iMac start-up problem PLEASE HELP!

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A couple of programs were running funny so I shut everything down, shut-down the machine, and when I restarted it, I can't log on. I get a blue screen and the window where it shows my user name. the cursor is blinking but nothing happens when I type. I've tried plugging the keyboard in to different ports and nothing. I tried my old keyboard and nothing. Please help!

Rusty

I said 10.3 for the prefix but I'm not totally sure of that. The machine was brand new in December 2006.
 
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Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
It is probably Tiger OS X.4. Pop your install DVD in and see if you can reboot holding down 'X' after the chime. If any joy go to Utilities>Disk Utility>Repair Disk and let us know what happens.
 
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hi, thanks for the reply

you're right, the disk says 10.4.11

when I restart and press X nothing different happens

when I restart and press C the installer does come up ...
 
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should I reinstall the OS? Will the effect anything I have saved on the computer?

Any other ideas about how I can fix this? Please and thanks

Rusty
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2015 Retina 4K iMac. Monterey. 8GB RAM. Crucial 500GB external SSD
hmmm, you could hold the shift key down and try to start in safe mode. then run disk utility and fix disk permissions.

many users jump to reinstalling the OS when trouble strikes.... doing this is among the last steps to do when all else fails. There are about 25-30 other things to try first.
 
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yeah i'm not too keen on the idea but of course have no clue what to do about the situation. I will try these suggestions. thanks

Rusty
 
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when i hold down the shift key after the chime it gets stuck on a white screen with the apple and the circle timer just circling forever and doesn't get to the blue screen with the login window :(

So I guess it knows the keyboard is there but not when i want it to know...

Rusty
 
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2015 Retina 4K iMac. Monterey. 8GB RAM. Crucial 500GB external SSD
try unplugging everything but the keyboard and mouse. see if you can boot up.
 
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i didn't have anything but the keyboard and mouse plugged-in in the first place. initially i had the mouse plugged into the keyboard--that's how I usually have it--but then the mouse wasn't working either so i plugged it into the computer directly and it works but the keyboard still does not. just sitting here at the login window :(

Rusty
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2015 Retina 4K iMac. Monterey. 8GB RAM. Crucial 500GB external SSD
did you try resetting pram?

hold down command option P and R keys during bootup until you hear 2 chimes.
 
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two chimes...

so I restarted, heard the first chime, pushed down the buttons, heard another chime, then let them go. 2 chimes like that? k, i did that and i was sooooo hopeful but when it made a third chime and the login window came up, it still did not register that i was typing...

any more suggestions?

Rusty
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2015 Retina 4K iMac. Monterey. 8GB RAM. Crucial 500GB external SSD
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

(sorry I should of explained it better).
 
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you can try booting from the install DVD/cd.... and run disk utility from there... repair permissions on the hard drive. repair the drive if needed also.

I forgot about this step. it's getting late.
 
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thanks, macgig, I really appreciate the suggestions. I tried but so far, still, no dice :'(
 
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see, I don't know if this is a start-up problem per se, since it seems to start up, I just can't log in because when I want to type in the login window it won't let me. It will let me reset the pram, start in safe mode, and boot from the disk all using keyboard commands. what's going on?
 

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