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imac wont start

posted by bryanc on Monday, 20th June 2011, 02:16

Competent

i have had the computer on for an hour when i got the spinning colour wheel thing, i couldn't use the mouse etc so i turned it off from the button at the back. when i turned it back on it got stuck on the gray loading screen with the apple logo in the middle and a little circle under turning around.

i did notice a bar at the bottom that starts to fill, gets a quarter full then goes off, i haven't seen that before. i even tried putting the disk in but nothing, and i cannot get the disk out.

although i have a few little problems with it, a buzzing noise which i should have got looked at months ago, this is the first time in 2 years that it hasn't started.

any ideas? i use it for my work so i have to use it over the next few days, i have a few jobs on. i am posting using my netbook, good job i have it. cheers.

This item was edited on Monday, 20th June 2011, 02:18

RE: imac wont start

posted by Rob Shepherd on Monday, 20th June 2011, 12:55

Super Admin

I don't really know much about Macs these days, but my guess is either your HDD is on the way out, or it got corrupted when you forced a power off.

I presume when you say you got a disk in you mean some sort of CD-ROM/DVD which you can boot up to and run a disk check with? You should be able to eject the disk if it is stuck with a paper clip inserted into a hole around the CD slot.

Another option would be to replace the HDD, reinstall the OS, and put your old one in a USB caddy.

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RE: imac wont start

posted by Jimbo :oÞ on Monday, 20th June 2011, 13:21

Elite Donator

Wait an hour or two until Miles logs in... he's not just a PC geek, he knows about Macs too
(soz Miles )

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RE: imac wont start

posted by MADTheOgster on Monday, 20th June 2011, 14:51

Elite Donator

Assuming its an Intel based Mac, you could try booting from a Linux USB drive, easy enough to make one on the netbook, at least that way you can make sure the Mac is working,

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RE: imac wont start

posted by Jimbo :oÞ on Monday, 20th June 2011, 15:20

Elite Donator

Ogs is another of the site űber geeks... place is fulla them

Jimbo : oÞ

"There's that word again... is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull in the future?"

RE: imac wont start

posted by MADTheOgster on Monday, 20th June 2011, 15:45

Elite Donator

Lol, I'm to thick to be a geek trust me, if I can make a Linux USB drive anyone can & I've done this with my intel mac mini, so I know it can be done

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RE: imac wont start

posted by bryanc on Monday, 20th June 2011, 16:55

Competent

thanks for the replies.

i will check back later when i have some time to try it properly. the disk i put in was the OS disk i got with it, i thought it might load up from that, but each time i turn it back on the disk spins but several seconds later stops and the grey screen just stays there, i left it like that for 20 minutes or so and it didn't budge.

i will try anything to be honest as i need to get it working soon, i have quite a bit of work i need to do, and if i can sort it that would be better than getting back in touch with the shop i got it from.

cheers

RE: imac wont start

posted by MADTheOgster on Monday, 20th June 2011, 17:09

Elite Donator

i know i'm probably telling you something you allready know, but i assume you know you have to press the option key whilst booting to get the optional boot states (ie, boot from cd/usb etc)

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RE: imac wont start

posted by bryanc on Tuesday, 21st June 2011, 02:58

Competent

i have had a little time to try a few things. i didnt know about pressing the option key on bootup. to be honest this is the first time in the two years that it hasn't started/booted up properly. i pressed it and it gave me the options of hard drive and cd. i clicked on the cd which started the install. this allowed me to get to the disk utility. it suggested repair. i did but after a while it said cannot repair disk, back up as many of your files as possible, re-format the disk then restore the backed up files.

how would i even do that when i cannot get any futher than this. i dont want to try anything until i know i am ok to do it.

or should i try to boot from a linux usb drive?

any more help would be greatly appreciated. cheers.

RE: imac wont start

posted by MADTheOgster on Tuesday, 21st June 2011, 07:09

Elite Donator

try a linux usb drive, hopefully linux will be able to read a mac format drive
& you'll be able to get your files off..

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