Update to Snow Leopard, iMac frozen

[Bball]

Hello all,
I know this is an extremely late update, but I was running Leopard for quite some time and I found out I had to purchase Snow Leopard if I wanted to get Mountain Lion. So I loaded the new OS and as soon as the computer rebooted, it froze on startup. The apple logo appears along with the spinning wheel but then it freezes on a completely grey/white screen or light blue screen.
I have gotten to the desk top 2 or 3 times when this first happened, but it just froze after a few seconds. Now it will not get there.
I have tried:
Reset nvram
Safe boot (bar comes up under apple logo and loads near the end but freezes)
Single user mode - did fsck and it found a problem, then rebooted and still froze
Can't get it to do the apple hardware test.
Won't startup holding the C key.


This is an intel based iMac, from 08 or 09. What do you all suggest I try? My computer worked great and now it is completely useless..

 

[Slydude]

Sounds like drive might be on its way out.

While you were running fsck in single user mode did you keep repeating that command until it said no mrs errors were present? Sometime you need to run the command several times till all errors are cleared. You don't need to reboot each time. Simply repeat the command till all errors are cleared then reboot.

If you are able to get up and running I suggest backing up important data immediately. I have had some drives run fine for a long period of time after running fsck and others fail immediately (especially if I had to run it several times).

 

[Bball]

Yes I repeated the command a second time and it said things seem to be OK, then I had it reboot.
I'm not too worried about backing up the data, I'd even be ok with wiping everything if it means I could use the computer again. It will only get to the desktop every once in a while, but even then it is really only 10 seconds till it freezes.

 

[harryb2448]

When you say won't start holding 'C', is this with the Snow Leopard OS X.6 full retail install DVD in the optical drive? Also tell us about the DVD, did you purchase it from Apple recently and trust it is not a silver/grey model specific disc?

 

[Bball]

I believe the Snow Leopard disc is in the drive, but I am not 100% sure. I can't find the disc and I've tried to get it to eject but nothing happens. I've tried holding eject, F12, and the mouse button on startup but nothing happens. The DVD was purchased directly from apple, I had to order it over the phone. The computer is a silver/grey model with the black apple logo. The disc also has a sticker on the cover that says "New Version 10.6.3"
Is there a way to just completely wipe the computer to get it to work again?

 

[harryb2448]

Only if you can access the OS X.6 DVD which seems to be stuck in the optical drive alas. Sadly iMacs, like MacBooks and Minis, use a slot loading optical drive and they are subject to higher failure rates that tray loaders.

It is not an easy job replacing the optical drive and may well require a trip to your reseller or genius bar.