What do I do with a Mac Mini that won't start up?
March 4, 2019 2:22 PM Subscribe
My Mac Mini is about two years old and is only used as a media device (it is hooked up to my TV ). I do usually keep the machine running 24/7, but if the machine's ever getting sluggish I turn it off and let it rest for a bit. Only starting yesterday, it's not booting back up.
The white Apple logo comes up and a progress bar beneath it. The bar progresses all the way across but then it seems to freeze when it is full. Is there a way to boot it in safe mode or similar?
The only thing of note might be that I had upgraded to Mojave about a week ago.
The white Apple logo comes up and a progress bar beneath it. The bar progresses all the way across but then it seems to freeze when it is full. Is there a way to boot it in safe mode or similar?
The only thing of note might be that I had upgraded to Mojave about a week ago.
Best answer: Agreed.
Also, when you boot up Recovery Mode, go to Utilities > Disk Utility first and see what Repair Disk tells you.
If you're lucky, you have corrupt system files.
If you're not, your HDD is shot.
posted by humboldt32 at 4:34 PM on March 4, 2019
Also, when you boot up Recovery Mode, go to Utilities > Disk Utility first and see what Repair Disk tells you.
If you're lucky, you have corrupt system files.
If you're not, your HDD is shot.
posted by humboldt32 at 4:34 PM on March 4, 2019
Best answer: Safe mode is shift key held down at startup until you see the progress bar. I'd do that before trying recovery mode because if it starts up okay you'll know it's some third party kernel extension or something and you can hunt it down.
Another way to see where it's freezing is to boot in verbose mode which is command-v on startup before you see the apple logo. it'll show you the log of the startup process and maybe that will clue you in to where it's stalling, tho theres a good chance it might not either...you have to be more than a little MacOS literate to translate all those messages.
I know there's a way to do safe mode and verbose at the same time but it escapes me right now.
But I recommend Recovery mode and reinstalling a fresh OS if you don't want to spend the time figuring out where and why it's broken.
posted by sammich at 11:31 PM on March 4, 2019
Another way to see where it's freezing is to boot in verbose mode which is command-v on startup before you see the apple logo. it'll show you the log of the startup process and maybe that will clue you in to where it's stalling, tho theres a good chance it might not either...you have to be more than a little MacOS literate to translate all those messages.
I know there's a way to do safe mode and verbose at the same time but it escapes me right now.
But I recommend Recovery mode and reinstalling a fresh OS if you don't want to spend the time figuring out where and why it's broken.
posted by sammich at 11:31 PM on March 4, 2019
Response by poster: I was set to start troubleshooting and then my Mac Mini went back to loading (although still freezing and being weird). Then today it wouldn't load again. Apple appears. The progress bar would go about 50% of the way across and then freeze and then the computer would shut down.
I tried booting it in Safe Mode but it wouldn't go. I booted it in Recovery Mode. The drive showed up fine. I ran First Aid and it said the disk appears to be good.
So I'm back to being stumped.
posted by jaybeans at 7:15 PM on March 10, 2019
I tried booting it in Safe Mode but it wouldn't go. I booted it in Recovery Mode. The drive showed up fine. I ran First Aid and it said the disk appears to be good.
So I'm back to being stumped.
posted by jaybeans at 7:15 PM on March 10, 2019
Have you backed it up lately?
I had an issue with a Mac work laptop recently; I think the culprit was bad blocks on the flash drive, which only went away after reading the whole disk so that errors were noted and remapped. I can look for my notes in the morning.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:43 AM on March 11, 2019
I had an issue with a Mac work laptop recently; I think the culprit was bad blocks on the flash drive, which only went away after reading the whole disk so that errors were noted and remapped. I can look for my notes in the morning.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:43 AM on March 11, 2019
Response by poster: As an update: I finally gave up and reinstalled the OS through Recovery Mode. After hours of installing, my machine booted up and was... just as it had been. Everything was still there.
Not one too complain, I've backed everything up. It seems like it's back to working but wonky. At least if it gives up the ghost again I've got all my media and such.
posted by jaybeans at 7:26 PM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Not one too complain, I've backed everything up. It seems like it's back to working but wonky. At least if it gives up the ghost again I've got all my media and such.
posted by jaybeans at 7:26 PM on March 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
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