terryfromak

Q: imac won't go past gray screen with apple w/circle of bars spinning. Help!

I let the circle spin for over 15 minutes, and occationally you can hear the little sound that makes you think it's going to

start... It just doesn't.  I tried pushing the power button then holding down the Command, Option, P, and R keys... Held

for about 3-4 minutes, no second chime.  Help, please!!!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Aug 13, 2012 9:20 PM

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Q: imac won't go past gray screen with apple w/circle of bars spinning. Help!

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  • by den.thed,

    den.thed den.thed Aug 13, 2012 9:35 PM in response to terryfromak
    Level 7 (27,614 points)
    Aug 13, 2012 9:35 PM in response to terryfromak

    Boot from your 10.6 install DVD, skip the installer and navagate to Utilities > Disk Utility.

     

    Now in Disk Utility highlight your Macintosh HD, select the First Aid tab and then click the Repair Disk button.

  • by terryfromak,

    terryfromak terryfromak Aug 13, 2012 11:53 PM in response to den.thed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2012 11:53 PM in response to den.thed

    Turned computer on and popped in DVD... gray screen... spinning circle bars... that's it.  I did look at the

    disk before putting in, it was 10.6.2 - I don't know if that is of any consequence.  Wish I could have seen the

    Disk Utility and eventually the Repair.  Now can't eject the disk.  Thanks for trying.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Aug 14, 2012 12:44 AM in response to terryfromak
    Level 10 (123,735 points)
    Aug 14, 2012 12:44 AM in response to terryfromak

    Hold the Mouse button down while powering up to eject the Disk, but is this a USB KB/Mouse, or the cantankeroos Wireless models?

     

    Are you using...

     

    Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352

     

    It would block usage of all the startup keys, like C, N, T, D, CMD+s, CMD+Option+p+r, CMD +v, Option, and Shift, as well as booting from anything but the Hard Drive.