Why has my computer restored to factory settings?

After a bit of help if possible please - I'm new to the world of apple and was enjoying discovering my newly purchased product (been about a month now).
Last night I left the girlfriend with it - and she shut it down for the night. I turn it on this morning and it appears to have restored to it's factory settings - i.e. screen saver & system preferences are the default ones. The most frustrating thing is that I've lost all the music from iTunes - when I went into it I was asked all the user acceptance agreements etc. - it was as if I had not been in the application at all! All photos were gone from iPhoto, but they are in the photo library in my documents.
She maintains that she did nothing unusual (although this was her first time on it). Is there something she could have done to have caused this? Or is this is an issue with the mac?
Would GREATLY appreciate anyone's help out there.
On a seperate issue - my apple mouse cursor occasionally returns to a corner of the screen for no apparent reason. Is anything causing this?
Thanks.
Ed
iMac intel core duo   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  
iMac intel core duo   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

Hey Eric - you're on the money with that one. I did change the name of my home folder - one customisation too far it appears! Thanks a lot for that. Fortunately I just need to restore the music from the ipod, so not a too costly mistake.
Now all I have to do is eat a bit of humble pie...and maybe an apology to the missus.
Thanks again - great forum by the way.

Similar Messages

  • I have the iPhone 4, recently installed ios6 now my phone constantly turns itself off, keeps freezing and then 2 or 3 times in the space of 24hrs it has to be restored to factory settings. This has gone on for over a week.

    I have the iPhone 4, recently installed ios6 now my phone constantly turns itself off, keeps freezing and then 2 or 3 times in the space of 24hrs it has to be restored to factory settings. This has gone on for over a week.

    If all basic troubleshooting has been tried and a restore as new does not resolve, take it to Apple for evalation and possible replacement.

  • I updated my Iphone 5 today. After updated. I get a message  in recovery mode and has to be restored to factory settings. Please help!

    I updated my iphone 5 today and now I get a message on my phone that tells me to plug in and when plugged in to the computer I have a message that my phone is in recovery mode and that I need to restore my phone to factory settings, please help!

    Are you really running Windows 98? I sure hope not. :S
    I have noticed a few others with the same problem the past couple of weeks. Many of them were able to resolve the issue by doing a low level reformat of the iPod's flash storage using the instructions in this article.
    http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/ipodsupport/erase/
    B-rock

  • Updated Ipad now in recovery mode - why? If I restore to factory settings will I loose all my apps

    I updated my Ipad and it wont turn on - it's now in recovery mode - why is this? If I do reset it to factory settings will I loose all my apps?

    Something went wrong with the update and your iPad can not boot.
    Yes, doing the required restore wipes all data.
    Restore from your backup.

  • I installed hotspot shield on my 2009 macbook pro and all **** has broken loose on my computer in my attempts to rid my system of the app. Restoring to factory settings seems the only viable option. How do I do this?

    I purchased the elite version of Hotspot Shield VPN only to found it is a wothless scam that drags down your computer. Unfortuantley its been nothing but a nightmare to get it out of my computer. Spents over a week combing through threads on what to do and amy ahve done more damage than anything else. It would appear that restoring my computer to its factory settings is the best thing in my current situation. Ive already lost all my photos and everything else of relevance, at least I hope, I have backed up in on an external disk. Could someone please guide me through this process? i just want to be done with this horribly frustrating situation. Thank you!

    Hey jollygreen666,
    If you're ready to do a full restore on your computer, this is how you should go about it.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14243 - Erase and Install
    1. Power down your computer.
    2. Boot your computer holding either Command + R or Option. If you hold option you should see Macintosh HD and Recovery HD. Click on Recovery HD and press the arrow underneath to boot to recovery. If you hold Command + R you will go straight into recovery.
    3. To do a clean install, in the list of utilities, click Disk Utility. In disk Utility, you will see Macintosh HD or whatever you have named your hard drive.
    4. Click on Macintosh HD, and you'll see tabs along the top of disk utility. Press the Erase tab.
    5. For the Format box, select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). In the name box you can leave Macintosh HD.
    6. Press Erase in the bottom right corner.
    At this point you will have a blank hard drive, and you will be able to reinstall Mavericks clean without any extra data. To do so you would:
    1. Exit Disk Utility.
    2. In the menu, select Reinstall Mac OS X.
    3. Follow the prompts to reinstall OS X, and when it asks you where you want to install it, press Macintosh HD.
    This will leave you with a clean install of Mavericks.
    Since you don't know how deep this software has gone, I would suggest you manually migrate your data back over from your external hard drive to prevent files from the software from showing up again.
    Good luck!

  • HT201269 My computer crashed and had to be restored to factory settings. My ipad has my ituned library. how do i get the music collection from the ipad to the computer?

    my computer crashed and had to be restored to factory settings losing ituness collection of music. My ipad has my itunes library. how do i get the music collection from the ipad to the computer?

    You should be able to copy iTunes purchases over to your computer's iTunes via File > Devices > Transfer Purchases. For music from other sources (e.g. copied from CDs) you will need a third-party program to copy them back from your iPad - there are some listed half-way down this page which should work : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

  • My computer has crashed and I have had to restore the factory settings, without backing up my purchases is there anyway which I can recover purchased downloads?

    My computer has crashed and I have had to restore the factory settings, without backing up my purchases is there anyway which I can recover purchased downloads?

    check out Dave Sawyer's post in this thread.

  • AirPort Extreme extends my network and has worked well for three months. Now it can no longer extend the network and flashes Amber. I have restored to factory settings moved it closer to time capsule and rebooted the system without luck

    i have a blinking Amber on my extreme now and it cannot extend the network.  It was working fine and nothing has changed. I have restored to factory settings moved it to another room and rebooted the system without luck. Any suggestions

    What OS are you running?
    Please give me a screenshot of the current AE setup..
    I strongly recommend if you have issues.. take control of all the variables. Apple routers have too much auto..
    Here is a list that I use for setups when using Yosemite.. but it relates to any OS.
    You will need to factory reset again to get going.
    Factory reset universal
    Power off the AE.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the AE to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
    Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite or whatever you are using.
    1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.
    eg AEgen5 for basestation.
    Use AE24ghz and AE5ghz for wireless on each band, with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense.
    2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.
    3. Ensure the AE always takes the same IP address.. this is not a problem for router but if the AE is bridged you can have trouble.. Try using the static IP method or control it via the main router dhcp reservations.
    4. Check your share name on the computer/s is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric..
    5. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only.
    6. Set up the extend to the Express using 2.4ghz and then see how good or bad the connection is.. this is better in the old v5 utility but if you hover your mouse over where it shows connection an extra chunk of info comes up.
    I have specifically used 5ghz to make the extend.. because by testing it works better.. but do not be fooled.. this good connection is poor.. the RSSI.. which is difference signal .. at -79dbm is down the bottom of the stable.. and it drops out on a daily basis.. you want to see that signal around -60dbm at min.
    There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.

  • My PC has been restored to factory settings, can i sync my music on my ipod with a new itunes page.

    my PC has been restored to factory settings, can i sync my music on my ipod with a newly downloaded itunes

    You'll want to copy the music from your iPod to your computer and into iTunes first.  See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering some of the different methods and software available to assist you with this task.  Once you have successfully copied all your content back to your PC and into iTunes, you can safely Erase and Sync your iPod.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
    B-rock

  • How can I tell if my macbook pro has been restored to factory settings?

    I just bought I brand new macbook pro (15,4 inch) from an official apple store... but I'm thinking that it may be used (it was a bit dirty when I opened it, but it has no scratches).
    I tried with coconut battery, but it went ok, the battery is new. However they might have changed it.
    Is there a way to know if the mac was restored to factory settings?
    ... if not, is there any other way to know if is a used laptop?
    Thanks,

    cycle count says 1... wich correspond to the initial battery discharge I just did. That's why I think they may have changed the battery.
    Serial number is C02FHFG0DF8V... how can you tell if this correspond to a refurbished unit?
    It has all the "official" envelops of a brand new mac... the thing is that I found small dust specks all over the interior of the box and in the accesories (not on the notebook itself).
    According to coconut "Age of your Mac" is 11 weeks.
    That's why I thought the only way I could knew for sure if they used it before (maybe for showcasing at the store) was finding out if it was restored to factory settings. (Also I bought it in an official apple store).

  • All the apps that I have downloaded are "waiting" and whenever I try to sync apps on my computer with my phone, the apps section is greyed out and won't allow me to do anything. I have tried restoring to factory settings but it didn't work.

    How can I access my apps? They are all greyed out in itunes. I have tried restoring my iphone to factory settings but that didn't work. I have a feeling it may have something to with the restrictions settings on my phone  restrictions are on) but it won't allow me to change the restrictions without putting in a passcode. I don't remember ever having a passcode and after several attempts have not been able to get the right code.
    Also. on my phone, in settings, personal hotspot, iCloud and Twitter are greyed out. And, the App Store icon is missing from my screen as well.
    Can anybody help me with this?
    Thanks

    yep, unfortunately can't reset without the passcode either.
    With regards to doing a restore, do you mean:
    open itunes on my computer
    click on my device on the left
    go to the device summary
    click restore
    it then asks if i want to back up before i restore (to which i say no)
    then it asks me if i'm sure I want to restore to factory settings and that all of me media and data will be erased and replaced with the newest version ( to which I say yes)
    then it takes about 90 mins to do this but when I look at my phone, everything is exactly the same.
    Am I missing something? Obviously I'm technologically challenged, but I HAVE to get to the bottom of this!

  • How do I restore my itunes library? My computer was restored to factory settings and I couldn't find a restore date that allowed my to get access to all of my files. Now my itunes library is empty minus the songs we've recently purchsed!

    MY computer was restored to factory settings. Is there a way to get my previous itunes library back? I don't have an Ipod or other device that I saved my itunes library to.

    Restore the media from the backup of the computer.
    If it was simply restored via the Windows restore point, no data on the computer should have been affected.
    If the computer was formated and Windows re-installed, no data remained on the computer and will have to be added back by the user.

  • Ipod classic has been wiped. cannot see it on the 'device list' in my itunes. I have tried restoring to factory settings and reloading...it reloads some of the music, but when I plug the Ipod back in, it wipes it again.

    Ipod classic has been wiped saying 'no music'etc.
    Cannot see it on the 'device list' in my itunes. I have tried restoring to factory settings and reloading...it reloads some of the music, but when I plug the Ipod back in, it wipes it again. Ocassionally Itunes freezes when I plug in the Ipod.

    Make sure your headphones are plugged in all the way, meaning you cannot see any of the silver still showing from the headphone's plug. 
    A feature of the Nano is to put it to sleep when the display goes out and it does not detect any headphones.
    B-rock

  • Ipod touch is not recognised by the computer or in i tunes and is unrepsonsive. All we get is the apple logo. How can it be restored to factory settings?

    My ipod touch is not recognised by the computer or by itunes. All we get on the ipod is the apple logo and it won't do anything else. How do we restore the factory settings?

    Have you tried everything here?
    iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
    B-rock

  • I am Having iPOD Classic 80GB.On Sync. a message tells that it is not able toread the ipod contents -restore to factory settings-on restoring it tells that it can not be restored as it has files that are used by other applications. Pl advice

    I am having iPOD classic 80GB . I Have the 10.5Latest Version of iTunes installed. When I go for Sync.It tells me to restore to factory settings as it is unable to read the contents. On restoring it tells : unable to restore as this has files that are in use by another application. I have no idea what to do now. Pl advise. Thanks

    Try disabling any and all A/V or security software you are running on your system and see if that helps.
    B-rock

Maybe you are looking for