Another mac startup problem!

[jimking]

I now have a problem starting our mini mac at work which runs our proofer. When I boot, I get the apple logo with the spinning ball, not the color ball, but the dashed line spinning thing. I've tried holding down the shift and shift option, apple option etc. I've inserted the "Apple hardware" disk- holding down the C key and received the message "invalid memory access at %SRR0: 00032ed8 %SRR1: 00003030" It then gives me the option to shut down or continue to boot up. When I continue to boot I get the blue folder with the blinking "question mark" This mini mac is a self contained box, not easy to get inside to check ram and such. Anyone got a clue? Thanks

[Mynock]

No paper clip is going to help you out of this one jim.

[captain spanky]

http://www.kctools.com.au/images/TOOLS/TOOL%20JPEGS/TOOL%20JPEGS%20INC%20DESCRIPTION/15025%20SLEDGE%20HAMMER.jpg





:D ...sorry
one day... someone's actually going to be helpful on here and hte whole world will implode :D

[mojoprime]

wow. that's wild. google only had one reference and it was to a german forum with no responses to the original post.

what happens when you start up just holding down the option? are you able to select the startup disk? have you tried booting into open firmware:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/openfirmware.html

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642

http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214


could you boot from an installer disc and run disk utility from that?

[jimking]

wow. that's wild. google only had one reference and it was to a german forum with no responses to the original post.

what happens when you start up just holding down the option? are you able to select the startup disk? have you tried booting into open firmware:

http://www.bombich.com/mactips/openfirmware.html

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42642

http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214


could you boot from an installer disc and run disk utility from that?
Holding the option doesn't work. I've tried resetting the pmu with no luck so far. I'm going to try installer disc next.

[mojoprime]

i'm assuming open firmware didn't work either then. i've never seen that particular error message, so it's throwing me off. is it an older mini? i was just wondering about calling apple directly.

here's another thought. do you have another mac? if so, can you try booting the mini into firewire target disc mode, and running disc utility on it from the other mac?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583

[jimking]

This mini is around 2 years old using tiger. I'm slow getting back, juggling 10 things at once! :) So far no good.:(

[mojoprime]

dang. sorry, jim, i'm striking out all over. if the target disk mode thing doesn't work, this really is an issue. i hate to be the one to say take it some place, but that may be your only shot.

[jimking]

I was able to insert and boot up using Tiger install disk then using disk utility to verify and repair the disk and it gives me an error. Not good

[PrintDriver]

When something says memory error, I think ram. I've had a lot of bad ram experiences lately. Could it be that? I'd hate to have to work inside a mini.

[PrintDriver]

Run the Hardware test disk that came with the unit. See what that shows.

[jimking]

Run the Hardware test disk that came with the unit. See what that shows.
That's the first thing I did, and it gave a message with memory in it. This box looks very tricky to open. I have a feeling we got a power surge because one other computer was giving us a problem but was able to fix. Also, the printer this mini runs had all its lights blinking.

[mojoprime]

yeah, i think it was done that way on purpose. remember the mac plus?

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/macminiinside/index.php

[jimking]

yeah, i think it was done that way on purpose. remember the mac plus?

http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/01/macminiinside/index.php
Well, still no luck. Trolling through boxes of computer crap looking for a firewire, all usb instead. Time to crack open this box! :mad:

[Mynock]

CROWBAR it JIMMIE!!!

[jimking]

CROWBAR it JIMMIE!!!
Nope, ask the pressman for 2 puddy knifes and that popped the box open, now I've got old dried up ink all over my hands.

[mojoprime]

so you didn't get a chance to try the firewire target disk mode? i wonder if that would have worked.

did you reseat the ram?

[jimking]

so you didn't get a chance to try the firewire target disk mode? i wonder if that would have worked.

did you reseat the ram?
Yes, I did reseat the ram. I bought Disk Warrior and ran that and it did its thing and said everything was ok including the hard drive and still not booting up all the way on a restart. I still need to find a firewire and it should work moving files I suppose. It does boot up in the firewire mode "apple T".

[mojoprime]

would it let you run disk utility on it? i was wondering if it would verify the disk. and yeah, you're right. if it boots up like that, at least you can move the files off of it.

and you did say it wouldn't let you start up in safe mode either, right? holding down the shift key only on a restart?

[jimking]

That's correct, safe mode doesn't work. Strange that DiskWarrior said everything's fine and dandy. I made an appointment with the geeks at a nearby Apple Store this Wednesday.

[CkretAjint]

That is really freaking weird. And you said you tried that start up without ANYTHING (except monitor) plugged in?

That is just freaking weird!!!

[mojoprime]

now i'm really interested in hearing what the geeks have to say. you've really got a problem that hasn't been documented before, at least not with that language.

um, so i guess that's a plus, in a way... ;)

[jimking]

That is really freaking weird. And you said you tried that start up without ANYTHING (except monitor) plugged in?

That is just freaking weird!!!
That's correct.

[mojoprime]

hey jim, did you get to meet with the wombats at the apple store?

[jimking]

hey jim, did you get to meet with the wombats at the apple store?
Not yet. The appointment is at 2:15 est.

[jimking]

Finally fixed the problem. I took the little mini mac to see the geeks at the local Apple store. Simple fix, just reinstalled Tiger and that was it, a corrupt OS. :rolleyes:

[mojoprime]

good lord. so they didn't say anything about the message?

[jimking]

good lord. so they didn't say anything about the message?
No, he tried to boot up holding the shift key down with no luck. Popped Tiger in and reinstalled, saving presets. Presto :D

[mojoprime]

hmph. i hate solutions like that. it's like curing a hangnail with a hand grenade. oh well. i'm glad it fixed your problem though.

[jimking]

I thought of reinstalling tiger also but was afraid of losing my applications and then having to hunt them down and reinstall. He was able to reinstall just the os leaving everything else intact. The OS was corrupt.

[mojoprime]

if you do the archive and install option, with the selction for "preserve users and settings" selected, typically that does it OK. sometimes you have to "remind" applications that it's OK to run, but usually that works.