Trouble updating to 10.5.5 and now imac won't start!

Yesterday I updated my imac G5 to 10.5.5. I already updated my macbook and had no issues, so I thought this update would be just fine. I repaired disk permissions first, and then ran the update.
I left the computer to reboot and install the update, and came back to find an error message-- that the update failed.
I rebooted the computer and it wouldn't start. It gets stuck on the gray apple start-up screen-- the thing spins, and that's it. It was like that for 30 minutes so I just shut the computer down.
In my 15 years of owning macs this is the first time I've had an update fail-- so badly that I can't start the computer. Help!

A clone would make it simple, you can just re-clone back from the clone and have a working system again.
To eject the CD reboot the Mac and hold down the eject key as soon as you do. With any luck it will pop the CD out even if it doesn't finish booting.
If not, you Mac is old enough it might just have a little hole next to the CD player. If it does just stick a paper clip in there and you can pop it out. I don't know why Apple got rid of that, very useful.
If no hole you'll have to open up the Mac to manually eject the disk. I've never opened up an iMac so I don't know how it works on that Mac.
Otherwise you will have to get a firewire drive with a system on it or a firewire DVD player to boot from the Leopard install disk. Maybe you can borrow one.
You can also use another Mac, connect the two by firewire cable. Make sure your computer is off and the other is on then connect via firewire. Start yours up and hold down the t key so it won't boot but will start up in target mode. It should show up on the other computer as a hard drive on the desktop. Doesn't matter if yours won't boot with a system because you are bypassing the system and turning it into a standard hard drive temporarily.
Then you can eject the CD from the other computer, or even start up the other computer on the Leopard Install CD and reinstall the system on your computer. An Erase & Install is probably your best bet right now.

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Give this a try:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
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Just updated itunes to 12.1 and now it won't sync or show my iphone 5s

I just updated itunes to 12.1 and now it won't sync or show my iphone 5s.. I have tried EVERYTHING. I completely uninstalled & reinstalled my itunes 2 times. Everything is completely up to date, and when I plug my iPhone into the computer, it makes the normal beep sound, and charges, but will not sync or show on iTunes so that I can sync anything..

Hey ksooter,
I know you have said you have tried everything but have you tried out some of the troubleshooting in the article below? For instance, have you checked the Apple Mobile Device support is installed properly and if the Apple Mobile Device is installed? Take a look at the article below to double check some of the things you have done to see if you can get your iPhone to show back up.
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http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204095
Take care,
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Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Plz help
Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Reinstall OS X.
Reinstall Snow Leopard without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
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2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

I did a factory reset on my late 2008 MacBook from a Snow Leopard disc. It installed fine, but as soon as I began to use the computer (safari) it froze. Couldn't even force quit. So I held down the power button to turn it off, and now it won't start up.

I did a factory reset on my late 2008 MacBook from a Snow Leopard disc. It installed fine, but as soon as I began to use the computer (safari) it froze. Couldn't even force quit. So I held down the power button to turn it off, and now it won't start up. It goes to the grey Apple screen and just sits there loud as can be. Help! Please keep in mind I've not done anything like this before and am going to need a little hand-holding. Thanks in advance.

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So it is powering on. You did not state that before. In that case:
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Also see this if above doesn't work:
Install OS X from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
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3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
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4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
           because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should install the original version of OS X that came on the machine.

ITunes kept freezing and now it won't start at all

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Then it got worse, and now it won't start at all. After I click on the icon to open iTunes (I have Windows 8) the screen turns white, the blue wheel spins and nothing happens. When I hold the cursor over the iTunes icon in the task bar I can see two preview tiles (one for Download and one for iTunes itself), but both are blank (all white) and nothing happens - the blue wheel will spin forever. What do I do?
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Hello, J Appleseed.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
You can try an uninstall and reinstall of iTunes to see if that resolves the issue. Your iTunes library will not be deleted by doing this. However, this issue could be a result of multiple issues so an uninstall/reinstall may not resolve this. Below, I have included the best articles that will help you isolate and possibly correct this issue. Process each step and test the results after each step processed.
Removing and reinstalling iTunes and other software components for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1923
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3125
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4123
Cheers,
Jason H.

Plz help Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Plz help
Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

/var is a hidden folder, so you mustn't remove the folder.
The only solution is to reinstall OS X. If you have OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, use OS X Recovery > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
Hold Command and R keys while your MacBook is starting and reinstall OS X. You won't lose anything. If you have a backup, you can restore it after starting in OS X Recovery instead of reinstalling Mac OS X, so you will save a lot of time

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Thanks for your help.

Try this from MacFixIt as well:
In the case of drive directory damage or problems with permissions, the solution is usually to use Apple's Disk Utility to repair the disk. Of course, you won't be able to perform this operation normally (simply launching the Disk Utility application, located in Applications/Utilities, and initiating a disk repair) if your system will not startup. So two options exist:
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My iphone 3g has been restored but it went under safety mode and now it won't start, what do I do?

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Trouble updating to 10.5.5 and now imac won't start!

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