iMac won't restart

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Hey guys - I have my first major problem with my 1.5 year old iMac. I had an update that needed to be installed, and it won't restart. Instead of booting up, it has the white screen with the Apple logo, and the pinwheel looking thing is spinning. It did this for approximately 15 minutes before I shut it back down because the casing was getting extremely hot.

This is the second time this has happened. The first time occurred 2 weeks ago, and after attempting to restart it several times, it finally worked. I had not attempted to shut it off again prior to tonight.

Can anyone provide any insight? Please keep in mind I am not very tech savy, so laymans terms would be most helpful!!
 

chscag

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Try starting your iMac with the original install media DVD. Press the "C" key as soon as your hear the POST chime to start from the DVD. Once the machine boots to OS X, click on Utilities from the top menu and then select Disk Utility. Click on First Aid. Run the verify and repair option. If everything checks out OK, try rebooting without the DVD.

Regards.
 
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After I hit "c", will it prompt me to insert the DVD? And will this process cause me to lose any files, photos, etc?

I really appreciate your quick response!
 
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Whilst your machine is running the gear wheel, pop the DVD in, and reboot. Immediately after the chimes, then hold down the 'C" key until the gear wheel starts up, go to Utilities in the Menu Bar, Disk Utility and run Repair Disk and you will not lose any files, unless the hard drive has crashed bug time.

If still no joy, try zapping the PRAM by rebooting and immediately holding down the Option, Command (one with the little Apple next to Option) P and R all at the same time.
 
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Ok, my iMac decided to finally restart without having to go through the steps you guys recommended. Should I still go ahead and perform the actions you guys recommended, or does the fact that it rebooted mean I should try something else?

I just noticed something else very strange; my Mail application is frozen, and it will not let me quit it using the Command Q option or using the Mail--> Quit Mail option. Could this be causing or contributing to my problem?

Thanks again guys!
 

chscag

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It appears you have an intermittent problem that could be related to hard drive or file\folder errors. So yes, it's a good idea to perform the verify - repair procedure using your installation DVD.

Regards.
 
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It appears you have an intermittent problem that could be related to hard drive or file\folder errors. So yes, it's a good idea to perform the verify - repair procedure using your installation DVD.

Regards.

Chscag is right on... Boot from the DVD and repair the system before it gets worse. This is something you should do every so often anyway to keep your Mac happy.:)
 
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Thanks guys. I have not tried your solution yet, as I needed to back up some files first (unfortunately, my computer froze during the process, and did not save everything).

My latest update is that when I attempt to reboot, instead of getting the Apple logo on the white screen, I have a blinking folder with a question mark in the middle of it. Have any of you seen that before? Does your solution still sound like the correct approach for this problem?

I greatly appreciate the help you guys have provided!
 

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