Mac Mini will not boot after Security Update 2008-007

My intel MacMini froze while downloading the security update 2008-007. I canceled the download. When I rebooted I got a gray screen only. I've tried to boot (holding down c) from the dvd that came with the machine. Nothing. I've tried apple-s, apple-v, x, apple-x. I've tried to reinstall the OS but when I insert the dvd nothing happens. The dvd is now in the machine and won't come out.

I use this as a server and have my external drives hooked up to it. It has worked like a charm for over a year.

Any suggestions?

Hi Natalie, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

Does holding the Option key down at bootup eventually give you the Install Disk as a Choice?

If you need to eject the disk, hold the Mouse button down while powering up.

Hi BDAqua,

I am experiencing a similar problem. I updated before leaving for vacation and upon my return got the 'you must restart' msg a couple of times. This repeated itself upon restart, until finally the mac mini front light turns on but no chime or display. I think I may have left a cd inside (can't remember), because I can't physically insert the setup cd. I have been using the mini as a media center and attaching a pc keyboard when necessary. I have tried the suggested key combinations with alt key instead of command, to no avail. Also the connected mouse light does not turn on, so pressing the mouse while turning the computer on does nothing. Any suggestions? Thanks in adavance.

Hi mcmac123, and a warm welcome to the forums! 🙂

The Option key is different from the Command key! 😉

Unplug everything from the Mini, try this...

Mini PMU reset...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2183

On my G4, I just hold down the C key while starting up... no command, control or option keys involved. The boot will take a while so keep holding down the C key until you see the Apple logo. Then, if like me you have another drive with a system on it, quit the install start screen and go you installer utilities, chose Startup disk and choose the drive you want.

On my G4 the empty disk drawer would open to allow my to put in the install DVD. According to my crib notes, holding down command-period keys at boot will force the DVD drawer to open even if there is media in it.

Hope that helps. I've established a case with Apple Expert to see if the blue screen at startup can be resolved short of reinstalling the system or moving to OS 10.5. I'll post the results when I've finiished my contact with them.

Thanks for your replies, BDAqua and David,

I tried the PMU reset prior to posting my first post, however pressing the power while inserting the cord results in placing the fan into overdrive upon pressing the power again (no light or chime). I should have mentioned that I have the intel mini. So I also tried the SMC reset, to no avail. Also since I can no longer get into proper boot, just light on front, keystrokes don't seem to register. Is there anything else to do, or is my only option official repair. Thanks.

Looks like Service is required... lest you want to try a strange one...

Remove the RAM, try to boot it, might hear a Broken Glass sound, reinstall RAM, try booting again. 🙂

Hi BDAqua,

Thanks for the advice. Took the Mac Mini to be serviced and was told the logic board is faulty, and that replacement would cost rougly the price of a new mini here (Israel). Needless to say, I am quite disappointed with the mere 22 month life of the unit. Moreover, I am also invested in a Miglia TVMAX that I bought in order to complete the media center setup. My key reason for paying the so called 'Apple Tax' has been the longer lifespan of Apple products. In your experience, was my mini a lemon, or is this the sort of quality of products one should expect these days. You see I realy liked my setup, and am tempted to replace the mini with a new one, but I can't afford to replace it so often.

My key reason for paying the so called 'Apple Tax' has been the longer lifespan of Apple products. In your experience, was my mini a lemon, or is this the sort of quality of products one should expect these days.

I wasn't happy with the short lives of my 3 PPC Minies, but it was the HDDs and Opticals that gave out on all 3, which is easier to work around than a Logic Board.

No idea on today's percetages, so, all I can say is many people on my BBS use Minis happily for your exact usage.

Apple expert wanted $ so I went ahead and reinstalled OS 10.4.6 and then downloaded the OS 10.4.11 updater. I'm on satellite so the 160 meg file took a while. I archived the files on my hard drive during the install (and backed them up before the install!) That seemed to go OK. So I'm back in business on my working hard drive. I did have to reinstall the printer driver, and my computer seems to think I've never opened any of my programs before, but mostly trivial stuff. Now the next question is do I say yes to updates of iTunes or security???????????

Have you gotten a 2nd opinion? From your description I can't tell if your boot issue is 'blue screen' or hardware.

On reliability, I've owned or used five Macs, starting in 1986!. Once I had a 'sad mac' on my first one (when living in Europe) and had to get a repair which paid me back for smuggling it in though customs without paying duty. All others, including my now 8 year old G4 have been flawless... just have to feed them more RAM and bigger hard drives from time to time. On the other hand, in about four years of being a road warrior with various brands of PC laptops, I had two fail. One smoked a chip on the motherboard... it was like a tiny atomic explosion cloud coming out of the keyboard!

i would not bother saying yes to anymore "security" updates from apple, os x is secure enough as it is. you have to be an absolute ******* to **** up your mac from a software perspective (except for running apple security updates which seem to ALWAYS have a problem during installation). In this case the problem is complete non use of my machine, this is ridiculous. I thought microsoft updates were done badly but Apple definitely has taken the cake for it this past year. I am trying the suggestions mentioned above to resolve the exact same issue as everyone else seems to be having. I guess i'll somehow need to purchase another mac to firewire these 2 machines together to get my data out, thank you apple for making me spend thousands of more dollars because of your update. at this rate, i may as well just continue to use my PC since i can successfully use it now.

I have exactly the same problem on my machine after this security update. I am surprised that hasn't been any more Apple attention to this problem as they created by making a faulty security update. I am in the middle of reinstalling clean system

- what a pain as my old system was working flawlessly before this.

MX