Mac Mini will not boot up - Poss due to Mavericks?

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jayeffkew Author

Level 1

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Mac Mini will not boot up - Poss due to Mavericks?

I've had a MacMini since Nov 11 and it's never caused me any problems until lat night.

I updated to Mavericks on Fri afternoon and everything worked well until last night (Saturday).

On start up the screen had the Apple logo, a small revolving pattern thing and a progress bar.

The progress bar took about just under 5 minutes to finish and the screen went black and the Mac had no power.

I tried to reboot about a dozen times with the same result.

I have -

tried numerous key combinations to open safe mode (i only have a Windows keyboard)

disconnected all usb's except the keyboard and mouse

tried to reboot with keyboard and mouse disconnected

Nothing has worked

Does anybody have any ideas

Should I have left Mavericks alone?

I don't have any start up disk or external hard drive

Thanks

John

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), I'm presuming it was 10.9.2 i updat

Posted on Mar 9, 2014 5:57 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 9

77,158 points

Mar 9, 2014 9:05 AM in response to jayeffkew

Sounds like you may need to Repair your Macintosh HD using Disk Utility.

To startup into Safe Mode startup holding the Shift key.

To startup into theRecovery Partition hold the Command R keys.

To start up into the Startup Manager hold the Alt (Option) key.

Be patient, key command startups are slower than normal startups.

If you can not startup into Safe Mode or the Recovery Partition, try the Alt (Option) to Startup Manager and startup from the Recovery Partition. Then go the Utilities > Disk Utility and in Disk Utility select your Macintosh HD > Repair.

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Answer 2

Mar 9, 2014 9:15 AM in response to jayeffkew

Try these steps to reset the mini's SMC (system management controller).

--------------------

Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

---------------------

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

239,189 points

Mar 9, 2014 10:53 AM in response to jayeffkew

With a Windows® keyboard, try Windows key + r key to boot to the recovery partition.

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Answer 4

jayeffkew Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 9, 2014 2:51 PM in response to jayeffkew

Thanks everybody for taking the time to help

I'll give it a go tomorrow morning and report back

Cheers

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Answer 5

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Mar 9, 2014 3:54 PM in response to jayeffkew

jayeffkew wrote:

I've had a MacMini since Nov 11 and it's never caused me any problems until lat night.

I updated to Mavericks on Fri afternoon and everything worked well until last night (Saturday).

<snip>

Should I have left Mavericks alone?

I don't have any start up disk or external hard drive

The fact your Mac worked all Friday afternoon and until Saturday night would seem to eliminate Mavericks as a causal factor. More likely a coincidence than a problem source.

Actually you do have a startup drive that was installed on your hard drive when you installed Mavericks called the Recovery Drive. You can boot to the Recovery Drive either by holding down the Command+Option key on a cold boot to get to the boot manager where you can select the Recovery Drive or by holding down Command+R to boot directly into the Recovery Drive. From there you can run Disk Utlility to Repair the Boot disk or you can reinstall Mavericks.

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Answer 6

jayeffkew Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 10, 2014 7:06 AM in response to Joe Bailey

I tried the Command (WindowsKey) +R option and it opened Disk Utility

I clicked Disk Repair on the MacintoshHD

Initially I got the error msg 'Disk Utility can't repair this disk .....disk and restore your backed up files

I then tried to verify the disk and got the msg

'This disk needs to be repaired Click repair disk'

So i did that and got

Checking File System

Volume Repair Complete

Updating Boot support Partitions for the volume as required

Is it just now a question of letting the repair continue

I'm new to Macs and worried that i'll do something stupid and erase important PhotoBooth program software i need for my business as i don't have the original manufacturers disk

Thanks

Repair has now stopped with same msg Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible reformat the disk and restore your backed up files

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Answer 7

Joe Bailey

Level 6

12,227 points

Mar 10, 2014 7:31 AM in response to jayeffkew

There are other utilities such as Diskwarrior, Tech Tool Pro, and Drive Genius that are far more robust at repairing damaged volume structures than Disk Utility, but unfortunately they cost around $100 each. You might give one of them a try. If you have AppleCare your mini should still be covered and you can take it to the Genius Desk at the Apple Store where they will attempt to repari the volume and if that is not possible they can back up your data and replace the HD. Under the circumstances, I would strongly urge you to replace the HD.

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