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Post by Forum Cat on Jan 6, 2009 14:19:00 GMT
My oldest iMac will only boot after two or three attempts. I get the question mark icon the other times.
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Post by HeatherKay on Jan 6, 2009 15:09:06 GMT
Could be the PRAM battery. Is the date and time correct?
(Don't tell me you use the network time server to set it!)
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Post by wierdostomps on Jan 6, 2009 17:15:47 GMT
Long time since I had a PRAM battery problem, but I don't think using a time server helped much anyway because the machine could never get as far as connecting to the server! But if you're getting as far as the question mark, that indicates that the basic boot has been performed, but it can't find a valid operating system. Sounds more likely to be an indication of hard drive problems. Given your lecture to Mr Green elsewhere, I hope you have an up to date backup? Then do a thorough scan for problems & be prepared to fit a new hard drive - not pleasant in an old iMac, but just about possible.
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Post by Forum Cat on Jan 6, 2009 18:38:44 GMT
Long time since I had a PRAM battery problem, but I don't think using a time server helped much anyway because the machine could never get as far as connecting to the server! But if you're getting as far as the question mark, that indicates that the basic boot has been performed, but it can't find a valid operating system. Sounds more likely to be an indication of hard drive problems. Given your lecture to Mr Green elsewhere, I hope you have an up to date backup? Then do a thorough scan for problems & be prepared to fit a new hard drive - not pleasant in an old iMac, but just about possible. The crunching and grinding sounds that occasionally come out indicate to me that you are right. I do have a backup (but there is little data on this machine). What I didn't have is the backup on a Firewire HDD. I have just come back from the shops with a nice new shiny HDD and I intend to make a second backup this evening. This time a bootable backup as this is by far the easiest way to go. So paws crossed that the internal drive lives long enough to make the clone. F CP.s. I forget, are black cats lucky or unlucky?
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Post by Forum Cat on Jan 7, 2009 23:46:37 GMT
Super Duper clone now complete.
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