My iMac will not boot up - held shift key - spinning gear does not advance - will not advance to home page??

My Mac will not boot up- advance to desk top- spinning gear keeps on going - white screen with apple logo only???
Held shift key - right after pushing power button

That is typically indicative of either a hard drive corruption or a hardware failure. What happens if you just let the Mac sit forever? Does it boot to a folder icon?
How old is your iMac? You may be able to run Hardware Diagnostics by booting up holding down the "D" key as well.

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My iMac will not boot past the logo and spinning gear

My iMac will not boot past the logo and spinning gear (After a Rogue Amoeba update). I can't access the recovery disk I made on a flash drive. (Am I doing it correctly? - Hold down option while switching on? It just stays on the logo). What (if anything) can I do please?

If you installed Lion onto your machine, it should have created a Recovery HD (hidden from view, but visible in Disk Utility with its Debug menu enabled, under Show all Partitions).
That article states:
Note: In order to create an external Lion Recovery using the Lion Recovery Assistant, the Mac must have an existing Recovery HD.
Would I see the recovery menu (by holding down option on power up)
Yes.
if there was no recovery disc connected do you think?
Shouldn't matter, since your int HD is always connected.

Will not boot up. Apple shows, spinning wheel shows, a bar comes up on the bottom. It gets to the end of the bar and shuts down.

Will not boot up. Apple shows, spinning wheel shows, a bar comes up on the bottom. It gets to the end of the bar and shuts down.

Will not boot up. Apple shows, spinning wheel shows, a bar comes up on the bottom. It gets to the end of the bar and shuts down.

Mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Special boots with faulty shift key

My shift key has been faulty for a while after a minor accident which did not affect other parts of the computer (It was checked by a Mac technicial, this happended a long time ago), but since then I've had to boot my computer by holding down the escape key every time to prevent a safe boot, no problem, but cue to now, the past two days I've been having strange freezes on boot for 10-15 minutes mouse moves but cannot click, keyboard frozen. I would like to try: a. resetting the PRAM and b. running a hardware diagnostic from the CD, but I can manage to do neither presumably due to my faulty shift key problems.
Does anyone know how my shift key would interact with these other special startups? What key combinations should I try?
And
Is there a non-hold key on bootup way to do these tasks?
Thanks

ARReflections wrote:
Trust me if I thought it was the caplock key being stuck then I would not be posting this question in the first place.
The computer boots into safe mode and from what I understand, this happens when the shift key is pressed on boot up.
Thanks ARReflections for the clarification on your above statement. I miss read what you where trying to convey.
Agreed of coarse with eww assessment.
Don't rule out the problem shift key is the one you do not use regularly. Independent of cleaning under the key (DIY compressed air, removing the key cap for cleaning, etc) well could be narrowed down to the microswitch.
Depending on how far past warranty there is always the possibility it will still be honored as warranty repair, or fixed at the Genius Bar.
Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) for evaluation, or call your nearest Apple Contact Center. Genius Bar at the Apple Retail Store, make a reservation

If i buy ipad mini from website for sprint or verizon should i have to make a contract with cellular supplier or not and if i take it to England does LTE (4G) will work their with my carrier

if i buy ipad mini from website for sprint or verizon should i have to make a contract with cellular supplier or not and if i take it to England does LTE (4G) will work their with my carrier

AT&T and europe all use GSM . There is no CDMA in Europe
A genuine unlocked iPhone 4/4S from Europe will work fine
A similar unlocked iP5 will work on 3G but NOT on 4G as the
European iP5 does not have the 4G bands suitable for use in US
and the warranty will not be valid in the US it is not international

I have an iMac G5 stuck on the gray screen with spinning gear. I woke up to it being stuck on a blue screen, then force quit and now it's stuck on gray with spinning gear.

I have an iMac G5 stuck on the gray screen with spinning gear. I woke up to it being stuck on a blue screen, then force quit and now it's stuck on gray with spinning gear. Please advise.

If you have a G5 then it's a PPC (Power PC) based iMac, this is an Intel iMac forum. Try the Gray screen appears during startup link for troubleshooting steps. I suspect the HD has crashed.

HT1694 My hotmail is showing that I have 32 new emails and I do not have any. Can't get the 32 off the mail icon on the home page. Any suggestions?

My hotmail is showing that I have 32 new emails and I do not have any. Can't get the 32 off the mail icon on the home page. Any suggestions?

I have tried that also, but its still doing the same thing

X220t does not boot anymore after a few times running, does not get past BIOS

I just bought a x220t and want to use it with Win8.1. I had before upgraded my x201t to win8 with no problem at all.
After a few succesfull runs in wich I do the patching it stops booting completely. I can't even push F8. It will only go to Bios in witch I have fidled a bit, but nothing works. I have tried a fesh install for three times. It does boot an USB DVD drive with the origiganal win 8.1 disk, but it can't fix my problems.
I have an I7 version whith Intel 160GB ssd. I did a lenovo check, all clear, I dit an Intel SSD check, all clear. Unfiortunatiely I have delated the restore partition. I am on the latest BIOS (1.39)
Sometimes I get in to the Lenovo boot menu, with no result. I want to rip out my hairs!
Any help?

Hi thomas1921,
Not an answer to your specific question, but I'm very surprised that a BIOS update would break DVD booting. Have you tried pressing F1 at boot to get to BIOS Setup and examining / changing the boot order? Or pressing F12 at boot to select the boot device? (Think the F12 feature must be enabled in BIOS Setup.)
Results of Your Ideal Business-Class Laptop survey, concluded 2009-07-29.
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MacBook Pro not booting to mac osx making partition on windows side and windows not booting either help

I have a macbook pro with windows 7 on bootcamp partition. I made a partition in windows 7 using disk mgmt and after that my computer wont show mac os partition and only show windows and when i boot to windows it errors out with blue screen unmountable volume. I was able to get in to command prompt of windows and use that command to boot to mac os but it failed giving error bootcamp.msi not found please any help in this issue will be appreciated.
Thanks

Highwaytohells wrote:
Hi,
I own a Macbook pro 13 inch since about 3 years and
snip
but there is no way for me to boot in the Mac OSX. Could anyone help me ?
It is broken, take it to the Apple Store for repair.

Window pops up stating"browser error" when trying to access documents using google doc's. Holding shift key and refresh does not clear window. What's next?

Shut down and restarted computer, "browser error" still pops up when trying to access documents using Google doc's.
Holding shift key and clicking refresh does not clear window.
What else can be done to clear the window and gain access to my documents?

Hi,
Found a note explaining the significance of these errors.
It says:
"NZE-28862: SSL connection failed
Cause: This error occurred because the peer closed the connection.
Action: Enable Oracle Net tracing on both sides and examine the trace output. Contact Oracle Customer support with the trace output."
For further details you may refer the Note: 244527.1 - Explanation of "SSL call to NZ function nzos_Handshake failed" error codes
Thanks & Regards,
Sindhiya V.

When I try to open some web sites i am blocked by MOZILLA and redirected to a site I did not want and am unable to close or go back without going back to the home page. Help help help

I have removed the check from the pop up blocked in the MOZILLA options but still get this problem of not being able to open certain sites. The MOZILLA icon appears with the three options available, but before i can click on one I am automatically redirected to a site I did not want, and when I try to go back it will keep coming back to the site MOZILLA put on the computer. I have to close and go back to the home page and start all over again. I have installed a new virus protection system STOPZILLA and could this have any bearing on the problem. After awhile it becomes very frustrating trying to get on line information and being continually redirected. Any ideas?

There are other things that need attention:
Your above posted system details show outdated plugin(s) with known security and stability risks that you should update.
*Shockwave Flash 10.0 r32
Update the [[Managing the Flash plugin|Flash]] plugin to the latest version.
*http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/

Imac won't start white screen apple icon spinning gear

imac won't start. when turn on, I just get a white screen with apple icon and a spinning gear below the apple icon. what should I do to get it started and fix the problem? Thanks.

See if any of the suggestions in this link help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Firefox keeps opening tabs on it's own whether I am on-line or not. I have reset several times and there are no pipe characters in the home page address.

Firefox keeps opening tabs whether I am on-line or not. These are often games pages, but not always. I have reset several times and there are no pipe characters in the home page address. This is not the first time this has happened. The first time was a couple of months ago and a reset cured the problem, but this time it does not. How can I stop this occurring?

'''''If this can happen with Firefox completely closed:'''''
Some malware simply launches pages in your default browser from outside Firefox. Definitely scan for malware using some of the tools listed in our support article: [[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]].
There might be an additional step:
Last year, many users reported advertising tabs opening randomly, sometimes even when Firefox was closed. It turned out that a program had created scheduled tasks to open those pages at certain times of day.
You can check the Windows Task Scheduler:
* Windows XP: Start button > [All] Programs > Accessories> System Tools > Scheduled Tasks
* Windows Vista/7: Start button > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler
* Windows 8: ?? You might try the charms bar search box if you don't find it in the control panel.
* Past threads on the "dsite" problem:
** [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/967667 How can I keep Firefox from opening a window to website tofushopnews.com]
** [https://support.mozilla.org/questions/965048?page=2#answer-461509 How do I get rid of sponsorship tabs that open automatically?]

I performed latest software update yesterday 17.2.12 and now my 27 inch imac will not boot up i have had a few problems from day one,not very impressed so far with the imac.

THE OTHER PROBLEMS PRIOR TO THIS ARE
1. KEEPS LOCKING UP WHEN ON CERTAIN WEBSITES (YOU TUBE)
2.VERY SLOW PERFORMING TASKS
I PURCHASED THIS PRODUCT FOR MY SONS THEY LOVE THE IMAC IN REGARDS TO SOFTWARE eg (IMOVIE ) BUT AS FAR AS
THE PERFORMANCE THEY ARE NOT HAPPY........IN THIS DAY AND AGE YOU JUST WANT A RELIABLE MACHINE THAT PERFORMS.
AND FOR JUST UNDER 2K$ AUSTRALIAN YOUR NOT GETTING THAT.

The guys at the Genius Bar actually are Geniuses! They told me that in fact my iMac was one of the first generation and the main board had fried to they way the fan cooled it off. They said the problem was fixed with the second generation iMacs.
They took the computer in, i was 1 month away from the 3 year warranty date, and they are replacing the board and the DVD drive that is not working at no charge!
i'll have it back in 5 days.
Jeff

My iMac will not boot up - held shift key - spinning gear does not advance - will not advance to home page??

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