Mac taking ages to turn on, keeps turning off?

puddy

we have a mac computer which we use as a television in the living room, its not really used as a computer.

however, over the last few months, when the telly is turned right off, it takes ages to get to the stage where you put your password in. when you first turn it off, it does the BONG sound, then flickers, then turns straight off,

if you carry on, 6, 7, 8, 9 times, sometimes more, it gets further and further down the road of getting to the log in page, once its got to that bit it seems ok, but tonight it took ages.

now i have noticed that the last 2 times this happened, not only did it take about 9 or 10 times to get the computer on, but the screen had flickering lines across the top, like an old fashioned telly with bad reception. once the 'telly' is actually activated the lines were still there, although they go after about 10 minutes or so.

what can be wrong with it?

diable

Try repairing the permissions from the Disk Utility if that doesn't cure the problem then run the option to check the hard drive, you may need to boot from the OS disk though.

pstones578

puddy wrote: »

we have a mac computer which we use as a television in the living room, its not really used as a computer.

however, over the last few months, when the telly is turned right off, it takes ages to get to the stage where you put your password in. when you first turn it off, it does the BONG sound, then flickers, then turns straight off,

if you carry on, 6, 7, 8, 9 times, sometimes more, it gets further and further down the road of getting to the log in page, once its got to that bit it seems ok, but tonight it took ages.

now i have noticed that the last 2 times this happened, not only did it take about 9 or 10 times to get the computer on, but the screen had flickering lines across the top, like an old fashioned telly with bad reception. once the 'telly' is actually activated the lines were still there, although they go after about 10 minutes or so.

what can be wrong with it?

Try replacing it for a proper PC. That should sort everything out in a jiffy and give you better value for money at the same time.

DatabaseError

pstones578 wrote: »

Try replacing it for a proper PC. That should sort everything out in a jiffy and give you better value for money at the same time.

-just sayin'

Hammyman

puddy wrote: »

we have a mac computer which we use as a television in the living room, its not really used as a computer.

however, over the last few months, when the telly is turned right off, it takes ages to get to the stage where you put your password in. when you first turn it off, it does the BONG sound, then flickers, then turns straight off,

if you carry on, 6, 7, 8, 9 times, sometimes more, it gets further and further down the road of getting to the log in page, once its got to that bit it seems ok, but tonight it took ages.

now i have noticed that the last 2 times this happened, not only did it take about 9 or 10 times to get the computer on, but the screen had flickering lines across the top, like an old fashioned telly with bad reception. once the 'telly' is actually activated the lines were still there, although they go after about 10 minutes or so.

what can be wrong with it?

Probably overheating. Needs the lid taking off and all the fans and heatsinks de-dusting.

macman

PSU failing? Model of your Mac would help.

gonzo127

Hammyman wrote: »

Probably overheating. Needs the lid taking off and all the fans and heatsinks de-dusting.

although i dont know if you are right, and of course this would always be a good thing to do,

what strikes me about this is that it gets 'better' as it gets hot, as otherwise it would start fine (when cool) and then randomly restart as it gets hotter.

OP is saying it is difficult to get to start and then has problems but after a while it gets better

puddy

im afraid i dont know too much about the actual computer itself as its my OHs who treats anything by apple like some sort of god. we cant afford to change it to a telly or other computer (he wont consider getting rid of his mac) so need to get it fixed somehow.

i dont know what model it is, its just a big white thing with a keyboard. ive never had one before we moved in together

but i have forwarded this thead onto him which he will see tonight hopefully

boyse7en

Sounds like its an I-Mac - it looks like just a screen with a keyboard and mouse connected.

Download any updates to OSX, then do a repair permissions, and check the hard drive, using Disk Utility.

puddy

yes, it is quite attractive, i'll give it that, a nice big screen, keyboard and mouse, i would say like a small telly, about 19 inches i suppose. i dont like big tellies and even having a look on amazon they all seem to be great big things, not that i can afford it

redcard

pstones578 wrote: »

Try replacing it for a proper PC. That should sort everything out in a jiffy and give you better value for money at the same time.

Yeah, 2 computers is definitely better value than 1. Can't fault the logic there, kid.