my mac wont start up.

[fash]

when i boot up my mac i get a network icon and flashing ? and finder folder icon.

then it enters the white startup screen with the grey apple logo and the spinning loading clock but wont enter my desktop!!!

 

[ipacmm]

I would try to reinstall in OS, I had that same issue when I bought my quad, I just reinstalled in os on a clean install and it came back working fine. I would also back up everything before you do this because if you don't you will lose everything.

 

[jcburn]

I've got nearly the same problem on my old dual G4, I let it sit for a few months and now I get the "Gray screen with the death spin cursor". It's kind of hard to back up data if you can't get to it . I've tried booting from the Tiger install DVD, which worked well enough to install the os, but it still refuses to boot. I even installed it on a 2nd drive I had installed last year, still the cursor of death.

I checked the firmware revision, but it's current . I let it spin all night after I brought it up, still nothing. I'm going to attempt to zap my prams tonight when I get home from work to see if that helps. I don't want to do an install that erases the disk because there's data and work I really don't want to lose.

If anyone knows how to get out of this, I'd appreciate the assistance,

Thanks

 

[mad jew]

If there's another Mac about, then try using Target Disk Mode to get your data back. However, the flashing question mark over the Finder icon means it cannot find a boot volume so the OS must be reinstalled (in 99% of cases). If there's not another Mac about, then you can try booting from an external Firewire drive assuming you have one with the OS installed.

 

[yellow]

when i boot up my mac i get a network icon and flashing ? and finder folder icon.

then it enters the white startup screen with the grey apple logo and the spinning loading clock but wont enter my desktop!!!

Bad signs..

First thing to do is to boot from your installer CD?DVD that came with the system and run the Disk Utility app and try Disk First Aid to repair the file structyure on the drive.

 

[jcburn]

Thanks for the target mode idea, I'm not getting a folder/question mark on mine at startup. It acts as if it's booting normally for a while, and then the cursor starts spinning and nothing happens. I was able to stop the OSX installer at the choice point and choose OS9 as my startup disk, but it took forever to boot into OS9. Changing startup disks while in OS 9 didn't help it on the re-boot. Given the length of time it's taking to get into 9.2, I may have some bad ram and there's not enough room to boot out of.

I don't know if the drive will be accessable (sp) for target if the machine won't boot, but I'm sure going to try it.

Thanks !!

 

[mad jew]

I don't know if the drive will be accessable (sp) for target if the machine won't boot, but I'm sure going to try it.

Generally speaking, Target Disk Mode should work unless your actual drive is faulty. yellow gave some excellent advice for checking bad drives (among other components).