iMac no start! HELP!!!

[ruzzian]

Hi,

Ive just turned on my iMac 24" Intel Core 2 Duo and it starts up but after the little OS X load bar has finished it disappears and the blue screen just stays there. Its as if the desktop is there but I cant see anything apart from blue screen.

Can someone please help!!!

 

[pknz]

How long have you let it sit at the blue screen?

Have you tried shutting it down are starting back up again? (power button)

 

[ruzzian]

How long have you let it sit at the blue screen?

Have you tried shutting it down are starting back up again? (power button)

I've let it sit on the blue screen for ages and whats weird is my screen saver blips on and off after leaving it for a bit. I've shut down about 6 times now, booted it with the start-up disk and repaired permissions etc. I've connected to it through my Powerbook as a harddrive to have a look in the computer to see if I could see anything weird. But I'm stuck for ideas now.

 

[ruzzian]

UPDATE:


I just tried booting in "safe mode" and it got to my desktop but the top toolbar didnt load and I couldnt open Finder or any other app. Isn't that a little odd for safe mode?? But I could see my desktop background and dock.

 

[mikes63737]

Can you boot from another source (like a CD or DVD) ? If you can, it sounds like you may need to do an archive and install.

 

[ruzzian]

Can you boot from another source (like a CD or DVD) ? If you can, it sounds like you may need to do an archive and install.

I can boot from the OS X install disk. But do I really need to do something as drastic as that?

I've tried using this guide to help but nothing on it seems to work:

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/2/#2


I have several ideas as to what has caused this.

a) I didnt shut down Windows XP in Parallels Desktop properly. I just quit out in the top toolbar. Cos I was having an idiotic moment.

b) I have a virus through windows.

c) There is a bad startupitem that I didnt know was there and need to sort. I'm just not sure what are third party startupitems and what are third party so I dont know which ones to delete.

 

[elppa]

I can boot from the OS X install disk. But do I really need to do something as drastic as that?

I've tried using this guide to help but nothing on it seems to work:

http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/2/#2


I have several ideas as to what has caused this.

a) I didnt shut down Windows XP in Parallels Desktop properly. I just quit out in the top toolbar. Cos I was having an idiotic moment.

b) I have a virus through windows.

c) There is a bad startupitem that I didnt know was there and need to sort. I'm just not sure what are third party startupitems and what are third party so I dont know which ones to delete.

B) you can pretty much discount.

Try running the hardware test CD which came with your Mac.

If you think it is a startup item, then boot from another disk, open up your Mac OS Drive and remove everything from the Startup Items folder in the Library folder (on your harddisc) and a file called loginwindow.plist, which is in the preferences folder in the library folder inside your home folder. (Obviously move them, don't delete them as you may want to put them back).

Then try starting up.

Just something to try. I can't guarantee any success.

 

[ruzzian]

B) you can pretty much discount.

Try running the hardware test CD which came with your Mac.

If you think it is a startup item, then boot from another disk, open up your Mac OS Drive and remove everything from the Startup Items folder in the Library folder (on your harddisc) and a file called loginwindow.plist, which is in the preferences folder in the library folder inside your home folder. (Obviously move them, don't delete them as you may want to put them back).

Then try starting up.

Just something to try. I can't guarantee any success.

Nope... didnt work. It still starts up but when you expect the dock to pop up and toolbar to pop down with your desktop backdrop appearing, nothing appears except for the mouse cursor and now one of the OS X desktop backgrounds. My screen saver still comes on too but not properly. It blips on and off. Whats the shortcut to shut down btw?

 

[tilman]

...
b) I have a virus through windows.
...
B) you can pretty much discount.
...

Not quite. Some viruses search through your file system and modify files. So any folder on your harddisk that you had shared with Windows under Parallels is potentially suspect now.

 

[ruzzian]

If I do an archive and install how much of my personal stuff would I lose?


I really think this had something to do with me not shutting down Parallels properly tbh.

 

[elppa]

Not quite. Some viruses search through your file system and modify files. So any folder on your harddisk that you had shared with Windows under Parallels is potentially suspect now.

Which is why I said "pretty much" and not "totally".

If I do an archive and install how much of my personal stuff would I lose?

I really think this had something to do with me not shutting down Parallels properly tbh.

Well, the whole idea of archive and install is that you don't lose anything, it just moves all your old system files and then installs new ones. So you shouldn't lose anything.

I'd wait overnight to see if anyone comes up with a solution overnight, as it will be quite a lot of effort putting all your old files back and setting everything up again.

 

[ruzzian]

Which is why I said "pretty much" and not "totally".



Well, the whole idea of archive and install is that you don't lose anything, it just moves all your old system files and then installs new ones. So you shouldn't lose anything.

I'd wait overnight to see if anyone comes up with a solution overnight, as it will be quite a lot of effort putting all your old files back and setting everything up again.

Yeh, I'm not overkeen on doing it at all. Its safe to say its not a hardware issue isnt it? Whats weird is it loaded fine one minute and the after I shut down it didnt work. I didnt change anything. I'm pretty sure its not a virus really, but I will delete the parallels share folder just in case. I've already deleted Parallels from applications so I'm starting to think its not anything to do with that now. I havent changed any login items either. The one thing I am sceptical about is that I must have had about 7Gb's of ***** on my desktop because I didnt clear up properly but how would that affect a start up? Plus I've cleared the desktop now and it still wont work. Arghhh! This is frustrating!