When you say "start up disk", what are you refering too? I have a similar problem with the spinning multi color wheel thing.
I purchased my iMac in 2009. It's a 24". I have a 1TB internal harddrive and a 1 TB time capsule. My harddrive was full (970Gb's used) as well as my time capsule. So I bought a 2tb extern harddrive. I moved all my videos to this external harddrive and now have about 330 G's used up on my iMac. I also wanted to free up the time capsule so I decided to reformat it. I used the quick method.
One thing I also did recently was purchase the lion operating system. Plus I also bought the latest iMovie and iPhoto. I think there are glitches with the latest operating system.
I've also started having a problem with my screen when I first sit down to use my iMac. I click the mouse to wake the iMac, then need to chose which login to use. I have 2. Mine and one for my kids. However, what I get is a black screen but when I move my mouse around, it clears the screen where the mouse has passed...very weird. Anyway, once I reveal my login tab and click on it, I can enter my password and login. Then the black screen disappears. But this is where my iMac is slow.
The other thing is, my wifi wasn't working. I got it fixed by following the time capsule set up thing.
Then my iMac couldn't see my printer. It gave the option to download the driver. Not sure why since it was working before but I chose to download it. But then I got a message stating it couldn't be downloaded at this time.
To be honest, I've spoken so proudly about all my apple purchases to my friends and family. My comment has been that the apple product "just works"! My opinion is changing through constant frustration. The biggest problem is that it's difficult to carry my iMac to one of the apple stores. It's not like carrying a laptop.
Also, when I call AppleCare, they tell me they can't log into my iMac. So this makes dealing with apple a challenge.
Sorry for the rant.
