iMac won't boot at first attempt

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iMac won't boot at first attempt

Hi

Recently I've been experiencing that my intel iMac won't boot at first attempt and I have to powerdown manually and then try again. Second time it boots just fine. It's usually in the morning (been shut off for the night), but not always. I've tried disc utility from the install dvd, have repaired permissions and reset the nvram and everything seems just fine. The thing is, this has happened after the 10.4.8 update as far as I can remember. Does anyone else see this or is it a coincidence and some other problem?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Best regards

Rico

intel iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

intel iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 9, 2006 9:54 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 9, 2006 11:59 AM in response to Rico Jensen

I'm having the same problem... It started at around the same time your problem did but in my case, it happened before updating to 10.4.8 (on the same day, but before updating) and it sometimes takes up to 30 tries before a sucessful boot (as it was this morning!)...

I called AppleCare and from what they've told me (after doing many tests with the Disk Utility, with the Apple Hardware Test, resetting the PRAM, booting safe mode, booting from the CD, etc.), the problem could be caused by an hardware, probably the Airport.

When my computer boots in the verbose mode, I can clearly see that it stops when it initializes AirPort (it writes "AirPort" with an Ethernet address), though it's turned off in the computer.

All this to say that AppleCare told me that the only thing left to do was to bring the iMac to a retail store to have it fixed... Looks like this is what you should do, unless someone has a solution...

Intel iMac 24" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 2

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 9, 2006 12:45 PM in response to Caroline Marie

Hi Caroline Marie

Thank you for your fast reply. My Airport is always turned off, and I haven't installed any peripherals or software for that matter - and also tried the exact same things as apple care told you to try. I wonder if there was some update to the airport for instance and if a software update could prevent hardware from responding (don't know if that's possible or not).

I'm eagerly awaiting other comments on this.

Best regards

Rico

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Answer 3

Oct 10, 2006 5:31 PM in response to Rico Jensen

Hi Rico,

I just wanted to give you a little follow-up.

I went to an Apple store today to show the boot problem. The Mac Genius there didn't succeed in booting the computer at all, though he tried many times.

From what I understood, it's not due to the update. Actually, he wasn't exactly sure what caused that problem... From what I understood (I'm a Mac newbie so this is a little new for me), the computer doesn't even boot the internal components when it refuses to boot in normal boot, safe mode, from the CD, etc.

The bottom line is my logic board is being changed. He thinks that's the problem. I'll know within the next 3 to 5 business days...

I hope that's not your problem, but it could be one of the problems... :/

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Answer 4

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 11, 2006 12:37 AM in response to Caroline Marie

Hi again

Sorry to hear about your mac :/

My iMac keeps refusing to boot the first time when it's "cold" and works perfectly at the second power up. Very weird indeed.

I'll give it a week or so and see what happens and then call the local mac store.

Best regards

Rico

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Answer 5

Oct 11, 2006 12:40 PM in response to Rico Jensen

I had this problem when I bought my I-mac. 3 out of 4 times it refused to boot the first time, it just started flashing the power led. Sometimes it booted only at the third or fourth attempt. When I complained about this at my local Apple reseller the next day they came to change the ram-modules, and then the problem was solved. They told me that most of the time these problems come from bad or incompatible ram modules, and there had been a last minute firmware change by Apple that meant that the ram they sold was now incompatible. So it might be a good idea to look into this matter.
I like to add that the service of my local Apple dealer in this matter was absolutly TOP!!!

I hope this helps.
Hans

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Answer 6

shoe123

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Oct 11, 2006 3:28 PM in response to Rico Jensen

i'm having this same problem but sounds a little different. Mine turns on, then the grey screen comes up and the chime goes, but repeats and repeats and repeats until i come and hold down the power button and start it again, where it has no problem. It does this only in the morning too, but only when it automatically turns on..so it might be the airport or ram modules? I live in canada so theres no apple stores nearby:( (i live in bc, we dont get anything like that, the closest one is seattle)

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Answer 7

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 11, 2006 11:49 PM in response to shoe123

Hi Hans Rutgers and Shoe123

Thank you for your replies. My iMac has been running smoothly since june when I got it, and the problem has appeared recently. How old are your iMacs? Here's what I'm thinking: I find it suspecious that not only my iMac starts behaving odd when booting (being 5 months old), but perhaps also other iMacs that are not brand new?

Shoe123 you mentioned "...and there had been a last minute firmware change by Apple that meant that the ram they sold was now incompatible" - I'm not that big a tech genius, but do you think it's possible that something in the last update could mess with for instance my ram that was preinstalled?

I've tested my iMac over the last couple of days, and the problem only occurs in the morning when the machine has been shut off for more than 8 hours. If I power down the iMac now and boot it up again in an hour or three, everything works fine.

I'm puzzled.

Again, thank you all for your replies and inputs.

Rico

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Answer 8

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,607 points

Oct 12, 2006 1:30 AM in response to Rico Jensen

They told me that most of the time these problems come from bad or incompatible ram modules, and there had been a last minute firmware change by Apple that meant that the ram they sold was now incompatible.

The first partof that statement is true, but to be honest, the last part is a bit of a bizzare statement and sounds more like tech double speak to CYA for we sold you the wrong RAM or we sold you bad RAM! RAM would seem to be part of the hardware design that is settled early on in the design process and remains constant for the life of the computer. If anyone understood the complications of supply stream in a manufacturing process they would understand RAM is certainly not changed by the last minute whim of a firmware change.

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Answer 9

shoe123

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Oct 12, 2006 7:26 AM in response to Rico Jensen

Hi Rico,

sorry but i didn't say that quote..

and my iMac is two weeks old, so i can't really say if it's been after 10.4.8 or anything like that because right when i got it i downloaded all the updates. it started the very next morning i got the machine, and has been doing it every morning it's scheduled to come one, maybe it skipped doing it once tho. maybe i'll try turning off the schedule for one morning and see if i turn it on my hand that it still does this.

I'm puzzled aswell.

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Answer 10

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 12, 2006 7:58 AM in response to shoe123

Oups, sorry about that wrong quote - I've been reading to many discussions lately 🙂

I've done all sorts of things today and I'm kind of curious to what is going to happen tomorrow morning when I boot up the mac. To sum up, here's what I've been doing:

Installed 10.4.8 manually, downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048updateintel.html Read somewhere that the stand alone installer might help.

I ran repair permissions right after and got this:
Permissions differ on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi, should be -r-xr-xr-x , they are -r--r--r--
Owner and group corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
Permissions corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

Ran repair permissions again to check - all was good

Enabled automatically login in the accounts menu in user prefs - someone suggested me to do this, but I'm not sure what that might do, but hey, I'll give it all a shot.

Changed resolution and then back again to highest possible. Apple suggests this when the problem occurs on the 17" iMac.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303870

Unplugged power cord for 30 secs and reset smu (G5 article/idea though)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301733

Used Onyx to delete the content of library > caches which I read somewhere could perhaps help.

I'll post again tomorrow morning, and hopefully with some positive news 🙂

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Answer 11

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,607 points

Oct 12, 2006 10:09 AM in response to Rico Jensen

Unfortunately Intel Macs don't have an SMU. Intels have a SMC and the G5 instructions can cause other issues for you on an Intel! You are lucky that your fans didn't go haywire as they have when others have done this. Never follow instructions for a Mac model other than your own. Here are the correct instructions to reset the SMC;
Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini: How to reset the System Management Controller

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Answer 12

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 12, 2006 11:38 AM in response to Dah•veed

Hi Adam

Thank you for your corrections and the link. You know, it turns out I actually didn't read the SMU thing properly - I didn't hold down the powerbutton while doing it, just skimmed the text and gave it a shot. Phew.

I think this is enough testing for today 🙂 This might go wrong (eyes are sleeping :)), so I think I'll call it a day.

I'll post in the morning as mentioned earlier, and tell you if the "experiments" have changed anything.

Again, thank you all for your inputs and comments. I appreciate it.

Rico

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Answer 13

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 12, 2006 11:41 AM in response to Rico Jensen

Ok, I'll head to bed - just called you Adam. Sheesh. Sorry about that David.

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Answer 14

Rico Jensen Author

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Oct 12, 2006 9:54 PM in response to Rico Jensen

It didn't work :/ My iMac has been off for the night, and I had to boot it twice.

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Answer 15

Oct 15, 2006 2:14 PM in response to Dah•veed

I've also the same problem. When my iMac 20" intelcore 2 duo has been shuted down for 8 hours (one night), I must push the power button several times to make him start.
I noticed one thing. When I shut down the iMac, after the sreen is black, there's still one little faint noise that I can hear by putting one ear one the case. If i push the powerbutton for several seconds, the noise disappears and when I push once again, it starts.
I seems to be as if the iMac was not really shut down the first time but was really shut down when I push the power-on button...

But despite this problem, the iMac works very fine...

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