iMac wont boot up URGENT

[pureelite1]

So in response to my iCal app not working a fellow poster advised me

In Finder, click the Go menu then Go To Folder, type in ~/Library/Caches, drag the com.apple.iCal folder to the Trash or to Desktop, it doesn't matter as long as its not the the starting location. Using the Go To Folder command again, go to ~/Library/Preferences and pull all the files beginning with com.apple.iCal. Then log out of your account and back in (or restart the computer) and try reopening iCal.

Only do this IF you can open iCal in another user account, otherwise this is just wasted effort.

I followed through only to find that after restart my iMac wont even boot up now. It has a no entry logo the circle with a diagonal line n a spinny wheel underneath it. I dont have applecare so any help would be appreciated it.

My iMac came with snow leopard n i torrented Lion been working well until now

 

[Comeagain?]

Hold [option] or [R] when booting. What happens now?

 

[pureelite1]

I see my hard drive n a recovery HD. When i click on my hard drive the same issue happens

 

[JediMeister]

Hi, it's me. Firstly, in my defense, nothing in the steps I relayed should have caused this to happen.

Moving on, the prohibitory sign means that some system files are either inaccessible or cannot be found. Select the Recovery HD and click the arrow underneath. Once you're into the Mac OS X Utilities, run Disk Utility. Select the Macintosh HD and under the First Aid tab, click Repair Disk. This will scan the directory structure for issues and attempt to repair any that it finds. If the repair completes and the last line reads that the volume appears to be OK, quit the Mac OS X Utilities and restart. If the repair operation fails, then you have to backup, then erase Macintosh HD and install on top of it. If you still get the prohibitory sign, you will need to reinstall Lion, preferably after backing up your computer if you have any data you don't want to risk.

 

[pureelite1]

thank you for responding. Ok so i tried the repair and it didnt work. Now for ur second course of action how do i back up my data if i cant access it at all since its not booting. Secondly i torrented lion so how would i go about reinstalling it? I have the lion file on a friends computer anyway of creating a usb n solving this? Since apple's app store is not authenticating the purchase since i never bought it

 

[pureelite1]

The repair reads
"the volume "my harddrive" appears to be OK
Volume repaire complete
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required

But nothing else follows

 

[JediMeister]

To back up your data you may need to use Target Disk Mode. You'll need a FireWire cable and another Mac.

Since you can't reinstall Lion without an AppleID, once you've backed up, you'll need to reinstall 10.6. It's up to you if you want to upgrade back to Lion afterwards.

 

[pureelite1]

I put the cd in for snow leopard but it wont let me install it, says a big yield sign on the hard drive and i cant click continue.

For firetarget mode do cables exist with Fireware to mini USB? I have an external harddrive which needs the mini usb. Regardless at this point i dont even care if i lose my data i just need my computer to boot up although it would be preferred if i could save my important files and personal data

 

[JediMeister]

You can't install 10.6 on top of 10.7. You will need to repartition and reformat the hard drive through Disk Utility, first, so there is no OS on it, before you can install 10.6. This was why I mentioned the need to backup your data if you want to preserve it.

Target Disk Mode only works over FireWire or Thunderbolt. The purpose of TDM is to allow another Mac to read the iMac like it would an external hard drive and allow Finder access to your files. You wouldn't accomplish anything by connecting an external drive to the iMac while the iMac is in TDM.

Since you have already booted to the DVD and have access to Disk Utility, another thing you could try is using the Restore tab to restore the Macintosh HD onto an empty external hard drive. Assuming it's done properly and is successful, you can drag and drop your files from the external drive back to the Macintosh HD after you are back to 10.6. You will not be able to migrate from the backup however, as 10.6 cannot read data from 10.7.

 

[pureelite1]

Went to apple, they basically reinstalled the OS Lion onto it and that did the trick. Luckily no file was corrupted and nothing had to be deleted. Thanks for the help still, appreciate it