Imac - Won't Start - HELP :(

Hi im new to the fourm so didnt know where to post this but hope its the right place.

Had my Imac for a year and half (running Leopard 10.5 with upadtes), i turned it off the other day and now when i turn it on it wont boot the operating system, it loads the grey screen with the apple logo on and then it goes through that to the blue screen and then through that anothe rblue screen that is a lighter blue shade, but then it goes back to the darker shade and then back to the ligher shade and so on it doesnt do anything else.

It when press anykey on the keyboard to perform a funtcion e.g - holding C key to boot from disc or any of the other function none of them work, it seems to try to perform them but never comes through :S

i plugged it into my dads imac through firewire to see if i could access any of the files - and suprisingly i could so i am stumped

Could anyone please help me - i need my computer back asap

Much Appriciated

Jack

So it won't boot to the desktop... What's the last thing you did before powering off? You know, the last time it worked.

No it wont boot to desktop - it wasnt me who turned it off it was my dad but i dont think he could have just held the power button down, he would have done it propperly, does it make a difference?

Not usually. Powering down improperly isn't going to hurt it that much most of the time. It's possible, though. But like I asked, what's the last thing that you did with it? If you installed new software or drivers or an update, then that could be at fault.

If it is displaying the Apple logo and then a blue screen then it is definately trying to boot from the OSX volume.

Have you tried holding the left SHIFT key, it should try to boot without loading a few or the unnecessary pieces of the OS.

You could also try running a permissions repair on the disk when you have it connected through fire wire to the other Mac.

I have seen this behavior after updating a few times and normally if you can get it to boot once it sorts itself out.

Sometimes if it is stuck on a blue screen you can just leave it for AGES and it sorts it self out, no idea what the OS is doing when it does this.

eccleshall91 said:

Had my Imac for a year and half ...

Click to expand...

And AppleCare also? (Too late to get it now if you didn't already. You only have 1 year, and you would get 2 more.)

Kernel

Sounds like Kernel is corrupt. This causes it to reload. Best start with an external drive and run Disc Utility or Disc Warrior if it is available. Are you sure it won't start from the CD/DVD? You may have to use a wired keyboard.