Will not boot to internal HD.

A friend's macbook (10.5) will not boot up. I booted it to my clone. I was able to read the files on the internal, but when I copied them, all of the files have a red minus symbol. I want to copy the whole internal and reinstall the system with install disk and restore from backup. I assume this is a permissions issue, but I do not know what to do.

Assuming the disk is readable what you need to do is clone that drive to another external drive using the Restore option in Disk Utility. If the machine will boot from that clone then there will be no permissions issues.
What you have now is because you are not the owner of the account to which the restored files belong, hence you do not have access to them. However, if the bad drive is reformatted and a new system installed which has the same username account created, then the saved data will be fully accessible to the actual account owner.

Similar Messages

G5 will not boot from internal hd

I have T-Booted this iMac G5 into FW Target Mode
Reformatting the HD from another iMac (INTEL)
Installed OS X 10.5 again
Booted the iMac (INTEL) off this iMac G5's HD OK
Setup the system fine and it all works OK.
BUT if I then try and get the iMac G5 to reboot off it's own internal HD it does not see the system.
Also, the iMac G% will not boot of the 10.5 Universal Install DVD?
What am I missing here please ?

Hi Ralph,
I could not see any internal HD by starting up with 'option' held down, only the install CD (10.4 CD 1 this time).
I rebooted into 10.4 Install CD1 and Used Disc Utility .. and there was the drive, but with two partitions on it ??
I formatted the internal HD drive and made just one Partition.
I rebooted, this time to a 10.5 Installer and just get to a blue screen.
So...
Seems that HD is there and OK?
This iMac G5 does not like a 10.5 system DVD
This iMac G5 does like a 10.4 system CD set 01,02,03,04...
This iMac G5 does have a SuperDrive listed on it's foot BTW.
What next do we think... just put 10.4 on it?...
iMac, G5, 20", 512Mb (2 GB now,) 250GG HD, SUPER, 56k, BT, AP
EMC 2056
W853024KSDZ

Macbook Pro will not boot from internal drive

I have a macbook pro model indentifier: macbookpro 7,1. The system would not boot what I have tried is first running apple diagnostics and all test fine, I tried booting from a snow leopard cd to re-install and it would not boot from the cd, however it does boot from the techtool pro 6 cd. I did run the test in techtool pro and all check out ok.
I removed the drive from the system and connected via usb to test and it boots fine from usb, put back internal and same result no boot. I did some research and I see that someone had a similar problem and it was the sata cable, but since the diagnostics test ok I am not sure that would be the problem.
Any Suggetions, this is driving me crazy
Thanks in advance
Bret

coffee would not HAVE to do anything except mechanically. It would not have any effect now since it has dried out, well short of corroding some components.
Check the points where the HDD casing "meets" the Macbook casing. How much pressure is there?
What about the pressure pins "pogo pins" are they all functioning?
What about pressure on the cables?
Please describe how it wont boot? What exactly does it do / happens

Imac g5 ALS will not boot from internal HD or portable drive or eject disc

I cannot get my g5 ambient light sensor Imac to boot from the internal hard drive or a portable drive. I have tried multiple keystroke combinations (c + power on, option + power on, and others) upon startup and all get the same response: the computer powers on and the screen displays the apple logo. after a minute or two, the screen darkens, and a multilingual message appears telling me that I need to restart the computer. I cannot get far enough to start from a different drive or a system software disk. I cannot eject the disc currently in the drive. I cannot run any diagnostic software, cannot reinstall system software or put another disc in the drive. obviously, I am experiencing hard drive problems, but I cannot seem to get past this frustrating stumbling block. any troubleshooting or problem solving would be greatly appreciated. I have checked other discussions and support forums, but cannot find any that reference the specifics that I have mentioned. I have researched and tried the logic board check and many other potential "solutions", but none of the discussions mention the gray screen "you must restart your computer" message that I continually receive.

What you are experiencing is called a Kernel Panic.
First, to get the disc out of the drive, hold the mouse button down as you reboot.
Have you tried resetting the SMU?
1. Turn off the computer by choosing Shut Down from the Apple menu, or by holding the power button until the computer turns off.
2. Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord.
3. Wait 10 seconds.
4. Plug in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer.
5. Let go of the power button.
6. Press the power button once more to start up your iMac.
Then try booting from your install disc and running Disk Utility:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
Please post back with results,

New HDD Will Not Boot Internally

I'm trying to install a 1TB HDD into my MBP in place of the 750GB that came with it. I wouldn't have thought this to be important information, but this 1TB drive has come from inside a Seagate Expansion. I've cloned the drive, and made sure it will boot externally, but it will not boot when internal! Here are all the things I've done to try and make this work:
With the Expansion unit still as sold, I connected externally and formatted the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). With the old 750GB drive still internally, I booted into Recovery Mode and used Disk Utility's "Restore" function to clone the 750GB drive to the 1TB. Once this was done I used the Startup Manager to boot from the newly cloned 1TB drive. This worked fine!
Taking the old drive out, and putting the new one in, I used the Startup Manager to select the new drive and it wouldn't boot. It came up with the Apple screen and spinning wheel, but wouldn't get further than that.
Thinking that some boot information hadn't been copied, I attached my old drive externally so that whatever information wasn't copied was at least accessible, but the new drive still wouldn't boot.
I took the new drive out and connected it externally via USB again, but this time with no drive internally. I selected the new drive in Startup Manager, and I was able to boot from it.
Unsure of what's going on, I wiped the new drive and put it back in the MBP. Booted into Recovery Mode and selected Restore from Time Machine backup. I went through the selection of where my backup was and which one to use, but my new 1TB drive wasn't available to restore to.
I then tried the option to Reinstall Mac OS X, however it wouldn't let me do this either.
I went to Disk Utility in Recovery Mode, with the new drive still internal, to see if the disk needed repairing. I noticed then that it didn't appear to have the same name I'd given the partition when I'd formatted it, and I was also unable to reformat it, erase it, or actually do anything to it at all.
For whatever reason, this hard drive will NOT work when installed internally. I've contacted Seagate and they basically told me to shove off for opening the unit and voiding the warranty, no one online seems to have any ideas as to why this isn't working!
If anyone has some great ideas for a solution they'd be more than welcome!

It worked! Drive and Recovery Partition were cloned without problem and I can now boot to the internal drive as normal.
Thanks for the help Grant!
The fix/method for anyone wanting to do this in future:
Install new HDD into Mac, connect old drive in an enclosure.
Boot to old drive recovery partition
Run Disk Utility from the recovery partition and 'restore' the image of your old drive (which is connected via USB) to the new drive.
Wait a LONG time (5 hours for a 750GB HDD) and it'll clone your entire HDD including the recovery partition.
Whilst still in recovery Disk Utility, change startup disk to the new HDD (the one installed in your Mac)
Disconnect USB drive and boot to the newly cloned intertnal drive.
Celebrate - up to you how to approach this one, I just did a little dance.

Mid-2009 MacBook Pro sees internal SATA hard drive, but will not boot from or format

I inherited a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz model) with a very strange issue.
It first presented itself as not being able to boot from the internal SATA hard drive that came with the computer. Nothing I tried could get it to boot, so I assumed the file system was corrupted beyond repair and booted from a CD to try to format the drive. Disk Utility on the CD would not format the drive, giving me strange error messages like "Unable to write to the last block of the device".
At this point I figured the drive itself must be toast, so I pulled it out and put another known-good SATA hard drive in, booted from CD, and attempted to format. Again, same error messages and an unsuccesful format.
So I had the bright idea of formatting one of the drives in an external enclosure and then putting it in the MBP to see if OS X would even install. No dice. Get a cryptic error message before installation even begins.
So I installed OS X on the drive in the external enclosure and put it in the MBP, and it attempts to boot, but never goes anywhere.
So to sum up, the symptoms I'm seeing:
MacBook Pro CAN see internal SATA hard drives.
MacBook Pro WILL NOT boot from any internal SATA hard drive and cannot format or install OS X to any internal SATA hard drive.
MacBook Pro WILL boot from any CD or external device and seems to work properly otherwise.
At this point I'm thinking it's one of two things: the hard drive ribbon cable or the SATA controller on the logic board.
Since the MacBook Pro seems to work completely fine other than this one issue, and will boot properly from both external devices and the CD (also a SATA device), I'm thinking and hoping that it's just the hard drive ribbon cable. From my searches online, I've heard that this batch of MacBook Pros is known to have issues with the hard drive ribbon cable, but it seems in most cases this manifests itself by the Mac not being able to see a drive at all.
I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting to get to this point, but right now I'm just looking for any feedback at all. Specifically I'd love to know a way I can easily test to see whether it's the logic board or the cable.

UPDATE: An interesting development!
I just tried a third known-good SATA hard drive, one which I believe supports SATA I only (but I'm not sure), and unlike the other drives that the Mac sees but cannot properly interact with, the Mac can't even see this one when I put it inside.
Frustrating as this may be, I believe I'm actually getting closer to a solution since my symptoms now appear to be closely aligned with people having SATA ribbon cable issues.
Onward!

I have a new macbook pro 2,6 Ghz i7, 8GB 1600Mhz internal ram. He will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard

I have a new macbook pro 2,6Ghz i7, 8GB 1600 Mhz internal ram, but he will not boot from an external disk with operating system Snow Leopard.

These Macs shipped with 10.7, and will run nothing older than that:
MacBook Pro
Date introduced
Original Mac OS X included
(see Tips 1 and 3)
Later Mac OS X included
(see Tip 1)
Mac OS X Build(s)
(see Tip 2)
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2068
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)
Jun 2012
10.7.4
11E2617
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
Oct 2011
10.7.2
10.7.3
11C74, 11C2002, 11D2001

Will not boot up on 1st try

Hey everyone,
I am having a strange problem, My computer will not boot up on the 1st try after it has been shut off for 2 hrs or more. Here are my specs and then I will go into more detail. I like to use pictures because some of the terminology escapes my vocabulary.
MSI P6N Diamond LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
2 X Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive In Raid 0
XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
BFG Tech 800W Power Supply>>+3.3V@24A,+5V@30A,+12V1@20A,+12V2@20A,+12V3@20A, +12V4@20A,[email protected],[email protected]
2 X LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive
COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Logitech Z-5300 Speakers 5.1
Samsung SyncMaster 204B monitor
Logitech G5 mouse
Windows XP home, SP2
Build Date 11/26/2007
Problem:
After being shut off for more than 2 hours my computer will not boot up on the 1st try. It goes to a message that says"Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key". I shut it down using the power button, wait for the hard drives to stop spinning, and then hit the power again and it starts up just fine. It will restart just fine also as many time as I want to restart it, after it has been running in windows. Once it is running, it runs terrific, no problems at all.
If you go right into the bios after sitting for a while you see this in the boot sequence, notice there is no hard drives(Nvidia Stripe)in the boot sequence.
After shutting it down and starting right back up this is what you see in the boot sequence. This pic is from a different time, thats why the boot sequence is different.
Here is a short youtube video (2:10 sec) made to help show the problem. (I called it a Cold boot Storage problem for another thread) just ignore that.
Things I have done to try to solve the problem:
1. Update the bios
2.I have moved the boot sequence around, Foppy1st, or CD 1st, ect. and even disabled the [USB:HP Photosm] in the boot sequence, Hard Drives are 1st now.
3.Replaced the Mobo Battery thinking that it was not remembering the boot sequence
4.Checked that the Hard Drives are connected to the correct plugs (6-7) on the motherboard, and that the raid connector JP1 was shorted out for Raid 0 and the blue indicator light was flashing.
* Just a note in this area. I did set up the Raid 0 with a tech from MSI because I was having an issue with the initial set up, and I did use the Nvidia raid drivers that came with the motherboard. Pchas01 in another thread thought that this could be part of the issue because it is not necessary to load the drivers when you set up the Motherboard in the Raid mode.
F10 and look in the Raid Array
5. Pulled the jumper off of JP1 and it just went to the "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key" screen much faster, but would never boot up after 5 tries. Put the jumper back in and started up on the 2nd try like the normal problem.
6.Went into the On-Chip ATA devices in the bios and Changed the Raid Mode to an IDE, I cannot F10 and get into the Raid Array now, but I guess that is normal.
Now this is what my boot sequence currently looks like.
That is the point that I am right now. It runs great, games are awesome on it. Its just does not want to start up on the 1st attempt.
Thanks for any help on this
Chris aka Fritzpeed novice builder

Thanks for the reply,
I started with the easy fixes first, changed the sata cables, and tried different power supply connectors. Both tests had same results, still boots up on 2nd try. I did not know how soon the problem would re-occur after it has been shut down, my shortest time so far is 25 minutes.
Quote
Why only one RAID channel is enabled? Array can't be detected in that way...
Well right now, it is not even set up that way, in my #6 problem solving, it was suggested that I turn the Raid Mode off and try [IDE] to see if that made a difference,"because I don't need Raid enabled for the hardware raid". It did not, it only booted to the "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key" window about 60 seconds faster. It is currently set up in this way.
This is how it looks in my On-Chip ATA Devices
How do I check this?
Quote
Does the problem persist when you use Silicon RAID instead Nvidia RAID?
I am still working on getting the seagate diagnostics to work, I am getting an error message before I can even test them.
I do have another question. Why is my HP Printer showing up in the Hard drive test, and also why is it showing up in my boot sequence, is this normal?
And speaking of boot sequences I got in there again just now and saw 2 [USB:HP Photosm]
Thanks again, still working on testing hard drives.
Chris

Windows 8 and Canvio Desk 3TB: System will not boot when external hdd is connected

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-e-g/HP-PAVILION-A6109N-amp-windows-8-System-w...
Hi,
just recently upgraded to Win Pro on my HP PAVILION A6109N. I also bought a toshiba canvio desk 3TB. What I notice is that if I reboot my pc with the extermnal HDD connected, my system will not boot.
I have check my BIOS boot settings and the order of the boot.
I have tried disabling USB Legacy Support in the BIOS
I have reformatted the external HDD
but still my desktop will not boot if the external HDD is connected....If I disconnect the external HDD...the system will boot up ....
I am at a loss....*** scratching my head ***

Update: The only solution for me was to format the drive as ext3 and plug it into one of my Asus RT-N66U USB ports, as most routers don’t yet recognize 3TB drives as NTFS. It’s not much help to people who don’t have a router with this capability, and it also slows transfer rates to ~12MB/s.
Given the short length of the cable, your only other options are to have the 3TB Canvio sitting right next to you so you can unplug from a front USB port before each boot, or place it towards the rear of your desk and crawl under the desk to disconnect it from your PC prior to each boot.
It's a pity because Toshiba produce great internal HDD's, but my experience when it comes to external drives is they're simply junk. I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing.

Power Mac G4 will not Recognize any Internal Hard Drives

My G4 was working fine and I wanted to install a driver for a 'Twin Turbo Mac Video Card' I had in a PCI slot but it required OS9 running. At the time, I had two internal drives 230 and 120 G running 10.4.11 but no OS9. However, I did have an external Firewire Drive with OS9 and OSX. I set my "Startup Disk" preference to boot from FW drive and selected OS9 then shut down my G4. When I powered back on I got the standard "gong" but on my display I saw a "Mac Folder and a Question Mark". I believe that means the system can't find a drive. Is that correct? I reverted back to my original configuration with the internal drives and the FW drive disconnected and I still see the "Folder and Question Mark". I inserted the Tiger DVD, held down the "C" key and it still will not boot from the DVD either. I once again tried connecting a FireWire External drive with OS 10.4.11 installed and the internal drives disconnected and still no bootup. I swapped out Memory, replaced the Motherboard and the battery and even tried resetting the PRAM. Still that stupid Question Mark is showing!! This has really got me puzzled. Any ideas or suggestions out there?
bh

Depressing/holding the Option key at startup activates the Startup Manager (not open firmware). The resulting window shows all of the available startup volumes (hard drives, CD, DVD, etc).
Look at A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
Will it boot in Safe Mode? See
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
*Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck*
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
I'm not sure it would resolve your problem, but try a PMU reset. See Mac PRAM, NVRAM, CUDA/PMU & Battery Tutorial
 Cheers, Tom

Machine will not boot; hard drive makes clicking noise

My G4 will not boot up.
Here are the symptoms:
It passed the hardware test;
Will not perform a safe start - so cannot run disk utility;
Hard drive makes a clicking noise.
I'd appreciate any advice about how to proceed.
pdh

Yes, as mentioned backup now. best not to use your Mac till you do. The drive may fail for good. Here's some tips on replacing your drive (they are pretty inexpensive now);
This is by SDMacuser,
Even if you have never installed nor pulled a HD from a Powermac...... trust me....it is not all that difficult.
I can actually switch internal HD's among 3 separate G4 Towers I own in a matter of minutes (often less than 10 minutes).
Simply power the system down and ground yourself (a grounding strap is recommended or at the very least touching the metal frame to discharge any potential static electricity prior to actually touching the HD or any internal components on your system).
Disconnect the power cable to the back of the HD, then the long ide connector on the back of the HD / cable (pull straight back while grasping the black connector with 2 fingers ... do not yank the actual ribbon cable).
All of my HD's are mounted or bolted to their own metal sleds (either single sled or a dual sled) with 4 screws.
Unscrew the small screw (philips) holding the sled in place on position one below the ide connector or cable. And gently remove the sled & HD from the Powermac without bumping / damaging other internal components.
Remove the 4 screws from the sled itself holding the HD in place. Be careful not to allow the drive to fall once all screws have been removed.
Install the new HD (and make sure to address proper jumpers on the back of the HD itself.)
Now reverse this process with new HD for proper installation into the G4 Powermac.
Any questions just post back.
btw ... there are a few QT demos on apples web sites showing how to do this.
 Cheers! DALE

Intel IMac will not boot OSX Tiger

Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that I am reading and trying to do my home work on why my Intel I-Mac will not boot. It all started after running Windows Vista using Apple Boot Camp. I just wanted to list a few things I have tried after getting replies from posting in some other forums. I will try here since a few people are having similar issues. Any tips would be appreciated. Please no flames
1. If I hold the C button while booting to boot from CD-ROM I get a panic alert.(panic alert meaning lockup, I have to restart or press and hold power button)
2. Holding down D button upon startup will run Apple Hardware test just fine, but no errors found.
3. I can press Option-Command-P-R to reset NVRAM successfully.
4. I can press Option during startup to start the Startup Manager. I can see my Macintosh Hard Drive and CD-ROM, but get a panic alert if I click on either icon. I’m not sure what happened with the Windows Vista hard drive Icon.
5. I can press N during startup to start up from a compatible network server. I see a flashing globe and then a panic alert. Not sure what this function is for.
6. If I press T during startup for Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode, I get a weird symbol that looks like a Y floating around the screen. I have no idea what target disk mode means.
7. If I press Shift during startup to boot in Safe Boot mode, I get a panic alert.
8. If I press Command V during startup for Verbose mode, it appears that I am at a Unix style Command Prompt that hangs.
9. If I press Command S during startup for Single-User mode, I am at the Unix Command prompt which works, but I do not know any commands except fsck –fy which I guess is like a DOS CHKDSK command that tells me my Volume appears OK.
10. Pressing Option-N during startup to start from a NetBoot server using the default boot image gives me the flashing globe icon again, and then hangs.
11. I tried resetting the System Management Unit thanks to the Unix forum guys, but still have the same problems.
12. My next step is to find a Mac friend to burn the Firmware Restoration CD file I downloaded thanks to Michael from the Unix forum. If that does not work I will try whatever you ask.
13. I can boot my I-Mac using a Linux Live CD called Slax and surf the net and play with the software. It runs just great; I just don’t think this 200MB version has the capabilities to format the hard drive or Install to hard disk like Fedora Live does. By the way, the Fedora Live version of Linux hangs after booting from the CD. It boots just fine on my PC.

Greetings,
Somehow or other you will need to be able to boot to the Installation Disk #1 that came with your computer - as you know they are specific to each machine model. After a successful boot to that disk, you can use Disk Utility to remove all of the partitions, wipe that puppy clean, then repartition and make sure you use the GUID partition scheme - you really only need the Bootcamp Assistant if you have multiple drives, internally, and since you have an iMac, your good to go.
When you booted to your Linux disk, could you see the internal hard disk? If so you should be able to open one or two of the folders just to be sure that the disk is OK.
A worst case scenario would be to have to install a fresh hard drive. Do you have any way of borrowing another install DVD for that model to try to get it to boot? That's the key to this whole project.
Try this - Go back into single user mode and issue these two commands in this order:
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
Watch the spaces and then issue a "reboot" at the prompt.
During this, the fans will likely come on at a high speed and may stay on for a while and maybe until you do a shutdown and reboot.
I hope this helps a little, and once you get the machine booting to the Installation Disk #1, again, you'll be all set.
You don't say, but is this unit under warranty - I know it may be a stupid question on my part, but if it is, give them (Apple) a call and get some advice on the waranty actions.
Good Luck my friend.
Cheers,
M.

Computer will not boot up. I have tried running disk utility and re-installing OSX. It says disk locked

I am new to Macs and have bought a 13" Macbook Pro and a IMac 21.5" 14 months ago. I have only used the Macbook pro about 15-20 times and after upgrading to Maverick it will not boot up. I get the white screen and a spinning circle. I have tried Disk utility repair and even re-installing the OSX, but it says disk locked. I do not recall setting any password protections or passwords. I now have a brick with a lit up Apple logo. If anyone knows how I can bypass the disk lock error or reset the laptop, please let me know. This has not been a pleasant conversion from PC's. Even my IMac blacks out from time to time and both happened right after my factory warranty expired.

The internal drive is malfunctioning. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
Back up all data on the internal drive(s) before you hand over your computer to anyone. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional — ask if you need guidance.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.

Xserve will not boot up, all lights flash rapidly

Just bought a lightly used Intel Xserve. This unit was in a business that failed, and was set up, but never used. Was powered off and unplugged for approximately 18 months. When we tried to plug it up to check it out & configure it, we noticed the following:
System will not post and won't boot
Hard drives do not appear to spin
CD Drive appears to have no power - will not grab disk
All fans do work, and run on high RPM
All lights on back of server and front of server, as well as next to SDRAM slots, and on back of main board flash / flicker (regular quick flashes, no pattern evident). The only light that does NOT come on at all is the light next to the power button.
Anyone heard of a similar condition? Is this server toast?
Thanks,
Rob Hogan

I'm sorry to say I don't have a solution, but I can commiserate.
I have a G5 and two G4's, and so far within a few days / couple of weeks of getting them home and getting them up and running, they seem to fail.
Usually spectacularily.
The G5 operates very much as yours in that power on, fans rev high, and no post or other activity; I don't get any system light status action however other than flashing. I've replaced CPU's and logic board on this.
The single CPU G4's does much the same, but this I've had up and running and then it went down when I upgraded the memory to max (very careful to make sure it was within Apple spec's), and despite swappinbg the original memory back in,nothing.
My latest, a dual core G4, was bought in working order, and I upgraded this from 10.4 to 10.5. Running nicely as a internet gateway. Went away for weekend so put it into sleep mode. Came back, power button on front panel stopped working, and one of the raid slices on the system drive failed.
Tried to repair this and system now no longer boots, but freezes on loading OS (spinning disc stops in mid spin) and it will not boot from installation disc via firewire or internal DVD drive (swapped in a replacement to ensure it works). The installation disc stops at the apple splash screen, but goes no further.
I can, helpfully, get into Open Firmware mode, so something is working on some level. Sadly, I can't seem to find a copy of the Apple Hardware Test for this machine (see my post on this) to check it out.
I can tell you that I'm getting very adept at working with Xserve hardware, if not very effectively.
My working hypothesis on this is that there is some issue with these units being used 27/7x365 for however long, and then being left 'off' for a prolonged period.
Thinking that whilst they are designed to operate reliably as constantly on and working under load, so facet of being 'off' breaks 'something'.
If really pushed to go out on a limb, I'd theorise that under load the electronics/IC's settle into position, but then when switched off things cool down, contract, and causes weaknesses in electrical connections to occur. When next used, these then start to fail, giving a pattern of initial operability followed by delayed failure with a cascade of increasingly servere symptoms until terminal failure is reached.
But that is wild, uneducated, conjecture.
So, no help, but I comiserate.
XD Andy
btw, is anyone has some useful advice for me on where to find the AHT 2.0.1 for Xserve or even just the part number ... ... ...

Computer will not boot up but fan will turn on and stay on.

I have a Gateway and I did not have enough memory. I bought 1Gig to give it enough memory to run the basic systems. I added the memory to the slot in the hard drive and now it will not boot up. The fan just turns on and runs. I took out the new memory and it does the same thing. No working computer. Need help on what I should do besides Punt.
Thanks,
ZCDJSouza

First and foremost, recheck all internal connections to make sure you didn't bump something loose while replacing the RAM. I had the exact same thing happen to me once before only to find that I had accidentally loosened the cable to the hard drive.
*I am a BB employee but my opinions are my own.*

Will not boot to internal HD.

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