Mac Mini Won't Boot - Help

[yugo]

Ok so the Mac Mini I use to manage iPads has decided it doesn't want to boot properly, it sits at a black screen with a white apple logo + a status bar underneath which goes about half way and then stops. I also use it as a wi-fi hotspot and this is still working strangely.

So far I have booted the Recovery Mode and ran a first aid check on all partitions and I have also rest the NVRAM. Has anyone any other suggestions?

[bald_pig]

Try to verify and repair permissions on all partitions?

[Norphy]

I've seen Macs do that when their boot volumes are full or nearly full. Is it worth clearing out some crud?

[3s-gtech]

What version of OS X? Well known issue with AD joined machines prior to 10.10.3, but it would sometimes just do it for the hell of it. Booting into Safe Mode usually fixed it for me (hold Shift on boot), then reboot.

[slancaster]

power off and do a pram reset (clears a cache)

off top of my head hold down CMD+ALT+P+R, let the Apple logo appear and then it will reboot. You can release the key press once its started its reboot.

[yugo]

@bald_pig I'm not seeing the Verify and Repair permissions option in the disk utility? When I click first aid it just starts carrying out a series of checks etc.

@Norphy The boot drive is only 2/3rds full and the other drive about 1/4 so I don't think it's a space issue.

@3s-gtech I think it is on OS X El Capitan, tried holding shift but it won't boot to safe boot, stays on the screen with apple logo with status bar .

[yugo]

power off and do a pram reset (clears a cache)

off top of my head hold down CMD+ALT+P+R, let the Apple logo appear and then it will reboot. You can release the key press once its started its reboot.

Thanks I tried that but it didn't work, good fun trying to hold 4 keys and press a power button!

[3s-gtech]

@3s-gtech I think it is on OS X El Capitan, tried holding shift but it won't boot to safe boot, stays on the screen with apple logo with status bar .

 

You held shift instantly after power on then released it after the apple logo appeared? It can be a bit flaky to start in safe mode, but I've never known it to not work at all.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

[bald_pig]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201560

[yugo]

You held shift instantly after power on then released it after the apple logo appeared? It can be a bit flaky to start in safe mode, but I've never known it to not work at all.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

 

Yeah with both a wireless and wired keyboard, i'll give it another few goes though!

[slancaster]

Thanks I tried that but it didn't work, good fun trying to hold 4 keys and press a power button!

It is quite the ninja-claw keyboard press!

 

By didn't work do you mean the PRAM reset worked but didn't fix your problem? Or the PRAM didn't work? (It definitely should do)

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph18761?locale=en_US

 

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can hold CMD+R if the mac has recovery partition and then run disk utility to fix dodgy perms - although safe boot (hold shift) kinda helps with this too...

[yugo]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201560

 

Thanks, I had seen that but the line 'Beginning with OS X El Capitan, system file permissions are automatically protected. It's no longer necessary to verify or repair permissions with Disk Utility.' must mean it's not that.

[yugo]

It is quite the ninja-claw keyboard press!

 

By didn't work do you mean the PRAM reset worked but didn't fix your problem? Or the PRAM didn't work? (It definitely should do)

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph18761?locale=en_US

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

can hold CMD+R if the mac has recovery partition and then run disk utility to fix dodgy perms - although safe boot (hold shift) kinda helps with this too...

 

I meant that it seemed to carry out the process (restarted a few times) but doesn't boot any further than before.

[slancaster]

Can still repair disk perms the old skool way if needed...

 

run as root in terminal

/usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs --volume /

[yugo]

I meant that it seemed to carry out the process (restarted a few times) but doesn't boot any further than before.

 

How do I run it as root? I tried putting sudo before the command but didn't work. Sorry complete amateur when it comes to Macs.

[slancaster]

sudo should work fine - are you running it from terminal from the recovery (CMD+R) boot?

 

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I wonder if the machine has to be on fully for the above to work ? Ive only used it on machines that have already booted.

[yugo]

sudo should work fine - are you running it from terminal from the recovery (CMD+R) boot?

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I wonder if the machine has to be on fully for the above to work ? Ive only used it on machines that have already booted.

 

I opened it from the Utilities menu on the OS X Utilities screen

[slancaster]

Hmm that should work ok - any error messages back? Shouldn't have to disable rootless to get it going.

[yugo]

If I try with sudo it says sudo command not found, without it says No packages can be found for this disk

[slancaster]

Must need to be ran whilst the OS is booted then rather that in recovery boot. No joy with the PRAM?

[yugo]

Must need to be ran whilst the OS is booted then rather that in recovery boot. No joy with the PRAM?

No unfortunately not

[mac_shinobi]

file system checker : Use Single-User Mode To Solve Wonky Mac OS X Issues [OS X Tips] | Cult of Mac

[yugo]

file system checker : Use Single-User Mode To Solve Wonky Mac OS X Issues [OS X Tips] | Cult of Mac

 

Thanks, gave that a go but it said all appears ok and it still refuses to boot.

I'm going to try doing a reinstall of OS X, I was told by apple that my files and programs would remain intact.

[yugo]

OS X reinstall did not fix this but I finally managed to get into my time machine backup and was able to restore it to the start of the week so have lost very little. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!