tried unplugging all usb cords and the power cord
left off for 5 minutes
no improvement
then....
pulled and reseated memory
no improvement
couldnt find my factory reboot apple disk that came with the system...so I couldnt reload leopard....
then...
took to the apple store, they diagnosed it....
said that the imac 24 inch machine could not see the hard disk, (so I cound not have reloaded leopard even if I found the reboot disks)
(when the white screen comes up, there is no spinning wheel, or any disk listed on the screen.....it just a totally blank white screen)
so, the apple guy said it was either a bad disk or a bad motherboard / logic board.
SO------
took the system to an authorized apple repair center...to recover my data, and to reapir the computer under mac warranty.
they say data recovery is not covered by apple, so.....
the repair center is going to diagnose the computer to see if the hard drive is bad.
TWO CHOICES____
ONE
if the hard drive is ok, I am going to just repair the system, and then BUY an external druve and then run the 24 hour backup program....to protect my data if this happens again.
TWO
if the hard drive is bad, I will have the service center clone the drive onto the new external hard drive I am buying...
so, will let you know what happens....
thanks for all your help!
big al
PS---hope the service center is honest about the drive being good or not......recovery of the data is over 200 dollars, and I will have no way of knowing if the drive is good or bad.
I have to take their word on it, if they say the hard drive is bad, I have no way of checking if what they are saying is true.
Do they have to give me back the old parts?