Option key reboot

I've got a query which the Applecare team tell me they have never come across before. Perhaps someone out there knows what's going on...
I have a MacPro (early 2008) running Lion. I'm about to upgrade to Mountain Lion, but before I set out on the upgrade path I wanted to check the validity of my Carbon Copy Clone drive in case anything went wrong. I restared the Mac with the option key down in order to choose the boot volume, but nothing happens... nothing. The Mac imes, the monitor wakes, but that's it... No screen appears allowing me to choose a volume. I've sat there with the key down for over 2 minutes. Power off and fire up without the key down and it's fine. I can choose the volume in the Startup Disk section of System Preferences and it'll boot up from the clone with no problem.
So what's happening here? Applecare say it should work, I know it should work, you know it should work - but it doesn't... I've reset the PRAM - still nothing.
I hope someone out there has perhaps heard of this. I don't want to start the upgrade process only to find I still jhave the issue later on.
Thanks peeps.
Rob

To mount each drive, your Mac needs to load a Driver from it.
I suspect one of the drives has a Driver that is damaged. When loading normally, the first Driver loaded is used for all, but when booting with Option, each driver is loaded and one of them kills your Mac.
remove ALL drives, then use the Option key. When that works, power off and add back one drive at a time. When it chokes, that is the one that desperately needs repair.

Similar Messages

12 hour kernel panic, resolved with option key, but why?

i have no idea why my ppc G5 failed to start this morning.
booted up last night at 10:30, read mail, went to see new video from "within temptation" emailed to me from student - also went to their website and to the site of 'nightwish"
listened to 2 samples and then went to watch 24.
shut down computer about 2am, having forgotten it was on.
it is scheduled to autoboot at 6:16am with itunes playing as my alarm.
this morning it did not complete booting before kernal panic. it would not boot
ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems, just un-updated database files. it went into kernal panic when i tried to check my other 500gig seagate drive (i have 2 internal drives) that is home to timemachine and DVD movies (250gig of each). inserted leopard disc, ran permissions and several were corrected, some would not be repaired. verified both discs - both are good.
from apple site (run from my macbook) shut down booted with 'X' pressed - no go.
then booted with 'option' key pressed, selected my hard disc and everything booted normally.....why?
as a 10yr apple user, if you can tell me why this happened &/or how i can avoid it in the future i'd really appreciate it
thankyou
DETAILS:
Tue Apr 7 16:38:59 2009
Unresolved kernel trap(cpu 0): 0x400 - Inst access DAR=0x0000000005F9D000 PC=0x0000000000000000
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
previously dumped as "Latest" state. skipping...
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
Mac OS version:
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:39:01 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_PPC
System model name: PowerMac7,2
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xFFFF0004): 0x400 - Inst access
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x0009BCF0 0x0009C694 0x00029EA0 0x000AFC10 0x000B32F8
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x5962a280)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x40009030; DAR=0x05F9D000; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x5967FAE0; XCP=0x00000010 (0x400 - Inst access)
Backtrace:
0x00000000
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address: 0x0000001C
Exception state (sv=0x5961a000)
PC=0x00000000; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x00000000; DSISR=0x00000000; LR=0x00000000; R1=0x00000000; XCP=0x00000000 (Unknown)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task
*SYSTEM CONFIG*
Model: PowerMac7,2, BootROM 5.1.4f0, 2 processors, PowerPC 970 (2.2), 2 GHz, 5 GB
Graphics: kHW_ATIrv351Item, ATY,RV351, spdisplaysagpdevice, 256 MB
Memory Module: DIMM0/J11, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM1/J12, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM2/J13, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM3/J14, 256 MB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM4/J41, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM5/J42, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM6/J43, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Memory Module: DIMM7/J44, 1 GB, DDR SDRAM, PC3200U-30330
Modem: MicroDash, UCJ, V.92, 1.0F, APPLE VERSION 2.6.7
Network Service: Built-in Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
PCI Card: firewire, ieee1394, SLOT-3
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Serial ATA Device: ST3500630AS, 465.76 GB
Parallel ATA Device: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D, 7.51 GB
USB Device: hub_device, (null) mA
USB Device: EPSON Scanner, (null) mA
USB Device: deskjet 5550, (null) mA
USB Device: Hub in Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Optical USB Mouse, (null) mA
USB Device: Apple Extended USB Keyboard, (null) mA
USB Device: USB Receiver, (null) mA
FireWire Device: iLINK DRIVE, SONY, 400mbit_speed
FireWire Device: unknown_device, unknown_value, unknown_speed
thanks!
Message was edited by: Moderator

I have no idea what could have caused the kernel panic, how to read a back-trace, or why the problem may have corrected itself after an option-key reboot.
However, in an unrelated topic, this statement raises some concerns:
..."ran diskwarrior 4.1, it found 33% out of order and fixed most - still are some problems with SUID files, that i understand may not be problems"...
I have never used "DiskWarrior" so am not familiar with details of the versions, but if permissions were repaired while booted from the "Disk Warrior" disk (which I assume was done since the system was described as unbootable from the drive) and if the OS contained on that disk was 10.4, and if the system on the hard drive was upgraded to 10.5 from an earlier version, then it is likely that "DiskWarrior" has reset the system's permissions to 10.4 values, which are incompatible with 10.5.
Furthermore, if the SUID messages appeared as a result of such an action, "repair permissions" in 10.5 will not repair them, and the messages do not fall into the category of those that should be ignored, potentially indicating that the system is in a state with security issues. Those familiar with the command line may be able to manually correct the permissions, but otherwise, an "archive and install" is likely the only recourse.
from:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/support.html
..."Note: If you have used any utility to repair permissions of a Leopard startup disk while started from Mac OS X 10.4 or earlier, Alsoft recommends that you perform an upgrade install of Leopard over your existing Leopard install. This will restore any changed permissions to their original values without altering your data."...

I have a Seagate 2TB external hard drive partitioned with one partition of Snow Leopard (my computer is running Lion). Can't seem to reboot using the option key. Any ideas as to what's wrong?

I have a Seagate 2TB external hard drive with 3 partitions, one for Snow Leopard - my computer has Lion. I cannot seem to boot from this hard drive but I could yesterday. Any ideas?

Didnt help. The night I asked this question I was able to reboot from the external hard drive after running Disk repair (which said everything was fine). Tonight I have tried again and cannot boot from the external. So I tried the Safe Mode restart and then chose restart with the option key held down as well as shutting down and trying holding down the option key while turning on the power. I have never been able to reboot just choosing restart and holding down the option key. Whenever the reboot from the external has worked I've had to shut down and hold the option key while turning the power on. Now that is not working. My computer is brand new as is the hard drive. I don't know where to go from here.
I can access the drive just fine while I'm in Lion. I just can't boot up using it. Help!

I have a late 2011 macbook pro i want to reinstall os lion 10.7 so when i reboot hold down options key click on recovery hd then in the os x utilities screen it says reinstall mac os x is there any way i can save this download so i can burn to dvd

i have a late 2011 macbook pro i want to reinstall os lion 10.7 so when i reboot hold down options key click on recovery hd then in the os x utilities screen it says reinstall mac os x is there any way i can save this download so i can burn to dvd

steve359 wrote:
Sorry ... I read but was unfortunately distracted from your original post. You have a system that came with Lion. The Lion that is on your system is only for your computer and cannot be downloaded from the app store again because you never purchased it officially through the App Store.
Try this for making an external USB/DVD copy of Recovery on an external disk. internet is still required for reinstall, though, I believe: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848. But at least you have a separate Recovery Partition if you ever need a fully new and empty internal disk.
Your assumption is incorrect. Although he may not be able to download it from the App store he can download it directly for the Apple servers using the recovery partition on his original drive.
All you have to do is start the install routine and then point the install to an external hard drive. Once the download is finished the computer will reboot to start the install. At that reboot disconnect the external drive so the install can not start. Boot the computer back into the OS on the internal hard drive, which is what will happen automatically once the external drive is disconnected. Then connect the external and copy the files from it that were downloaded. Right click on that downloaded package file and select Show contents. In the contents of that package is a file called InstallESD.DMG. Copy that file out of the package and burn it down to a DVD or USB thumb drive and you now have the Full Lion Installer. I have several of them laying around on different hard drives and 2 USB thumb drives which I have used to reinstall Lion on my 15" MBP.
Sorry OP I should of just typed this out in my first post.

Removed Parallels and BootCamp ... now have to hold the Option key to reboot.

Ran Parallels and Windows XP in Boot Camp for over a year. No problems. Pretty well filled up the hard drive. Uninstalled Parallels and wiped out the Windows Partition. Since then, when I boot, I get a message that says it's looking for a boot device (probably a windows message) and I have to hold down the Option Key to see the Mac HD. Everything else appears to be working fine.
I'm suspicious it's a Master Boot Record (or whatever the Apple equivalent is) but I don't know how to fix it.
It's not pathological ... just mildly irritating ... since you don't have to reboot a Mac very often:))).

Thanks so much. I was looking for something much more complex, I guess:)). Have a great day and thanks for the help!!

Windows disk doesn't show up in Startup Disk -- only on reboot w/option key

Greetings,
I installed Windows XP on a separate SATA drive, and all is well with it. But it doesn't show up as an option in Startup Disk. The only way I can boot from it is to Restart and hold the option key down. Its icon DOES show up in the "choose disk" screen that follows.
Another user posted the same problem here, and someone suggested zapping the PRAM. I did this, allowing it to cycle through four times, but it didn't help.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
DM

Hi,
Try posting in the Windows Compatibility Forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=687
Carolyn

I partitioned my MacBook Pro and installed Windows 8 in it.....now I can't find my partition when I pressed option key when booting up.....so how can I do to find the partition to boot...I can see it in the disk manager in Mac....any ideas? thanks..!..

I partitioned my MacBook Pro and installed Windows 8 in it.....now I can't find my partition when I pressed option key when booting up.....so how can I do to find the partition to boot...I can see it in the disk manager in Mac....any ideas? thanks..!..

Hi LamboMong,
just try this:
http://refit.sourceforge.net
install, reboot twice and choose the Windows-Partition on next startup.
(The apple-bootloader doesn't display all bootable harddisks.
With rEFIt you can boot from all partitions/harddisks on your computer.)
I hope that will solve your problem.
Daniel Fernau

HT2638 since updating iPhoto it has ceased to open. i have tried to Hold down the Command and Option keys on the keyboard but it does not work. iPhoto still does not open

Since updating iPhoto it has ceased to open. I have tried to Hold down the Command and Option keys on the keyboard which is the suggested solution to then open a suggested solution to rebuild the library, but it does not work. iPhoto still does not open. can someone please help?
thank you

Try the following:
1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your
Home/Library/ Preferences folder.
2 - delete iPhoto's cache folder(s):
Home/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto
and, if there is one, the
Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder
3 - reboot, launch iPhoto and try again.
NOTE: For Mavericks, 10.9, go to your Home folder and use the View ➙ Show View Options menu to bring the this window:
Happy Holidays

What does "option key" starting a MacBook Pro do?

My computer will not boot up. Can't get past the white apple screen.

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 Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
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 by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
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
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.
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.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode.* The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Shut down your computer, wait 30 seconds, and then hold down the shift key while pressing the power button.
When you see the gray Apple logo, release the shift key.
If you are prompted to log in, type your password, and then hold down the shift key again as you click Log in.
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.
*Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t boot in safe mode. Post for further instructions.
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 damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
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 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
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 6
Boot into Recovery again. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to 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.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
Step 7
Repeat step 6, 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 backup.
Step 8
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Unable to use option key on startup

My Macbook Pro is running Yosemite (version 10.10) and runs Windows 7 through Boot Camp.   Until now I have been able to hold down the Option key on startup to enable me to select OS X or Windows.   Starting today the option key does not make any difference and the computer always boots straight into Yosemite.
To eliminate a couple of possibilities:
1.   When in Yosemite I can use the Keyboard Viewer to show that the Option key does still work.
2.   If I go into settings I can select the startup disk as the Windows partition and then the computer always starts in Windows.   This shows that the Windows partition is still there and the Windows setup works.
Why can I not use the option key to allow me to select which operating system to use?

Sounds like he set the Open Firmware password - doing so will (intentionally) prevent these things. The good news is that you can undo this with some effort.
Defeating the OF password:
1) Change the amount of RAM in the machine.
2) There are programs out there that will (reportedly) extract the OF password allowing you access.
3) Resetting the PRAM 3x in a row and rebooting is supposed to do it as well. (Warning this information has been considered "secret" at times.)
Hope that helps. Searching for Open Firmware Password will give you way more information if you want it.
=Tod
G5/2.0x2, Dual XServes x2, XRAID, beige G3 501Mhz

Option key shows Win partition, can't start it

Greetings all.
I have 10.6.8 and Win7 64-bit installed on internal iMac HDD.
When I attempt to access the Win7 partition on startup using the option key, it shows the list of boot devices, Mac and Windows, but selecting the Windows partition does nothing. The screen stays on the grey selection screen and will no longer accept keyboard or mouse inputs.
If I select the MacOS partition on startup, it boots normally.
If I select Win7 in the Mac Systems Preferences as the Boot Device, the machine goes to a grey screen on reboot and stays there.
If I use Boot Camp assistant to launch the Windows installer, the Win7 partition boots normally. If I select Win7 in the Windows Control Panel and reboot, Windows boots normally.
Two changes were made to the system recently. I updated to 10.6.8 and then the next night, Windows7 Service Pack 1.
Any help would be appreciated.

It it were me I would try to start from the Windows 7 installation disk and use Startup Repair. It worked for me when I had a startup file that was corrupted.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Startup-Repair-frequently-asked-ques tions
Startup Repair is a Windows recovery tool that can fix certain system problems that might prevent Windows from starting. Startup Repair scans your computer for the problem and then tries to fix it so your computer can start correctly.
Startup Repair is one of the recovery tools in the System Recovery Options menu. This set of tools is located on your computer's hard disk and on the Windows installation disc.

IBook G4 keyboard (option key?)

Hello:
I seem to have this very strange problem while typing on my iBook G4. Regardless of the application, as I am typing I get weird charecters which exactly resemble that of using the option key. I do use this key, for example, accents in peoples names, etc.
If I toggle the option key it does not help. Sometimes a re-boot also does not help but if I reboot more than once it eventually goes away.
Upon reboot I will get the icon for restart, the icon for the startup drive and the icon to move forward and boot the computer. That's what makes me believe the problem is the option key and perhaps just a hardware issue.
I have checked my international setting, all looks fine.
Thank you in advance.
iMacj

I am 99.99% sure you are correct. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything simple.
Trouble is, this iBook was a free replacement for the previous which had FOUR!!! replacements of the main logic board. It was my understanding that the graphics driver was always the issue. I think I will go check e-Bay.
Thank you!
John

Startup with option key doesnt work; now I'm stuck a startup cd

Background: I wanted to defrag my hard drive. I tried to start up from a Norton SystemsWorks cd (using the option key). That didn't work, so I (stupidly!!!!) used the control panel to change the startup disk to the Norton CD.
Result:
1) I'm stuck. I cannot reboot from the hard drive or an external drive. The Norton CD has become a permanent default for startup. Under Norton, there is no access to the startup control panel. I cannot override it. Starting up using the option key doesn't work, nor do any other startup keystrokes I've tried. The CD overrides everything.
I cannot eject the CD. Tried holding down the mouse key and everything else I could think of, but those tricks don't seem to work when the disk is in use--which it always is because it's the startup disk.
Most annoying: The flat screen G4 has no manual mechanism for ejecting the CD!!! (ie, no little hole to inert a paper clip).
Any suggestions before I reach for a hammer?

Have you looked at this?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1750.html
Once you get this disk ejected, don't ever ever use any Norton maintenance utility on a Mac! It's an almost universally held opinion of users here.
Regards,
Steve M.

No Boot Options when i Press 'option' key

I have 2 Hard disks.
One is internal, the other is externally connected via USB.
I have installed OS-X Snow Leopard on the external Drive, ready for when iOS lion is launched.
I want a dual boot at the moment in the event that there are instabilities on iOS Lion.
However, when i want to boot from the External HDD, I have learnt that you press the option button (aka the alt Button) to select a boot disk.
Upon pressing this button on startup, the iMAC seems to do something for a little bit, and then just boots into the internal HDD OS rather than giving me the boot option list as per instructions on apple webiste.
My Partner has OSX Leopard and when they press the option key on startup it gives them boot disk options, even with the external HDD disconnected, it just lists Macintosh HD.
Is there something i'm missing or has the boot option been removed from Snow Leopard ?
If i change the default boot device, and restart, it reboots into the External HDD OSX, but i don't want to have to do this when I want to use either / or of the OSX or iOS Lion (when lion is launched).
Currently, the OS's are thre same on each HDD.
Both

I was pressing the option key before the chime came on, have pressed it as soon as i hear the chime and works - Thanks for the tip .
I wouldn't use anything but apple now, I have a windows laptop that I use for university but it hardly comes out since I've had my iMAC. Absolutely fantastic.

Option key not giving me any drives to boot from

Hello,
I have just installed Win 8.1 via Boot Camp on my Mac Pro (mid-2010) using OSX10.9. I was under the impression that on restarting if I pressed the option key, then I would get all available drives and then be able to choose which one to boot from but in my case, not so. Rebooted and the option key is recognised; I get a blank screen (as I would expect) and a cursor which is controllable but then no drive options appear.
I have three possible boot disks: a Win8.1 partition and a 10.9 partition on on internal HD plus a 10.9 on a Sonnet Tempo SSD plugged into my PCIe slot. I am wondering if the Tempo is the issue and Boot Camp does not like it (is it Boot Camp that controls the option key restart process?). Before I start pulling the Mac Pro apart, I was hoping to get some advice please.
Any ideas what could be wrong please? Thank you.

No, it won't show up in Disk Utility, but have a look at the screen shot. Straight off your hard disk (if you're on Lion this will be at the BOTTOM of your sidebar pane in Finder). If you have the folder marked in yellow and the folder marked in purple called rEFItBlesser please TRASH both.
Be CLEAR: do not remove the Library folder or the StartupItems folder (both marked in purple, too). Remove only the rEFItBlesser folder at the end of the path. You can (and should) remove the whole of the efi Folder (in yellow).
Then restart.
Message was edited by: softwater (corrected 'file' to 'folder')

Option key reboot

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