My Mac Mini Won't boot

[Javierpr26]

Hi:

I'm currently Running Mac Os x 10.4.6 on a PPC 1.25 Mac Mini and last night I ran some Automator maintenance program I downloaded from the web. I restarted the machine, no problem, anything was running smootly. Until this morning I booted the Mini only to find out that the mac won't boot, just a flashy Icon with a question Mark and Mac Os X Logo alternating. I have tried it all. Option, command OF ,Nothing. I just hold the alt key as I boot the mini and it presents me with a password prompt. Since I bought the Mac on Ebay I didn't set the Open Firmware password. I tried Contacting my seller,apparently, he doesn't remember. So I Got my mac mini just there in the flashing icon. It seems O.F. Have all the option keys disabled. Only the Alt button works.

I opened the mini,following the instructions on ifixit.com. Removed the battery and RAM to see if that could reset the password, no luck.

And to make the matter a little worse, theres a cd on the slot loading drive and of course, I can't get it out,because I believe,there's not a procedure to phisycally remove the Cd on this cases.

If anyone out there have a solution,rather than contact apple I would really Appreciate it.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Go

Try restarting and holding the X key down...this will force startup from the first instance of OS X it finds. Or, try restarting while holding the mouse button down...that should eject the disc. If you can get that out, insert the Mac OS X install CD that should have come with it and hold the C key down to start from it. There is an option to reset the firmware password when booted from that CD.

C

 

[Javierpr26]

The seller of my mac mini sent me an email with a list of passwords and luckly I could opne the open firmware. now I'm at my mac mini
thanks for your reply.

 

[zeyhra]

It may be the CD causing the problem in the first place, not the Automator app... We've got quite a few Macs here in the office that pull that trick every once in a while when they're restarted with a CD in the CD drive (usually a music CD, so no matter how hard it tries it's never going to boot from it). But first thing, get the CD out by holding the mouse button on restart... since it does that action before attempting anything else, it shouldn't have a problem. When it does happen here, ejecting the CD resolves the issue every time, it boots up normal, then I reset the startup disk in System Prefs.

 

[correagroup]

I have nearly the same problem, except I can get the CDs out with little to no problem. I just can't boot, in any mode or with original CDs. How do you get to "Firmware" mode?

 

[Ric]

Hi there correagroup and welcome,

can you give us a little more info, what exactly happens. What does the screen look like ?

What model Mac have you got, what version of OS X is it running.

regards

Ric

 

[correagroup]

My Mini won't boot.
I rebooted after running update, an i-tunes update I think, then I get the grey startup screen, then a blue screen, then the blue screen with spining wheel....nothing more. I have tryed booting from original CDs, 10.4 CDs, I have zapped the P-Ram, tryed Unix...couldn't get to line command screen. tried safe mode, didn't boot.
Any suggestions?

Mac Mini G4 1.42ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7) one year old

 

[Ric]

...sounds like you need a hammer !

(Only joking)

Double check the surface of the install disks, do they have any marks on them etc...

The only reason the Mac won't boot from the install disks is if they are the wrong ones, scratched, dirty, or the drive is broke !

I would be tempted to try the Install disk, holding sown the c key to force it to boot from the disk again, please let us know what happens.

If it won't boot then one of the above is the problem.

I would try booting back to single user mode, reboot holding down command and s, I know you have already tried these, but sometimes it takes a few goes.

I'm afraid the best suggestion I have is to try the various options again, I would surprised if non of the above work, because that would mean that the dvd drive and the hard drive had possibly failed at the same time, which I doubt.

Have another go and let us know, before getting the hammer out.

regards

Ric

 

[correagroup]

...sounds like you need a hammer ! (got one standing by)

(Only joking)(I am not,LOL)

Double check the surface of the install disks, do they have any marks on them etc...(not impurfections, This was only the second time for them out of the package.)

The only reason the Mac won't boot from the install disks is if they are the wrong ones, scratched, dirty, or the drive is broke !(not true, it could be something wrong in the bios or with the motherboard itself)

I would be tempted to try the Install disk, holding sown the c key to force it to boot from the disk again, please let us know what happens.(no change after 3 more attempts)(also tried the supplied install/hardware test disc)

If it won't boot then one of the above is the problem.

I would try booting back to single user mode, reboot holding down command and s, I know you have already tried these, but sometimes it takes a few goes.

I'm afraid the best suggestion I have is to try the various options again, I would surprised if non of the above work, because that would mean that the dvd drive and the hard drive had possibly failed at the same time, which I doubt.

Have another go and let us know, before getting the hammer out.

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

Greetings all, it seems I have a problem similar to many others here. I have a 1.25 GHz PPC Mac Mini since late spring '05, it's worked flawlessly up until now. It won't boot, no matter what I do, I have tried:

• resetting PRAM - cmd-option-P-R (5 rounds)
• getting into open firmware, resetting NVRAM and setting defaults
• booting from the original cd (which is 10.3, though I have 10.4 installed)

However, it won't boot from the disc when pressing C or X while booting, always just showing a flashing questionmark/finder icon (after a minute or so, when it's decided it can't find a disc to boot from). Now I can't even get out the disc either through keeping the mouse button pressed during boot or typing in eject-cd in the open firmware prompt (the latter giving an error "can't find word" or something like that).

 

[Ric]

Hi there Daydreamer and welcome,

The command if I remember correctly should be eject cd and not eject-cd

Give that a go to eject the disk.

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

Oh, great, now it locked up. As I pressed return, it put a space at the end of the line and then nothing.

Oh, yeah, earlier I also tried cmd-V as I read somewhere else that it'd go into verbose mode so I could see where it hangs, but no workie.

EDIT: "can't OPEN the EJECT device"

 

[Ric]

No space...

just

eject cd

then return.

Try that to get it out...

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

... _I_ didn't put it there, the machine did (!). Anyway, it just outputs "can't OPEN the EJECT device".

 

[Ric]

Oh sorry, pesky gremlins !

Are you able to delete the space before pressing return ?

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

It's not there before I press return.

 

[Ric]

Very strange ?!

Looks like there's a few hammers needed ;-)

Is it still in warrenty ? Do you have Apple Care ?

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

Nope, no apple care so no warranty since april/may.

*Grumble* I'll pop it open and see if I can do something in there.

EDIT: *Hrmpf* I thought I remembered a force-eject thingie in there, but no.

 

[Ric]

...that was my next suggestion if you have no warranty !

Once you get the case open it should be straight forward to get the cd out.

regards

Ric

 

[Daydreamer]

YAY! Another victory for my universal do-nothing solution. Pick the machine apart, then put it together again and it works like a charm. (I didn't get the disc out until it booted up again)