iMac is not booting up into OS

Question

oliver1987 Author

Level 1

5 points

iMac is not booting up into OS

Hello,

I have installed Snow Leopard 2 Days ago using my USB Stick as Installation Disk, I did so since my DVD drive is broken since a year. I own the first intel generation iMac.

Now my mac isn't booting up into Os X anymore, this happend after i rebooted it this morning. I fear that someting isn't right with my harddrive.

I was using rEFIt as bootmanger for several years and never had a problem with it but i think it could be possible that the problem has something to do with it.
http://refit.sourceforge.net/

After trying to boot several times i manged to come to my logoin screen (only happend once) i entered my password and username but got stuck at loading the desktop. After 30 mins i tryed to reoot again however since that point i am stuck with a white screen during boot.

Also during trying to boot i can hear my harddrive working aldow it seems to start and stop continuously.

I hope the information provided will allow someone to point me into the right direction.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6), first generation intel iMac, rEFIt bootmanger, DVD drive broken

Posted on Sep 7, 2009 3:57 AM

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Answer 1

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Sep 7, 2009 4:22 AM in response to oliver1987

I have installed Snow Leopard 2 Days ago using my USB Stick as Installation Disk, I did so since my DVD drive is broken since a year.

How did you get the contents of the install disk onto a USB flash drive? This is not something that will be supported by Apple, so if your installation has gone wrong because of this, you're not going to get any support from them for it.

Also, are you really being honest that you have the disk? I ask because there's a new Mac trojan out there, masquerading as - yes, you guessed it - a free, downloadable copy of Snow Leopard!

I was using rEFIt as bootmanger for several years

Between the unorthodox installation method and the fact that you're using a third-party boot manager, I'd guess you've hosed your system pretty thoroughly. You're probably going to need to do a clean reinstall at this point... hopefully you have a backup!

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Answer 2

oliver1987 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 7, 2009 4:44 AM in response to thomas_r.

Well I am owning a Snow Leopard Installation Disk... But since these very reliable slot in drives build into iMac sometimes stop working I have no other choice then installing it from my USB stick.

BTW u can copy the instalation disk from another mac using diskutility to an usb stick. But i guess with ur 2000+ posts u should know this.

Also i think i mentioned that my system was running perfectly fine for almost 2 days till it wouldn't boot up anymore.

So appart from just repeting what i postet in my question ur post wasnt helpfull at all thank u.

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Answer 3

oliver1987 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 7, 2009 4:44 AM in response to oliver1987

Well I am owning a Snow Leopard Installation Disk... But since these very reliable slot in drives build into iMac sometimes stop working I have no other choice then installing it from my USB stick.

BTW u can copy the instalation disk from another mac using diskutility to an usb stick. But i guess with ur 2000+ posts u should know this.

Also i think i mentioned that my system was running perfectly fine for almost 2 days till it wouldn't boot up anymore.

So appart from just repeting what i postet in my question ur post wasnt helpfull at all thank u.

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Answer 4

Sep 7, 2009 5:20 AM in response to oliver1987

I suspect your boot manager isn't compatible. Try doing a clean install, then install all your apps, sans the boot manager, using the most recent update for each app. Good luck.

Just out of curiosity, what's the point of using a third-party boot manager when the Mac already has a good boot manager built-right in (i.e., holding down the option key at boot time or selection of a preferred start up disk from the preference panel)?

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Answer 5

oliver1987 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 7, 2009 5:43 AM in response to oliver1987

thx stanley, i will try to do so afterrecovering my data. i was able to access my hdd from another mac using a firewire connection.

the reason i was using a diffrent bootmanger was that i had to instal more the 1 windows os and i think that wasnt possible at that time using bootcamp, not sure if it is possible now. i never had problems withit thus i did not feel the need of removing it from my computer.

i have to add thou that my computer is still behaving quite slow, meaning that the harddisc seems to stop working for a couple of secs and then starts again, this is very wiered. but i guess the reason why will remain a mystery...

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

Sep 7, 2009 6:12 AM in response to oliver1987

BTW u can copy the instalation disk from another mac using diskutility to an usb stick.

Sure, but I don't think I'd want to trust that kind of copy for installing my system. Although I haven't ever tried copying a Mac OS X disk, I have had mixed results in the past when making backup copies of other commercial disks. Sometimes they don't quite work the same way as the original.

A couple alternatives are [remote installation|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2129], which I understand can be done on machines other than a MacBook Air, and using [FireWire target disk mode|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661] to install.

Also i think i mentioned that my system was running perfectly fine for almost 2 days till it wouldn't boot up anymore.

So? It won't boot anymore. That's a problem, you need to fix it. As I said, this is likely to involve some form of system reinstallation.

So appart from just repeting what i postet in my question ur post wasnt helpfull at all thank u.

I didn't "repet" anything you "postet", so I can't understand why you'd think that, "appart" from the fact that "ur" mad that I asked if you had tried to download a pirated copy.

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Answer 7

oliver1987 Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 7, 2009 7:16 AM in response to oliver1987

Ofcourse those to methods would also work, however I do not own a external dvd drive and installing it via firewire takes ages I did this when installing leopard.

Installing from a USBthumbdriver however is quick and reliable, it is also the prefered way of installing Windows7 on netbooks and has proofed to work flawless for me in the past.

PS: picking on my spelling errors is great, english is not my primary language and it proofs that u just don't have anything better to say.

Message was edited by: oliver1987

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Answer 8

Sep 7, 2009 7:58 AM in response to oliver1987

Your boot drive might be corrupt. Try using Disk Warrior to check it.

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