Hi Vince, As I wrote a few minutes ago, I tried holding down the "D" key while booting, but it had no effect, so I guess my system does not have the hardware test built-in (or it is too messed up to get to it).
I guess the next step is to either take the iMac to a repair shop or to try inserting the hardware diagnostic DVD. Do you have a good sense for whether or not I might be able to boot from the DVD and, if not, whether I could get the DVD out? Is there a command from single user mode to eject the DVD? Does this usually work? Gregg On Oct 30, 2011, at 5:43 PM, Vince LaMonica wrote: > On Oct 30, 2011, at 5:34 PM, Gregg Dinse wrote: > >> I was able to boot in single user mode and was given the option of exiting >> or running fsck, so I chose the latter and typed what the message said: >> /sbin/fsck/ -fy >> >> I got a few lines of output, which ended by saying: >> >> invalid index key (4, 7173) >> rebuilding catalog B-tree >> The volume MacHD could not be repaired > > Sounds like the drive is definitely bad. What you need to determine is if > anything else is bad. If you can run the hardware test, that should help: > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509 If it only finds the HD bad [this is, > assuming you can boot into the AHT mode or boot from the DVD that has AHT on > it], then a simple replacement of the HD should have you back in business > [though I don't believe an iMac's HD is easy to replace, so I'd recommend > taking it to an authorized Apple Repair Center and having them install your > spare HD - I've done that before and they have no problem putting in a > user-purchased drive, as long as it meets the specs of the Mac [eg: SATA, > etc]]. > > /vjl/_______________________________________________ > MacOSX-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk _______________________________________________ MacOSX-talk mailing list [email protected] http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
