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Imac turns off when i plug in a flash drive

elor12

elor12

macrumors newbie
Original poster
hey i have a really annoying problem that i think started around a week ago. every time i plug and kind of USB flash drive the mac osx 10.5.6 gives me the "you need to restart your computer. hold down the power button for several second or press the restart button" message. i talked to apple and they told me to restart my PRAM and NVRAM which i did and did not help me at all.
i really need a solution please please help me

Thanks..
 
1. How old is your iMac? Still under warranty?
2. Insert your computer's restore disk and reboot your computer, holding the C key from when the startup chime sounds until the Apple logo appears on the screen. Once the installer is open, plug in your flash drive. Any problem?
 
ok i did exactly what u said and the computer didnt shut off it was ok during the installer
by the way the imac is from 2008 it is the new one and i have no warranty on it
 
elor12 said:
ok i did exactly what u said and the computer didnt shut off it was ok during the installer
by the way the imac is from 2008 it is the new one and i have no warranty on it
Click to expand...

Sounds like a broken USB bus on the motherboard shorting the motherboard (logicboard) to me. If you can live without using that USB port then I would, or get a USB hub 🙂 If you want to fix the problem then its going to cost you $300 for a new logic board replacement. This is why i always advise people to purchase Applecare and extend your warranty, it would have covered this.

You said you purchased the iMac in 2008, are you sure its not covered by Apples standard 1 year warranty which comes with all new products? If its less than 365 days old then it is, and you will get this problem fixed for free.
 
yes but when i plug my ipod in it works completely fine
and i have three entrees for usb my ipod works on all of them the flash drives do not
 
elor12 said:
yes but when i plug my ipod in it works completely fine
Click to expand...

How is that even possible?
Are you sure the flash drive is HFS+, FAT32 or NTFS formatted?
Has it been plugged into any other computers recently?
Does it work when plugged into a Windows machine or other Mac?
How long does it take from plugging it in to the Mac turning off?
Does the Mac run a shut down sequence or immediately turn off like someone turned the power off?
Is the iMac less than 365 days old?
 
no it is more the 365 years old
i have no idea how it is possible
one of the flash drives i have tired worked on my comp before many many time and the other one is new but it works on a mac 10.5.6 as well. it has no shut down sequence and as soon as i plug it in, the turn off your comp...... screen comes up
 
Have you tried multiple thumb drives? The computer won't turn off if the disk is formatted on another file system it doesn't recognize
 
toolbox said:
Have you tried multiple thumb drives? The computer won't turn off if the disk is formatted on another file system it doesn't recognize
Click to expand...

i absolutely have no idea how to do this or what it takes or if it will solve the solution. i cant use another comp all the time to get into a flash drive i need it to be on my comp because i wont always have the other computer
 
I agree, it's probably a hardware problem, but if it's fixable we may as well save you that $300. 😉

Do you have much free space on your hard drive? If you have more than 10 GB free, boot to the installer again, and follow these steps. It shouldn't affect your files or user profile or anything that you're currently running, but it will help to determine if the problem is hardware- or software-based.

1. Once in the installer, go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, select your iMac's hard drive in the left-hand side (the one that's not indented), and go to the Partition page. Click on the main partition in the list (named Macintosh HD by default) and click the + icon at the bottom of the list. Set the size to 10 GB, then click Apply. Close Disk Utility.

2. Go through the installer, and when prompted tell it to do a new install to the partition you just created in step 1.

3. Towards the end of the instal process, you will be given the option to customize. Deselect everything that can be deselected, then click Install.

4. Go get yourself a cup of tea while the install process goes.

5. Once the installer reboots, you will be asked to configure the computer. Go through that until it asks you for registration information, then press command+Q so you don't have to bother with that again. (You probably already did it when you first set up your computer.)

6. Eventually, you'll make your way to the desktop of your fresh OS X install. Plug in your flash drive again and see if it works.

You'll be able to delete this partition later on and reclaim that lost hard drive space. Just keep it for testing for the time being.
 
BlueRevolution said:
I agree, it's probably a hardware problem, but if it's fixable we may as well save you that $300. 😉

Do you have much free space on your hard drive? If you have more than 10 GB free, boot to the installer again, and follow these steps. It shouldn't affect your files or user profile or anything that you're currently running, but it will help to determine if the problem is hardware- or software-based.

1. Once in the installer, go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, select your iMac's hard drive in the left-hand side (the one that's not indented), and go to the Partition page. Click on the main partition in the list (named Macintosh HD by default) and click the + icon at the bottom of the list. Set the size to 10 GB, then click Apply. Close Disk Utility.

2. Go through the installer, and when prompted tell it to do a new install to the partition you just created in step 1.

3. Towards the end of the instal process, you will be given the option to customize. Deselect everything that can be deselected, then click Install.

4. Go get yourself a cup of tea while the install process goes.

5. Once the installer reboots, you will be asked to configure the computer. Go through that until it asks you for registration information, then press command+Q so you don't have to bother with that again. (You probably already did it when you first set up your computer.)

6. Eventually, you'll make your way to the desktop of your fresh OS X install. Plug in your flash drive again and see if it works.

You'll be able to delete this partition later on and reclaim that lost hard drive space. Just keep it for testing for the time being.
Click to expand...



but wont i have to log on to this partition every single time i want to use the flash drive?
and shouldn't i just install the system over again on the main macintosh HD partition??
 
I suggest doing a fresh install to a new partition for testing purposes because then you don't have to delete everything on your computer unnecessarily. If the drive doesn't work there either, you know you need to take it in to the shop. If it does, we can get you going on a full reinstall.
 
BlueRevolution said:
I suggest doing a fresh install to a new partition for testing purposes because then you don't have to delete everything on your computer unnecessarily. If the drive doesn't work there either, you know you need to take it in to the shop. If it does, we can get you going on a full reinstall.
Click to expand...

ok but if i reinstall it on the main partition it wouldn't necessarily delete everything i have on it right??
 
elor12 said:
ok but if i reinstall it on the main partition it wouldn't necessarily delete everything i have on it right??
Click to expand...

If you read the instructions BlueRevolution gave you, you will see they include making a new partition and installing os x there.
 
kastenbrust said:
If you read the instructions BlueRevolution gave you, you will see they include making a new partition and installing os x there.
Click to expand...



yes but lets say i do not want to open a new partition, and i reinstall the mac osx on my current partition is it going to erase all i have on the partition?
 
BlueRevolution said:
Yes. That's why I think making a new one would be prudent. 😉

You can delete it after we're done with it.
Click to expand...



ok i did and the flash drive works!!
just one thing it kind of changed the way my system was. it changed my dock and my programs and i need to update everything all over again. how can i log onto my old system (if possible) and still not have this problem??
by the way i still have all the files from before so nothing go erased.
 
imac

to get back to the other part. you need to go to

system prefs>startup disk> and select the original Hd Part. and click restart..

or

Restart your computer holding down on the option key and select the original HD part.... which is most likely called "Macintosh HD"
 
Fantastic! So it's a software problem after all. Okay, so the next step:

1. Reboot to the install DVD again. You shouldn't need a backup for this.

2. Re-open Disk Utility (under the Utilities menu).

3. Select the hard drive again and go to the partition tab.

4. Select the partition you created last time and click the - button.

5. Grab the handle in the lower-right corner of the remaining partition and resize so that it fills the entire drive once again.

6. Click Apply, then close Disk Utility.

7. Go ahead to the bit where it asks you what drive to install to. This time, select the drive your system is currently installed on and choose to archive & install while preserving users and network settings. (If you don't do this, you will lose everything.)

8. Proceed until you're given the option to customize the install. You could just run the default, but I find it wastes copious amounts of space. Nothing there is required aside from the base system, so deselect anything you don't use, including language localizations and printer drivers and so forth. Any of these things can be installed at a later date if you find you need them.

9. Time for more tea. When the installer is done, the machine should reboot and present you with a system that looks basically like the one you just left. Try plugging in a flash drive now.

10. If that works fine, just run Software Update until it don't find no more stuff, which should be four or five times, and you're up and running.
 
Funny its breaking just after the years warranty ended, 2 words for future reference: Applecare & Ebay.

Anyway what happens when you reinstall OS X and plug it in?
 
kastenbrust said:
Funny its breaking just after the years warranty ended, 2 words for future reference: Applecare & Ebay.

Anyway what happens when you reinstall OS X and plug it in?
Click to expand...

i didn't install osx on my main/current partition because i do not want it to erase everything on my hardrive unless it is not going to and then ill do it
 
elor12 said:
i didn't install osx on my main/current partition because i do not want it to erase everything on my hardrive unless it is not going to and then ill do it
Click to expand...

What part of the instructions where it tells you to make a new partition temporarily didnt you understand?

If you follow the instructions youll see it says: Make a new partition, see if everything works, delete it later. You know you can do that right without affecting your current partition? 🙄
 
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