Can't turn my iMac on!

Lately my iMac has been pretty slow, and today when i woke up and turned it on, it got stuck at the apple with the loading circle just spinning. I waited for 30 minutes but nothing, tried it again after rebooting, even tried disconnecting and reconnecting the power cable, but nothing's working. Anyone know what the problem might be and how to solve it?

Also, my hard drive is 750gb and i had around 15gb left on it, so don't know if that's the problem, either way when i tried to free up some space, it was too slow to even delete stuff.

Thank you in advance for your help!

EDIT: also forgot to put down that it's running mac OS X leopard

julianess said:

Also, my hard drive is 750gb and i had around 15gb left on it, so don't know if that's the problem, either way when i tried to free up some space, it was too slow to even delete stuff.

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Two things:

1. It would help if you gave us some specs on your iMac. We have no idea how new or how old your iMac is. Sometimes certain problems show up more frequently on specific computer models. So knowing what you have can help.

2. A full or almost full hard drive can cause problems. Some folks say that computer performance issues can start when the hard drive is only 50-75% full. In your case your hard drive is 98% full (15 gig free on a 750 gig HD). This obviously is MUCH MORE than 50-75% full...when performance issues can start to occur.

The almost full hard drive is a good place to start. It's an easy & inexpensive fix. All you have to do is delete a bunch of unnecessary files or programs...which many of us almost always have on our computers!

HTH,

- Nick

Thanks Nick!

I'll try to delete some files, but would you happen to know a short-term solution so I can boot my computer in order to do so? It's the model before the slimmer ones came out, the processor is Intel Core Duo 2.8GhZ.

julianess said:

Thanks Nick!

I'll try to delete some files, but would you happen to know a short-term solution so I can boot my computer in order to do so? It's the model before the slimmer ones came out, the processor is Intel Core Duo 2.8GhZ.

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I guess that we should make something more clear. Your thread title says "Can't turn my iMac on!"

Is this really true...that you cannot turn your iMac on? Or can the iMac turn on...and just won't fully boot to the desktop?

Because not being able to "turn your iMac on" really means that your Mac:

- isn't getting any power
- no lights light up
- the display does not light up
- no hard drive spinning sounds
- and you hear no startup sound.

- Nick

It'll get power and turn on, but won't boot correctly to the desktop. Sorry for being unclear, and thanks again for the help.

EDIT: It gets stuck at the apple with the loading circle.

When you turn your iMac on...how long are you waiting for it to completely boot?

- Nick

I've waited up to 20-30 minutes, perhaps even a bit more at the apple screen.

Here are two things you can try:

1. Try starting up in "safe mode". You do this by starting up your computer, and after you hear the startup sound, you hold down the Shift key.

2. You could try booting your computer with the disks that came with it. And try to get access to your hard drive from there.

Booting from the DVD disks that came with the computer can also help determine if it is the hard drive. Since if the iMac boots in a "normal" amount of time (when booting from the DVD)...then you sort of know that the computer is ok (the logic board for example)...and it may just be due to the almost full hard drive...or it could be a defective hard drive!

- Nick

julianess said:

I've waited up to 20-30 minutes, perhaps even a bit more at the apple screen.

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Yeah...that's plenty of time to wait.

- Nick

I'll give those a try, trying safe mode right now but it's still not turning on with that, i'll have to look for the OS X disc. Thanks for all your help

julianess said:

I'll give those a try, trying safe mode right now but it's still not turning on with that...

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Ok good luck.

By the way...as I mentioned earlier...using the terminology "not turning on" is confusing. Not turning on means the computer is not turning on at all (no power). I think from what you're describing, your computer is not "booting" properly.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

You could try booting your computer with the disks that came with it.

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Hold down the 'C' key when trying that.

toMACsh said:

Hold down the 'C' key when trying that.

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Thanks for adding that!

- Nick

With only 15GB left on a 750GB HDD you will be getting problems as you do need about 15% free space for the drive to work at anywhere near peak efficiency. Boot from the install discs as toMACash advises, then go to Utilities > Disk Utility and run Repair Disk and see what is reported.

harryb2448 said:

Boot from the install discs as toMACash advises,

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Actually, it was Nick. I just piled on. And it's toMACsh, not "ash" - probably a typo.

Only one person has ever commented on that name. Maybe it's not as obvious as I think it is.... to MAC sh .... wait for it ... MAC in tosh

Those who read Parade in the Sunday paper probably got it right away. I hate those*, but used one myself!!

*whatever they're called... paper comes tomorrow. Terry Stickles does it, whoever he/she is.

Edit: It's in USA Weekend, not Parade, and they're called "Frame Games"

The splash screen hangs on the fonts not loading and you get the endless circle. Youll have to boot from the install disk and repair Permissions and run Disk First Aid. Having a full drive is not a good idea...it needs space to write temp files you never see to the drive. Cleaning out the Browser cashe and history would be a good idea too.

After a long wait, I finally got the install discs back from my dad who had them abroad, however, upon trying to start up the computer with install disc 1 holding the C key, it still wouldn't go. This could be because the keyboard ran out of battery (using wireless one), either way, i'd like to ask if what i'm doing is correct, and how to take out disc 1 in case i need to use disc 2 for booting it. Thanks!

EDIT: After a few tries, it worked for some reason so I managed to access my hard drive. Cleared it so I have about 300gb of free space and backed up my music, thanks a million for the help