iMac 24 inch INTEL (01/08 purchase) rebooting cycle problem.

[kormaster]

I just noticed today. When i tried to turn it on, it displays the Apple logo with circular progress bar going around and around, then it resets. It is stuck in the cycle.

What do I do? Have you guys experience this before? My iMac was working fine ever since it purchase beginning of this year.

 

[JediMeister]

Do you have anything else connected to the computer like an iPod or an external hard drive? The computer could be trying to boot up to one of those connected devices. If you basically disconnect everything but the mouse and keyboard and it still won't go past the gray screen, you may need to boot up to the restore discs for the computer and run Disk Utility to verify the hard drive file structure and the permissions.

 

[kormaster]

Do you have anything else connected to the computer like an iPod or an external hard drive? The computer could be trying to boot up to one of those connected devices. If you basically disconnect everything but the mouse and keyboard and it still won't go past the gray screen, you may need to boot up to the restore discs for the computer and run Disk Utility to verify the hard drive file structure and the permissions.

whole bunch of "permission" was altered and corrupted.. i ended up formatting and reinstalling OS X... i lost all my iphoto stuff... dumb of me not to back it up... worst thing is i didnt have another mac or knew anyone close by so taht we could link up and save my stuff.. i needed my comp up and running asap.

lesson learned here - BACK UP!!!