Help for iMac model no. a1173
Ok the computer stopped working while surfing the net. Now it powers up gives a chime followed by the globe and then the apple. That's it then I get the working spinning wheel and that's it. Any ideas?
Can you tell us what operating system version you are using? To get more information about your computer, go to the Apple in the upper left corner of any window, then "About This Mac", then "More Info..." Copy and paste the information here, but omit the serial number and Hardware UUID (if present).
By the way, you posted this in a forum for truly old hardware such as dates from the 1990s and earlier. Your have an Intel Mac, but more likely your issue is a software problem and should be posted in the correct system version forum. We can request this post be move once we know what system version you are running. In the meantime here's some reading:
First, if at all possible make a backup of the drive in its present configuration. If something goes wrong during repair attempts and makes things worse you will have a backup. You will have to decide how to work this in the light of any present backups you may have, for example, a backup that may be a few days out of date. In that case you may want to keep that one and make a second backup of this as they are now, though I realize people often don't have a lot of empty drives sitting around.
Boot from the System Installer disc that came with your computer or is the one for the version you currently have on there, select language if applicable, choose utilities, run Disk Utility and verify (and repair if necessary) the drive. You can verify a drive from DU on your main drive while booted but I have found this can result in incorrect reporting of errors. To repair your drive you have to run it from a drive other than the boot drive anyway.
Next, boot from your drive in Safe Mode (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393) and repair permissions. You can repair permissions while booted from the installer disc but this uses the permissions configuration on the installer disc which may be out of date if you have run any updates on your computer. Booting your computer to Safe Mode restricts the number of things running on your computer while permissions are being run and does a bit of spring cleaning at the same time.
=Reading=
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions 10.0-10.6 - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751
"Try Disk Utility" (modified from http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417)
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer (Edit: Do not use this disc if it is not the same general version as what you have currently on your computer, e.g. use a Tiger disc for a Tiger drive, not a Panther disc), then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
Then boot in Safe Mode, (holding Shift key down at bootup; takes longer to boot this way so be patient), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
Safe Boot takes longer than normal startup - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107394
Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5- Computer shuts down during Safe Boot - http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24054
If you don't have an installer disc available you can try effecting repairs using fsk in Single User Mode - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214.
