[Dotlee]

Down loaded the latest security update om my mac mini and hit restart and now that's as far as I can get, just the grey screen with the apple logo and the revolving cursor, tech support has been unable to correct, any suggestions?

[Cold Warrior]

What version of OS X is your mini running?

To get it to boot (or have a chance at it): hold down the mini's power button until it shuts off. Press the button again to start it up. As soon as you hear the startup chime, hold down the Shift key as the computer boots up.

[Dotlee]

That was the first thing they had me do, still would not open log on screen, then had me disconnect everything and connect one by one, still stuck. Not sure what version of OS X I'm running, I've kept up with the updates since installing in late 2006 (can't access anything to check). Any other suggestions, I'm at a standstill.

[Cold Warrior]

Boot from your OS X install/restore disc (insert disc, hold down c at startup) and run Disk Utility to verify/repair your hard drive. When booted from the install/restore disc, Disk Utility is available from one of the menus.

[Dotlee]

That was a big help, thank you. Had to do a complete reinstall but I'm up and running again. Will definately check back here if I run into any more challenges.

[Cold Warrior]

Good to hear you're at least back up. It's still a good idea to run Disk Utility to check your hard drive. If parts of your hard drive are bad, it will cause your system to get corrupted -- potentially reverting to a non-bootable state like you were in. Anyway, good luck.

[Dotlee]

Thanks for the advise, I did run disk utility first as you had recommended and all was ok with the hard drive but could not proceed any further without reinstalling, hope I did right. Things seemed to be operating as usual. Will know more when I get home.