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JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
I'm trying to repair disk. I have my upgrade snow leopard disc in and I'm in the disk utility at the start up after holding "c"

I clicked "repair disk" and it said, "disk utility stopped repairing mac hd, could not unmount disk"

what does that mean and what do I need to do?

Thanks
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
So I read through the provided link and kind of understand the problem.. kinda.

Why is the disk unmountable and what do I do to make it mountable? Or what do I do in general to fix this?

What/How do I repair whatever is wrong with my iMac using disk utility and my UPGRADE snow leopard disc (if possible) I'm almost completely lost now...

Thanks again.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
942
What/How do I repair whatever is wrong with my iMac using disk utility and my UPGRADE snow leopard disc (if possible) I'm almost completely lost now...
Are you running Disk Utility from the DVD, or from your Mac HD?
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
Are you running Disk Utility from the DVD, or from your Mac HD?

I used DIsk Utility form the Mac HD and clicked verify disk. it said, "the disk needs to be repaired. Start your comp with another disc (such as your Mac OS X install disc) and then use disk util to repair the disk."

I load up using the disc by holding "c" then start disk utility and try to repair disk. Then it tells me that "Mac HD" is unmountable...?
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,541
942
By "Boot from mac hd" do you mean boot up my computer without the disc? If so yes, the iMac starts up normal and operates pretty normal other than it freezes at random and it's slower.
Try booting normally, without the DVD, then shut down. After you shut down, try the repair again, using the DVD, as you did before. See if it works.
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
New Problem

When I put the upgrade disc in the iMac it ejects it automatically. I've tried restarting, tried shutting down and starting up fresh and it still ejects it.

I put in a burnt DVD and the iMac has no trouble spinning up and starting it...

Any idea why it keeps ejecting the upgrade disc, and only the upgrade disc?
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
I restarted the iMac and held the option key. Once the startup manager popped up I inserted the upgrade disc and the iMac still spit it out.

Then I put in the burnt dvd and it stayed in... I clicked on the mac hd and started the iMac and the dvd loads fine, but the upgrade disc still auto ejects in less than 5 seconds.

Best option may be to make the long drive to the Apple Store... Or do you think you can still help?
 

-aggie-

macrumors P6
Jun 19, 2009
16,793
51
Where bunnies are welcome.
I restarted the iMac and held the option key. Once the startup manager popped up I inserted the upgrade disc and the iMac still spit it out.

Then I put in the burnt dvd and it stayed in... I clicked on the mac hd and started the iMac and the dvd loads fine, but the upgrade disc still auto ejects in less than 5 seconds.

Best option may be to make the long drive to the Apple Store... Or do you think you can still help?

I doubt the burnt DVD is bootable, so that’s why it doesn’t spit it out. Do you have another bootable disk?
 

walterwhite

macrumors 6502
Jan 22, 2011
273
5
South Central PA
it sounds like either a bad HD or a bad SATA cable... depending on the iMac model... they have a SATA cable issue. Your issue is one I have dealt with at the Genius bar many times and it is 50/50 on which it might be.
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
I doubt the burnt DVD is bootable, so that’s why it doesn’t spit it out. Do you have another bootable disk?

I don't. I was an idiot and when I sold my old macbook I gave them the snow leopard install disc. :mad:

it sounds like either a bad HD or a bad SATA cable... depending on the iMac model... they have a SATA cable issue. Your issue is one I have dealt with at the Genius bar many times and it is 50/50 on which it might be.

The model identifier is iMac7,1. So would that put me in the time frame for these issues?

If it is a HD or SATA cable issue, how much does Apple charge for the fix?
 

walterwhite

macrumors 6502
Jan 22, 2011
273
5
South Central PA
if it is under APP (Apple Care Protection Plan) its free... if not it would be $39 labor and the part (HD or Cable) the HD is overpriced at like 200-300$ and the cable is relatively cheap at like 25$. You have to have them look at it physically. They can also try to Run Apple Service Diagnostic to better figure it out. I believe yours (2.0, 20" iMac) is in that realm of bad cables.... it always seemed like we were working on those at my store for that reason in particular
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
if it is under APP (Apple Care Protection Plan) its free... if not it would be $39 labor and the part (HD or Cable) the HD is overpriced at like 200-300$ and the cable is relatively cheap at like 25$. You have to have them look at it physically. They can also try to Run Apple Service Diagnostic to better figure it out. I believe yours (2.0, 20" iMac) is in that realm of bad cables.... it always seemed like we were working on those at my store for that reason in particular

Little spendy for this guy...

Thanks for all your help. I guess I'll make an appt with Apple.
 

JReynolds

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 16, 2009
428
0
Where the Air Force sends me
if it is under APP (Apple Care Protection Plan) its free... if not it would be $39 labor and the part (HD or Cable) the HD is overpriced at like 200-300$ and the cable is relatively cheap at like 25$. You have to have them look at it physically. They can also try to Run Apple Service Diagnostic to better figure it out. I believe yours (2.0, 20" iMac) is in that realm of bad cables.... it always seemed like we were working on those at my store for that reason in particular

So I went through a repair using command s at startup and typed in some stuff. After a few times it said the disk was repaired and all was good. I ran it one more time and it came back with no errors. Less than 10 min later the iMac froze again like usual.

Seems like what you said is probably correct.

Thanks
 
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