I have had it with Boot Camp.

I suppose that you have a time machine backup on an external HDD? If you plug that in it should see that instead and then you can use diskutil to maintain the drives.

Asking the obvious: Are you using a wired keyboard? Wireless keyboards do not get recognized until after your machine is up and running.

 

did you try unplugging it from the wall for half a minute? It will reset some volatile stuff in the startup memory. I've had strange problems too but am using a Mac mini so there is a limit to what I can suggest.

ps you can even use a time machine backup from another machine....I've successfully booted on another one than that the backup was made on.

PS where are you located and/or how did you pay for the machine? Some people do not realize that Apple has to give more warranty in some countries by law . Also some credit card companies give a year extra warranty on equipment bought through them.

Is it just out of warranty? Here in new Zealand someone successfully argued that a computer with a premium price tag should last longer than only a few years (if I remember correctly it broke down after AppleCare had run out and Apple refused to repair saying it was too old. Since a DVD player is expected to work for five years and his computer had a DVD player in it he argued it should be expected to have a minimum life expectancy of five years and his was just over three years... Apple was ordered to provide....)

selling extra warranty is the biggest money making rip-off that there is.

 

some people will still give money for a faulty mac on eBay...

but I commiserate with your plight - I've myself been very close to doing the same. Unfortunately the Mac mini is the only small form factor in our small country of 4 million people that I can get locally serviced. Otherwise I would have had an ASrock Vision HTPC.

I've seen the same in an old hobby of mine - HAM radio. The Japanese took over with fancy outside and marginal inners but they were selling like hotcakes over the industrial looking and industrial robust gear. People buying primarily on looks or price without taking into account the total cost per year of owning the stuff.

 

If you specify what is wrong then they may want it for parts to repair another damaged machine - e.g. someone may have cracked the screen or dropped it and have the stand broken.

 

You can always go to an certified Apple repair facility and ask for a diagnosis of what a repair would cost. I expect that the diagnosis would cost some money, perhaps the equivalent of an hour's labor charge but then you know what the issue is - it may be that a logic board needs to be replaced. (I had one going bad on me when I did a re-install of windows... It was replaced under warranty...) If instead it is a simple software issue then you may find that the repair is costing nothing because it may have been included in the diagnosis. If on the other hand it is the logic board then you might as well ditch the machine since that might costs as much as a new one.

This is why I like separate components like the Mac mini - it is silly to replace a keyboard, mouse and screen because there is an issue with the computer itself. Purchases can be staggered but screens can be obtained from other vendors at a far lower price and normally they'll outlast the computer itself by a wide margin.

 

Are you using a non-Apple keyboard with this? If you are, see if you can find an Apple one to try the startup keys. If none of the startup keys seem to be working, you may be mistiming your keypresses. Turn on the computer and then immediately press the option/alt key and keep holding it. Unplug any other USB devices when you do this, as a test.

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The keyboards in the Mini and iMac are no more or less separate in either computer, but I do agree with you and prefer the Mini over the iMac simply because of the separation.