How can I reeboot my iMac?

Last night while I was using my iMac, we had some serious rain and all of a sudden the power went out. Then it went back on, and then off again. The mac was off and I figured give it a rest?

Went back to restart today and I can't get past the apple logo with the spinning gadget under it. I tried loading the OSX CD and holding down the "C" key to run from the OS but its still the same.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can jump-start her, or do you think something is fried? I don't know what could be because the display lights up, the "tada" plays, the apple graphic comes up... but then its sort of just sitting there.

Any/all ideas are appreciated.

Doc

Try zapping PRAM, and if that fails you could run an FSCK check, as you can't boot from a disc, it does roughly the same as Disk Utilty's Repair mode.
This may well let you boot, and it will check that the HD is ok.

Just curious, was there any lightning with that heavy rain?

No lightning and the Mac is powered thru a surge protector. What is "zapping PRAM" and how do I do these FSCK checks? Is there a sequence of buttons and how long should you hold them down if that's the case.

We have underground utilities and it seems like whenever we get a very severe rainstorm, there's a good possibility that we'll see a power outage. None of my PCs seem to be affected.

BTW, thanks for help guys.

Here is how to reset the PRAM and here is an explanation of when you might want to do it. Here is an explanation of fsck (look 1/3 - 1/2 way down the page under "Use fsck if necessary").

How to reset PRAM: See the following Apple KB article

FSCK (File System Check) can be accomplished from Disk Utility or the command line (terminal). However, you must be able to boot the machine first. So let's see if resetting the PRAM works to get you back up. Once up, we can then run the FSCK.

And, by the way.... No amount of surge protection will protect your Mac or PC machines if you should get a direct hit from lightning or even a near hit. In the event that happens, they better be unplugged from the AC mains and any cable or DSL lines.

Regards.

OK, I did the PRAM deal and I don't think anythings changed... but nothing is supposed to happen on the screen right?

I disconnected my ethernet,and external drives, only keyboard and mouse are plugged in. I am able to access the OSX disc by using the "C" key while starting up. I get the outer space screen with the OSX first screen, but then if I proceed, I have options to install OSX (the disc version) on my HDD or at least thats what I think it says.

Since I can now see a menu bar up above, for kicks, I used the disk utilities to check the 500GB main drive and after about 3 minutes of testing it was pronounced fine. Where do I go from here?

Thanks for hanging with me.

You must be making progress because before you reset the PRAM you stated that the machine could not be booted from the OS X disk. Now at least you were able to do the FSCK via Disk Utilities from your OS X install disk.

I assume you went back afterward and tried to boot the machine normally?

Instead of posting additional trouble shooting things to do one by one, try the procedures given at this web site. They're pretty basic but are covered real well and easy to follow. Post back and let us know.

Regards.

chscag said:

You must be making progress because before you reset the PRAM you stated that the machine could not be booted from the OS X disk. Now at least you were able to do the FSCK via Disk Utilities from your OS X install disk.

Correct, I am able to get to the screen where I have a few menu choices; boot from the HDD (doesn't work), boot from the Apple CD (trying that now), or boot from network... can't do that obviously. I could also reinstall the original OSX over my existing OS, but will that format the drive too and delete all my files and applications?

I assume you went back afterward and tried to boot the machine normally?

Instead of posting additional trouble shooting things to do one by one, try the procedures given at this web site. They're pretty basic but are covered real well and easy to follow. Post back and let us know.

Click to expand...

That page assumes one can get to a working screen to allow them to back up everything before going any further. I don't have the ability to backup anything unless there is a workaround using my external 1TB Lacie FW800 drive if I reconnect it. At this point when I boot the machine it goes like this:

1. Tada
2. Screen lights up
3. Apple logo appears
4. Segmented spinner starts going under the Apple logo

If the OSX disk is in the drive, and I hold down the key...

5. The screen turns blue
6. Then the starfield appears
7. The OSX menu appears in the middle with the choice of language
8. I select continue and the menu bar appears across the top
9. In the center of the screen there is a box with icons and a continue button
10. I select continue and the menu switches to a screen asking me if I want to install the disc's OSX version

Note that I have tried to boot by selecting the "Startup Disk" from the top bar menu and that only seems to send me back to #7. Clicking continue brings up a new window where I have three "choices" the first (Install OSX on existing HDD) of which is greyed out and can't be clicked because the version on the HDD is newer than the CD version. Next it seems that I'm being prompted to take the second option; that is to Archive and install OSX while preserving users and network settings. The third option is one I'd like to avoid; that's where you erase and install... completely erases destination volumne and installs a new copy of OSX. At the bottom of these three selections is an "OK" button.

So I'm now wondering what the 2nd option really does. Will it simply replace the OS X with the CD version and leave all my apps and data alone?

Thanks again for the help folks. And let me know if screen shots would help anyone analyze what is going on. I can take a pix and post it here. I do appreciate it.

I'd go ahead and try an archive and install. You'll have to do a software update to get your system and apple apps back up to current versions, but everything else (even preferences) will remain as if you had never had your computer crash.

Give it a shot.

Reinstalling should be the last option.

Try some of the steps that you haven't tried yet here: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/93819-basic-os-x-mac-troubleshooting.html

Well it should be the last option, but really it comes down to how much time you're willing to spend messing around with something. An archive and install will tell for sure if it's a hardware issue, and it goes fairly quickly. I'd rather spend the 2 hours archiving and installing and then updating then having a not working computer sit there while I try to satisfy my urge to figure out *** is wrong. In the end it's up to the OP, but an archive and install won't hurt anything.

Heck, if ya live near an Apple store you could bring it to them, tell them you need to archive and install and have lost your discs, and they'll do it from an image on one of their laptops. Then they'll connect you to their store's special server and run software update, which will take literally 2 minutes to dl all of the updates.

The apple store option may be a possibility. I live about 10 miles from one. I can call them and ask if they can help me out... say I found disk 2 but not disk 1 and maybe that'll work. Otherwise I can do the archive. Does it sound like its a hardware issue or some kind of corruption thing? This mac has been rock solid since day one about 18 months ago. I've been so happy with none of the PC BS and my PC is running (it was on too) like nothing happened. Go figure.

EDIT: Never mind, I misinterpreted your post.

I had some time to kill so I did the reinstall. It seemed to go OK, took a couple of hours. The only problem now is that it re-booted and a login screen came up and when I entered my password, the screen just shakes and rejects it. After a while it even gave me the secret prompt and I again tried to enter the password and it still rejects it. What's up with that?

Is there any kind of workaround here? Can I do something different to get it to accept my password? Should I take it to the apple store and maybe they can reset my password?

Lastly, when I did the new install, it notes that it'll take 15 Gigs or whatever and lets assume it works (when I get this PW stuff fixed), do I keep that old install on the HDD? Maybe it's corrupted somehow and should be removed?

Thanks!