URGENT: iMac will not boot, next Mac shop 800km

steve1

State now:

I press the Power On, the tone (Dooooiiiiinnnnnggggg) plays,

the power light is on but slowly fades to dim

I hear the SmartDrive start up (there is a CD in it)

The screen stays dark,

there is no boot

After about 2 minutes the fan goes into hyperdrive

No system start



Last use:

I woke it from sleep,

Closed Safari

Closed Mail

Running was HP book composition/iPhoto/Skype (HP on top)

The cursor froze in place

I used the Power Off button

At restert I had as stated above.



No new programs installed in the last week.



Tried:

Holding the Apple key at startup > no change

Holding the Apple/Ctrl/R/P (as suggested in the quick guide)

Left it unplugged overnight

Still no change.



I really have a problem as I am in South Morocco and the next Apple shop is in Cassablance, 800 Km away. Fly to the Middle East tomorror for a week. Need to get data to take with me. Luckily updated all 10 days ago :-)



ALL HELP MUCHLY APPRECIATED



iMac G5, OSX 10.4.6

wye

it should be Apple/alt/P/R ....you tried ctrl

steve1

Hi,

tried Apple/alt/p/r same as before. No boot, just the 'Boing' and a super-hyper fan after 2 minutes

denverkirrane

How long have you left this for after turning it on



When ever I have had freeze ups and used the power button to shut it down it takes ages to start up again. I also get the loud fan noise for about 5 - 10 mins. I think becuase you didnt shut down properly it needs to completely check the hard disk, this takes a while a requires a lot of cooling, hence the loudness.



Try starting it up and leaving it for a while, should be no more then 10 - 15 mins. Mine is usually about 5 - 10 mins



Everything should be OK, when you evenutally get in to a quick repair on permissions to be on the safe side



Let me know how you get on



Denver

steve1

Hi Denver,

I'll give it a go and get back to you in 20 minutes. This has never happened before though as this is my first freeze since I bought the mac (Oct 2005), and the fan I've never noticed before as it has been very silent running.

carniphage

Power it up, holding down the eject button.

The CD should pop out and it should boot normally.



C

steve1

I've run it for 15 minutes from restart. Just the power-on lamp and the hyper-fan.The same with On > Apple/alt/r/p - (ran for 10 minutes).

ireland

@ Steve1,



first things first, DONT PANIC...



Turn on your maching and hold down the left mouse button until the disk pops out.

If your computer doesn't boot up turn it off, insert disk 1 that came with your computer, turn on your computer and hold down the "c" key on your keyboard. You may very well have no problem booting into the disk. Next click "install", then when you see a menu bar appear (probably soon after). Click "Utilities" (in the menubar)>>then "Disk Utility". Right, now, when in Disk Utility select Macintosh HD in the 'left' source panel, and click "Verify Disk Permissions" down near the bottom. After that finishes, click "Repair disk Permissions". When that's done, from the menubar quit Disk Utility, and quit installer. Restart your machine, and again hold down the left mouse button until the disk pops out. At this stage your mahine should boot up just fine, if it doesn't, start to cry



If your machine boots up fine, run your software updater and install what they throw at you, and also download Onyx, it will make verifing and reparing disk permissions much easier in the future.



I'm so confident this will work for you, you're welcome!

steve1

Hi,

don't have a left mouse button, just the Mighty Mouse.

I noticed that there was no power to the mouse (I had it connected through the keyboard). I've changed it to another USB port and it is now powered.

The disk I have in is Disk 1. Holding down the 'c' does not change the problem.

(how do I know if I have power to the keyboard?)

steve1

Just tested the kayboard by attaching a USB hub to it. No power. The USB hub IS powered if I attach it to the Mac USB port. So the keyboard is not working. That shouldn't stop the Mac booting though?

ireland

When you turn on your computer you should see the keyboard's Caps Lock key-light flash once briefly. You should hold down the "c' key from when you press the power button, and don't let it go until you are actually booted into the disk. If in fact the keyboard is not working find another and repeat the process.

steve1

The keyboard seems as Dead as a Doornail. I'll try anotherone this afternoon. Now I have something else to add to my shopping list in Dubai :-)

carniphage

Try this...



Pull the plug.

Leave for ten seconds.

Plug in.

Press power while holding down EJECT key on keyboard. Keep holding it down.



What happens?



C.

steve1

1) I tested the keyboard on a laptop and it functions, so the keyboard is not the problem,

2) Holding down thw Eject key. Nothing new happens. There is the 'Dooiiiinnngggg', I hear the CD-drive working, the after about 2 minutes I have the hyperfan...

steve1

I've been thinking about the kayboard.

If I connect it to the Mac there is no power to the USB ports of the keyboard (tested with 2 USB devices)

If I connect it to the PC the keyboard works.



How does the Mac 'load' devices - i.e. Windows has drivers.



Could the problem be the Mac 'looking' for the keyboard? I'm really ignorant as to how the Mac works because it did just that - worked :-) not like Windows where you have to learn the operating procedures.

carniphage

It sounds bad. Here are some suggestions to try....

I am guessing that it is trying to boot from the CD.



Holding down the eject key - or the mouse button during boot - should force an eject.

But there are other suggestions here...

Good luck!





http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?...41011075232575

http://homepage.mac.com/frakes/MOSXP.../keyboard.html



OS X, on boot

alt = opt\tsystem picker (from open firmware)

shift\tforces fsck and repairs if necessary, then “safe boot”

mouse down\teject removable media

c\tboot from CD ROM

t\ttarget disk mode

r\tforce PowerBooks to reset screen

n\tstart up from a network server

x\t

force Mac OS X startup



cmd-v\t‘verbose’: show console messages during boot

cmd-s\tsingle user mode

cmd-opt-p-r

Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime

cmd-opt-shift-delete\tChoose startup disk

steve1

Thanks for all the help,

have to give up for now, got to pack.

I'll just pick up a new keyboard* then try again in a week.



*Maybe the kitten peed on it while I was out :-)

lundy

Too bad he had to go.



He needs to disconnect all peripherals and reset the power management unit. Doing that is different on the G5 iMac and the Intel iMac though.

steve1

I bought a new keyboard. Plugged it in and BINGO, the system booted.

The new keyboard is English, the old one German (keys in different places).

I tried to reset the language preferences (System preferences>Keyboard & Mouse).

The system froze for about 2 minutes then I got the message that I had to restart the system. On restart I got the Booooiiiinnggggg, then the black screen. I turned off and disconnected the power-cord for 5 minutes. Powered-up and the system booted but without the keyboard changes. So I'm nervous about having another go.

Any suggestions?



Still, happy to have my Mac back after having to use my old windows laptop - it was a bit like zipping back in time by about 20 years.



PS: if I disconnect ALL the peripheral devices, I suppose that includes the keyboard & mouse, how do I reset the power management?





SPOKE TOO SOON...

I worked away happily for 30minutes, was downloading my new mail and the system froze. After 10 minutes went inti screen.saver mode. The mouse, Keyboard nor remote could get it back into normal-mode. After 30 minutes went into sleep-mode- Not able to wake it. Powered-off, removed power-cable for 15 minutes. Try to restart and the Boing-Black screen mode again.

I have removed all peripheries and tried a restart, no good.



HELP! I'm back to my windows laptop!!

lundy

Somebody look up how to reset the power management on an Intel iMac. I presume that's what we have here. I think it has something to do with holding down the power button.

steve1

Hi Luindy,

It's a G5.



I went to:



http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetpmchip.html



I pressed the Apple/alt/p/r (as I had done before with no response) and it restarted.



Fingers crossed...



Still, there must be a long-term solution for this problem, (if it's not solved)