Mac's fail to boot into either Windows or Mac - 10.5.8 Server and standard..

[TheKingOfHearts]

Hi guys, I'm new here so please bear with me.

I'm hoping one of you mini geniuses will be able help me. I'm a windows system administrator at heart, and was never trained in OS X Server, and therefore I only know the obvious and what I've picked up. So here's my tec details;
30 - 20" iMacs (10.5.8 & XP)
4 - 24" iMacs (not a problem, but on the same server)
17 - 17" plastic iMacs (also not a problem, but on the same server)
18 - MacBook (2008 model plastic - again, not a problem, besides these are never used, to the extent I'm not even sure where they are)

all connect to an unlimited client Mac Pro as well as a Server 2003 active directory.

My problem is the 30 20" iMac's. When they work they're great, when they don't they're a total pain in the arse.

The problem they tend to have is we image(d) them via Deploy studio netboot, and they happily install XP all the software (or close enough) and a flawless OS X partition. They're occasionally temperamental with connecting to the active directory, thats a given I think. The main problem is they fail CONSTANTLY. For example today we had 7 of the 30 fail just on boot. They get to the little Apple logo with the grey screen and refuse to go any further (thats booting OS X), I can Alt+Start and get the Partition choice fine, however booting neither works, OS X sticks on the Apple logo, and XP freezes mid boot. Its a constant problem. They have to be re-net booted and imaged to get to work as neither partition will work otherwise.

We have a lot of experience in Windows networking, and a moderate amount in Apple, however this is just beyond a joke, in a week we end up re-imaging best part of every machine, its beyond practical.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jack.

 

[hkaufm2]

I'm having the same issue.

20 20" Imacs 10.5.8 & XP SP3

Periodically the machines will freeze mid boot.

I've found that if you remove the memory and re-install it the machines come up fine. However after a while I've come to think it's not a mad memory issue but something in the initial boot process. I'm in the middle of rebuilding my images and re deploying a couple machines to see if that helps.

any progress on your end?

 

[TheKingOfHearts]

Hi, I hope you've subscribed to this thread so you get this answer ASAP.

We actually solved the problem on our end in the simplest way you could imagine. No software or hardware edits. Simply do as follows:

Remove the power cable from the back of the iMac's.
Wait 10 seconds.

Hold the power button down for 30 seconds.

Plug back in, and restart. How this actually solves the issue, I do not know, but this does however work for us, so hopefully it will for you. This was actually recommended by our supplier, hopefully this will provide some clarity for you too.

Cheers,
Jack.

 

[hkaufm2]

does that fix the condition for good?

 

[TheKingOfHearts]

We did it in early January, and haven't had a single issue since. Just has to be done on each machine once, and it resets the hardware or something. Not entirely sure.

Definitely solved the problem for us, no issues since.

Cheers.
Jack.