SOLVED-Install not booting on Intel Imac-white screen

I just tried to install Archlinux with the new install disc fo the fifth time, without succes.
When I restart the computer all i get is a white screen.
Restarting the install disc, mounting the harddisk partitions and arch-chrooting I can get into the installed linux, I can do everything even install new programs and get these working but when starting normally it's the white screen again.
It is an Intel Imac dual core with 27" screen on whitch the old install disc did it's work flawlessly.
Any idea where I can start searching?
Last edited by mianka (2012-08-03 14:14:52)

How long do you wait on that white screen?
I have arch on two different macs - and early iMac, and an early macbook. They both have long delays on the white EFI screen.
There are allegedly ways to fix this but I have never bothered as I do not reboot either of these machines that often. Many reports claim it should be a 30 second delay, but on the IMac I'm typing from now (in arch) it is at least 2 minutes. Whenever I need to reboot this machine, I just type reboot, then go for coffee.

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While off I held power button 30 sec power cycled holding the apple button.

Try to restart in Safe Mode and let us know what happens.
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I am starting a new thread this because it seems that other people with this problem are able to get their Macs working with some sort of keyboard combination on boot. I am not. Nothing is working. My computer is currently a 27 inch brick... Actually a lamp, since it is frozen on a really nice white screen.....
Installed Yosemite on my 27" iMac (early 2010, i7) when Yosemite came out a couple weeks ago. Everything was working fine but it wouldn't read my external drive, so I did a reboot. After the reboot, it freezes on the white screen after the chime. No keyboard combinations work to get it to do anything....also, if I hit the power button it shuts off immediately.
Nothing is working to get it moving. And yes, I am using a usb keyboard, not the Bluetooth, to try to hit any of the keyboard combinations posted in various discussions.
My AppleCare is expired, so I'm going to be very upset if I have to go pay to have Apple fix their problematic software. Any help you guys can give will be greatly appreciated.
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See if you can boot into the Safe Mode using your normal account. Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear and again when you log in. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don’t do them all at once.
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IMac not booting/finding HDD? White screen on Boot

Hi
Upgraded to Yosemite on launch day and the iMac has been fine up until last Monday.
We had a power cut and the iMac was on at the time. Since then, any time I try to switch it on I get a white screen.
I've created a Yosemite boot drive on my memory stick and it finds it. Gone into Disk Utility and it says the drive is damaged and backup any data is can.
Are the power cut and HDD failure connected or could it be something to do with Yosemite?
Its asking me to backup the data on the HDD but is this possible if I cant boot into it?
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I reopened the imac, removed the optical drive (hdd was already out). Restarted with my USB external HDD connected, nothing happened, white screen still. I then reconnected the friend's USB HDD also and restarted and got the screen to choose a startup disk.
Computer then boots fine from my external hdd. Turn it off, reinstall my HDD and optical drive.
Turn it on again and am greeting with the same blank white screen again.
I then remove the optical drive again and am able to boot from the internal drive. BUT when I go to system preferences to change startup disk, if I check the internal drive or the external USB drive and click reset I got the error "building boot caches on boot helper partition failed". I have no idea what is going on. I repair permissions several times.
I then restart the computer several times and it seems to restart consistently from the internal drive. I then put the optical drive back in and it now appears to be working.
The original external drive I booted from was a 10.5 macbook pro cloned drive. So I don't know if that somehow corrupted my 10.8 imac drive or some firmware that made it such that it wouldn't boot.
What a hassle.
And for anyone who cares and has read this far, I am living in a remote town in Mongolia at the time and didn't have any suction cups to remove the front glass from the imac. I do have an iSesamo tool to open up ipod touches and such, and was able to use that to get the front glass off.
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Looks like this is the answer --
"Some RAM may appear to pass the Power-On-Self-Test (POST) but still cannot be used by the operating system. In this case, the computer will display a gray screen, sound three tones and blink the power LED on the front of the computer three times, pause, and repeat the blinking until the computer is turned off."
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cetainly those are my symptoms.
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Intel imac (white) will not start up, please help.

I have a 20" intel imac (white not silver) running 10.6.4.
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I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.0, attempted boot, same infinite white screen/apple logo.
I created a bootable external drive from SL 10.6.4 on my macbook. I attempted to boot from this drive, and got the white screen of death, except that this time I actually got the loading symbol underneath the Apple logo. After about a minute of attempting to boot, the Apple logo changed to a circle with a diagonal line through it (the "NO!" sign).
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My 2011 IMac will not boot up past the White apple logo screen with the whirly circle

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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.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. 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.
d. 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 the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d 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 11. 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
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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.

Imac wont boot - i get a white screen with apple logo, and it loads to about 10%, then screen goes black

imac wont boot - i get a white screen with apple logo, and it loads to about 10%, then screen goes black

Hey there mtriest,
It sounds like you are unable to boot the iMac successfully as it keeps shutting down when you try to boot. I suggest the troubleshooting from the following article named:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Disconnect, test peripheral devices and network cables
Note: "Peripheral devices" refers to external devices other than what came with your Mac, such as hard drives, printers, or hubs that you connect via a USB or FireWire cable.
Shut down your Mac. If necessary, hold your Mac's power button for several seconds to force it to power down.
Disconnect all peripheral devices such as external hard drives or printers (leave only the display, a keyboard, and mouse connected).
Disconnect any Ethernet cables.
Start up your Mac.
If you can start up this way, one or more of your peripheral devices (or installed software related to the device) is probably causing the gray screen issue. Connect one device, then restart your Mac to test for the issue. Repeat the process until you locate the device at issue. Make sure the device is powered if it needs to be to operate correctly. Check with the manufacturer of the device for support or possible software driver or firmware updates that may be available for the device. Try a different cable with the device if possible (such as a different USB or FireWire cable).
Note: If you have multiple peripheral devices and the issue only occurs when they are all connected, but not when each device is the only peripheral connected, see the Additional Information section below.
If you are using a desktop Mac with a third-party keyboard and/or mouse device, and the issue still occurs, try starting up with an Apple keyboard and mouse connected instead. Try starting with no keyboard and mouse connected, then connect them after start up. Also, try a different USB port on your Mac.
If the gray screen issue persists with no devices connected, go to the next section (with the peripherals still disconnected).
Perform a Safe BootSimply performing a Safe Boot may resolve this issue.
Shut down your Mac. If necessary, hold your Mac's power button for several seconds to force it to power down.
Start your Mac, then immediately hold the Shift key. This performs a Safe Boot. Advanced tip: If you want to see the status of a Safe Boot as it progresses, you can hold Shift-Command-V during start up (instead of just Shift).
Note: A Safe Boot takes longer than a typical start up because it includes a disk check and other operations.
If your Mac starts up as expected, immediately try restarting.
If the Safe Boot does not work, or the restart after a successful Safe Boot does not work, go to the next section.
There is additional information in the article with further troubleshooting if needed.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Sterling

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TuuS wrote:
600X wrote:
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SOLVED-Install not booting on Intel Imac-white screen

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