OSx Problems

sturgo

Hi,

I've had my Macmini for just over 2 years now and have had no trouble with it whatsoever up until now.

About a week ago it froze half way through the software update, so I cold booted it. It came back ok, but these are the problems I've been having ever since:

Does not mount my USB 200GB external drive. (Mounts 1GB memory stick ok)
Will not shut down or go into sleep mode. (Just hangs on a blue screen with the little wheel thing turning & fan goin like crazy)
Will not run disk utility. (Can't even see the drive)
Can't install any programs onto the hard drive (like onyx)

I've already done a fresh install and I can't boot from the startup disk as I need to successfully restart OS x.

Anyway it sounds like it might be a hardware issue, but at this stage I'm kinda lost. Any ideas???

Thanks.

Urban Weigl

Hold down the C key while starting from the system restore CD/DVD.

sturgo

Urban Weigl wrote:

Hold down the C key while starting from the system restore CD/DVD.

i've done that, but it requires a restart to boot from the CD / DVD and my machine won't close down or restart. it just hangs on a blue screen. just like windows

Urban Weigl

It doesn't require a restart to boot from the CD/DVD if you hold down the C button while turning on the machine.

Nietzschean

hold down d with the system cd in when ye boot and run the h/w diagnostics....

and i'm not sure what you mean with a fresh install you completed an erase and install? and when it rebooted post installer it couldn't boot up off the start up disc? or the installer hung while trying to reboot the machine?

Urban Weigl

You can do a clean install of OS X without losing any data or user information.

sturgo

Nietzschean wrote:

hold down d with the system cd in when ye boot and run the h/w diagnostics....

and i'm not sure what you mean with a fresh install you completed an erase and install? and when it rebooted post installer it couldn't boot up off the start up disc? or the installer hung while trying to reboot the machine?

i reloaded tiger & erased all data. i booted from the startup disk ok, but to run disk utility you have to restart the machine.

i'll try holding down D.

sturgo

ok, it booted from the startup disk & i ran disk utility verified / repaired disk permissions. i also ran Cocktail for good measure. it didn't throw up any errors. is there anything else i should do?

Hugh_C

sturgo wrote:

ok, it booted from the startup disk & i ran disk utility verified / repaired disk permissions. i also ran Cocktail for good measure. it didn't throw up any errors. is there anything else i should do?

So are you saying you're OK and everything's working?

Not sure if I understand your workflow but if you erased all data that would suggest you reformatted the internal drive, correct? If that's the case then I think your problems may be hardware other than drive-related. Have you taken it apart and re-seated the RAM and boards? There are walkthroughs for cracking the case of a Mac Mini here. As the article says 'not hard, but not easy'.

sturgo

hughchal wrote:

So are you saying you're OK and everything's working?

Not sure if I understand your workflow but if you erased all data that would suggest you reformatted the internal drive, correct? If that's the case then I think your problems may be hardware other than drive-related. Have you taken it apart and re-seated the RAM and boards? There are walkthroughs for cracking the case of a Mac Mini here. As the article says 'not hard, but not easy'.

Yeah, reformatted the drive. So it looks like a hardware issue.

Thanks,