27" iMac won't restart properly - HELP!

[Apple!Fre@k]

I only restart about once a week or so and for about the last four to six weeks, I've been having issues restarting my 27" iMac, which is about five months old. What happens is that after I click restart and it logs out, it gets to the blue screen and the status bar in the center of the screen just keeps spinning and spinning (not the beach ball, the other one). I've let it run for 30 minutes before and it never shuts down so I have to hold down the power button and then push it again to start it up.

Problem is, I'm starting to feel the effects of that shortcut now with iTunes randomly pausing more and more times and for longer and longer amounts of time when playing a video. I'm guessing it has something to do with the processes that are normally run during a regular restart not being run since it won't perform a natural restart.

Any ideas what's causing this problem and how to fix it?

 

[myuserid08]

Does it restart normally after its just been rebooted?

Have you checked and fixed permissions?

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

Does it restart normally after its just been rebooted?

Have you checked and fixed permissions?

Nope. Impossible to restart normally. After I reboot by holding down the power button after I get to the spinning status circle, I just encounter the exact same thing. Only way to restart right now is by holding down the power button once I get to the status circle.

Have not checked and fixed permissions. How do I do that? Is it Disk Utility, click on Macintosh HD (or do I click on the 1TB HDD instead of Macintosh HD?), then "Repair Disk Permissions" ?

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

Here's what comes up after verifying permissions on the "Macintosh HD"

??????

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

OK, so I repaired permissions. It repaired that one permission but said that SUID file could not be repaired. Then, I ran a "Verify Disk" and here's what the results were. Sounds bad. Is it as bad as it sounds? If I pop in the Mac OS X disc like it says, can it be fixed without any consequences (no data loss, no need to reinstall OS, etc.)?

 

[Hellhammer]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot

That's irrelevant to my problem? I guess you haven't read the thread.

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

Anyone??? Help!!!

 

[Stonefly]

Number 5 on that guide tells you how to boot from your snow leopard DVD and run disk utility to do the repairs.

5. Boot from install disk. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac. Hold option while booting and select the disk. Select Disk Utility from top bar and repair permissions and verify the disk. Reboot normally and see if it works now.

 

[Hellhammer]

That's irrelevant to my problem? I guess you haven't read the thread.

It doesn't matter is it your issue or not, that guide has the steps you need to do in order to troubleshoot anyway. I'm just lazy to write the over and over again while I can just link that