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eddieblock

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 2, 2008
71
0
hi. as title suggests that when i start my imac i get the grey screen with a flashing ? . i,ve got around this a couple of times by shutting down and restarting with the option key held down and choosing the hd. can anyone tell me how to stop this ? or is my hard drive knackered ? also what would the cause be ? one thing i noticed was just before it started the imac used to take ages to awake from sleep. any help would be great, thanks in advance and sorry for the long post !
 
thanx for the replys. i,ll back up and then i,ll try what you suggest. thanx again
 
This is referred to in my workshop (Apple Certified Service Center) as a Kernel Panic. It could indicate that your harddrive is on the fritz and I would suggest an immediate backup should you be able to boot completely.

It may even be the result of a power spike, so I would suggest unplugging the AC cable of your iMac and letting it sit for a minimum of 2 minutes (5 is better) to let the capacitors drain and have everything reset.

Also during boot you can try a PRAM reset by holding "Apple + Option + P + R" and waiting for the second chime before releasing the keys.
 
tried the pram thing still no joy. have backed up so i,m now re installing the operating system. hope this fixes things
 
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