Question

Bootable CD stuck in a mac

Asked by: maingateinc

Experts:
Someone at our office made a supposedly bootable CD and put it in their mac.  The mac now boots to a gray screen.  You hear the POST "chime" but it hangs at a gray screen.  I'm sure it's because of this CD stuck in there.  What we've tried:
Switched out memory
Tested hard drive
Booted computer holding down the mouse button
Eject button on keyboard
Trying to Command+Option+O+F to boot into the shell

We cannot get it to do anything other than boot into this gray screen and hang, and we can't get the cd out.

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Asked On
2009-08-25 at 11:10:14ID24680832
Tags

mac

,

macs suck

,

cd stuck in mac

,

boot cd mac

,

mac boot

,

i hate macs

Topics

Apple Hardware

,

Apple Operating Systems

,

Apple Software

Participating Experts
5
Points
500
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: Noam_KuilboerPosted on 2009-08-25 at 11:20:30ID: 25180539

Have you tried holding down the Space bar while booting up ?

 

by: maingateincPosted on 2009-08-25 at 11:24:28ID: 25180594

Just tried, could the CD be jammed?  It sounded like it made an attempt to eject it but it never came out.  Does mac not have a useful little manual release like PC's do?

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-08-25 at 11:36:58ID: 25180713

Re-booting while holding down the mouse button should eject the disk provided you are not using a wireless mouse.

You could also boot while holding down the option key to bring up the boot picker.

 

by: maingateincPosted on 2009-08-25 at 12:09:52ID: 25181080

I have tried booting while holding the mouse, which isn't wireless - all we get is the gray screen and it does not eject the CD

I booted holding down the option key and still only get a gray screen (keyboard is not wireless either)

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2009-08-25 at 12:10:14ID: 25181086

If Strung's advice does not work there is a little hole on all Macs you can shove a paperclip in and force eject a disk. Often, however, the hole is hidden by some decorative plastic, flip door, or other over. What model Mac is this?

 

by: maingateincPosted on 2009-08-25 at 12:12:49ID: 25181124

I can't really find a model number; it only says imac 20" in very small letters
I definately can't find the little release hold, it must be hidden like you suggested

 

by: Philip_SparkPosted on 2009-08-25 at 13:03:27ID: 25181636

http://forums.macworld.com/index.php?/topic/98653-

kind of hole you're looking for will be similar to below, pic taken from laptop on imac will either be in vicinity of slot or in the slot itself.

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2009-08-26 at 06:26:03ID: 25187309

That picture, unfortunately, is from an older g3 all in one crt iMac. With his, the the hole sadly may be just below the line of the entire cover bezel.  http://www.experts-exchange.com/Apple/Hardware/Q_24680832.html?cid=1573 This is the take apart guide at ifixit.
Ouch! Does your department have a tech. To get to the cd rom drive takes a fair bit of care(and or sweat). The only positive thing is that the drive may be broken anyway if Strung's advice is not working.

 

by: strungPosted on 2009-08-26 at 06:31:21ID: 25187395

Do you hear the drive attempting to eject when you boot while holding down the mouse button? If so, you may have a warped CD and you might be able to get it out with a bit of physical assistance as it tries to eject.

 

by: Philip_SparkPosted on 2009-08-26 at 09:54:35ID: 25189799

Have you tried rebooting with the eject key held down?

 

by: djcolverjPosted on 2009-09-02 at 05:48:06ID: 25240381

have to tried to option boot the mac?
on boot up hold down the option key  
this should bring you to a list of bootable devices and then you can select your hd and should be on your way.

is this a mini, imac, power mac.. ?

if you have another mac arround, you could try to target boot the mac witht he cd stuck in it by holding down T at bootup, then connecting a firewire cable between that mac and your spare one to see if the cd is actually showing up there.. if it does, try ejecting it from there.. if not depending on the model you will have to remove the cd/dvd drive to get access to the manual eject button.

on a power pc, mac pro, g5 it is easy.. if its an imac or mini then it gets a bit harder.
cheers

 

by: maingateincPosted on 2009-09-02 at 13:35:25ID: 31620326

After taking it to the mac "genius" (lol?) bar, it turns out to be a bad motherboard or logic board or whatever mac decided to call the same electronic component made in China that PC's use

 

by: maingateincPosted on 2009-09-02 at 13:36:14ID: 25245411

Philip_Spark, thanks for the pic by the way but this model does not have a manual release pin-hole :(

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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