Can somebody tell me what is going on here?..

I'm starting to lose faith in Apple due to problems with my i-mac. Can someone tell me what is going on???

To start off this is the second time in two weeks i've had to reinstall snow leopard, the first time I lost everything (all my music from not using the time machine and backing it up).

Out of the blue one morning I turned it on and all I got for the 4 hours was the the white screen with apple symbol and the little turning symbol.. turning, turning, thinking, thinking... But it didn't boot??

I looked up the diagnosis problems on google and in these forums from my i-phone.

1. I disconnected all USB items and held my finger on power button to restart again... Still was thinking, thinking for two hours and nothing.

2. I booted from the install disk, ran repair in utilities, repaired restarted, still no boot. It was thinking, thinking for three hours.

3. By the end of it I was peed and just wiped the hard drive again and reinstalled snowy again.

What is causing this? I don't visit unknown sites, I shutdown and look after it properly... Is it the heat lately as we have had some 40 degree days here in Sydney.

If some-one has a solution as to why it wont boot on startup I would greatly appreciate it, as i'm a graphic designer and I cant afford to keep wasting my time reformatting every week.

The system is the older model, Dual Intel processor i-mac, 250 gig, 2 MB of ram upgraded to snow leopard. 10.6.

Has been in my ownership for 6 months will be lucky to reach 12 at this rate.

If your machine boots properly from the DVD drive when you reinstalled the system software I suspect that there may be an issue with the hard drive.I've gotten that screen for a bit longer than usual after installing something new but never that long. Did it also do the extended period of "thinking" right after you reinstalled the software?

choonk ordrar



No after a reinstall of the software it restarts and boots fine from the power up, same as last time it will work how it should for a couple of weeks than lose its mind and think hard about booting.

It maybe the hard drive like you said?

Hope not...

Sure sounds like failing hard drive. Download a little utility called SMARTReporter, version 2.5.6 and let it monitor the drive.


corecode->SMARTReporter

Better the hard drive than a logic board!

Sure, thanks for the help.

I agree the HD is most likely to blame here. Not really any other reason I can think of either.

Simmo19801 said:

What is causing this? I don't visit unknown sites, I shutdown and look after it properly... Is it the heat lately as we have had some 40 degree days here in Sydney.

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Not the heat mate as i live a few k's down the road and my MBP is aye ok !!!!!

Simmo19801 said:

Has been in my ownership for 6 months will be lucky to reach 12 at this rate.

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Have faith. Take it into the Bondi store get them to check it over and jump in the ocean for a swim and cool down a bit

I agree on the HD as well. As i said have faith as this could happen to any PC you own .......

Cheers

hahaha im chilled now, just annoying when you lose 80gig of music>My fault for not backing it up.

Yeah Bondi will do mate.

They are the best, never ever go back to windows again...

HAHA good to hear mate.
It would be annoying to lose 80gb music but if you need a good back up strategy, Mcbie has written a well thought out sticky that might come in handy too you

Backup, backup, backup.

Windows ?? what, why, how and when lol

I know what ya mean there . . . . Post back once you have taken it in to the boys/girls @ Bondi and let us know the results

Cheers

Simmo19801 said:

The system is the older model,

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There you go; self-diagnosed. They wear out.

I have a question for the panel about this. as a long time PC Tech. I have seen this also be ram that can cause this. sounds like the files are getting corrupt in some way. Just my two cents. But I would agree most likely the hard drive, The cash on the drive per say could be the culprit in corrupting the files.

Cash? Must be a Windows Tech! Wonder if he means cache?

harryb2448 said:

Cash? Must be a Windows Tech! Wonder if he means cache?

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Counterfeit Cache?