Problem booting imac after power cut during update

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Level 1

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Problem booting imac after power cut during update

Hi,

I was proforming a update on the imac, and it had gone to the stage were it installs the update and then shuts down. However during the update there was a power cut. 😟

I have tried rebooting, and it will not reboot fully. I am getting the apple symbol, a spinging timer and the mouse point appears. However after a minute or so the spinging timer disappears. The apple logo and the mouse point remain and nothing else happens.

Any help would be great, where do I go from here?

AppleTV 2

Posted on Jun 7, 2013 5:45 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 7, 2013 5:56 PM in response to mcydave

Exactly what were you updating during the power outage?

Allan

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Answer 2

mcydave Author

Level 1

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Jun 8, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Allan Eckert

Hi Allan,

It was a Mac update, not to sure what the update was, it was a system update. So I just ok'd the update to install.

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Answer 3

Jun 8, 2013 12:42 PM in response to mcydave

Which version of OS X was your Mac running before this happened?

Allan

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Answer 4

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Jun 8, 2013 12:54 PM in response to mcydave

You could try a Safe Boot: restart holding down the Shift key until you see a grey progress bar. Once booted restart as normal from the Apple menu - hopefully it'll boot.

If that doesn't help, try an SMC reset: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

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Answer 5

mcydave Author

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Jun 8, 2013 1:07 PM in response to Allan Eckert

I am running os x 10.8.3

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Answer 6

mcydave Author

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Jun 10, 2013 1:31 AM in response to Paul_31

Hi Paul,

Tried the safe mode boot, got the grey status bar but stopped after about 20%. Left to run for about an hour but no movement.

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Answer 7

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Jun 10, 2013 1:35 AM in response to mcydave

Did you try the SMC reset I linked to?

If that doesn't work, will it let you boot into the Recovery HD to run Disk Utility to verify/repair the HD? Restart holding Command + r - and at the screen with four choices select Disk Utility. Slect Macintosh HD and click on 'repair disk' If anything gets changed click on repair disk again until you get a clean pass. Restart as normal from the Apple menu. More info here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

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Answer 8

mcydave Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 10, 2013 2:32 AM in response to Paul_31

Hi Paul,

Just tried the SMC and PRAM reset with no success. I will try the recovery and come back to you.

Thanks,

David

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Answer 9

mcydave Author

Level 1

5 points

Jun 10, 2013 2:58 AM in response to Paul_31

Hi Paul,

Tried this and go the following error. Invalid volume free block count. It reported that this was repaired. I ran again and there was no errors.

Restarted and still the same problem. Can not log in, just apple sign and mouse pointer.

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Answer 10

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Jun 10, 2013 3:07 AM in response to mcydave

Good that you were able to repair the drive and hopefully your data is still intact. Given that the power outage occurred during the install (that's about as unlucky as you can get 😟) it's probably reasonable to assume that the OS itself is damaged as a result and is causing the failure to boot problem.

Have you got backup you can restore all your data from - it might be needed.

I think a re-install of the OS would be my next step, using the same Recovery HD process, but select re-install OS. You'll need a live internet connection as the latest version of Mountain Lion will be re-downloaded from Apple's servers (a 4gb+ file). I'm not sure, but you may be prompted for your Apple ID at the beginning of the process. Good luck.

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Answer 11

Paul_31

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14,160 points

Jun 10, 2013 3:11 AM in response to Paul_31

Just to add that re-installing the OS won't delete your data - only an erase and install does that. It should hopefully put a fresh fully updated version of OS X on your drive and all your data/applications should be available - hopefully not corrupted by the power outage.

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Answer 12

mcydave Author

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Jun 10, 2013 3:58 AM in response to Paul_31

Hi Paul,

Will this loose the installed aps on the system?

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Answer 13

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Jun 10, 2013 4:11 AM in response to mcydave

See my post just above your last one. Re-installing just the OS shouldn't delete/remove any of your installed apps or data. But given the problems you are having I'm hoping that you have backup that you can restore from in case the power outage has caused some as yet unknown problem.

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