Boots in safe mode, Blue Screen

[kiddexx]

Hey guys a few questions.. imac snow leopard was working fine. Then it started only booting to blue screen.. i got it to boot fully into safe mode.. but there was no disk utility so I couldn't try repairing. When I restarted the computer it now will not boot into safe mode and just keeps restarting after the progress bar loads. My questions are how can I attempt to fix this, what repair utility can i install onto a flash drive to try and repair the drive possibly or my other question is, is it possible to burn OS X Leopard onto a DVD using windows and then doing a fresh install?

Thanks guys

 

[DeltaMac]

Boot to your restore DVD - the set that came with your iMac. They usually are a set of two grey DVDs.
If you don't have those disks now, or your iMac is one that you bought used, without the DVDs - then you are in luck!
Apple still offers Snow Leopard installer disks.
Here's the link to purchase - http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

But, the boot symptoms that you describe can often be the result of a failing hard drive. You may need to replace the hard drive before you can successfully get your iMac running again.
And, you will need some OS X system to reinstall anyway. You can boot to whatever installer that you have, and run Disk Utility to test your hard drive (the only way to do a Repair Disk is when booted to a different system, such as the installer disk)
You may have other options, depending on which model iMac you have. If you know exactly which model you have, you could post that information here. Even the information from the serial number label on the bottom of the iMac "foot" will help.

 

[kiddexx]

Boot to your restore DVD - the set that came with your iMac. They usually are a set of two grey DVDs.
If you don't have those disks now, or your iMac is one that you bought used, without the DVDs - then you are in luck!
Apple still offers Snow Leopard installer disks.
Here's the link to purchase - http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

But, the boot symptoms that you describe can often be the result of a failing hard drive. You may need to replace the hard drive before you can successfully get your iMac running again.
And, you will need some OS X system to reinstall anyway. You can boot to whatever installer that you have, and run Disk Utility to test your hard drive (the only way to do a Repair Disk is when booted to a different system, such as the installer disk)
You may have other options, depending on which model iMac you have. If you know exactly which model you have, you could post that information here. Even the information from the serial number label on the bottom of the iMac "foot" will help.

Hey there I don't have much time to wait for a disc to arrive. Am I able to burn one myself? I don't mind paying for a disk for the purpose of giving apple money that's fine but time is a bit of a factor. This is my grandparents computer. So there isn't a tool I can use like disk warrior to try and repair the boot? Any idea why I can't boot into safe anymore when I could before. Is there a command I can run to try and get back in. I wish I stayed on sage mode because now my grandparents want me to backup their stuff at least which I could have done -. -

 

[Kissmyne]

Aside from having the OS disc and using disk utility from there, you could purchase a copy of DiskWarrior(think it comes as a USB Drive) and see if it can fix this issue.

Another method is to use Target Disk Mode and connect it to another Mac running that OS X version or newer and have it run Disk Utility and check the volume.

If you are actually MISSING Disk Utility, a reinstall is recommended.

Regarding your question about burning, yes it is "possible", or you could just buy this.. http://www.apple.com/shop/product/M...e0f379ee1178e5728530a5b62557a731820f90c6b8675

 

[kiddexx]

Ok I might be getting them a new Mac today that has lion on it. So could I use a USB cord to connect the two and then you were saying I could use disk utility on the working Mac to possibly repair the sl Mac. Also what program can I use to transfer files from old Mac to new one. Or will the old mac pop up on the computer like a flash drive. Thanks guys

 

[Kissmyne]

Can't be USB, needs to be Thunderbolt or Firewire. https://support.apple.com/kb/ph3838?locale=en_US

You will only need steps one and two from the linked page.

Migration assistant or Finder(drag and drop) can move files from one mac to another.

 

[DeltaMac]

Can you boot to single user mode?
Restart, while holding Cmd+S
You'll see a screen with text scrolling down.
at the prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
then press enter. That command checks the hard drive directory structure, and may get your iMac to boot again - or it will tell you that the drive needs repairs.
Yes, you can purchase Disk Warrior, (and you will have to wait for that to arrive, too - unless you can get to an Apple Store, which may have that on the shelf) Disk Warrior can get your directory repaired - it is quite good at doing just that.
But, that won't fix corrupted system files, etc. Those kinds of problems will mean that you need to reinstall OS X.

The Target Disk mode is ONLY used with a Firewire cable to connect the two Macs. That's what you will need on the older Macs that you have. There's no way to connect the two Macs with a USB cable.

I'm guessing that this may be all useless, because I suspect that the iMac has a failing hard drive.