my imac, 4,1 with OS 10.5.7 doesn't restart anymore. I didn't care to much (used the hard-turn-off-button) until I wanted to upgrade some software. That doen't work if the computer doesn't automatically restart.
Please help me!

Sry.. what does 4,1 indicate?

Not sure what 4,1 is? Is this the white iMac G5?

Seems like I recall some older iMacs having power issues. Oh...just saw this:

http://www.apple.com/support/imac/repairextensionprogram/

iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues - Closed

The iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues applied to first generation iMac G5 computers that had video or power-related issues as a result of a specific component failure.

As of December 15, 2008, this program is now closed.

Do you mean that it won't boot the OS.. or do you mean that it doesn't even power on.

It's what behind the model name when you click on "About this mac, More info"

oh ok, gotcha.

Can you tell us what it says below that? Is it the white iMac?

Does it look like this?

AH, I think you have an intel iMac Core Duo one.

Click for full size


http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac_cd_1.83_17.html

Intel iMac 1.83 17" or 2 Ghz 20"? Just for reference.

Try the following and see if each step fixes it.

Download Leopard Cache cleaner and do a deep cleaning of all caches. You will have to reboot, force a shutdown if needed.

Next repair permissions in DiskUtility.

Next Download and run the 10.5.7 combo updater, it's around 800 M, and run it. It's a known fix for problems.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Mac_OS_X_10_5_7_Combo_Update

Reboot? don't I loose everything on my harddisk then?
And yes I have a white i-Mac like on the picture above, 2 GHz Intel core Duo

You won't lose anything just by rebooting your computer.

So it runs ok but just won't restart? Ok, I misread your 1st post then.

It runs ok, it just won't resart ... so I can not upgrade software that asks for restarting your computer, then my computer hangs ...
I reboot with the disk Utility program?

No, when he says reboot, he means restart the computer.

And this did start with the OS update to 10.5.7? It was fine before then?

You will not lose anything on your hard drive by doing what Reboot says.. it's just an update for your OS... and it will run some self diagnostics at the same time.

How much HD space you have left ?

58,52 Gb and an external HD with 50 Gb left

That's more than enough room on the boot drive. You run into problems when there is less that 20% left.

My Mini hung on restart after I upgraded to 10.5.7 via the combo updater. I hard shut down and restarted with no ill effects and 10.5.7 was intact. Most software updates applied via Software Update will simply install on the next restart anyway whether you restart from SW or simply wait until a restart is more convenient.

Try this. Find the Install DVD and put it in and let it mount.
Go to the Apple in the upper left corner and go to System Preference/Start up Disk.

Give it a moment till you see the option to choose the Install DVD. Select that and hit Restart right below. If your iMac restarts then it's your OS and you can run the Utilities from the Install DVD to repair your iMac.

Otherwise see Reboots suggestion above and bring your iMac up-to-date.

My brother's Mac lost drag and drop functionality just last week, and the printer gave some invalid port message. I tried all the usual stuff like I mentioned above, and DiskWarrior of course, but running the 10.5.7 combo updater back over his 10.5.7 install fixed it all.

I have used it many times in the field to fix anomalies. That and repairing permissions, not near as often, but it's not just a placebo.

DW is a good tool. Do you also keep Drive Genius in your tool box?
It's another great utility I ran across a coupla years back.

Too many utilities, so little time.

As far as repair and recovery DiskWarrior and FileSalvage do what I need, but DriveGenius does put a lot of tools in one spot. I don't see a data recovery though with it. Its repair is DiskUtility from the looks of it.

I've checked out the demo. Most of the tools are free already, but it's all together and does have three non free solutions that I know of. The Integrity check looks like it might stress the drive nicely, for an enterprise solution that would be handy to ensure integrity of the drives, and the defrag would be handy but I have iDefrag. Bad block scan looks handy sort of, but my rule of thumb is if the symptoms point to a bad HD, it probably is bad, and for the cost nowadays I just replace it.

As far as Sector Edit, too geeky for me.

Between DW and TTPro, I'm covered.

And us.

I started up with the Mac OS-DVD, went to the Disk Utility program, did a complete check up of my HD, I controlled and repaired my HD. It was no problem, fully repared, it said. Afterwards I could indeed restart the computer once when my Mac OS dvd was still in the computer. When I pulled out the DVD I could'nt restart (or turn off) the computer anymore again. I always have to use the button on the back to turn of the computer.
I do have some weird documents in my Trash, 3 documents, no extention, when I clic on "More info" they disapear from the trash. I can not drag them to the desktop either. When I put something new in the Trash, you see those 3 documents again. They look for example like this 3ZÂ~%NE.K< or lt6ûåó?.xêä
Very strange. Can this be the reason of my problems?

At this point, I'm thinking maybe there is some directory damage. Do you have access to Disk Warrior - recent version?

I wonder if Windows is installed on it either via Bootcamp or virtualization?

Good question.

I'm assuming that the machine behaves normally other than the shutdown/restart problem. I wonder if there is a process that is refusing to quit.

I do have some weird documents in my Trash, 3 documents, no extention, when I clic on "More info" they disapear from the trash. I can not drag them to the desktop either. When I put something new in the Trash, you see those 3 documents again. They look for example like this 3ZÂ~%NE.K< or lt6ûåó?.xêä
Very strange. Can this be the reason of my problems?

Hold down Option while selecting "Empty Trash" forces a "Force Empty Trash" scenario.. this may dump those files.

You may also look into Cocktail or a similar program for doing routine maintenance.I would recommend running this first. It has a trial period.

http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php

Force emty trash doesn't work with those files. they stay in the Trash.

No I don't have disk-warrior.
I used Leopard Cache cleaner, had to restart ... so that didn't work. Buyed a share-ware-version, but didn't get a serial number to use the virus-checker
I have Windows on my HD, I split it up with Bootcamp. But I only have used it once or twice about a year ago. So I haven't open my Window-version for about a year ... Long before my (re)start-up problem started.

Combo-update ... I tried that ... It hangs during the update ... so doesn't update :-(

I too go along with running something more powerful than Disk Utility, something like DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro. With the stuck files in the Trash it seems you might have some directory damage that Apple's Disk Utility can't fix.

It's a tough call. Can't guarantee DiskWarrior would fix it so spending the money is a gamble, but it is a good tool to have in the tool box.

Maybe an Archive and install preserving user settings would fix it if it's file corruption in the install, but I'd be hesitant to do that if the disk is having directory issues.

Make sure you back your important files up to an external hard drive, or DVDs or something before doing an Archive and Install.

You've got some serious disk issues, or serious file corruption in the installed files. You did try repairing permissions in Disk Utility? Some call it a placebo, I've fixed quite a few machines running it though.

I think Cocktail has a Force Empty trash. Usually 3rd party apps work better than Apples own Force Empty Trash.

Sometimes a machine is hard to fix when you are trying to get it to fix itself. Therefore, I have found that booting it into Firewire target Disk Mode works great since you can then run repairs and utilities from a different Mac.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661