my iMac won't boot up either :(

andy69

Hi all, I just viewed the other thread there where I see someone else has an issue with their iMac not booting up.
I just ran into trouble this weekend also, but I'm in BIG trouble as I had been trying to make a backup using Time Machine to an external HD, and to use time machine, I need to format the external drive first. So...worst case scenario....yes I deleted the temp backup that I had been keeping there so that I could let the Mac format the drive, and then replace it with a 'proper' Time-Machine backup (damn Good Friday and the pubs being shut...was bored so I thought I'd finally get round to making a proper backup).

So, for that small moment of time, I was without a backup, and of course that's the time my iMac failed, and now I'm not able to do much with it, except via the restore CD and on command line to manually copy files over, but this is taking days, and lots of the files will not copy over (i/o errors reported, but it stalls on each 'corrupt' file for ages, so the whole process is taking a VERY long time...like not making any progress since 3am this morning).

anyhoo - was just wondering if anyone might know of a Mac specialist (Dublin or the midlands will be fine) that they might recommend? Fixing this is beyond my very limited capabilities, and I didn't want to bring the Mac to some random PC repair shop (just thought there might be a shop that people might know of that are good with Mac's).

Basically I need to recover the data (photos & music (lot of valuable recordings) really), and then I can get a new HD if necessary.
I'm sure the data can be retrieved, as I can navigate through the file system on commandline - just need to bring it somewhere, where they might have the tools or whatever necessary to retrieve the data.

hope you can help!
andy

Sad Professor

Why won't it boot up? What happens? Are you sure it's the hard disk?

Sad Professor

List of Apple Service Providers in Dublin:

1.
EVAD IT SOLUTIONS LIMITED
UNIT H & I, USHERS ISLAND
DUBLIN 8
Tel. +353 16336791
Apple Authorised Service Providers

2.
COMPU B
111 GRAFTON STREET,
D.2. - DUBLIN
Tel. 00353 1 5079103
Apple Premium Reseller
Apple Authorised Service Providers

3.
TYPETEC LTD
UNIT G6 CALMOUNT BUSINESS PARK
12 - DUBLIN
Tel. 353 1 5009000
Apple Authorised Service Providers
Apple Solution Experts - Education

4.
MACTIVATE LTD.
NORTHWEST BUSINESS PARK
UNIT 13, NORTHWEST CENTRE
15 - BLANCHARDSTOWN, DUBLIN
Tel. 353 1 8224488
Apple Authorised Service Providers

5.
COMPU B
MALAHIDE ROAD
PAVILION SHOPPING CENTRE
SWORDS
Tel. 01 5250631
Apple Premium Reseller
Apple Authorised Service Providers

You can find more here.

andy69

Oh wow, thanks a million for that list, really appreciate that.

Yeah its weird...it will stick on startup either with the blank white screen, or with the logo, and sometimes the logo switched to a kind of 'no entry' or 'forbidden' sign and make no progress after that.
All was ok until after I'd formatted the time machine drive. The backup actually failed on me, and I tried to delete it, but that just Hung, so I powered down and since then it only booted up once and I started to manually copy files over bit Finder kept crashing, and eventualthe whole thing froze with a black screen so I put the install disc in to get a cpmmand prompt.

Seems like when I copy files, its finding issues with some and hangs for ages on those files so I'm making almost no progress :-(

muggyog

Maybe you should fix the hard drive on your Mac before you try to copy files. When you boot off the install CD , run Disk utility and see if you can fix the drive. If this does not work use Diskwarrior CD ( best Mac drive rescue app.) to repair. If that fails try to connect to other Mac in Target mode via firewire ( if it has firewire port ) and copy from it.

holystungun9

firmware update according to The Unofficial Apple Weblog to fix some issues with iMac boot problem. Go to tuaw.com and scroll down to read story.

andy69

thanks again for your help guys!
I ran the utilities over the weekend but it came back all clear (verify, and repair as well).
I ended up losing a few photos here and there, and a lot of video clips I had (oddly enough, all of the 'avi' files for some reason).
Anyhoo...re-installed the OS again (tried the archive/restore first, but it failed), and then I was copying whatever files i had saved back up to the iMac, and that took hours, and then i coppied over all the music from my iRiver and that took the entire day!! seemed like the computer would freeze randomly at particular files, then an hour later it might move on and fly through the next few GB's.
During the 'freeze', I could move the mouse, but any apps (like Safari) would freeze also.
then when the copying would move again, the app would move again, and it would all seems fine, but 5mins later it all froze up again, and so on for the whole day.
Ended up packing it into it's box, and dropped it over to Mactivate in Blanch.
Before i packed it up, i ran the utility again, and this time it was failing in the 'verify' disk option, but couldn't really make scense of the error messages.
Reckon it might be the HDD - feck it!!

thanks again though for your help

andy

Cork24

if you Mac can boot up, take out the Hard Drive get your A*S down to Maplin and get a USB Hard Drive connecter. it allows you to plug in SCSI, IDE etc hard drive into your computer via USB. i find them better then Ex-Hard Drive Case's as i have 6 hard drives around the house and it would cost to much to buy 6 Hard Drive cases for them.


P.S
Apple Authorised Service Providers ? I seen their courses but no one in Ireland trains in them,
like to do a Training Course on fixing Imacs. the laptops are ok. just like any other laptop

andy69

oh oh! jeez i hope they can fix mine though!!

thanks for the tip with the HDD connector - I'll deffo look into that because it sounds like a better way to connect and those external drives with the casings cost more as well.
cheers,
andy

MiCr0

esweeney banned for spamming the same site

Cork24

That banned user site was well over priced 189 for a 4gb up grade feck that 80euro on curisa