ivivid

Q: Blue screen and spinning wheel at startup

I had permission problems (locked time machine drive) so I did a full time machine restore.

Did the restart after the restore.

Machine won't reboot.

I get 'bong', apple logo on grey screen as per normal.

Then blue screen and spinning wheel for approx 7 seconds

Then blue screen and black pointer for approx 2 seconds

The blue screen spinning wheel / black pointer repeats.

 

Also can't start up from Snow Leopard DVD.

I get exactly the same scenario.

 

I have held down the power key at got the tone.

Still won't start.

 

HELP!!!!!

 

It's an Imac (white one) 1.8Gig Dual with 1.5 gig of ram.

Running Snow leopard.

 

I can see my disc over the ethernet; it is still there as it was sharing with my other machine.

Not sure if this helps me at all?

 

Cheers

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Apr 1, 2012 10:41 AM

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Q: Blue screen and spinning wheel at startup

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Apr 1, 2012 10:45 AM in response to ivivid
    Level 10 (271,291 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 1, 2012 10:45 AM in response to ivivid

    Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive

     

    Do the following:

     

    1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions

     

    Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list.  In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive.  If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.

     

    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

     

    2. Reinstall Snow Leopard

     

    If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer.  Proceed with reinstalling OS X.  Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files.  After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

     

    Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

     

    If you cannot boot from your installer DVD on the iMac, then you can try connecting to your other computer via Firewire cable and use Target Disk Mode to boot and install from the other computer - Transferring files between two computers using FireWire

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Apr 1, 2012 11:21 AM in response to ivivid
    Level 7 (30,395 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:21 AM in response to ivivid

    Read through my User Tip here, there is a section on resolving BlueScreen and Gray Screen issues with links to Apple issued articles.

     

    Also there is information there for recovering your data off machine.

     

    Tell us what you tried, your machine specifics and if you have made a backup of your personal data off the machine of just your user files to a storage drive or not or is TimeMachine your only backup?

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3046

     

     

    Sorry to have to put you through that, but it's difficult repeating the same information over and over, thanks.

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 11:18 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:18 AM in response to Kappy

    No; as I explained it WON'T boot from my Snow Leopard DVD.

    I get exactly the same scenario....

    HELP!

     

    I've tried holding the C key down at startup; no difference.

    I've tried to hold the mouse button down to get my Snow Leopard disc out and it won't eject either.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Apr 1, 2012 11:19 AM in response to ivivid
    Level 10 (271,291 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 1, 2012 11:19 AM in response to ivivid

    Did  you read the last paragraph of my post?

     

    Five ways to eject a stuck CD or DVD from the optical drive

     

    Ejecting the stuck disc can usually be done in one of the following ways:

     

    1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the left mouse button until the disc ejects.

     

    2. Press the Eject button on your keyboard.

     

    3. Click on the Eject button in the menubar.

     

    4. Press COMMAND-E.

     

    5. If none of the above work try this: Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following:

     

     

         /usr/bin/drutil eject

     

    If this fails then try this:

     

    Boot the computer into Single-user Mode. At the prompt enter the same command as used above. To restart the computer enter "reboot" at the prompt without quotes.

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 11:19 AM in response to ds store
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:19 AM in response to ds store

    I have a time machine backup which I restored from (after stupidly messing with permissions) and after the restore I can't boot as explained above.

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 11:23 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:23 AM in response to Kappy

    None of the eject suggestions work.

    I tried single user mode and nothing changes. It just starts up to blue screen.

    I can't boot so can't get terminal to type into.

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Apr 1, 2012 11:33 AM in response to ivivid
    Level 7 (30,395 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:33 AM in response to ivivid

    Have you held down Shift key upon boot?

     

    Have you tried holding down option key at boot? What do you see?

     

    Power off the comptuer and boot holding the command and v keys, tell us what you see, like how far it gets before it stops.

     

    The keyboard and mouse have to be wired in order to any of the boot key commands to function.

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 11:51 AM in response to ds store
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 11:51 AM in response to ds store

    ds store

     

    My keyboard and mouse are wired.

     

    I've tried the 3 options you gave me :

    Startup with :

    1.     Shift

    2.     Option

    3.     Cmd-V

    PLUS

    4.     Have firewire cable to this Mac; and started with T key held down try try and enter target mode.

     

    None of these options made any difference. I get the same as before.

    I get a startup screen, with grey apple and the little progress circle.

    I can hear it trying to read the Snow Leopard DVD (which I can't eject).

    Then I get the blue screen; black pointer.

    Then blue screen; spinning wheel.

    But I know the machine isn't dead because I can still see it under "shared" from this machine.

     

    This is so frustrating! Thank you all so much for trying to help.

    Any ideas would be wonderful; the nearest Mac place is 1.5 hours drive :-(

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 12:02 PM in response to ivivid
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 12:02 PM in response to ivivid

    OK I bought this machine 2nd hand last week.

    I think it has an open firmware password which disables target and C key and D key and stuff at startup.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352

     

    So is there any way I can circumnavigate this to get my machine running?

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 12:05 PM in response to ivivid
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 12:05 PM in response to ivivid

    I've tried to start up using Cmd-Opt O+F also; no difference.

  • by ivivid,

    ivivid ivivid Apr 1, 2012 12:39 PM in response to ivivid
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 12:39 PM in response to ivivid

    I found an article saying i could reset the P-Ram by taking out a ram chip.

    This didn't work either. OMG!

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Apr 1, 2012 4:41 PM in response to ivivid
    Level 7 (30,395 points)
    Apr 1, 2012 4:41 PM in response to ivivid

    ivivid wrote:

     

    So is there any way I can circumnavigate this to get my machine running?

     

    Well a OF password would certanly lock you out of the machine, take it to a Apple Store and they can help you out.

  • by mtm2005,

    mtm2005 mtm2005 Aug 17, 2012 7:27 AM in response to ivivid
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 7:27 AM in response to ivivid

    ivivid... I realize this post was from earlier this year, but can you share what the final outcome was here?  I'm having the same issues with my imac.  Doesn't boot past blue screen.  Tried all possible key combos and booting options with no luck.