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Flashing Globe when imac starts

babsvii

babsvii

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
154
0
Canada
Over the last few weeks when i have been starting my computer up i get the white blank screen for a few mins then it goes to a flashing globe for a few more mins then the apple sign then it finally starts... i have been thinking about taking my computer in to get it fixed cause i cant seem to figure out whats wrong with it.... i have looked it up on google and everyone seems to be saying to go to startup disk and then pick the right network volume to start up from... but when i go there there is only one choice its called "Network Startup" and there is a globe with a ? on it for the symbol... that doesnt seem right to me from what i have been reading. does anyone know why this might be? or how to fix it? if its fixable with out taking it in then i would rather just do that... also i read a couple places that its the hard drive warning me that its crashing? is this true? i also have had a couple freezes the last couple days....

if anyone knows whats going on with my imac i would really appreciate the help!

thanx
 
W

wbe858

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
97
0
Greensboro, NC
Well the flashing globe is network startup but why its doing it by default i dont know. You said you only had one option in your startup disk menu? It could be the hard drive going but dont take my word for it. It is odd though that it doesnt see the OS you are supposed to be booting in to. I'm no expert but i thought i would share that it is the network startup since i dont think there is a warning for a bad hard drive other than it just dying as my imac did tonight. :(
 
babsvii

babsvii

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
154
0
Canada
ya i dunno i ordered an external hard driver tonight so when it finally comes in im going to back up all my stuff and then take my imac in to get fixed or something. i have only had it a couple months! this shouldnt be happening!!!
 
W

wbe858

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
97
0
Greensboro, NC
Yea it is odd to be doing it if its only a couple of months old. I wish you luck but at least its all under warranty so you wont have to pay anything (except the gas to get there). If its a hard drive it shouldn't take them that long to replace if they have to, and good idea backing everything up i do that, well i try to do that at least weekly in case anything ever happens so at least you will be prepared for the future now.
 
babsvii

babsvii

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
154
0
Canada
PurrBall said:
You should have Mac OS X selected in the Startup Disk system preference pane instead of Network.
Click to expand...

thats what im reading but there isnt that option in my startup disk. there is only Network with a question mark on it. hopefully my external hard drive will be in later this week so i can take my imac in to get fixed!

does anyone think its a bad idea to keep using it until then? its my only computer at home.
 
D

DavidR91

macrumors member
May 24, 2009
75
0
Bourne, Lincs, UK
Sounds a bit odd... as if it can't detect the primary hard drive (so it can't be selected for startup) but then eventually boots from it somehow

Which makes me wonder whether there's something either screwy with the info block on the hard drive (partition / boot record info and whatnot) or the settings for the EFI are messed up (the BIOS equivalent in modern macs)

Not sure though... as I said before, it's a bit strange. Since it does involve the hard disk (notorious for mechanical failure as they are) I recommend not using it. Whilst it's unlikely the drive is physically damaged from you've described (since it does eventually boot) you never know until you open it (or :apple: open it up, that is).

Better to be safe than sorry I'd say :)

EDIT: Actually, just occurred to me this could be the result of a permissions issue. Try (once booted into OS X) doing Applications -> Utilities -> Disk utility -> Repair disk permissions. It's a long shot, but it's possible that whatever mechanism the "Select Startup volume" uses to query available volumes has been (somehow) locked out of actually seeing the full list (due to bad/malformed permissions, either on the volume itself or some files).
 
babsvii

babsvii

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 13, 2008
154
0
Canada
DavidR91 said:
Sounds a bit odd... as if it can't detect the primary hard drive (so it can't be selected for startup) but then eventually boots from it somehow

Which makes me wonder whether there's something either screwy with the info block on the hard drive (partition / boot record info and whatnot) or the settings for the EFI are messed up (the BIOS equivalent in modern macs)

Not sure though... as I said before, it's a bit strange. Since it does involve the hard disk (notorious for mechanical failure as they are) I recommend not using it. Whilst it's unlikely the drive is physically damaged from you've described (since it does eventually boot) you never know until you open it (or :apple: open it up, that is).

Better to be safe than sorry I'd say :)

EDIT: Actually, just occurred to me this could be the result of a permissions issue. Try (once booted into OS X) doing Applications -> Utilities -> Disk utility -> Repair disk permissions. It's a long shot, but it's possible that whatever mechanism the "Select Startup volume" uses to query available volumes has been (somehow) locked out of actually seeing the full list (due to bad/malformed permissions, either on the volume itself or some files).
Click to expand...

i think i acutally tried that and the repair was grayed out... i was going to wait till this store i went to yesterday got more external hard drives in (so i could save a bit of money) but i think ill just spend the extra $20 and go to bestbuy tonight and get one to back up my stuff. i called the store i got my imac from and they told me to bring it in its still under warranty so ill let them deal with it.
 
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