I have a 27# iMac Intel running OS Mavericks. I downloaded a free Gantt chart and it worked fine for a while but then would not allow simple text changes so I hit restart. It opened up with a strange screensaver and would not reboot.
Has anyone experienced this phenomenon? I suspect a wee virus but don't know what to do. Help please.
(A virus is something that can copy itself to another computer without the user giving it permission. There are no virus' on Macs, so far.
Malware is what we have - the user must give a password to install.)
That symbol is the firewire drive symbol.
Try restarting, and when you hear the startup sound, immediately press and hold command + r keys, until you see Apple logo.
Use DIsk Utility to repair your hard drive.
If that doesn't work, I'd guess that the hard drive is damaged.
As greg noted, it's not a screensaver. The Mac booted directly into FireWire Target Disk Mode.
It's possible the T key on your keyboard is stuck or malfunctioning. That key is the one the firmware looks for being held on a startup or restart to go into FW Target mode. So one thing to try is to simply switch out the keyboard.
If that doesn't help, restart and hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys to zap the NVRAM. Keep holding the keys through two or three startup chimes and let go so the Mac can start normally. If it does manage to boot to the main drive, I'd back it up immediately.
If all of the above fail, then I'd have to agree with greg that the hard drive make have taken a permanent vacation.
Suspected virus
