Blue screen with little wheel after update?

[CyrusOz]

Yesterday my Imac asked me if i wanted to install a software update and I did... nothing unusual there except that when it restarted the Imac just sat on the blue screen with the little wheel turning for about 10 minutes at least. I forced a shut down and tried again and the same thing happened. I noticed that it was a pretty decent size security update so i thought that was ok to take a few minutes to install and restart but not that long. I am capable of running the mac normally now as long as I don't try to install that last update... has anybody else had this problem? I don't know what happened to my leopard disks so reinstalling isn't an option for me.

I'm not sure if this makes any difference but two days prior finally ran time machine on a plugin hard drive... would this in any way create this blue screen problem?

I tried installing the update with the time machine HD plugged in and without being plugged in and it didn't seem to make any difference.

Thanks for your help peeps

 

[MacForScience]

Yesterday my Imac asked me if i wanted to install a software update and I did... nothing unusual there except that when it restarted the Imac just sat on the blue screen with the little wheel turning for about 10 minutes at least. I forced a shut down and tried again and the same thing happened. I noticed that it was a pretty decent size security update so i thought that was ok to take a few minutes to install and restart but not that long. I am capable of running the mac normally now as long as I don't try to install that last update... has anybody else had this problem? I don't know what happened to my leopard disks so reinstalling isn't an option for me.

I'm not sure if this makes any difference but two days prior finally ran time machine on a plugin hard drive... would this in any way create this blue screen problem?

I tried installing the update with the time machine HD plugged in and without being plugged in and it didn't seem to make any difference.

Thanks for your help peeps

Run disk utility. And having time machine has nothing to do with this.

Cheers

 

[CyrusOz]

Ok cool thanks, that's good to know that time machine has nothing to do with this problem, but what exactly do you mean by 'run disk utility'?

What exactly do i do with the disk utility?

 

[CyrusOz]

Ok i worked out how to do a disk utility verify and this is what I came up with, apparently my startup drive has some issues. Because I don't have my leopard disks am I going to have problems with repairing it or is there another way to do it? I tried searching the disk utility help but it just seems to give VERY LIMITED info and goes around in circles...

 

[satcomer]

Well pray that you had a good backup and replace your drive. Plus maybe having something like Disk Warrior. Sorry to be the deliver of bad news.

 

[CyrusOz]

Well pray that you had a good backup and replace your drive. Plus maybe having something like Disk Warrior. Sorry to be the deliver of bad news.

What do you mean.... replace your drive? Is that another thing i do in disk utility? I've only ever reformatted PC's and these kinds of problem with macs are all very new to me and I don't want to stuff it up.

How do i stand given that I don't have the leopard disks? my gf filed them 'somewhere safe' and she has no idea where the hell that safe place is anymore.

 

[JediMeister]

Without the install DVDs, you are left with the following: 1) try running fsck, 2) call Apple to order a replacement disc, 3) take the computer into an Apple store or authorized service provider. If the drive cannot be repaired, you'll have to reformat/repartition the drive, or replace it with an entirely new drive. By replace, you would have to take a screwdriver to the computer to remove the existing drive and install a new one, or if you have AppleCare, one of their repair centers or service locations can do the replacement.

 

[CyrusOz]

Ooh i forgot that I purchased applecare. Now the problem is finding where my GF has put those disks and info.... is applecare a lifetime purchase per item or is it only a year or so, I might be out of my subscription time

 

[JediMeister]

AppleCare lasts 3 years from the date of purchase of an eligible computer, 2 years for iOS devices. It cannot be extended. As I mentioned in my earlier post, if you are unable to find the DVDs, replacements are available for about $16 per disc or visiting a store or service provider are the only options remaining.

 

[CyrusOz]

Cool thanks again for your help mate, i've found this experience to be quite daunting as i went away from PC's mainly to rid myself of crashes and constant re-installs so when this issue popped up on my Imac I was totally floored..... i thought my mac wouldn't have the same kinds of problems.... apparently I was wrong, computers are computers

I appreciate all of your help and I'll post here again once I have the problem resolved so that others may benefit if they have the same issue.

 

[CyrusOz]

Ok i purchased a downloadable version of Disk Warrior and now i can't get the damn thing to run. The main HD is the problem so when I try to run DW from other HD's it says I need to modify my permissions but i can't because the permission function are always 'greyed' out... what do i do now?

 

[CyrusOz]

When DW says it is going to rebuild a disk, does it mean that it is going to wipe it and rebuild it or just rebuild it with all of the current content on there not being lost?

 

[Mal]

When DW says it is going to rebuild a disk, does it mean that it is going to wipe it and rebuild it or just rebuild it with all of the current content on there not being lost?

It's rebuilding the directory, not the disk. It means it's replacing the current listing of where files are located and their attributes with the new, corrected one. It won't cause you to lose any files.

jW

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

Yesterday my Imac asked me if i wanted to install a software update and I did... nothing unusual there except that when it restarted the Imac just sat on the blue screen with the little wheel turning for about 10 minutes at least.

This is usually a sign of invalid caches. This happens from time to time in Mac OS X 10.4.x, 10.5.x and 10.6.x. You can clear the caches as follows:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564

After that, give the cat some time to rebuild the caches (around 1 to 5 minutes), and then restart your Mac again! This solves the problem in most cases.

 

[CyrusOz]

thanks heaps peeps. DW did the trick and went through the rebuilding of the disk and resolved the problem... finally an expensive damage control software that works. In Australia DW cost me $160 at the apple store as it was not available anywhere else in Australia but money well spent i reckon.