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Apple Design HTML5 software Stories This never happens to Gruber

iMac dies after Safari update

iMac cannot boot after installing Safari update.

There is a new Safari update. After I installed it, my home iMac cannot reboot.

For about an hour, the iMac was stuck in the grey Apple screen (sometimes with, and sometimes without, a progress bar). The progress bar would “finish,” then the Mac would restart back into the grey Apple screen.

I decided to leave the iMac alone while I worked out.

When I returned two hours later, the iMac had progressed from the grey screen to a blue screen. Zapping PRAM and restarting gets me a grey Apple screen followed by a blue screen. The blue screen flashes twice while changing its color balance settings, indicating that some part of the operating system still works. Then a tiny white rectangle appears at the top left of the screen. Then, nothing further.

This machine contains my entire music collection and all my photos of my daughter.

I have a backup drive but cannot force the iMac to boot from it.

I have an OS X CD but cannot force the iMac to start from it.

Maybe this is what Apple means by “HTML5.”


By L. Jeffrey Zeldman

“King of Web Standards”—Bloomberg Businessweek. Author, Designer, Founder. Talent Content Director at Automattic. Publisher, alistapart.com & abookapart.com. Ava’s dad.

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