My imac won't boot up help!

I was going away for 2 weeks so I powered off my mac so it could rest. When I came back it wouldn't boot up. When I turn it on, it shows the Apple sign, the loading sign, and the bar. The bar doesn't load all the way, only a tiny bit. Then, it goes away and all that is left is the Apple and loading sign. It stays like that forever! My dad says it's not working because I turned it off by the power button and not from the computer. Please help because I don't want to pay to get it fixed somewhere!

You need to repair the hard drive and permissions, then reinstall OS X. Please let us know what version of OS X is presently installed on the computer.

Similar Messages

My iMac won't boot. I only get a white screen. Won't open in safe mode or recovery mode. Any suggestions?

Hey, any help? My 24" iMac won't boot. I only get a white screen when turning on. It won't open in safe or recovery mode. Any suggestions?

If you can't boot from your installer DVD, then take it in for service.

My iMac won't boot past grey screen and it didn't come with a os x disk

My iMac won't boot past grey screen with apple. I've tried booting in safemode but that didn't help and my iMac didn't come with a os x disk.

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 startup failure is to secure the 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 the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from 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, start 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. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else 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 startup 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 start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up 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 started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start 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 the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up 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, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup 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 restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup 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 the 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 restart as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the 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 startup 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.

27" iMac won't boot from anything BUT the main drive

Hi all,
My lovely 27" iMac is in perfect working condition, but I thought I'd try to install a OS on a large SD card to see if I would gain any speed.
In the process of doing that (cause I never got that far) I discover that the iMac won't boot from the original install DVD. It simply spits out the DVD when I try to insert into the drive. I'v managed to make an image of the DVD (in a different mac) onto the SD card in order to try an boot from that. No luck. I've tried to insert a original install DVD from my Mac Pro into the iMac, which it reads fine and well, and when I tap the restart button it restarts, but stop with a white screen doing boot up.
If I try to hold down the option key during startup, the iMac WILL let me choose which OS to boot from, but if I choose anything else than the OS already installed it freezes.
I've even tried to boot my Mac Pro from the iMac install DVD - no problems.
I've even run a hardware test on the iMac - no problems.
I am running out of options fast! Please help a devoted Mac-friend.
Take care.
Peter

I WAS using the DVD that came with the machine, but I fear Apple may have sent me the wrong one?
In trying to solve the issues I'd tried other OS disc's (A Mac Pro install DVD and a OS X Leopard DVD) - but none of them would even boot, nor install of my iMac. I always end up with a white screen during boot up.
As I described, the original iMac install DVD would indeed boot my Mac Pro, do the disc seems ok?

My iMac won't boot....Msg says "NO BOOTABLE DEVICE--INSERT BOOT DISK ...

I don't know how to start my iMac up. I don't even know what a boot disk is! Several days ago I tried to run Boot Camp but couldn't continue because I didn't have a Windows program to install si I'm not sure what happened. Can somebody please help me out? Thanks.
Dman- [email protected]

My iMac won't boot....Msg says "NO BOOTABLE DEVICE--INSERT BOOT DISK ...
Posted: Jan 17, 2011 11:44 AM
I'm getting this message again. When I restart using the option key everything is ok. When the computer goes to sleep it has the above message. Is there a setting I need to turn off so this doesn't happen all the time? Thanks.
Dennis

My iMac won't boot up past the white screen with a grey apple and spinning icon

My iMac won't boot up past the white screen with a grey apple and spinning icon...please help!

command R did not result in anything different - still the white screen, etc. I do you Time Machine with and external hard drive, but I unplugged that. I have the installation DVD, but it doesn't seem to be reading it either.

My iMac won't boot i get an apple logo

my iMac won't boot i get an apple logo

Hi Paul,
If your iMac won't boot past a grey Apple screen, you may find the following article helpful:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Regards,
- Brenden

IMac won't boot after power outage

I got a power outage a couple of hours ago. And now my iMac won't boot. When I power it up, it gets pass the white screen with the apple logo. The screen than turns blue with a spinning cursor. The cursor spins for about 10-15 minutes and stops but the normal login screen never appear and it won't boot into the desktop either. I just got a blue screen.
I have boot into the install Disc1 and did the disk repair and premission repair but it didn't help.
Any idea?
Sidney

Oh man, what a disaster!
I tried to do an Archive and Install but the installation hanged at the end of disc 2 after running an iWeb script (according to the install log) with about one minute left. I have waited for two hours but it just hanged there with all the drives spin down.
To make the problem worse. There was no way to quit the install at that point because all the menu items were disabled. The only way out was to power off. But when I powered it back on, it booted right into install directly asking for the disc 2. If I put the disc in it will install again and hang at the same spot.
Disc 2 contains iLife. I know Apple wanted to make things simple but why can't they give me an option to skip it? After all, iLife was already installed.
I finally got it working by booting from disc 1 and did a clean install. It took me all night to re-download all the updates and reinstall many applications. Fortunately, I have my address book, calendar, and most of my works backed up to .Mac so it wasn't a total lost.
On the bright side. Now my iMac is working better than before. I used to have problem getting auto sleep to work but now it works perfectly. Safari also had problem accessing charts (but Camino was fine) in a few web sites like schwab.com. Now everything works.
Lenn and David. Thanks for all your helps.
Now I am looking for a better backup solution so that the recovery won't be this painful if disaster strikes again. Any suggestions?
Sidney

IMac won't boot at first attempt

Hi
Recently I've been experiencing that my intel iMac won't boot at first attempt and I have to powerdown manually and then try again. Second time it boots just fine. It's usually in the morning (been shut off for the night), but not always. I've tried disc utility from the install dvd, have repaired permissions and reset the nvram and everything seems just fine. The thing is, this has happened after the 10.4.8 update as far as I can remember. Does anyone else see this or is it a coincidence and some other problem?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Best regards
Rico
intel iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8)
intel iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Oups, sorry about that wrong quote - I've been reading to many discussions lately
I've done all sorts of things today and I'm kind of curious to what is going to happen tomorrow morning when I boot up the mac. To sum up, here's what I've been doing:
Installed 10.4.8 manually, downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048updateintel.html Read somewhere that the stand alone installer might help.
I ran repair permissions right after and got this:
Permissions differ on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi, should be -r-xr-xr-x , they are -r--r--r--
Owner and group corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
Permissions corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Ran repair permissions again to check - all was good
Enabled automatically login in the accounts menu in user prefs - someone suggested me to do this, but I'm not sure what that might do, but hey, I'll give it all a shot.
Changed resolution and then back again to highest possible. Apple suggests this when the problem occurs on the 17" iMac.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303870
Unplugged power cord for 30 secs and reset smu (G5 article/idea though)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301733
Used Onyx to delete the content of library > caches which I read somewhere could perhaps help.
I'll post again tomorrow morning, and hopefully with some positive news

IMac won't boot after power failure during 10.5.6 update

Help!
Tried to update last night and at something like 80% install, we had a power cut. iMac won't boot at all now - get to a grey screen which tells me to restart. Don't have a wired keyboard. If I did - what are the steps to get this working again.
I believe I have a good backup, but don't want to risk as all the family photos are on the iMac.
Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the help, but can't even get to a screen where I could type anything! I know I'm being dumb here.

IMac won't boot after trying to migrate files to macbook?

While trying to migrate info from my IMAC to my Macbookpro all work froze on both puters. Macbook starts and runs alright. But my IMAC won't boot at all. Tried startup disc and it won't get past picking a destination because it doesn't list one. I made a boo boo hear and need help fixing this.

Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install OS X.

I Have just returned from a 2 week vacation and had left my iMac plugged in, I noticed we suffered a power cut during our absence from home and now the iMac won't power up, help !

I Have just returned from a 2 week vacation and had left my iMac plugged in, I noticed we suffered a power cut during our absence from home and now the iMac won't power up, help !

What have you tried?
A safe boot?
A recovery boot?
Allan

My imac won't boot and is making a loud beeping sound

my imac won't boot and is making a loud beeping sound - any ideas. i tried replacing the ram but that didn't help.

IMac won't boot to OS 9, boots Panther fine

Bought an iMac G3/500/128MB/CD-RW off Ebay for super cheap (this is the Indigo 500 with 64MB base RAM). Loaded OS 10.3.3 with no probs, tested it out with no probs. (I know the 128MB RAM is less than recommended/required for Panther, the machine was supposed to have 256MB and the seller is sending that to me). Next step was to load OS 9.1 from the CD. The iMac won't boot from the OS 9.1 CD (It boots fine from the Panther CD). Also tried booting from a firewire CD drive, same result. The result is a folder with a question mark, then a folder with a smily face, repeated twice before it aborts the OS 9 boot and goes into Panther.
Repaired permissions, no luck, wiped Panther off the drive and tried booting to OS 9 with blank drive, and still no luck.
As stated above, the machine was supposed to have 256MB RAM, and it also has a 20GB HD when it was supposed to have a 30GB HD. I declined a new HD as the seller offered me $20 as an option (bringing the total shipped down to $69.00), but now I'm wondering if I should replace the HD with the 30GB he offered? I don't think it's an HD issue though and replacing it looks like more trouble than it's worth.
I'm not too bummed if I have to stick to Panther, I just have a few OS 9 apps that I'd like to have access to.
iMac G3/500/128/CD-RW Mac OS X (10.3.3)

Does the CD drive boot from the Panther installation disk? I'm wondering if the CD drive is faulty, and it's not a Mac OS 9 specific issue.
Also, in combination with that problem, the hard drive may have been partitioned without the Mac OS 9 drivers. If you haven't tried already, use Disk Utility to partition the drive. You can keep it at one partition, but be sure that the "Mac OS 9 Drivers Installed" check box is installed. [NOTE: partitioning will wipe the drive clean.]
Other than that, I don't have a clue...
If you can't boot directly from Mac OS 9, most "classic" apps will run fine under Mac OS X in the "Classic" environment. If that works, it's actually a better way to access to Mac OS 9 programs.

G5 iMac won't start! Help needed.

Got a new intel iMac. Gave my husband my old G5 iMac (not intel). It was working perfectly. For some reason unknown to me, he decided he was going to reinstall everything from scratch so he grabbed the first disk he saw and put it in the computer. It was the startup disk for an intel computer & NOT for the iMac G5.
Did he fry the computer? It won't start up. Keypad & mouse won't respond.
The screen can't find the driver (no surprise) and says "panic: we are hanging here...." I can't get the disk out of the drive. Service contract is up. Is there a way I can connect my laptop to it and get it to respond & spit out that intel disk? Perhaps if I open the cover up, I can into the CD drive and get the disk out. All ideas appreciated.

Quote
J.C posted "Re: G5 iMac won't start! Help needed." on Feb 4, 2008 4:53:20 PM.
Hi Mel Kev
Have you tried holding down the left mouse button when you turn the computer on. Holding down the left mouse button should force eject the disk.
Hope this helps
J.C
UNQUOTE
And it WORKED! (I really wasn't in the mood to do surgery on the computer this evening). Thanks all!!! You are awesome!
Now, if I can just find the original installation disks.... They are in this drawer somewhere....

My imac won't boot up help!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for