media Player
22-Jul 12:22PM Crash - Firefox
22-Jul 8:00PM Crash - Idle
22-Jul 9:25AM Crash - IDLE
24-Jul 9:31AM Crash - Firefox loading page
24-Jul 7:30PM Crash - Software update
26-Jul 11:10AM Crash - Apple Mail - Responding to email
26-Jul 12:25PM Crash - Photoshop - Clone tool - Lost all work, again!!!!!
26-Jul 12:32PM Crash - Photoshop - Clone tool
26-Jul 12:57PM Crash - Photoshop - Clone tool
26-Jul 1:04PM Crash - Photoshop - Clone tool
26-Jul 8:10PM Crash - Firefox loading page
27-Jul 10:35AM Crash - Opening Dashboard
27-Jul 10:57AM Crash - Dashboard
27-Jul 11:40AM Crash - IDLE
28-Jul 12:45PM Crash - Firefox
Ran Diskwarrior
28-Jul 5:30PM Crash - Aperture backup
29-Jul 8:45AM Crash - IDLE
30-Jul 12:30PM Crash - IDLE
31-Jul 5:09PM Crash - Updating Aperture Vault
31-Jul 5:15PM Crash - Updating Aperture Vault
31-Jul 5:30PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 5:45PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 5:50PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 5:56PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 6:01PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 6:07PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 6:11PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 6:19PM Crash - Recovering Aperture Library
31-Jul 6:24PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 6:35PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 6:39PM Crash - Replying to an email in Mail.app
31-Jul 6:47PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 6:58PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 7:32PM Crash - Aperture - Deleting duplicates from library
31-Jul 7:38PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 7:40PM Crash - Aperture - Checking projects
31-Jul 8:34PM Crash - Exporting images from Aperture
31-Jul 8:40PM Crash - Aperture
31-Jul 9:02PM Crash - Aperture - Trying to export Masters
31-Jul 9:11PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
31-Jul 9:17PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
31-Jul 9:22PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
31-Jul 10:23PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
31-Jul 11:32PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
31-Jul 11:43PM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
Reinstalled Aperture 1.0
1-Aug 12:04AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
Applied Aperture 1.0.1 Update
1-Aug 12:22AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
Applied Aperture 1.1 Update
1-Aug 12:34AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
Applied Aperture 1.1.1 Update
1-Aug 12:40AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
Applied Aperture 1.1.2 Update
1-Aug 12:49AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
1-Aug 8:44AM Crash - Restoring Aperture library
1-Aug 9:12AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 9:50AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 10:14AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 10:24AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 10:32AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 11:00AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 11:19AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library
1-Aug 11:33AM Crash - Rebuilding Aperture library

*MAJOR* System Failure after Javascript Upd. Can't even Reinstall OS. Help!

I updated my javascript to my white iMac 2.16 Intel Duo (24"), and suddenly I could no longer log into the account (an admin account) that I was signed into when I upgraded. I could signed into the others (1 admin, 1 non-admin). For the 1 account, I would sign in, it would go blue, and then cycle back to the sign-in screen. It was very similar to the Apple post regarding this, except Apple said this was ONLY for the aluminum iMacs. This one is a white 2006 2.16 Intel Duo model.
So, I then I tried to repair permissions. That just about failed (got "stuck") at "47 minutes to go".
So, I started up the iMac off of TechTool5 CD. Repaired permissions that way (a LOT were wrong). I ran the suite of tests, and it said my Directories were seriously messed up. Trying to repair the directories would have caused a loss of 75% of my files, so I canceled it.
A few weeks ago, I bought a new iMac, gave this now-dead one to my wife, had wiped it clean, installed OS 10.5.8 and did an account transfer. I still have her oldr machine to transfer the accounts again, BUT I CAN'T EVEN ERASE THE HARD DRIVE TO CONTINUE! (Read on)
I tried booting into Safe Mode. Didn't work. It cycled from gray/Apple logo screen to blue to black to gray/apple screen ad nauseam until it just shut down. Now I can't even get it to boot up (remember, some accounts used to still work ... now it won't even boot) passed this cycle of gray/Apple logo screen and black until it shuts down. I wanted to just erase and start again, but I cannot. The iMac WILL boot from a TechTool 5 CD, but will NOT boot from An Apple OS Install CD or even an Apple Care CD
I tried to access the iMac's drive via Target Disk mode and my PowerBook 17" (10.4), but while the iMac went into target disk mode, the laptop would not see it.
I went back to the TechTools CD start-up, and decided to repair the Directory ANYWAY, just to get in and then erase the HD. NOW, I cannot even do that. Repair the Directories is grayed out in the TechTool's window!! (It just keeps getting worse!)
I am at a complete loss on what to do now. I have used Macs since 1990 and have never had something like this.
Any suggestions? Even just to wipe the hard drive clean and resinstall ??

OK, I was FINALLY able to get into iMac using the OS DVD that came with the computer. Unfortunately, the darned DVD says that 10.5 cannot be installed on the iMac because 10.4 is not already installed. What?? This is the only DVD that came with it! The iMac came with 10.4 installed, and a 10.5 disk in the box. It did not come with 10.4. What the ****, Apple? How am I supposed to install 10.4 if you never gave it to me?
So, I used Disk Utilities to erase the HD. I put it in Target disk mode, and tried to use older OS discs to install using my laptop or other iMac via Firewire. But the other computers now do not even SEE the iMac as a external disk. It doesn't even show up on the list. OR, in case of the laptop, it showed up, but the installation hangs right at "checking destination" (or something like that). The progress bar does not even move... for over an hour.

Major System Failure

Hi Guys
In a bit of a pickle so just looking for some advice. My ibook is just over a year old (typical!). It was asleep yesterday and when I opened it up and went to the "sign in" page it suddenly froze, the screen started flickering then it started flashing, slowly, red green blue white grey black. I shut it down and rebooted and it didn't even get that far, freezing before seeing anything.
Since then I've managed to log in once, and recover some files but it then crashed again, the display disintegrating and then blanking out. It occasionally begins start-up before having similar problems. Now I suspect I've a hardware problem in which case I am screwed as I'm in Africa, but any suggestions for things I have forgotten?
I have:
(1) Tried to boot it up in safe mode, or by holding down apple + option + p + r to no avail
(2) Removed the airport card, this seemed to work for a while as it booted correctly and I managed to log on (after a few hours of not a flicker), but then crashed again with a freeze, disintegrating display etc. I also removed the new RAM I installed at Christmas, which didn't work.
(3) Removed the battery then put it back
Now when I power up I hear the start-up tone but that's about it. Any ideas?
Thanks
Adam

Incidentally, yesterday my computer started up, booted and logged on fine several times in a row, I was able to work normally but it always crashed after a few minutes or even seconds; screen freezing, screen freezing but mouse working or the same graphics problems (flickering screen).
I need to know whether this is the sort of thing Apple could fix reasonably easily as I have one friend visiting this week and another in three weeks' time, so they could courier it back and forward to London potentially (I'm currently in Sierra Leone until August). I.e. could it be the graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon 9200), and if so how much would it cost to fix? Or could it still be a software issue given that when it is working I can still do everything as normal?
Thanks for your help

Major Battery Failure

Like a lot of people, I've started having battery drop on my Z1 compact.From 30% to shutdown in a second a few weeks ago, then from 50% to shutdown in a second, then again from 80% to shutdown in a second, and for the last few days, from 95% to shutdown in a second. For me it looks like a battery that is dying.But I have always been able to recharge my phone to 100% then to reboot it. But yesterday when my battery shut down the phone at 95%, I was unable to charge it again. The red led did not switch on when the phone was plugged.Since yesterday I'm unable to charge and to switch on the phone even when plugged. I use the dock and the USB plug, but I have the same problem.And when I try to switch on the phone I don't see the red led like I used to when the phone was discharged. Do you have any advice? I suspect that the battery is dead, but I would like to switch on my phone to back it up before servicingI'm very dissappointed by Sony, a 1 year phone with a dead battery and no possibility to change it; maybe it's my last Sony.And it seems that this battery problem is encountered by a lot of people, on a lot a forums

You should contact your local Xperia Care http://support.sonymobile.com/global-en/contactUs/

TS3048 Major mouse failure

My mouse is connected on my iMac desktop. The pointer is there but I cannot point and click on mail, safari,systems preferences etc. the mouse pointer just goes down either the right of left side of the screen or the top bar. It will not let me close anyThing or go to the apple icon for help
Can anyone assist me please

You don't need a mouse - just a keyboard:
SMC reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
PRAM reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
Barry

Mac mini boot failure - help

mine is a 1.5g core solo mini with 512 mb ram, last night i had a power failure after which the mini wouldn't boot, i hear the start up chime, it goes to the grey screen and stays there for a while and retarts again.... and its a non stop loop, safe boot wouldn't work, so does the reset of pvram, disk repair through tiger dvd, single user mode.... nothing happens, help me out

When you boot from the Tiger disc and repair the hard drive using DiskUtility, does DiskUtility report success, or does it finish with an error message?

Wil this RAID-scenario work out (mini with 10.6 server)?

I am going to setup my new Mac mini server that is going to replace my old one. I was planning to do the following:
- create a mirrored RAID from the two internal 500GB disks and one external (FW800) volume
This would protect me (I think) from a disk failure in the mac mini and also enable me to move the whole 10.6 setup to other hardware in case the motherboard or some other major component fails.
- Am I correct in thinking that?
- Will the disk speed penalty be severe?
Thanks,
G

I would only mirror the internal drives as it is best to keep the raided drives all on the same hardware buss. If you have a raidable firewire drive set (such as a LaCie) I would use this for user data. This would give you the ability to move the user data to any other FW800 machine and get to the data in the case the server fails, as the raid system in these is not connected to any of the internal mechanisms.

Getting data off of a dead Mac mini

I have a two year old Mac mini. It's never been the fastest horse in the stable. Tuesday night, I was getting even more spinning beach ball that usual. On Monday morning, it was even worse. I had a spinning beach ball for 10 minutes, and I shut the computer down by holding down the on button for 5 seconds. I ran the Apple Hardware Test. Very quickly, it told me that I had error "2STF/8/3:ATA-100 ata-6-Master" in "Mass Storage." Using a different computer, I looked around a bit on this forum, and figured that this wasn't going to be a cheap and easy fix. Today I bought a new iMac (which I'm working from right now). I want to know if I can get any data off of my old mac mini, and then if I can eventually fix it so that it can be a back-up computer for me to leave at home.
I borrowed a firewire from a friend, and tried to use my mac mini as a target drive. Unfortunately, the Mac OS 10.4 startup/apple hardware test disk seems to be irretrievably stuck in my mac mini. When I connected the computers with the firewire (and started the mac mini up, pressing T), all I got was an icon of the startup disk on my iMac's desktop. Is there another way I can try to access the data on my Mac mini?
My Mac mini is running 10.4.11 and my brand new iMac is running 10.5.
Any ideas?

2.5" IDE hard drives which can be put into a Mac mini aren't all that expensive (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST94811AB/ has a $50 40Gb example, and the same supplier has other options for more storage) but replacing the drive yourself is a bit fiddly and not for the faint-hearted! It's not all that difficult however, so resurrecting your mini may not be all that expensive or hard.
Meanwhile, it may be that some of your data can be rescued from the drive, but you'll need a utility such as Prosoft's Data Rescue II (http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php at a cost of $99) to try. Unless the drive has suffered a major hardware failure, which that error message tends to suggest, it could be put into an external enclosure and attempts made to recover data.

Major HD Failure on 1.66 Mini

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