Problem with OS X 10.3

commit_commit_
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I searched the forums and couldn't find anything realted to what I was seeing..

My mac mini froze up on me today so I restarted it. When I started it back up. it turned on but theres real gray back ground with a small folder in the middle with a question mark that blinks. I tried restarting a few times and it keeps happening so I tried to put the Install disk in to see if maybe I can reinstall OSX but now thats stuck in the mini. I can get it out.

Just wondering if anyone knows what I can do to fix this without going threw mac. my 90 days are up and are gonna charge me a arm and a leg.



Thanks

Dan

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    You've lost your startup point.

    Boot from your 10.3 disk and under File choose startup disk.

    Turn on the mac, after the bing, try holding down the option key (the middle key at the bottom left of the keyboard)EDIT: This will give a a list of bootable systems.

    Also try holding down 'x' after turning on (after the bing).



    If you have trashed your OS then you need to re-install.



    Dobby.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    commit_commit_ Posts: 5member
    Thanks.. I'm gonna try holding down the X key and I'll let you know but for the option key I don't have a mac keyboard I have a generic one that I'm using till I fork the money over for the bluetooth wireless..
  • Reply 3 of 9
    commit_commit_ Posts: 5member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dobby

    You've lost your startup point.

    Boot from your 10.3 disk and under File choose startup disk.

    Turn on the mac, after the bing, try holding down the option key (the middle key at the bottom left of the keyboard)EDIT: This will give a a list of bootable systems.

    Also try holding down 'x' after turning on (after the bing).



    If you have trashed your OS then you need to re-install.



    Dobby.



    Tried both.. they both don't seem to work.. it still comes up to a folder on the screen with the finder face and question mark blinking



    Do you have any other sugestions?



    Also you said go to file it won't even go the the main screen.. it starts up you hear the bing and right away it goes to a gray screen with a folder with a question mark in it..
  • Reply 4 of 9
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    If you boot from your 10.3 cd, can you see any other startup drives apart from the cd-rom?



    If you can't then try a repair permissions from disk utility which will be on the file menu from the booted cd as well.



    If you can't boot from cd then reset your PRAM (apple + cmd +p +r, hold it down after powering the mac on until you have hear d the chime 3 times.



    Dobby.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dobby

    If you boot from your 10.3 cd, can you see any other startup drives apart from the cd-rom?



    Will it automatically boot from the CD if it's in the drive? Or do you have to force it to by holding down "c"?
  • Reply 6 of 9
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Towel

    Will it automatically boot from the CD if it's in the drive? Or do you have to force it to by holding down "c"?



    Depends. If there is another valid OS on a HD partition, it will boot that before the CD is scanned. If no valid OS on a HD partition then it should find the CD before giving up altogether.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    commit_commit_ Posts: 5member
    thanks to everyone who tried to help.. I gave in and bought the apple care I can't troubleshoot over the phone the guy said I need to take it to teh apple store..
  • Reply 8 of 9
    exhibit_13exhibit_13 Posts: 110member
    it may be too late, but to me, it seems like its simply a matter of it not finding the system folder. thats what the blinking question mark means... so i would think you could just boot from the cd, wipe the HD if needed through disk utility, then reinstall OS X from there, no problem. but it sounds like it may be something else, i guess
  • Reply 9 of 9
    commit_commit_ Posts: 5member
    teh who problem is something happened to my computer I'm not exactly sure cause I wasn't around when whatever happened happened but either my logic board is fucked or my hard drive and cd rom are fucked the comptuer isn't reading the cd rom nor the hard drive.. it's with apple now getting fixed.
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