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please help! Mac Mini on the fritz, won't even start up!

ero87

ero87

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Hey friends,

My brother's intel mac mini is going crazy. For a while, it was just freezing a lot - i.e. every time you'd open up Safari or Firefox, it would freeze. We restarted the computer manually, but now it won't start up! It stays on the apple with the progress wheel for a few minutes, then cuts to a very frightening screen that looks like DOS. I took some pictures of this screen with my camera, it's hard to read but you get the idea.

What can I do? I tried starting in safe mode and that didn't even work (though maybe I'm doing it wrong?). Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
 

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Looks like one of two things to me: either your OS installation on the disk has gotten corrupted, or a piece of hardware has gone bad. The "Bad system call" messages seem to indicate that something is wrong at a fairly low level.

To test the first one, I'd try an Archive & Install off of the most recent OS X cd/dvd you have. If the dvd boots normally, you'll know right there that it isn't likely to be a hardware issue. The Archive & Install will probably take care of it - though you may want to check and make sure the filesystem itself isn't corrupted. I think the install dvd has a check or repair filesystem option, but it's been a while since I looked. If it says there is a problem but can't repair it, I highly recommend DiskWarrior.

If it is hardware (the install dvd doesn't boot), I hope you still have AppleCare?
 
The Mac Mini had Tiger installed. We don't know where the Tiger DVD is, but I have Leopard to install on it. Will that work?

I'm sorry, can someone tell me step-by-step what I need to do with the Leopard install disc? You would be my hero 🙂
 
Stick it in, reboot, and hold down option after the bong. Then go to disk utility, verify disk.
 
shu82 said:
Stick it in, reboot, and hold down option after the bong. Then go to disk utility, verify disk.
Click to expand...

I held down the option key, but nothing happened. For a second it showed a folder with a question mark on it, but then this became the apple logo. What do i do?😕
 
Great, the disc worked! Now it wants me to install Leopard, but there's not enough room on the hard drive! I can't boot into Tiger to clean up the HD, can I? The computer won't start without the Leopard disc. What should I do?

P.S. After it booted from the DVD, I ran the Disk Utility "Verify Disk" operation, and it says it's fine. phew!
 
If you need more space, when you boot up hold down 't' and you'll boot into Target disk mode, which means you can plug a firewire cable into the mini and then into another Mac and mount the hard dive on a different Mac. From there, move however many files you need to free up the space. After the (hopefully) successful install of the new OS, you can move the files back over.
 
wheezy said:
If you need more space, when you boot up hold down 't' and you'll boot into Target disk mode, which means you can plug a firewire cable into the mini and then into another Mac and mount the hard dive on a different Mac. From there, move however many files you need to free up the space. After the (hopefully) successful install of the new OS, you can move the files back over.
Click to expand...

sounds perfect!! I'm going to give that s hot.
 
my macbook recently did the same thing to me, i wish i would have seen this, i endd up just re-installing Leopard, i lost all my files... luckily i dont use my computer for anything btu personal entertainment so losign my files sucked but was the end of my world.
 
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