My Mac Mini won't start up correctly

[mcmillan]

This is weird. I was using my Mac Mini, which had the 10.4.2 update installed today (just the update, it has had Tiger for months). I was getting ready to play The Sims 2 for a while. Then, during the game's loading screen, it turned off. I thought "it's probably just a cable". I checked the cables, I turned it on, and the led light was doing like if it were sleeping. So it went through the start up. When I got to the login window, I clicked the sleep button to see if I could fix the led light problem. But instead of going to sleep, it turned off. I disconnected everything and reconnected it again. I checked all the cables, and then I tried to turn it on again. This time, it didn't start up. It just shows a folder with the OS face inside, which changes to a "?" sign back and forward.

I checked the cables again, but it's still the same. Now the led light is steady sometimes, and blinking sometimes. I can't do hardware test because the "The Sims 2 DVD" is still inside. I tried to get it out by holding the mouse's button during start up, but of course, it won't be ejected because the Mac won't start up.

In conclusion:
1. What does the folder/OS face/"?" sign mean.
2. How can I get the DVD out? It's a slot loading drive.
3. Am I going to lose everything that isn't backed up ? (please say no)
4. What could have caused this problem? Is it 10.4.2?

Thanks in advance.

PS: My neighbor was using my Mac without permission this morning ... Do you think it was her ?

 

[Hemingray]

Ew... that does not sound good.

The folder w/OS Face and "?" means it can't find a startup disk.

And I'd suggest you boot from CD and do Disk Utility, but as you can't eject the Sims 2 CD and holding down the mouse button at startup isn't working... you might need to take it in to Apple for repair. Sorry!

 

[CanadaRAM]

Ew... that does not sound good.

The folder w/OS Face and "?" means it can't find a startup disk.

And I'd suggest you boot from CD and do Disk Utility, but as you can't eject the Sims 2 CD and holding down the mouse button at startup isn't working... you might need to take it in to Apple for repair. Sorry!

The mousedown eject should take place BEFORE it starts loading the OS, so the lack of a bootable OS should not prevent it from ejecting.

It sounds more like you have a hardware problem, perhaps a partial power supply failure?

 

[AdamR01]

If you cant get the mouse button to eject the disc, try holding down the option key while the computer boots. You should get to a menu where you can pick your startup disc. Pick the cd and you should be able to click an eject button. I dunno if this only works on certain mac, but it works on my iBook. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like your hard drive may have died .

 

[mcmillan]

If you cant get the mouse button to eject the disc, try holding down the option key while the computer boots. You should get to a menu where you can pick your startup disc. Pick the cd and you should be able to click an eject button. I dunno if this only works on certain mac, but it works on my iBook. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it sounds like your hard drive may have died .

Doing that gave me 2 buttons. A cricled arrow and a straight arrow facing right. None of the buttons does anything.

 

[mcmillan]

I got into the firmware. I read somwhere that once you're inside the firmware you can type "eject cd", and that will eject the cd. But after inserting the command, it says "could't open the cd tray" or something similar.

What should I do???

Is there anyway to get the CD out without OPEEENING THE MACCC AND BREAKING THE F*KING DRIVE....??? sorry, I'm getting a bit out of control

Seriously, I don't know what to do, I have tried a lot of boot commands, but nothing will work. The little folder keeps appearing.

I would try doing the hardware test, but theres no way to get the DVD out. It must be tasty, cuz my Mac Mini won't eject it

HELP!!! PLEASE.......

 

[CanadaRAM]

I think it's off to the Apple Store with you, mate. You don't want to be attempting any physical-force measures wiv it when it's still under warranty an' all.

 

[mcmillan]

I think it's off to the Apple Store with you, mate. You don't want to be attempting any physical-force measures wiv it when it's still under warranty an' all.

I guess I'll have to do that. Altough I don't have any Apple Store nearby. I'll have to take it here.

 

[mcmillan]

IT STARTED UP ... kinda

Ok, I had this old external CD-ROM. So I placed my recover CD in there, and after a couples of tries it started up. It went a bit slow. I was able to eject the Sims 2 DVD then.

The Mac has some weird crashes, and it turns off sometimes. I don't realy know what to do with that. It isn't a hardware problem, because I just ran the hardware test and everything is alright.

Any other suggestions?

 

[CanadaRAM]

The Mac has some weird crashes, and it turns off sometimes. I don't realy know what to do with that. It isn't a hardware problem, because I just ran the hardware test and everything is alright.

Any other suggestions?

Yeah, I think it's your Mini power supply (hardware test doesn't check that) There just isn't any other mechanism that is more likely to cause the machine to arbitrarily turn off. A OS software crash would either freeze the screen or go to a kernel panic screen (a monochrome screen with multilingual "You need to restart now" messages. Not shut down as in a power down.

If you can get booted from the OSX DVD, then go into the top menu to Disk Utility, and do a Repair on your hard drive. Then see if it boots from the hard drive and do a Repair Permissions from the Disk Utility in the Applications: Utilities folder.

I am assuming you do not have any third-party peripherals (USB or Firewire) plugged in - because a malfunctioning USB device can cause crashes. If you installed third-party RAM, remove it and put the Apple RAM back in. Test again.