eMAC startup

[Hitch]

The mrs has got a used Mac courtesy of a school her mum works at.

Shes just tried booting it up.
We get a grey screen, with a flashing file icon (with a smiley face) and flashing question mark.

We tried again, holding the option button, got a screen with a circular arrow and a right arrow.
Then it went to a 'DOS??' type screen, where it says Invalid memory access at
SRR0:ff846380
SRR1:f00003030

Any thoughts?

My guess is its rubbish

 

[the snooper]

have they removed the o/s to safeguard the data that was on it

 

[Hitch]

Im told nothing was done to it, bar unplugging the cables.... who knows for sure though!

 

[the snooper]

do you have an Ethernet cable plugged in if so it may be trying to boot to a network

 

[Hitch]

Nope, not connected to anything bar a 3pin plug...

 

[the snooper]

ive just discovered this bit of info

on startup hold down command-option-p-r you will here a second startup chime and the mac will most likely start up. Your date and time will have reset to basics, so check your settings.

 

[Hitch]

No joy, i think your initial thoughts are probably more like it...

 

[the snooper]

dont you have a o/s disc with it

 

[Drains]

It can't find the boot file. Can be a sign of a dodgy hard-drive, but not necessarily. If you have the install disc you can startup and press c, this will run the disc. Use disc utilities to check the drive.
If you think the hard drive is up the swannee, new ones are cheap as.

Also though, clicking the right arrow may continue the startup process. The circular arrow is to look for a startup disc.

Check this page:- http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

 

[ampegboy1]

Hi Hitch,

The flashing file icon/question mark means it can't find an operating system. When you hold down the option key at boot-up it tells the Mac to show the available systems for you to choose from (this can take a good few minutes!) - the circular arrow is the 'refresh'/'search again' button, the right arrow is the 'go' button for when you've chosen which system to use.

Your best bet is try to boot it from an OS CD (put the CD in and hold down the 'C' key until it starts booting) and try to reinstall the system - this is pretty straightforward on the Mac. If you have to buy a disc, try and get a 'retail' disc rather than one that came with a Mac originally, as some discs are specific to particular models and won't boot/work properly with others. Does the school still have the discs or did they come with it? There are first aid utilities on the startup discs in case it won't install to the hard drive.

There's also a support page and discussion forum on the Apple site which may be of use.

Michael