Trouble Booting Mac Mini

Older Mac Mini. Hard drive failed. Just installed new hard drive. Reset PRAM. Got it all the way to the point where it was installing the OS on the new drive... (I was impressed with myself! Of course I probably spoke too soon).
Anyway, got about 75% of the way there (Disc 1 of 2) and the mac shut down unexpectedly.
Now, when I boot (regardless of the options I try), I get the apple logo screen and the do-hickey thing that rotates for about 20-30 seconds and then it shuts down.
If I try booting while holding <SHIFT> -- I get:
A screenful of hex codes and at the end:
Darwin Kernal Version 8.2.1: Fri Jun 24 23:31:10 PDT 2005; root:xnu-792.c.2.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC panic: We are hanging here....
for a few seconds before it dies.
I also can't seem to eject the OS CD...
Yes, we are hanging here!
Help? I'm probably a couple of replies away from making a lamp out of it.

+From your last message it sounds as though the timing of pressing "C" is tricky. Can you give me a sense of whether I should be pressing it before, during, after the startup sound?+
I think immediately after the startup sound will work best. But again, you may have to experiment. Hold the C key down until you see the "gears" spinning on the screen. Or hear lots of CDROM activity.

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Non-booting Mac mini (stuck at gray screen with no Apple logo or others)

We've got a G4 Mac mini whose motherboard was recently replaced. I've put it back together carefully following the instructions on pbfixit.com, but I can't get it to boot.
When powered on, the chime sounds normal, and the screen comes on after a few seconds with a gray background--no Apple log, no spinner, no error, no flashing icons, nothing.
I've already zapped the PRAM 3 times using OptCmd+PR, no go.
I'm able to get into OpenFirmware using OptCmd+OF and have done reset-nvram and reset-all, restarting the machine, but no luck. The system date remains current also, indicating perhaps it's not resetting the PRAM either way somehow.
The disc drive won't accept a boot CD or DVD as if it's unpowered, but it's snugly connected.
I'm unsure what to test next. Suggestions? Thanks.

Greetings,
I just had the exact same problem with a Mini. Would only boot to a gray screen no matter what I did. Booting into the OpenFirmware did help, booting into the Startup utility (by holding "T" down at startup showed no hard drive and no CD/DVD drive.
Hold on to your hat . . . .
The issue was the battery. These guys have a Lithium battery that allows them to boot up, a battery that can be purchased anywhere that sells those kinds of thing. I bought 2 for $3.50, it was more time and trouble to get into the case and get at the logic board but once the battery was replaced everything works like a dream.
Here is an excellent step-by-step tutorial about getting into the case http://www.sterpin.net/uk/ddMacMiniuk.htm. Just make sure that doing so doesn't void any warranties.
Good Luck!
Gail

Boot Mac Mini w/Bluetooth without Keyboard/Mouse attachted

Hi,
I´m trying to boot a Mac Mini with Bluetooth without any Keyboard/Mouse attachted to it.
It doesn´t work. Every time the Mac stucks at looking for Bluetooth devices.
Running 10.4.11
Any ideas?
Thanks a lot,
seb

already tried this one!
That would have been helpful to know from the beginning so we don't waste our time with things you've already tried. What else have you already tried to troubleshoot this situation?
Maybe you need to delete that preference file, as it's clearly not working correctly? This file is not in your own user's home folder, but in the root "Library" folder in this path:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
Put that file in the Trash, restart, log back in, delete the trash, and uncheck the option again in the System Preferences. Does it stick now? Or have you tried that already too?
-Doug

Slow booting mac mini..

Hi. I have a mac mini (early 2009, 2ghz, 4gb ddr3 memory). For some reason it seems to boot slower than my girlfriends mac mini (late 2006, 1.6ghz 2gb ddr2memory). Both are running 10.6.7 fully updated, connecting to the same network with only a keyboard and mouse attached. Hers even runs a little faster until you start to load it up with programs. Anybody know why? Or what could be wrong with mine?

The most obvious things that load at login, which is part of startup if you have auto login enabled, are located at Apple menu-->System Preferences-->Accounts-->Login Items. Unless you are certain that something listed here is not necessary, leave it alone.
To get an idea of which processes are running on your mini that are not running on your girlfriend's, launch /Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor on each system. From the Show menu, choose All Processes, then click in the User column to sort by user. Any process that is owned by root was launched during the startup process. You can compare the processes owned by root on each system to determine what is different. That might help you get a handle on what is different with your mini. Just because you find a process that isn't on your girlfriend's system does not mean that it is unnecessary. It just means your system is running it and her's is not. If you give us the process names, it may help determine it's usefulness.

"Start Idle Timer Stopped" How to boot Mac Mini?

I was following Apple's procedure to setup Boot Camp - I had partitioned the drive on my Mac Mini, installed Mac OS X 10.4 and was setting about the upgrade it to Leopard, when it crashed with the prompt:
localhost:/root# CSRHIDTransitionDriver::stop
IOBluetoothHCIController::Start Idle Timer Stopped
No mater if I started by resetting the parameter RAM, Safe boot (Shift Key), Option key, or from the System DVD (C Key), it came up withe the same message. It is a command prompt - and I can do a "reboot" command (with the same result). I did a "/sbin/fsk -fy" and the disk checked out okay.
Any ideas on what I might do to get this thing going again? How can I get it to actually boot, either from the hard drive or the system DVD?

I also reset the System Management Controller:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303446
...and tried booting diagnostics (D Key), both also to no avail.

Metallic scraping sound when booting Mac mini

Hi,
I just bought a Mac mini last week, and I've noticed that when I start it up, there's a sequence of two metallic scraping sounds coming out it when I start it up. I'm guessing that it's some part of the optical drive mechanism checking to see if a disc is inserted (there isn't a disc in the drive), but the noise is much louder than I've experienced when booting any other Mac or Windows machine that I've used. Is this normal, or is this something that needs investigation? If it matters, I have Boot Camp installed, so Snow Leopard is on one partition of the hard drive, and Windows Vista is on the other. The sound occurs regardless of which partition is set to be the boot partition.
Thanks,
Ken

Hi,
Thanks for the info. I confirmed at one of the Apple Stores near me that the sound is exactly as you described it. I agree with you, this is the noisiest optical drive that I've ever heard, significantly louder than the sound that an empty floppy drive makes when booting a Windows machine.
Thanks again,
Ken

Stop sign on first boot (mac mini 2013)

Hello, I've just turned on for the first time my Mac mini, and it seems something is wrong... apple sign appears for 30 secongs, and then stop sign shows and this is the end of boot...
help people....

The OS X copy is damaged. If I were you, I would simply return it. You have 14 days since the purchase date to return the Mac and get another one for free, so I recommend you to do this.
If you want to try to solve the problem, hold Command, Option (Alt) and R keys while your Mac is starting to start up in Internet Recovery, and reinstall OS X

Boot mac mini server into single-user mode?

I've got a mac mini server (one of the ones with no optical drive) and I'm trying to boot it into single-user mode. I hit the power button and hold down the command (apple, splat) key and the 'S' key simultaneously ---- until it boots up to a login prompt rather than a black screen with white text and a unix command prompt...
Is there some magic different on this particular machine to get to single-user?

Hi, I wonder if anyone helped you out. I'm new here so here goes. I just bought a mac mini, but not the server. I had finished my new install and then I rebooted and got a black screen, since i have a wireless Apple keyboard, I cannot log into the computer by using commands, like Command-S. And Yes, you are using the right command, that hasn't changed.
Your problem may be the same as mine, are you using a wireless keyboard, because if you are, it seems that the Bluetooth doesn't have time to install its software while we are trying to log into the system. Thus, as we reboot, we are holding down they keys but that won't help us because the Bluetooth software doesn't have time to do its thing, in the background.
That is a huge problem because I don't have any other keyboard, but if you have access to a keyboard, get one and plug it into the back of your Mac mini and then you should be all set.
Does this make sense? Let me know if this helps. I have no idea what to do because now I have a brand new computer with a serious screen with the you must reboot your system in many languages, and when one gets this it is not a good sign.

Password Protect (Boot) Mac Mini

Is there a way to enable a Boot Password on the Mac Mini (2010)? O/S is 10.8.2.
Thanks!
Ron

Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select Utilities ▹ Firmware Password Utility from the menu bar.

Intermittent slow or no boot mac mini 2011

Hi i have a mac mini 2011 base model, i upgraded the hdd to a crucial m4 128gb rev 0009, the ram from 2gb to 8gb and got a second hdd cable and put the original 500gb as second drive space (after erasing partitions and reformatting via usb). all was working well for a couple of months then all of a sudden it started to take 5+ mins to boot or not at all, just apple logo with spinning gear.
if i force power off and try again 9/10 it will boot fine second or third time (actually booting in 3-5 gear spins) but i have to do this all the time, it will not boot on first try.
first i tried resetting the PRAM and SMC no joy.
then i tried doing a recovery and erased the drive (SSD) and reinstalled Lion, still no joy
then i went into apple hardware diagnostics no errors repoted, i also did a memtest and hdd test (using remember and smart utility respetivly), also no errors
then i changed the ram back to the original 2gb still no joy
additional:
once the system has managed to boot it works flawlessly and very fast, if at this point i reboot or shutdown and power back on within 2 mins it boots up perfectly fine, if it is left off for more than say 10 mins i have to start the whole process of boot, wait 2-3mins (apple logo and spinning gear) hold power down until off and power back up (will boot after 2-3 times of doing this, then no problems until next time)
Please can ANYONE help me!!!!!! im at my wits end, im very tech savvy so any technicial answers / suggestions are fine.
i do hope someone can help!!
Kirk

I had a 'spinning beachball' issue with my Crucial M4 2.5" 256GB SSD, and found the following fix to be firmware related. NOTE: Do NOT update Firmware to the most recent version released 04/2012 (000F). Make sure to have your SSD backed up prior to update, unless of course you're trying to re-load.
========
The SSD firmware version is stored on the SSD itself so the upgrade does not need to be carried out on the system the SSD will be used in. The easiest way to upgrade the firmware is by connecting the SSD to a system that has a CD drive.
If this is not possible, you can follow these steps to create a bootable USB flash drive and upgrade the firmware from that.
1. Connect an empty USB flash drive
2. Download rEFIt-syslinux from the link below. This will allow your USB drive to be recognized as a startup volume by the Mac.
http://blog.io101.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/rEFIt-Syslinux.dmg_.zip
3. Mount the dmg. This will mount two volumes called 'rEFIt' and 'SYSLINUX'
4. Open a Terminal and take a note of which volume is which with the command <diskutil list>
e.g. /dev/disk1 for the USB drive and /dev/disk2 for the dmg
5. Unmount (NOT eject) both volumes, after you have confirmed the two new volumes (e.g. disk1 & disk2):
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
You should get a message saying you were successful
6. Copy the dmg onto the USB drive:
dd if=/dev/disk2 of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m
You should get a message detailing the number of records in and out and number of bytes transferred
7. Eject both:
diskutil eject /dev/disk1
diskutil eject /dev/disk2
8. Unplug and plug back in the USB drive and mount the SYSLINUX volume
9. Download the firmware version 0309 for the M4 SSD here:
http://edge.crucial.com/firmware/m4/0309/Crucialm4_0309.zip
10. Unzip and mount the firmware ISO and go into the folder BOOT, then ISOLINUX
11. Copy the contents into the SYSLINUX volume
12. Delete the existing file syslinux.cfg and rename ISOLINUX.CFG to syslinux.cfg
13. Reboot your mac and hold the option key to select a boot volume and select the eEFIt volume, then choose the "Boot legacy OS SYSLINUX' option
14. Follow the instructions to update the firmware.

TROUBLE BOOTING MAC OS 10.3.2

I am having trouble booting my powerbook g3 pismo to the mac os. when i start it up, it has the apple logo, then after about 3 seconds it goes to a circle with a line through the middle!!! what are possible causes for this?? How can i fix this?? thanks -roger

roger,
"well when i bought it last week it had 10.3.2 on it..."
How do you know that?
"It did not come with any install disks or system disks however,..."
Can you contact the seller, and request that they be provided?
"I have an OS 10.2 install disk which I previously purchased."
Do they look like THESE?
If the Firmware Update, was not applied, prior to the installation of OS X, there could be problems.
As you really don't know the condition of the system, it's difficult to diagnose where the problem lies.
ali b

How to set the NUM LOCK on at boot (mac mini)

Its most convenient for us to have NUM LOCK set to "on" at boot up.
But how to do this?
I'm used to PCs where this can be pre-set in the BIOS. How to make it work with a MAC MINI?
We do have an Apple keyboard ( the slim metal wired variety with numeric keypad...)

Loki6977, welcome to the forum.
Here is something to try:
Control Panel / Power Options / Choose what the power buttons do / uncheck Turn on fast startup (recommended) and reboot. This may just solve your problem.
Please click "KUDOS" if I have helped you and click "Accept as Solution" if your problem is solved.
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No signal to VGA monitor using Mac mini display to VGA adaptor and first time boot Mac mini

Just unpacked Mac mini and powered up using Mac mini to VGA display adaptor and VGA monitor. There is no signal to the monitor ( power is on).
How to see the display?

[ 13.093] (==) No Layout section. Using the first Screen section.
[ 13.093] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
[ 13.093] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
[ 13.093] (**) | |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
[ 13.093] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
Using a default monitor configuration.
First step would be to create the necessary entries (easier to make a complete xorg.conf versus xorg.conf.d/##-whatever.conf).
All Desktop Environments / Window Managers rely on X. Man pages are helpful, possibly some headaches ahead as I fought a dual-monitor display this way.
I currently run a xrandr script to switch displays on my hp pavilion: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xrandr#Scripts
Check it out.

Trouble with Mac mini and samsung 5 series tv

Hi there, have just bought a second hand mini and trying to hook it up to my samsung 5 serties tv!!! easy or so i thought!! iget the apple loading screen (grey one!) and then it goes blank and nothing else happens! has anyone got any suggestions? thanks in advance!

If you look through the threads here you'll find that this sort of issue has come up quite often, both with TVs and even with some monitors. Typically the problem is that once the system has booted to the point that the screen changed from the grey one with Apple logo, it's loading the preferences previously set in MacOS. When that happens, if the system has display preferences set that the display itself can't work with, the screen will generally go blank, or show a very distorted or rolling image. If your mini had previously been used with a relatively high resolution or refresh rate setting which your TV can't cope with, it means you need to reset the mini's preferences to something more basic, at least to get you going.
You can do this in a number of ways, but the easiest is probably to go ahead and connect the system to a computer monitor and boot it up, then set the display preferences to something very basic such as 800x600. If you don't have a computer monitor to connect to, then instead, boot the system into safe mode by holding the shift key down as the system boots. This should set it to a basic resolution the TV can manage. Open the display preference pane and set a 800x600 resolution.
If that still doesn't help, boot again (to computer monitor or into safe mode) and in the Finder's Edit menu, use the Find command to search for all instances of 'windowserver' (no quotes) and drag all instances found (there should be 3 or 4) to the trash. These are the files that tell MacOS what settings to use for the display, so trashing them will prevent the system using previously settings. After that, reboot normally. With those files missing, the Mac will create new ones when it boots and loads MacOS, giving you a usable display at low resolution. You should be able to work from there to get the correct resolution set for your TV.

How do I boot Mac Mini when 'c' or 'command' 's' doesn't work

I recently reinstalled OSX 10.4.7 and OSX Leopard 10.5 upgrade. It appears that when inserting my name and password during the installation I must have miss typed something as when trying to update and install software the computer now asks for my administrator name and password which I cant get right.
I have tried inserting the Mac OS X Install disc while pressing ‘c’ to boot the computer from the installation disc, however the computer appears not to recognise the ‘c’ command and opens the computer from the hard disc instead.
I have also tried to book the computer while holding 'Command S', but also here the computer merely starts up from the hard disc as normal.
I have tried my Mac (Danish) keyboard and a (UK) Mac Keyboard from Work with no difference.
I can change my Mac user name and password without problems under accounts, (forgive me for my ignorance) which I now assume must be different form the administrator account?! I am at a loss. I am certain I am writing the name and password I put in during the installation but must non the less have forgotten a detail in it.
Can you help suggest how to gain access to update and installing software again.
Sincerely
Ib, Edgware in London

Hello,
Might you have setup Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352
It would block usage of all the startup keys, like C, N, T, D, CMD+s, CMD+Option+p+r, CMD +v, Option, and Shift, as well as booting from anything but the Hard Drive.

Trouble Booting Mac Mini

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