After Time Machine Restore, Stuck at Blue Loading Screen

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Level 1

3 points

After Time Machine Restore, Stuck at Blue Loading Screen

After failing at installing Windows 7 (Nvidia graphics drivers do not like white iMacs), I was forced to wipe my HDD and restore my Time Machine backup.

After booting from my Snow Leopard disc, I went to Disk Utility->Partition->Volume Scheme and selected 1 Partition and GUID.

I then quit Disk Utility and selected Restore from a Time Machine Backup and selected my most recent backup. (I have a 2TB Time Capsule that I use for this)

After the restore was complete, it rebooted, showed the gray screen with the Apple logo, then went to the blue screen with the scrolling gear, then no gear, then scrolling gear, then no gear, ad infinitum

I then booted from the Snow Leopard disc again, opened Disk Utility->Repair Disk and after a few minutes, it said it appeared to be OK. Then I did Repair Disk Permissions and after 5 minutes, it was done.

After this, I rebooted, and the same exact thing happened. Stuck at the blue screen...

So then I reset the PRAM with the Command-Option-P-R keys, but was still stuck at the blue screen.

So then I held the Shift key during boot-up, but was still stuck at the blue screen.

I've tried every option I know about, and I'm at the end of my rope. Please help!

24'' iMac Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.6.4), iPhone 3GS 32GB

Posted on Jul 26, 2010 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 26, 2010 3:58 PM in response to MaxGraphics

While booted from your SL disk, try going to DIsk Utility and run +*repair disk+* (not permissions) on your backups.

If that finds & fixes anything, try the restore again. Be sure to use your Snow Leopard disc, not a Leopard version.

If not, or if that fails too, try restoring from a previous backup (again, with an SL disc only).

As a last resort, erase your internal HD again and install OSX. When your Mac boots up, after the welcome screen +Setup Assistant+ will ask if you want to transfer your data. See #19 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for details.

When your Mac restarts, download and install the 10.6.4 "combo" update. Info and download available at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1048 Be sure to do a +Repair Permissions+ via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder) afterwards.

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Answer 2

MaxGraphics Author

Level 1

3 points

Jul 26, 2010 4:16 PM in response to Pondini

Thank you for your quick response!

How do I run Repair Disk on my backup if it is in my Time Capsule? My iMac is connected to it via Ethernet, but I don't know how to access it from Disk Utility.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 26, 2010 4:30 PM in response to MaxGraphics

MaxGraphics wrote:
Thank you for your quick response!

How do I run Repair Disk on my backup if it is in my Time Capsule?

Ah, sorry, I missed that. 😟

My iMac is connected to it via Ethernet, but I don't know how to access it from Disk Utility.

No, you have to be able to mount the sparse bundle to use Disk Utility on it.

So, either try restoring a previous backup, or erase your internal, install OSX, and try +Setup Assistant.+

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Answer 4

MaxGraphics Author

Level 1

3 points

Jul 27, 2010 2:57 PM in response to Pondini

Ok, here is my progress:

Using another Mac connected to the Time Capsule, I mounted the sparse bundle and ran Repair Disk. After about 2 hours, it was complete and found no errors (Disk appears to be OK).

So then, I tried to restore from the backup an hour before the last one. I have my iMac connected to my Time Capsule with a CAT6 ethernet cord, for gigabit ethernet, but the restores still take about 10 hours to complete.

After the restore, I restarted, and got the same blue screen with the alternating scrolling gear.

I then booted up from my SL disc, ran Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk. Restarted. Same result.

Could this be because I had my 500GB HDD partitioned with Boot Camp (100GB for Windows) before my iMac crashed? Does it make a difference whether my HDD is partitioned for the Time Machine backup?

So, rather than try another 10 hour waiting game, I wanted to try to just erase my HDD, install SL, and use Setup Assistant.

Here's the kicker: When I tried to use Setup Assistant right after the Welcome to SL video, I clicked on the Time Machine Backup option. It then listed the backups for our 3 other computers, but NOT my iMac. I looked on the Time Capsule from another computer, and my iMac backup is there, but it would not list it on my iMac.

I at the very least want to get my documents, music, and pictures from my Time Capsule backups, but I don't know how that's going to happen.

Thanks again for your help!

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jul 27, 2010 3:28 PM in response to MaxGraphics

MaxGraphics wrote:
. . .
Could this be because I had my 500GB HDD partitioned with Boot Camp (100GB for Windows) before my iMac crashed? Does it make a difference whether my HDD is partitioned for the Time Machine backup?

No, as long as the OSX partition isn't completely filled-up by the restore (it should have a minimum of 10% or 10 GB free; 15% or 20% is much better). I've never tried it, but I suspect in that case you'll get some sort of message.

Here's the kicker: When I tried to use Setup Assistant right after the Welcome to SL video, I clicked on the Time Machine Backup option. It then listed the backups for our 3 other computers, but NOT my iMac. I looked on the Time Capsule from another computer, and my iMac backup is there, but it would not list it on my iMac.

Make sure it's not still mounted on any other Mac. If in doubt, shut the others down.

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