my imac boots normally unless three things happen prior to it
1. i put the computer to sleep
2. i schedule a shut down via energy save
3. my computer undergoes a forced shutdown e.g. via power button or power failure
if any of these occur i get the infamous flashing question mark, however if i wait 30 mins it boots normally again, is there a reason for these problems other than a failing HD and can i do anything about it
f.y.i. i have already attempted clean/fresh installs of leopard and snow leopard
Any time I boot up my i5, I don't have any audio. Putting the machine to sleep then immediately awakening it fixes the issue. Has anyone else had this happen? I've searched the forums and google but could only find threads about boot camp sound issues.
Back in August, I did an OS update on my iMac, and the machine wouldn't reboot. I was able to reinstall Leopard by booting from a disk, and all was well for a few more weeks. The machine seemed to run normal, with the exception of 5-minute-plus boot up times. But within a few weeks it stopped booting. I installed Leopard on an external HDD and figured I'd leave the internal alone until Snow Leopard came out.
A few weeks later when SL was released, I booted from the install disk, found the internal HDD, and went through the installation process. Everything went fine but the machine would not boot. I installed SL on my external HDD running Leopard, and everything was fine. I've since been running my computer off the external.
The internal HDD no longer shows up on the desktop, in Disk Utility, etc. I'm fearing it may have died. More worrisome, though, is my machine doesn't always boot up, whether from my external HDD (set as the startup disk) or from CD. By "doesn't always boot up," I mean most of the time when I restart, it just sits on a gray screen, nothing happens (even when holding "Option" or C.) Sometimes it will boot, but takes 20 or 30 minutes to do so.
I'm considering replacing the internal HDD, but am curious, does that seem like the issue, or might the failure to boot from externals and CDs indicate a more serious problem?
I have a Mac OS X 10.6.4 installation on a Macbook Pro 5,1. I use two separate hard drives, one for Windows and the other for Mac. I accidentally switched from Windows to Mac with Windows in sleep mode. When I opened the computer, Windows resumed and BSoD'd. I panicked and forced the computer to shut down. It wouldn't boot into Windows, so I used my Snow Leopard install disk to attempt a repair. It didn't even finish. I tried a repair installation. It wouldn't install with the message "This disk cannot be modified." Disk Utility is telling me to back up and clean install. If there is a way to avoid this, what is it? And I don't have a backup; if there is no way of repairing my installation how do I back up my files?
Normally I build my own machines, but this time around I needed final cut for some projects so I went all out and bought a nice mac pro about a year ago to use primarily as a gaming machine, with final-cut-pro video editing on the side. I've only done a couple FCP edits on the machine and as a result, have mostly used the PC side of things (via bootcamp) and play a game a few times a week on average (Team fortress 2 and FFXI etc). It's run beautifully, easily the best purchase I've ever made.Today is the first day I've had any serious issue with the machine. Having grown up building gaming computers, I am familiar with the corruption (most notably the 'green' corruption that stands out) associated with video cards. Last night I popped on a game called Dragonica that my fiance is into, she needed a hand with some boss thing, so even though I'm not super into it I hopped on. Before I knew it, the screen flickered green-colored-corruption for a second, then locked up. I restarted, thinking its probably a fluke, and before I could get all the way back in, it did it again. I turned off the machine and went to bed (had work in the morning).
Just bought today, brand new mac pro 8 core 2.8ghz. I get a weird click on both boot and start up or when I put the computer to sleep or wake it. It's a single click, imagine the sound of someone lightly flicking the side of an empty Pepsi can. It's not random, I can make it do the sound simply by unplugging or re-plugging the power cord in the back. Is this normal?
I have recently installed a version of Vista on my Macbook to use an online test-taking software that my university insists on using. Everything seems to work well. I set the default partition to OS X and can easily get into Vista if I need to (which fortunately isn't very often).
However, today I noticed an issue that is annoying. When I open Vista, the time is off by about 6 hours. It's set to Central time (where I live) and everything seems fine, but is just off by 6 hours. I didn't think anything of it, so I changed the clock to the correct time.
Then when I was finished using Windows, I restarted back into OS X and everything seemed flawless. Everything was working exactly as I left it. However, after a few minutes I noticed the clock in OS X was off by exactly the same amount I had to change it in Windows.
How could this be? I thought that by partitioning my hard drive I was unable to access the portion I am not currently using. For example, I can't save a file to the Window portion of my hard drive when using OS X. Likewise, I can't access Word files, photos, or anything on my OS X portion of my hard drive when using Windows.
How is it that when I change the time in Windows it changes it in OS X? And why are they different? Not this is a huge problem, but just a pain in the a**, and a little discomforting.
I just tried using the boot camp assistant to partition my drive to allow 10GB for Windows. When I clicked the button to start partitioning, it got stuck there for a long time. Eventually I read in forums that this happens sometimes, and the best thing to do is to quit Boot Camp and try it again.
Well, now I have a problem. The 10GB I tried to partition is now completely missing, and the numbers in Disk Utility simply don't add up. Here's what it says:
Capacity: 232.6 GB Available: 16.1 GB Used 205.8 GB
This doesn't make sense to me at all. I tried verifying and repairing the disk, and it says everything appears to be okay. I open up boot camp assistant and it acts like I'm starting from scratch, just with 10GB less to work with. Where did these 10GB go that I tried to partition?? It's driving me nuts...
So i shut down my uMB (2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD) earlier on with a DVD in the drive. I went to turn it on this evening and it wouldn't boot. I got a black screen saying, that no bootable drive was present. So after I calmed myself down from thinking I had lost my HD I tried to reboot, I held down the trackpad to eject the DVD, which it did. Then it booted fine.
My question is basically is there some way to change the boot order to prevent it trying to boot to a CD as the default?
I had a problem recently where my bezel was falling off and I had problems with keyboard itself. My Applecare more than covered everything and I suspect they may have even given me a refurb Rev. A as a replacement. I am updated to 10.6.1 but everytime the computer restarts I get this weird black screen instead of the standard grey,
I have a 2009 15" Macbook Unibody and for as long as I can remember the superdrive has been making a loud noise when I boot up the machine. Its similar to the noise when you insert a disk. I just figured this was the lens aligning and that it was normal. My brother however works at an Apple store and has a Unibody and his is deadly silent, he also said the laptops he had used at work make no such sound. He said as long as the drive functions then its nothing to worry about.
It doesn't happen at any other time, and the drive does indeed function perfectly fine. It just bugs me when I turn my laptop on and hear a loud freaky noise. Just wondering if anyone here has this and what they think of it?
I tried to do partition, reinstall OSX. After it download OSX Mountain Lion and reboot, it stuck on the gray apple logo. Is there any step to do a proper reinstallation? right now my mac is without any OS.
here's the issue, when i open a new tab and go to a website, i then wait for it to load, while it does load, i go onto the other tabs, but then when i go back to the tab that was loading, i get this message/error saying that the website cannot be found etc. as if there is no internet connection. i then click on refresh and it loads up the page just fine. this only happens when i go onto the other websites and don't wait for the new tab to load. why does this happen? it is very frustrating. i already reseted safari numerous times and im still having the same issue.
Bt homehub shoots the internet wirelessly to my next room, to the Airport extreme. This airport extreme sits next to a ps3 and an external network Hard drive (see model below). Basically, I want to be able to dump files from my imac into the other room on this Hardrive, whilst my Ps3 being able to access the Hardrive as usual. Unfrotunately, I can only get the ps3 or the airport extreme to connect to my hardrive through the USB slot. As the HD only has one USB slot, this means I can only use one at a time! Neither of the devices will see the Harddrive when it is plugged in by ethernet alone.. How can i make it so i can use the harddrive with my airport extreme AND my ps3 at the same time?
Hard drive model: Freecom 30725 1TB NAS Drive Hi-Speed USB/Ethernet 10/100 brand new Imac with latest airport extreme
Okay this i7 iMac is barely a few weeks old and I went today to setup bootcamp and during the partition creation, I get this error:
The disk cannot be partitioned because some files cannot be moved.
Er...WHAT? I don't even know what to do about that one, but it sounds suspiciously like I have to completely redo my Mac which is not going to make for a good Saturday.
Any hints on what in the world would cause this? I haven't even barely used this machine to begin with.
Having bought a MacBookAir running 10.9.4 I wanted to migrate files etc from my imac running 10.6.8. Since then safari will not connect and the screen remains blank. The timer spins for a bit and then stops. Unable to connect to any website. Internet connections are fine. Mail works
I have noticed a few times now that when my iMac has gone into sleep after being left alone (usually for a couple of days) that it is impossible to wake it up with either the wireless keyboard or (magic) mouse because both have disconnected from the bluetooth and refuse to reconnect. Has anyone else seen this? The only solution seems to be to connect a usb mouse, turn off bluetooth and turn it back on and then the keyboard and mouse re-appear.
My G4 iMac has been making a weird fan sound (a flickering sound, as if there were a piece of paper in it or something). Last night I turned it off and the weird fan continued running. I tried to unplug my mac and plug it back in, but the fan just starts right back up. The computer won't start, I've tried holding the start button but nothing happens. I need my computer today to work.
10.6 Aluminum iMac w/wireless keyboard and trackpad.Working fine long-term, no recent change to the h/w or system software.All of a sudden pointing started operating as if permanently in mouse-down state. In Finder, this means that the mouse would move around the last-selected object. It is impossible to put the object down and so impossible to operate the Mac. Restart doesn't help.I turned off the wireless devices, replaced the wireless keyboard and trackpad with old, wired keyboard and mouse, and restarted. Normal operation was restored. Tried putting back the the keyboard, but pointing was disabled the instant I re-enabled Bluetooth. Now stuck permanently as if in mouse-up state, so impossible to operate. Fail.Temporarily OK with wired keyboard and mouse. Ihow to return the system to wireless keyboard and trackpad operation?
I have a 20inch imac (bought in summer 2007). I am just getting into using it as my primary computer. I was playing around in order to learn more and I found something through Activity Monitor that does not make sense to me.
In the Network Activity tab, I see "Data received:" and "Data sent:" sections. As I browse the web, these numbers change of course, but it seems that the Data received quickly reaches hundreds of megabytes! Right now, Data received: is 540MB and Data sent: is 280MB (after a reboot earlier in the day). I am not using the iMac as a server or anything and I have never seen a Windows PC sending out so many packets in the course of browsing the web. Is this in line with others' experience? Should I be concerned about a spyware program on my iMac?
The mouse cursor on my iMac has a weird habit of jumping around. Eg, I'll be about to close a window, and then the cursor will suddenly jump to the bottom of the screen.This happens with both my Mighty Mouse, and a Microsoft one...
My iMac has been running very very slowly for about 2 weeks. I am talking very very slowly. It seems to be processing time. I will be in word, move the cursor and it will take a few seconds to get there. Sometimes I have to wait a minute after I click on something for the cursor to catch up, and (hate to say it) even 2 minutes. That's like a millennium in Mac time.
First of all I'm new here so just wanted to say 'Hi', its been great to see all the discussions on these forums and they help a lot with buying tips and troubleshooting so thanks.
Problem #1 I purchased a refurb 24" 2.8GHz imac early May and have been using it since then and so far other than the "normal" gradient issue and a brownish tinge around the edges of the screen it has been good.
Lately I've been using Aperture a lot and first started to notice that in some pictures especially ones with quite a bit of highlights like clouds that there are small hatch like patches in all the pics. I know it isn't the pictures but the imac screen itself as you can see it on the desktop as well. It only seems to be centralized in the upper left hand section of the screen and they seem to be lite purple/blue in color. And like I said its only in patches in certain spots on the screen. Don't know if I'm being over anal about this or is this a problem?
Problem #2 I switched to a solid blue background to check the above problem and notice that there is screen burn in of the top and bottom header in the outline of my firefox window on the blue screen. Between switching windows often and applications very frequently and not leaving the computer at all... what the heck? Not normal for imac screens is it? Heat issue causing burn in? Hasn't been an issue with any other LCD I've ever used.
By the way the imac came in a new white box and was wrapped like new in perfect condition but I popped it open without ever starting it once to make a hard drive swap and the thing was definitely a bit dusty inside so in now way was it just used for a couple weeks before being given back to apple.
I'm new to this forum and I just bought a new iMac 20" 2.66GHz, I turned on my computer and noticed a weird sound (buzzing or humming noise) not loud but loud enough to here I notice when I messed with the Brightness it went away is there something wrong with that or is that a known issue?
I have a 2 week old iMac 27", i7, 2tb Hard Drive, 16gb RM
In the second week the boot up times became very slow.
I would turn the machine on and get the chime within 5 seconds or so.
Then just a black/blank screen.
Eventually after about 10mins I would get a white screen then it would boot up normally.
Now the machine just doesn't get to the white screen. So I get the chime and then just darkness. It does sound like the machine is on (usual quiet imac whirring).
I've tried various key commands when I turn the machine on including pressing C with the install disk in the dvd drive and the alt, control, P, R pram reset.
I've also tried unplugging all the cables, leaving the machine for a minute and switching back on. I did manage to perform the PRAM reset once. I reset the machine and it booted fine.
But now when I switch it on just darkness.
I've called after sales and will try to get the machine replaced but in the meantime is there anything I could try that might make the machine work? I need to do a remix this weekend (deadline Monday) so really need to get it working.
I have a Imac PPC with a 2Ghz processor and 1GB of Ram. I am running leopard 10.5.8. Recently i woke the PC from sleep mode to find a blue screen with only the cursor working. Using the internet, I determined how to get the PC booted in safe mode. I have used all the disk utilities at my disposal along with onyx and cocktail to try and fix what I believe is a startup problem. I hae booted the PC in single user mode and tried the fskc codes, which i believe is just the same as the disk utility. Based on my computer all permissions are correct and there is nothing wrong with the HD. The PC still will not boot normally. I have even done an archive and re-install of Leopard.
I think it worked at one point, but sometime around the point when I set up Fusion with the partition, Windows Aero turned off and is no longer an option in the display settings. I installed this driver with the modded INF to see if it would do anything, but Aero is still not an option. I also have issues playing some games in Fusion, while they work fine in Boot Camp.
I'm using a 20" white intel iMac and cannot manage to remove a linux boot disc from the optical drive.At first, the only way that i managed to boot to the linux disc in the first place was from the Startup Disk menu in OSX. I could not even get to the Startup Manager ('opt' at boot) or boot straight to the disc ('C').Now i'm in a position where no matter what i do, the system boots to the linux disc. I cannot even force the startup into OSX to try to eject the disc from there. I've tried holding all of these keys/combinations at startup
I have the CD version of tiger and am trying to install it to a recently purchased iMac G3. The Installer installs disc 1, resets, but doesn't boot up to install disc 2, it simply asks again to install disc 1. The Mac for some reason will not boot from the installed software and therefore I cannot complete installation. Can anyone figure out why the mac refuses to boot from the HD in order to install disc 2?
