Yosemite cannot find startup disk

Hi, I have a problem with Yosemite installed on my mid2007 iMac, which has me perplexed. After installing Yosemite I found that on booting, my iMac would not find the startup disk, and shows me a blinking question mark. The iMac might sometimes find the startup disk the first time after installation, but would fail to find the startup disk on subsequent startups. So to get the iMac to start I boot into my yosemite installer flash drive go to the start up disk section in the apple menu of the installer and select startup disk from there, and that gets me into the Yosemite session. Less than ideal.
I have tried a number of things;
A couple of clean installs of Yosemite 10.10.2.
Checking the integrity of the Hard Disk with Disk utility. (it said it was OK in cheery green lettering) I have had an aftermarket Corsair Neutron SSD as the startup disk for 8 months or so, which has been running well.
Checking the hardware with Apple Hardware Test which said no problems detected. I did this as I also had  other issues, like beachballs occurring, particularly on the login page delaying login, and a couple of instances of Yosemite telling me that it couldn't shut down immediately because I had a app open, when I had in fact quit the app earlier.
A couple more clean installs, one next to last where even the Yosemite installer flash drive could not see the start up disk. With the last clean install I currently can start the iMac with the help of the installer flash drive.
Googled around, but didn't find a lead.
The only option I can think of to enable me to boot into Yosemite with less fuss is to install Refit, a program that helps people who want to dual boot linux on their mac. It may be able to present the startup disk.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
iMac 7,1(24-inch Mid 2007),2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,  4 GB memory, 256Gb Corsair Neutron SSD,  ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB

The repairs were unrelated. I had a bad logic board and some bad RAM. The hard drive checked out fine.

Similar Messages

  • Bearts Audio Control Pannel will not open. Get error message cannot find startup file

    Bearts Audio Control Pannel will not open. Get error message cannot find startup file!
    Downloaded and instaled up-date for IDT audio from driver up-date. After installation could no longer oppen Beats Audio Control Pannel.  Looked for download to re-install BEATS Audio but cannot find one.
    Any suggestions.
    Sound works with IDT driver installed.
    Pavilion P7-1500Z

    Hi,
    Try using Recovery Manager to reinstall the IDT HD Audio Driver ( this will also reinstall the Beats Audio interface ) - the procedure for using recovery manager to reinstall Software and Drivers is detailed in the document on the link below.
    Recovery Manager - Windows 8.
    Recovery Manager - Windows 7
    After the reinstallation has completed, restart the PC.
    Regards,
    DP-K
    ****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
    ****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
    ****I don't work for HP****
    Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

  • Boot camp, "cannot find installation disk."

    What do I do? It's a Microsoft download from the MSDN Academic Alliance (Win 7 Prof. 64-bit) and I am getting this error.
    I downloaded the Win 7 Prof. from Microsoft's MSDN AA site on a PC.
    Opened boot campo and created the partition and the CD is visible in finder (.ISO) but boot camp says "cannot find installation disk."
    So I moved the .ISO to my desktop and burned a new CD using the iMac Superdrive and receive the samer error.
    Anyone have any ideas?

    Boot Camp will not install from an ISO file. You must have a bootable DVD. Whatever is on your disc image it apparently is not what is on a bootable DVD. You may simply have a .exe installer application that will only work on a Windows machine or on a pre-exisitng Windows system on a Boot Camp partition.

  • Time Machine cannot find Backup Disk

    Hey I just got Leopard and I have a backup disk connected to my router which is shown in finder on my shared list, however, when I try to set up Time Machine it cannot find the disk... any ideas?!
    Many thanks

    Only Time Capsules work wirelessly with Time Machine.

  • Syincing error message "Cannot find required disk" - Help!

    I have a third gen 4gig nano that I got at Christmas. I added two CD's onto it when I got it. Now, however, I'm having trouble syning anything else - that's all I've been able to put on it are the two CD's even though I've added more into my library. I keep getting the error message "Cannot find required disk". Can anyone help me or tell me what I need to do?
    Thanks in advance!

    Even though you're not getting a -50, I'd check on the following document. (Your message is one of the possible symptoms of the problem outlined in the document.)
    iTunes displays -50 error message when syncing iPod on Windows XP

  • Cannon find Startup Disk icon

    Well I found the Startup Disk icon okay but now I rebooted and cannot find it.
    I looked in the control panel under "Performance and Maintenance" in the category view. And also in the Classic View it has disapeared as well.
    What cna I do about this? I cannot figure out how to boot back into OSX?
    cheers,
    Noah

    Supposedly... holding the "x" key down when booting defaults to booting OSXS... never tried it... since I need a "9" key! LOL:-)

  • B&W G3 having trouble finding startup disk

    Hi. Ever since the DVD drive of my B&W G3 died, it's taken an extra minute to find the startup disk. I get the blinking Mac folder plus the question mark that we all know and, well, don't love.
    I've replaced the DVD drive, and currently there is no operating system on the computer. However, I had this problem even with OS 9 installed. I also get the blinking icon when starting up from a CD.
    Does anybody know how I can remedy this problem, so the computer can find the operating system right away? I have two IDE (or ATA, whatever) internal drives. I think the master/slave configuration is correct.
    Any ideas?

    If the system eventually finds the startup disk and boots from it, the problem can be solved by setting a Startup disk.
    If not, the parameters (which hold some essential values that make starting up your Mac simple and painless) have been corrupted. This can be caused by "just because", but it is more often caused by interruption of the main power when the backup battery is in a very weak state.
    The first level of fix on a Blue & White G3 is to open the side door and press and hold the CUDA Reset button (nearest the 1/2 AA-size battery) for a quarter minute. Avoid momentary presses which can be damaging to battery health.
    The second level of fix is to replace the battery and repeat the reset procedure.

  • Installation cannot find a disk to install on

    Hello,
    Very short version of the problem:
    *Tiger installation does not detect any harddrive to install to*
    Full story:
    Yesterday I bought my very first iMac. It's a 20" wirh 2Gb ram and 300Gb disk.
    It was preinstalled with Tiger. I did the updrade to Leopard mself. No problems there.
    Then I treid to install Windows using bootcamp.
    Since then, a lot of problems.
    The system will not start anymore.
    So, since this is a fresh system, I have no problem starting all over again.
    I can't directly start with Leopard since they are only upgrade disks, so have to install Tiger first.
    When I have the install-1 Tiger disk in the CD and start the system, the upgrade
    starts.
    *But at a certain point it shows the box with available Harddrives to install to.*
    *That box is empty on my screen !!!!*
    *This is the problem: The apple cannot find my harddrive anymore.*
    does anybody have a clue what to do now?
    Thanks in advance for your help.
    Bert Catsburg

    Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the menu bar is at the screen's top. Good computing.
    FWIW, these might be helpful:
    Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
    Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
    MacFixIt Tutorials, and
    MacTips Learning Centre.
    Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
    Quick Assist.
    Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides, and
    A guide for switching to a Mac.

  • ASMCA cannot find candidate disks

    hi gurus
    I installed 11gR2 clusterware software on Redhat Linux 4.7 I cannot see any disks in the "Create Disk Group" window when I run ASMCA. I changed the "disk discovery path' to '/dev/raw/* from default,but still nothing was find.
    *[root@maoxl etc]# ls -l /dev/raw*
    *total 0*
    *crw-rw---- 1 oracle oinstall 162, 1 May 16 12:29 raw1*
    *crw-rw---- 1 oracle oinstall 162, 2 May 16 12:29 raw2*
    I have checked the read write permission on the disks(raw1,raw2 here),it's ok,why ASMCA cannot find them?
    Thanks very much!
    Edited by: KevinMao on May 16, 2011 12:30 AM

    RTFM:
    http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/install.112/e17212/storage.htm
    If you read this you closely, you will find:
    a.) Using /dev/raw is not needed anymore, you can directly use the block devices (e.g. /dev/sd*).
    b.) Your user right should be grid:asmadmin (or at leas oracle:asmadmin) and not oracle:oinstall.
    Regards
    Sebastian

  • Replaced Drive and had 10.4 OS on it cannot find original disks

    I need to get an installation OS copy for and intel black macbook serial W8730496YA4. The disk went out and I just replaced it but I cannot find my original installation disks and the guy at the apple store said that they don't even have copies that old. I don't want to pay over 100 i just want the OS so my mac will work....  Help

    If you don't have your install disks you can get the 10.4 gray disks by calling Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 They can send them to you for about $16 per disk plus S & H. Just give them your serial number and they'll know which ones you need.
    Or you can get the Snow Leopard retail installation disk for $29 if you have at least 1gb of RAM and a working DVD drive. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY  You won't need the box set unless you want both the full iLife '11 and iWork '09. If you only want iPhoto or other single apps you can get them from the App Store after you've upgraded to 10.6.6. iPhoto, iMovie or Garage Band for $15 each and Pages, Keynote or Numbers for $20 each.

  • Cannot find install disk

    I just moved and cannot find my install disk. Got a "Volume needs to be repaired" message while doing some maintenance. Is there anyway to correct this without the install disk? If not, how do I get another one without coughing up the dough?

    Hi habsolutely, Welcome to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
    Other threads say *call Apple w your serial number*. There is a charge, much less than new system.
    Good Luck, JP

  • Cannot find required disk

    When I try to sync my ipod it tells my cannot sync ipod because itunes cannot find the required disk. We get this error on my new 5th generation nano and my husband's 2nd generation nano, so I assume it is a computer problem. We have recently reinstalled itunes but that did not fix the problem.

    Post in iTunes forum for Windows.
    http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=150
    - You'll feel right at home, with other users having the same and similar issue.

  • Cannot select startup disk

    I just downloaded the latest Mac OS update on my MacBook (10.6.7). The system froze when it tried to restart. I shut down and restarted. Now, each time I restart, a spinning globe appears. It starts normally in a few minutes. However, when I hold to option key at startup to attempt to select a startup disk, it goes directly to the Mac login screen. I have Windows installed with Boot Camp but I don't get the option at startup. How do I fix this problem?

    Yes, a wired keyboard is best for things like that. The bluetooth doesn't kick in till it's too late.
    Here's an Apple doc. addressing this.
    DALE

  • I can't find startup disk in Mac OS X Lion window

    While performing the following instructions, I coudn't get through step 4 since there is no startup disk appearing in the pane ??
    OS X Mavericks: Reinstall OS X
    Use the built-in recovery disk to reinstall OS X while keeping your files and user settings intact.
    Important: You must be connected to the Internet to reinstall OS X. 
    Choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys.
    If you’re not connected to the Internet, choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu (in the top-right corner of the screen).
    Select Reinstall OS X, then click Continue.
    Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select a disk, select your current OS X disk (in most cases, it’s the only one available).

    Marc Chabot wrote:
    MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)...
    Since your MBP came with Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.x) and you're referring to the Mac OS Lion window in Recovery Mode, do you have Mavericks currently installed or Lion? If you boot and hold down the Option Key after the chime, you'll invoke Startup Manager and you should see a row of bootable partitions. The Recovery Partition should say what the operating system number is (e.g., 10.7.5, 10.8.3). If it's 10.7.x, which is Lion, and you've already installed Mavericks, the issue may be that you can't install an older OS (Lion) directly over a newer OS (Mavericks).

  • Can't install Yosemite because my startup disk is used for Time Machine backups?

    Tried to install Yosemite, but when I get to the screen which asks which disk I want to install it on, it won't allow me to select my computer's hard drive because "This disk is used for Time Machine backups." Any suggestions?

    Because at the time I originally set it up I couldn't afford an external drive for a real backup, but thought it would be useful to have Time Machine copies in case I accidentally deleted a file or changed my mind about having done so. Once I finally got that external drive and started backing up to it, I forgot I had Time Machine files an my startup disc and didn't know that would be a problem. Anyway, thanks for the info, that fixed my problem.

Maybe you are looking for