Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I'm typing this on my iPhone...
I got home last night around 7:45, after being gone since 8:45 that morning. As I usually do, I walk in and hit the space bar to wake the iMac to check e-mail, etc. Last night, nothing happened. The display stayed dark (no light coming from it, so it was truly off/dark...as opposed to a working display showing "black" or whatever). I restarted and the white screen with the grey Apple logo never came up (but I could hear the startup chime and faint whirring). I stuck in the Snow Leopard disk and held down the "C" key (is that still the one?), hoping that maybe it was something system-related. Nothing happened. However, a couple of other restarts DID bring up that light grey startup screen with the dark grey apple. And below it, a progress bar. The bar went about 1/10 its lengt. Then went away, leaving only the apple and the little animated spinning pinwheel "clock" below it. Top tired/scatterbrained to fool with it, I just shut it back down. Today, after a full day of other things, I just got around to pushing the restart button. Same thing...I hear the chime, the display lights up (yay!), I see that grey Apple logo screen and the pinwheel, and that progress bar pops up, but only progresses/fills about 1/10th it's length then disappears. In 21 hours, I've yet to be able to reach the booted desktop/OS X home to actually do anything. No surges or weirdness that I am aware of (all the electronics or digital/peripheral devices here seem fine. In fact, the entire time I've been typing this, that light grey startup screen with the pinwheel timer (and it's working) has been going. It seems my display itself must be okay if it's showing this (and not a dead, dark display). So I assume something else is going on. Any ideas? It's a 20" aluminum iMac, running 10.6.2 and all other updates. I have 3GB RAM (1 stock, and a 2GB DIMM from Crucial from about 18 months ago. No weird sounds are present, and nothing else seems strange or "off". I just can't beyond that booting screen. That little pinwheel had made about eleventh gazillion revolutions since I've been typing this. Help. Any tips, advice, troubleshooting procedures, keyboard shortcuts, etc. You can tell me to try? |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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Is it shutting down at that point, or are you sure it's actually still running?
I had a similar problem a while back, and mine would get to that point then shut down. Does this seem like what you're experiencing? Mine ended up being some corruption that occurred during a software update. I ended up purchasing DiskWarrior and it straightened everything out. Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Finally got the Snow Leopard disc to boot. Verified disc. It says (in red):
invalid sibling link The volume PUl's iMac was found corrupt and needs to be repaired Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk. So I am. Wish me luck... EDIT: ugh...just got what Zippy did: "Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up ad many of your files, reformat the disk and restore your backed up files." so...Disk Warrior? |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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If you have a SuperDuper backup, you could just wipe out the internal drive and restore from the SuperDuper - or you could probably do the same from a TimeMachine backup. Either of these would be cheaper than DiskWarrior, but DiskWarrior was drop-dead simple for me. And now I have it for any future problems.
Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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What, exactly did/does Disk Warrior do? Did it save/recover your stuff or simply smack the thing into shape?
Last edited by psmith2.0 : 2010-03-06 at 18:45. |
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Sneaky Punk
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Disk Warrior is tries to repair fragmentation, and damage to the file system.
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Tell me this...is it worth a Snow Leopard reinstall of just the system itself? I know there's "corruption", but does that automatically demand a backup/wipe/clean reinstall?
Sorry for the dumb questions. I'd just like to get out of this with the least hassle and expense possible. What, exactly, is "corrupted", I wonder? Components of the OS? EDIT: Jeez-louise...the iPhone's little predictor/auto-correct feature is a pot-stirring little bastard on wheels. I type goofier nonsense with it than without, some of the "guesses" it makes (and the words it'll insert). |
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Sneaky Punk
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Try an archive and install and see if that helps first.
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Good grief...
I booted from the install (after a couple of attempts) and finally got to where I could something and then I'm met with a message saying "The contents of this disk can't be changed. Mac OS X cannot be installed on this disk." and now the screen just went dark. WTF?!? I've been blessed with 15-16 years of flawless, trouble-free Mac ownership. But holy hell...when it's your time, it really comes on bad, huh? Justv one stupid, inexplicable thing after another. Every step I try is thwarted and undermined. It feels like I'm dealing with unreasonable asshole of a person instead of a stupid computer. so tell me this (and time is a factor, as she's leaving for Anaheim, CA at 7:30 tomorrow)...could I use my Mom's MacBook to remotely try to install OS X or, at the very least, perhaps "see" my iMac and lifeboat a few things off it? Every damn thing I'm trying is met with one new (to me) error message after another. I can't boot. I can boot, but not completely. The screen works, the screen doesn't, i van boot from the install disk (finally) but can't install the OS, etc. |
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Sneaky Punk
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Sounds like some serious problems, as I originally suspected.
As for the "The contents of this disk can't be changed. Mac OS X cannot be installed on this disk." that is very normal, since the install disk is running an older version of OSX than is installed on your system. You have to go into the custom install or options tab I think. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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But all I saw was a "customize" button, all it Les me to was a window wher I could select if I wanted additional fonts, printer support, Rosetta, additional language support, etc.
I just don't see how everything is completely torques and useless. And is it hardware or software? why is something that ran perfectly 24 hours ago thus fucked in every possible way? |
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Sneaky Punk
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Hardware failure is often very sudden, and unpredictable. Based on what is happening, at this point I'm leaning towards hardware problems. If it was just a software problem, you should not have to fight to get the install disk to work.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
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This. I'm pretty sure this is a hardware issue. Did you get your Mac less than a year ago? If so, get to an Apple certified repair place ASAP.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Yeah, it's sounding to me like either the logic board or hard drive may have shit itself.
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I got it in September 2008.
What about the MacBook "lifeboating" thing I mentioned earlier? Is it possible to connect a healthy Mac to a "sick" one for a remote install? If so, I kinda need to know ASAP so I can run grab my Mom's MacBook before she takes it with her tomorrow. This would all be happening this weekend, of all times... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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I was able to find disk errors with OS X's disk repair utility, but for some reason, it couldn't repair them. DiskWarrior could. Since I was fortunate enough to have a SuperDuper backup to boot to, I was able to download DiskWarrior, run it against the internal drive and after 10 minutes or so (I can't really remember how long) it found and fixed the errors. I rebooted to the internal and haven't had a problem since. If you don't have an alternative boot drive, then you would need to boot to a DiskWarrior CD/DVD. You might be able to pick one up retail somewhere, but I'm not sure. If you have to order it, it will take a couple of days. As for whether or not it will fix your issue, I can't say. Others may be right, and there may be more wrong than that. But given that Disk Repair found errors that it just couldn't fix - I think it's reasonable to think that DiskWarrior could be all you need. Your symptoms sound pretty similar to mine - except for your monitor issue. But that can still just be software related. I think it's still too early to go all 'worst case scenario'. If there's an Apple store nearby, I'd make an appointment and take it in. Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Sneaky Punk
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zippy, no amount of software problems on the internal drive should make it that hard to boot from the install DVD, period.
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M AH - ch ain saw
Join Date: May 2004
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How about using her Mini as the "lifeboat" so you don't have to worry about time? Perhaps FireWire target disk mode? If you're really interested in trying that. But to me it feels hardware related, as well. Like those above have said...
User formally known as Sh0eWax |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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If you decide to go the DiskWarrior route you could might be able to run it from your Mom's MacBook (assuming again that you can get your iMac into TDM). Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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No Apple Store locally, but a Mac Authority is in town. They stock DW ($99). I'll call tomorrow and find out about having it looked at.
Any additional ideas and/or info, please keep them coming. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Twice I've booted from the Snow Leopard disk. It's just been fussy and erratic.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Unknown
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If you can boot to TDM but can't mount the drive from your Mom's MacBook then that would be strong evidence that your drive is the culprit (whether it's repairable or not would still be unknown). If you can't boot into TDM, it still could be disk troubles, or it could mean something more. Do you know where children get all of their energy? - They suck it right out of their parents! |
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Fishhead Family Reunited
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
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NO!!
If the disk directory is damaged beyond DU's ability to repair it, this will NOT help. The only solutions are to erase the disk, reinstall, and restore, or use DW to repair the damaged directory. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I may just go ahead and spring for DW today. It will be good to have around, and if my Mom or Dad ran into trouble, maybe I'd have some tools to help out.
I assume, then, the DW disk is bootable? I stick it in, hold down the "C" key as I restart and it'll boot into the DW utility? |
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Less than Stellar Member
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Make sure you try to salvage what you can by doing the target disk mode thing before doing anything to the disk.
Sucks that this happened. But it is a little humorous to read your normally perfect posts littered with typos. Good luck! |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I know. I gave up trying to fix them all.
I may take my iMac over to my Mom's house sometime today to try the target mode thing, using her MC mini. Her mini being 10.5 (and my iMac being 10.6) won't be an issue, will it? That's why I was asking about this last night...her MacBook - which is so much easier to lug around - has Snow Leopard on it. The hits just keep on coming... |
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Fishhead Family Reunited
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Slightly Off Center
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Make sure to have plenty of patience, though, as it takes a very long time to boot even a fast Mac. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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Thanks. Good to know, as "patience" probably isn't my most defining character trait. Ask anyone who knows me. Hurry, dammit...ask them!!!
Okay, I'm currently at my Mom's house (and typing on her Mac mini, so the typos should decrease dramatically, torifile ) and I've got my iMac connected to her Mac mini via FireWire. I just started my iMac, heard the chime, the display didn't light up and my iMac's icon hasn't shown up on her desktop. It's been about 2-3 minutes. Would you chalk that up to FireWire Target Disk Mode "not doing the trick"? Have I left out a step, or done something wrong? It's just the regular "T" key, by itself, right? No Command or Option modifier? I'm about to kick the shit out of this iMac. I was having a pretty awesome week... Gonna try booting my iMac again. |
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