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Eug Wanker · Oct 12, 2006, 12:43 AM

I have a Core 2 Duo iMac. I've noticed if I leave my 5G iPod plugged in (USB 2.0), my iMac sometimes takes a very, very long time to boot OS X. The delay is before the grey Apple appears on my screen.

Is this something wonky with the OS X boot process? Or is my iMac trying to see if it can boot off the iPod or something before even getting to the 10.4.8 boot?

OS X 10.4.8
iMac Core 2 Duo 24"
iPod 5G with 1.2 software <-- OS X is NOT installed on this iPod.
Startup Disk is OS X 10.4.8 on internal disk.

Simon · Oct 12, 2006, 03:03 AM

Why don't you try holding option while the Mac boots to see if the boot loader recognizes the iPod. I doubt it will, but you never know.

Eug Wanker · Oct 12, 2006, 11:38 AM

Interestingly, sometimes when I do that with the iPod plugged in, I never get to the appropriate boot disk selection screen. (The iPod is not recognized as a boot disk, which isn't surprising considering it doesn't have Mac OS X on it.)

Then if I unplug the iPod, within 30 seconds it will go to the grey Apple, and load up 10.4 just fine.

Have others noticed this behaviour?

BTW, I'm told that Intel Macs can boot off USB 2 drives, and as you know the iPod 5G is a USB 2 drive.

Simon · Oct 12, 2006, 03:27 PM

Yeah, so obviously the boot loader is trying to a find an OS to boot from. Have you selected your Mac's internal partition as the boot partition in sys prefs?

Eug Wanker · Oct 12, 2006, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

Yeah, so obviously the boot loader is trying to a find an OS to boot from. Have you selected your Mac's internal partition as the boot partition in sys prefs?

Yes I have. I even tried reselecting it, but it made no difference.

kick52 · Oct 13, 2006, 12:22 AM

and you havent got ipodlinux installed? (longshot)

sometimes my mac would go slow/get stuck at the grey apple or the loading bar when i had my usb stick in.

-edit-

have you reset PRAM, or is that non-existant now on mactels....

Simon · Oct 13, 2006, 02:29 AM

I'd guess it's some kind of bug in the boot loader. Would come as no surprise. I saw an EFI boot loader ini file was replaced in the recent 10.4.8 upgrade.

dazzla · Oct 13, 2006, 05:31 AM

I get a similar problem when I plug my USB hub (+ memory card reader) into my 24" iMac with my iPod attached. Stalls for absolutely ages.

Eriamjh · Oct 13, 2006, 04:58 PM

What do you see when you hold CTRL-V while booting?

Eug Wanker · Oct 15, 2006, 01:27 PM

CTRL-V does nothing, and Command-V didn't help cuz the 2 times I tried it holding down Command-V it booted normally.

It's not consistent... Sometimes when I have the iPod plugged in, it takes forever to boot. However, it always boots quickly when the iPod is not plugged in.

ghporter · Oct 15, 2006, 06:31 PM

Am I missing something obvious by saying "make sure the iPod isn't plugged in when you boot"? I tend to believe that it's the "looking for a boot record" kind of thing that Simon mentioned, even if the symptom isn't consistent. There could be something like "I remember that device and it wasn't bootable" versus "I don't remember that device, let's see if it's bootable" going on. I don't know enough about Tiger and USB booting yet.

Eug Wanker · Oct 15, 2006, 09:35 PM

Am I missing something obvious by saying "make sure the iPod isn't plugged in when you boot"?

That's what I do now.

It was just that I noticed this problem recently, and thought my iMac was having major problems. Then I clued in that it was just because I had the iPod plugged in. However, this was never an issue on my previous iMac G5 with my iPod mini or the nano. It's true that neither the mini nor the nano are bootable, but I didn't have this issue with my 3G iPod either.

Simon · Oct 16, 2006, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

However, this was never an issue on my previous iMac G5 with my iPod mini or the nano. It's true that neither the mini nor the nano are bootable, but I didn't have this issue with my 3G iPod either.

Well the iMac G5 didn't have EFI or x86 boot loader code either, so any difference in this respect comes as no big surprise.

ghporter · Oct 16, 2006, 08:14 AM

I think that 3G iPods have a slightly different USB interface than newer ones; they were all dual firewire/USB if I remember correctly, and this could have something to do with your new iMac not searching your 3G while starting but searching the newer iPods about every time.