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Author Topic: iMac won't start. Please help  (Read 2990 times)

uaiomex

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iMac won't start. Please help
« on: August 18, 2017, 12:10:00 pm »

After the vroom sound of start I get the screen with the Apple logo and the scale bar showing no progress at all. Then after something like 15-20 seconds it shuts off.

I tried 5 times. Same thing.

Is there something I could try before taking it to the repair shop?

Thanks so much in advanced.

Ed
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rdonson

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2017, 02:30:43 pm »

Have you tried:

Command-R  boot to recovery mode

Safe Boot - (hold down the Shift key when booting)

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Ron

TommyWeir

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2017, 02:32:34 pm »

https://support.apple.com/en-ie/HT201295

Power and booting up... I would start by resetting the SMC.

uaiomex

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2017, 11:00:51 pm »

Thank you guys. I've done these two and then some more suggested at DPR. It went beyond my skills. I already have an appointment for monday with the service shop.
Thanks so much
Eduardo
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BobShaw

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2017, 01:41:00 am »

What happened when you did CMD-R? If it got to the options screen then do a Disk Utility check.
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uaiomex

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2017, 08:07:44 pm »

What happened when you did CMD-R? If it got to the options screen then do a Disk Utility check.


Hi Bob, it showed the progress bar but at 50% done, it shut off.
As sugested by Ron, the following time I did it, I kept the Shift key down and then it was when I had the four options. I Did First Aid repair but nothing happened. Then I saw I had only the possibility to Restore (not Repair) Macintosh HD. Since my knowledge is very limited I chickened out. I'm afraid to lose a wedding that I didn't backed up in TM. My technician at Mac Center said it is possible to use an external drive to start the iMac and much possibly to save all my information.
I'm going this way. Have an appointment already.
Best
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Conner999

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2017, 08:21:00 am »

If you press and hold the option key on startup and have any drives connected to the mac that have OSX on them, you'll be presented with a list of ones you can pick from to start and run your machine from. It's painless and once running, transparent.
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kers

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2017, 08:48:15 am »


.... Since my knowledge is very limited I chickened out. I'm afraid to lose a wedding that I didn't backed up in TM. My technician at Mac Center said it is possible to use an external drive to start the iMac and much possibly to save all my information.
I'm going this way. Have an appointment already.
Best
I can imagine you are afraid to loose some data. Always make a backup.
I think that your proposal is a good way to address the problem.
If it is a OSX-software problem you can simply connect your mac from an other system running OSX.
Your mac will then be treated  as an external connected hard disk without using the (faulty) system that is on it.
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uaiomex

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2017, 08:31:15 pm »

I always back with TM but unfortunately enough for other reasons I disconnected it four weeks ago. Beware, evil is always watching, waiting! Lol!

The iMac went to the shop. The HD was bad. They could recover 100% of the User files. So happy.
Now, I'm waiting for a new 1Tb 3G SSD I ordered from OWC. I also ordered a new LG optical drive since factory one stop working 2 years ago.
Not really cheap but now I have iMac for another five years, I think.
Best
Eduardo

I can imagine you are afraid to loose some data. Always make a backup.
I think that your proposal is a good way to address the problem.
If it is a OSX-software problem you can simply connect your mac from an other system running OSX.
Your mac will then be treated  as an external connected hard disk without using the (faulty) system that is on it.
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rdonson

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2017, 09:23:09 pm »

Eduardo,

I'm very happy you didn't lose any data on your hard drive.  I hope you now have a backup plan perhaps with an external drive or cloud backup like BackBlaze.
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Regards,
Ron

kers

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Re: iMac won't start. Please help
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2017, 06:40:21 am »

Eduardo, good you saved your files and this new SSD will rock for sure.
I put one in some years ago and it will speeds up things by a factor 5 tot 10....
a very good investment i think since prices have gone down.
(I bought an 100gb SSD for about 200 euro i remember)
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Pieter Kers
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