Fairly regularly my iMac doesn't boot up at the first attempt. This has started to happen after upgrading to Mavericks 10.9.5. It gets as far as the first screen with the Finder menu at the top but no hard drives or folders show and no Dock. The Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard don't work. I have to close down by holding in the on/off button at the back and restart after a few minutes. The second attempt is usually successful. Should I be doing some maintenance procedure(s) on the 4 year old iMac?
I've only come across something similar once - it didn't get quite that far and it turned out (Apple Store diagnosis) to be a failed video card. However, you could try:
1) Booting from an external clone
2) Reset the PRAM (start while holding down four keys - cmd/opt/P/R until you hear it chime a second time)
3) Reset the SMC - look on Apple's web site - it varies from machine to machine.
4) Boot into Safe mode (hold down the Shift key while it starts. This will be slow as it bypasses lots of things including the video card - it runs the video from internal memory)
If only 4 works it could be your video card too. If one of the others fixes it, it will give us a clue. If none work, I'd suggest lugging it to Solutions for test.
Thanks Mick. I will try those suggestions if the fault continues. (except lugging this 27 inch anywhere!). Before I saw your reply a member emailed to suggest I Repair Permissions. I started this but it 'froze' after 80% completion with 2 minutes to go. So I closed down with the on/off button and after a few minutes restarted it first go. Will report back later. Roy
A member mentioned Onyx so I ran it on the iMac which, after 3 days, is behaving better using Mavericks. If this continues I will "leave well alone". Onyx is on: http://www.titanium.free.fr
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Roy Rainford 