Intel iMac won't boot up - freezes on grey screen or Apple symbol

[owen-b]

Hi everyone,

Got my 24" 2.4GHz iMac on release last year, with Tiger. Installed Leopard on it on release day.

The problem I have is that ever since a botched Boot Camp installation I've had endless problems with certain applications hanging during their startup (notably Image Capture) or refusing to quit (notably iTunes). Force Quit doesn't resolve these issues. Restarting doesn't work because Force Quit can't quit them so I have to pull the plug or otherwise force a shutdown.

Upon restarting I either get the grey screen that instantly appears, or, if I've pulled the plug and left it for a few minutes I can get to the Apple symbol but no spinner or any further start up action. Occasionally I get lucky, get back up and running, and all is well until the next crash.

All this started happening when I decided to try installing Windows on Boot Camp again. I've had it on here a couple of times since Leopard was released but usually end up deleting it eventually because either the Windows installation gets bogged down or I get bored with it and never use it. Anyway, this time, using the same discs I've always used (and yes, it's SP2, so it should be fine and anyway it's worked at least twice before) when I got to the 'restart to continue installing Windows' bit, I got the white screen and nothing happened. After an hour or so of praying and restarting endlessly trying to get a response, I finally got it to recognise my OSX installation and was up and running again. The Boot Camp volume didn't appear to be there and Disk Utility revealed zero problems whatsoever. Everything looked fine until these recurring hangs, refusals to quit apps and screwed up start-ups.

Any ideas? I don't have the expensive Apple support, but it's less than a year old! Of course, I realise that this means nothing to Apple, who seem to think I should pay a premium in order to have my machine warrantied by them for more than 90 days. Grr...

If I get it up and running I'm thinking I should just wipe the ENTIRE system absolutely clean and re-install Leopard and then use my Time Machine backup to put all my data back on (pricelessly valuable as I use the machine to work on my photography with), but I'm concerned that if there's a flaw in the System somewhere, a corruption, that installing the Time Machine backup will just reintroduce the error. On the other hand, if it's a deeply embedded and invisinle partition corruption from the bad Boot Camp installation attempt, that should be fixed by wiping the entire drive to reinstall Leopard, right?

Any ideas? I'm posting from my Powerbook because the iMac simply won't start up at all anymore.

Many thanks,
Owen

 

[VirtualTracy]

Is there any specific reason to run Windows XP other than because you can? It seems to me that we need to decide whether or not you should just put the idea of running Boot Camp/Windows on your Mac to bed unless there is a specific need or a specific program you need to run.

I've seen quite a few posts were users install Boot Camp/Windows, then end up uninstalling it through lack of use. IMHO, you are having a bad run at it and once your iMac is up and running again you might need to make a final decision on just moving on or if you really want a Windows partition it might be better to use Parallels.

If you need to run a specific program under Boot Camp/Windows, then someone here may be able to point you in the direction of a Mac version if one exists.

I realise that this means nothing to Apple, who seem to think I should pay a premium in order to have my machine warrantied by them for more than 90 days. Grr...

You are referring to the phone support here ... your iMacs complimentary 12 months warranty includes 90 days phone support as well as tech support at any Apple Centre or Apple approved reseller.

I don't have the expensive Apple support, but it's less than a year old!

You are still covered by warranty then and just a side note, you can purchase the additional AppleCare Protection Plan even on the last day of the first 12 months warranty.

First step towards getting your iMac up and running again would be to run Disc Utility (found in the Utilities folder, press Command + U in Finder to launch the Utilities folder), and repair Permissions and Repair your Disc while your there.

Read the advice offered on Apple's website and give their recommendations a go in the hope that it will help resolve your issues.

Do you have the Software Installation Disc/s that came with your iMac? You might need them.

Also, when you write that Force Quitting doesn't resolve any issues, there's always Activity Monitor (also found in your Utilities Folder), which you can launch and force quit any related process to the App which is not responding.

Do you still have the Windows Partition on your iMac? I have never used Boot Camp or Parallels but you might need to restore the partition to a whole. I haven't the experience to tell you whether or not this requires a fresh instal of Leopard or what ... somebody else will have to comment on that procedure.

As for re-introducing a corrupt file etc when you instal the Time Machine Backup, I'm afraid I can't answer that. If you can get your iMac up and running without the need for a reinstallation of Leopard, then we can deal with that potential issue then.

Hope this helps