HELP! Mac not Booting!

[whitmerray]

HI I just bought a iMac M5521 from a friend and it won't boot. It looks like it's about to start up and then it goes to a gray screen and tells me to press the reset button or hold the power button, and it says that in like 3 diff. languages. What do I do? I'm a PC guy and know nothing about Macs so can someone please help me?
Thanks,
Ray

 

[powermac]

Sounds like the system software is screwed up or a hard ware problem. You can try to boot into verbose mode and take a chance at repairing the disk.

Follow the instructions on this web page.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Alternatively, if you have the install disk, or any disk containing the OS, you can reformat, and install a fresh version of the OSX.

 

[fryke]

I'd go with a clean installation of OS X on a pre-owned Mac, anyway. You never know what the previous owner has messed up, anyway, and this certainly looks to be the case. So: Boot from the installation medium (probably came with a DVD for that case) by holding down the "c" key at boot time (the DVD in the drive, of course). You'll have to reinstall all 3rd party applications, of course, as well as bring back any data you'll still need from a backup. (But since this wasn't your computer before, I guess you didn't have any data on it, anyway...) - In the installer, choose to erase the drive and install. Cleanest way to bring the Mac back to life.

If the problem persists, though, it looks like a hardware problem. Right now we can't really decide that. (Until you've tried reinstalling the system software.)

 

[wagtail]

I have the same iMac M5521 which I cannot get to start up. When I push the start buton, it lights up, there is a light click, and then 4 seconds later a louder click (the same sounds it made when it used to start, but it won't boot up. If I push the "force to restart" button on the side of the IMac, nothing happens, and this process has always worked in the past. Once the computer is on I have no problems, but I have leave it on to prevent this problem (it was on for 4 straight months and I just should not have turned it off). Any ideas?