Mac Mini can eject disk, but can't

[adamsvette]

I have a mac mini and i tried getting boot camp up and running.
i was looking through our cd's and i found one that said windows xp installation and system restore disk. thinking this is what i needed, i put it in my mac when it said to insert the cd. then it restarted and went to a black screen (like pc's do when they start up) and it said,
Gateway couldn't find an operating system to restore, press R to restore

I cant press anything else and when i press R, nothing happens.
if i unplug it or hold down the power button and turn it back on, it goes to the white apple screen (just before you see the apple logo) and then back to the black system restore screen. if i could get to the desktop i could eject the disk. but i cant.
SOMEONE HELP!!! is there a way to eject the disk w/o turning on the comp?
i was thinking something like, taking the computer apart and removing the cd from there, but i dont want to void my warranty (if it even covers this kind of stuff)

 

[spinnerlys]

Holding down the left mouse button right after the start-up chime will normally eject the CD/DVD.

Also holding down the Option/Alt key after the startup chime will get you to the OS select screen and let you choose Mac OS X as your OS.
You then can later go to System Preferences > Startup Disk to set your Macintosh HD with Mac OS X on it as your startup disk.


And restore CDs/DVDs are only meant for a specific computer, not a generic one.

 

[adamsvette]

omg thx soo much.
i was really scared for a while there.

 

[-tWv-]

you can also hold the option/alt key at startup to select what to boot into.

 

[adamsvette]

ok, now its not making the start up chime, and its going back to the black screen, this time saying "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"
i put in the mac osx installation disk that came with the computer in, thinking thats what it meant.
it didn't

now it ate the disk, wont go to the boot camp screen when i hold option/alt.

ill keep trying the option alt thing and left clicking.
but please help me. i need it to work before school starts so i can finish some other classes online.

 

[adamsvette]

the option/alt is not working, neither is left clicking.

is there a manual reset button thats not in the booklet somewhere?

from what i understand, its trying to start without an OS instead of just using OS X (since thats the ONLY operating system on there) like a normal computer.

someone help me.
im going to try to take it to an apple sales place in a best buy to see if they can fix it, cause the closest genius bar is like a 2 hour drive.

 

[Makosuke]

If you have the disc that came with the computer in there, you should be able to hold down the "c" key when powering up the computer and it will boot into the installer. At that point you can select "Startup Disk" from the menu and set your OSX install disc.

Alternately, I expect if you try resetting the PRAM (hold down command-option-P-R when you press the power button, keep holding them down until it chimes at least once more) it'll drop out of the "trying to install Windows for Boot Camp" mode you've somehow gotten stuck in.