iMac turns on but no Apple logo or beyond

[coledog]

Have an iMac that is a unibody 21". (customer's)
It turns on, makes the boot noise, but it hangs at the first gray screen with no Apple logo or advancement.

Not sure what to try, but any help would be great!

 

[spinnerlys]

Mac doesn't boot

 

[Sun Baked]

There is also the http://www.apple.com/support/ and looking at the Snow Leopard and Leopard upgrade sections to see about what might also be an issue.

If the current install was a migration ... some of the settings could likely cause the same upgrade issues we had during upgrades.

--- in case a terminal problems ...

Likely a single user boot and checking to see if fsck has really bad errors, since even though it is a new computer, the drive could have been an early failure.

If fsck cannot repair the drive, the b-tree catalog can be rebuilt without spending $99 using fsck for free (search on "fsck_hfs -rd") which might repair the drive enough save the data in target mode.

 

[coledog]

It isn't new and I don't think that they upgraded from Leopard to SL.

 

[Sun Baked]

It isn't new and I don't think that they upgraded from Leopard to SL.

The upgrade support pages have a lot of "why doesn't leopard/snow leopard boot" pages, with descriptions of the problem, likely 1 similar to what you describe.

 

[Hellhammer]

It isn't new and I don't think that they upgraded from Leopard to SL.

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

Reinstalling OS X will likely fix it

 

[bbazzahh]

Reset PRAM and SMC

Boot to safe mode

 

[coledog]

Tried all the things in the list.

Won't boot to a disc, won't show that a DVD is in, doesn't show anything but a cursor when I hold "option".

Tried PRAM, tried SMC...Nada.

 

[bbazzahh]

Thats strange, it should show your DVD disc from startup manager.

What happens when you start up holding down the C key till apple logo with spinning gear?

To be honest though if there is no harddrive showing from startup manager, then unfortunately it has died/connection fault. Take down to an Apple Store

 

[Hellhammer]

Thats strange, it should show your DVD disc from startup manager.

What happens when you start up holding down the C key till apple logo with spinning gear?

To be honest though if there is no harddrive showing from startup manager, then unfortunately it has died/connection fault. Take down to an Apple Store

If he can't boot from the DVD, it could be the logic board as well. Usually it hangs in the Apple logo or shows the no boot volume found icon. Anyway, taking it to the Apple Store is the best bet now

 

[bbazzahh]

Yeah can most likely be the Logic Board also.

But yeah getting it repaired like you said is the best road to go down at the present stage.

 

[coledog]

What kinda of price would we be looking at for repair? (07 model outside of warranty)

Also, if they decided not to repair it, what could I sell it for as is?

 

[Sun Baked]

If it is a 2007 iMac 20 like mine, the drive could have died.

Mine was booting to the logo, and then shutting off. Nothing else worked, no target mode, though I could boot to DVD.

If it is a version with the WD drive, it is likely about time for it to die.

If that machines drive is corrupted a bit earlier in the boot sequence, it might cause the same issues mentioned.

If it'll bong, the POST is usually fine (power on self test).

---

I was able to boot into single user mode, so I was able to repair the drive by rebuilding the b-tree catalog using a fsck_hfs extension.

This saved the data, or at least got the drive working long enough to run a new Time Machine backup.

---

Before trashing the machine, I'd try to put in a cheap SATA drive, using iFixit for instructions on doing this. A cheap internal drive will be as much as a diagnostic fee out of warranty, likely less.

Of course, the alternative and zero dollar method is to remove the HD or unplug the power cable to the drive, and see if it'll boot to the DVD.

 

[coledog]

I'll definitely try that, see if a different HDD will work.