Mac Mini OS X Installation Freezes (Old Mac Mini A1176 10.4 Tiger)

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Mac Mini OS X Installation Freezes (Old Mac Mini A1176 10.4 Tiger)

I have an old Mac Mini - model A1176, the 1.5ghz Core Solo version (so pretty much the first ever Intel Mac Mini!).

It was running Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 but has developed a bootloop issue - it powers on and displays fine, the chime sounds, then the Apple logo appears, followed by the loading circle for about 30 seconds before it restarts itself, the chime sounds again and this process repeats itself.

I'm trying to reinstall Mac OS. I have a 10.4.8 Tiger install disc but the Mac Mini's DVD drive doesn't seem to work (at least it won't read/boot from the install disc and it's making a lot of unhealthy sounds!). I have used another Mac to copy the install disc to a USB flash drive and I can boot from that, however the Mac freezes up early on in the install process - usually during the license agreement or at the stage where it prompts you to select the install destination. It also freezes if I try to access Disk Utility or the Log.

I've tried putting a different hard drive in the Mac and have the same problem, so it's not the hard drive. It also seems to be happy enough to sit on the language select screen, or any other screen up until the license agreement, indefinitely without freezing so I'm assuming it's not freezing up due to overheating or anything like that. Restarting the system allows me to boot right back into the installer but it will freeze again at the same stage.

What else can I do to work around this or troubleshoot the issue?

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 3, 2015 4:57 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

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210,411 points

May 4, 2015 2:04 AM in response to fadetonoir

Try running Apple Diagnostics so help determine if you have a hardware problem

Using Apple Diagnostics - Apple Support

Is the install disk either a gray OEM disk that came with the yur Mini or a retail (white or black label)? OEM gray disks only work with the model Mac they were shipped with

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Answer 2

fadetonoir Author

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May 4, 2015 1:46 PM in response to lllaass

Are the diagnostics supposed to run from the hard drive or the install disc/USB drive? The install disc is grey and the Mac is preowned so it's possible that it's not the correct disc - but if that's the case, what would the symptoms be? Would the wrong install disc just cause it to freeze when you tried to use it?

I was actually having problems getting some of the startup options to work. I believe I've successfully reset the NVRAM (holding Command-Option-P-R does make it restart and chime again quicker than usual) and when holding C it does seem to try to boot from the DVD drive rather than the hard drive (although, like I said, the DVD drive seems to be broken - it makes a lot of clicking, groaning and generally unhealthy sounds). However, trying to boot in Safe Mode, Verbose Mode, Recovery Mode (although if I'm correct Tiger doesn't have a recovery partition?) or Startup Manager were all unsuccessful. So because of that, I couldn't get into Startup Manager to tell it to boot from the USB unless I wiped the hard drive. Now it boots from the USB drive by default bceause the HDD is empty but I still can't get it to go to the Startup Manager or launch diagnostics. I'm using a known working keyboard and have tried a second known working keyboard and all of the Mac Mini's USB ports.

So I've tried booting the Mac up and holding down D both with and without the USB boot drive connected and can't get into diagnostics either way. What else can I try?

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Answer 3

lllaass

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210,411 points

May 4, 2015 1:55 PM in response to fadetonoir

On Macs that came with install DVDs, Apple Diagnostics is run from the one of the install disks. It may be disk 2

If the gray disk did not come with your model Mac then it will not install on your model Mac.

Do you have an external USB optical drive you can use?

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Answer 4

fadetonoir Author

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May 13, 2015 5:27 PM in response to lllaass

I don't seem to have a disc 2, even though the disc I have is labelled 'Install Disc 1'. But then there is a file on the disc called 'Apple Hardware Test Readme' that explains how to use it - and Step 2 reads "Restart your computer with the media containing Apple Hardware Test. This should be the same media this document resides on. Hold down the "D" key while the computer restarts." So going by that, Apple Hardware Test should run from that disc - although, again, I'm not actually running it from the DVD as my drive is broken, so it's on USB. I do not have an external USB optical drive, unfortunately, but I will see if I can borrow one. Although the readme also says that "If your computer has no internal hard drive or optical drive (selected configurations only), you must connect an Apple Care approved external FireWire optical drive to a FireWire port on your computer in order to run Apple Hardware Test." So does that mean that it would have to be firewire, and not USB?

In the meantime, I have also tried a Mac OS Leopard universal install disc (thinking I would give it a try as the Mac Mini does meet the minimum system requirements for Leopard), by copying it to a USB stick, and I have the same problem with that - it freezes/hangs at one of the first few screens, around about the license agreement

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Answer 5

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

May 14, 2015 2:01 AM in response to fadetonoir

This:

Although the readme also says that "If your computer has no internal hard drive or optical drive (selected configurations only), you must connect an Apple Care approved external FireWire optical drive to a FireWire port on your computer in order to run Apple Hardware Test." So does that mean that it would have to be firewire, and not USB?

just applies to older computer. Just ignore

If you have access to another Mac with an Intel processor install either Tiger or Snow Leopard on an external HD and then try to boot the problem Mino from that HD

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