Mac Mini Stuck in Reboot Loop

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Level 1

8 points

Mac Mini Stuck in Reboot Loop

My mac mini is stuck in a reboot loop. When it boots up it comes to a gray screen and says "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button." Then behind that there is a bunch of computer language and I can make out a line that says "Mac OS Version: Not Yet Set" I don't know how this happened, everything was fine with the mac mini, just came back to it and it asked me to reboot and it's been like this ever since. I've tried rebooting and holding the option button down to boot from the mac os x reinstall cd, but when I click on the cd it goes back to the gray screen! Someone help! Am I going to loose everything I had on the HD?

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Mar 18, 2010 1:32 PM

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Answer 1

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 18, 2010 9:14 PM in response to ksincere7

Try starting up the mini normally only invoke verbose mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

This will cause the console to appear on the screen during the boot sequence. Hopefully you will get a good view of the hang point, meaning you will see text up to the point where it hangs. And hopefully that will be a big clue as to what's happening.

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Answer 2

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 19, 2010 5:07 PM in response to BSteely

I tried the Command+V option. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at. I'm a first time Mac user, I'm used to a PC. Anyhow the last line that it stopped at says "System uptime in nanoseconds: 48417945" The screen stays there and won't go any further or bootup.

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Answer 3

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 19, 2010 11:15 PM in response to ksincere7

What about the five or so lines before that line?

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Answer 4

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 20, 2010 8:42 PM in response to BSteely

Here are some of the lines that I see.

panic(cpu 0 caller 0x0043913F): "Unable to find driver for this platform: \"ACPI\".\n"@/sourcecache/xnu/xnu-1228.15.4/iokit/kernel/IOPlatformexpert.cpp:1 407

Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0

BSD Process name corresponding to current thread: Unknown

Mac OS Version: Not yet set

Those are the lines that seem to give me the impression of what could be wrong.

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Answer 5

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 21, 2010 9:50 AM in response to ksincere7

Well, it certainly looks like something has gone wrong with OS X on the hard disk drive. But that shouldn't prevent the mini from starting from its optical drive.

I know you have tried this, but make sure you are using the disk that came with the mini and hold the C key down on the keyboard and see if you can get the mini booted from the optical drive. It may take a while, but it should get there.

If you can get it booted, then try either running Disk Utility to see if it's possible to do a repair. If not, you can hopefully do a clean install of the OS and not lose any information from the disk.

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Answer 6

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 21, 2010 2:33 PM in response to BSteely

I am using the original CD that came with the mac mini. I tried the "C" key on startup again but it still gives me the reboot message. I can hear it accessing the CD drive, but then the reboot message still comes up. Any other ideas?

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Answer 7

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 21, 2010 5:26 PM in response to ksincere7

Sorry, getting to be out of my league now. It's starting to sound more like a hardware problem or firmware. I guess you haven't much to lose by trying a reset of PRAM and the SMC. So I guess that's where I would go next.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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Answer 8

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 22, 2010 9:58 PM in response to BSteely

Tried that, still no change. This is really getting on my nerves. Never had this complicated of a prob on a PC, I thought Mac's were supposed to be more stable? Any other suggestions?

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Answer 9

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 23, 2010 10:42 PM in response to ksincere7

At this point, I'd recommend calling Apple or taking it to an Apple Store and showing it to a Genius. But be prepared for the news that it has a serious hardware failure and needs a motherboard replacement.

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Answer 10

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 24, 2010 12:39 PM in response to BSteely

Are you serious? I haven't even had this Mac Mini for an entire year yet! Apple has really lost points with me for this, I'm gonna have to go back to a PC.

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Answer 11

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 25, 2010 7:49 AM in response to ksincere7

You mean it's under warranty? Then by all means go back to Apple. You'll probably get a new one, or a new motherboard, for free. Definitely don't wait for the warranty to expire if the date is getting close.

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Answer 12

ksincere7 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 25, 2010 2:27 PM in response to BSteely

Turns out it's been slightly over a year so the warranty is void. 😟

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Answer 13

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Mar 25, 2010 8:33 PM in response to ksincere7

I would still take the matter up with Apple. They may be lenient. Do you live near an Apple Store?

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