iMac 2011 That Won't Boot

gaza4

Ok so let me pre-empt this by saying this was a dumpster find (glass was smashed but the screen behind is fine) so it may be far beyond repair but lets give it a go anyway


So its a mid 2011 27" iMac. When I found it it had no RAM so I salvaged a 2Gb and a 1Gb stick out of an old laptop (could this be causing any issues maybe? I'm not even sure what slots to populate first or if these sticks are compatible!!!)
The machine powered on but all i was getting was the Apple logo on a grey screen.
I reset the SMC and NVRAM, one of these steps got a loading bar to appear. It fills about 3/4s then both the logo and bar disappear. After a few mins the machine restarts itself.
I tried using Internet recovery but that didn't get me anywhere and I cant seem to get it to boot into either recovery or safe mode
I also removed the HDD and connected it to my girlfriends MacBook Air but that wouldn't load it either





At this point I figured the OS is probably damaged so it just needs a fresh install but a friend recommended i try load Linux to rule out any other issues
Downloaded Rufus and Lubuntu and loaded it onto a USB stick. I get to a black screen when I'm prompted to start Lubuntu and then the screen just goes black. I have tested the USB on the MacBook Air and it works fine


I think I have exhausted all my options at this stage and I just dont know enough about Macs to take it much further so if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears, otherwise its going back to the dump!!!

PropJoe10

I would definitely try to create a bootable USB of something like Sierra or El Capitan and run a fresh install. Linux on Macs can be a bit flaky due to boot/EFI issues - if you're getting a chime and an Apple logo, then it seems likely that hardware-wise its okay.

If you have another Mac available there, try downloading an OS installer and then create a bootable USB drive. Depending on what your MBA is running, this link might help to download MacOS Sierra, which should work on that 2011 machine:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202

Then try creating a bootable USB: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-a-bootable-macos-sierra-usb-flash-drive-1786853248

Hold down the ALT key when booting and then boot from your bootable USB. Run the installer and see how you get on. Hope this helps!

gaza4

PropJoe10 wrote: »

I would definitely try to create a bootable USB of something like Sierra or El Capitan and run a fresh install. Linux on Macs can be a bit flaky due to boot/EFI issues - if you're getting a chime and an Apple logo, then it seems likely that hardware-wise its okay.

If you have another Mac available there, try downloading an OS installer and then create a bootable USB drive. Depending on what your MBA is running, this link might help to download MacOS Sierra, which should work on that 2011 machine:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202

Then try creating a bootable USB: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-make-a-bootable-macos-sierra-usb-flash-drive-1786853248

Hold down the ALT key when booting and then boot from your bootable USB. Run the installer and see how you get on. Hope this helps!

well thats a no go for now, my girlfriends macbook doesnt have enough available storage and everything on it is too important to delete :rolleyes:

PropJoe10

gaza4 wrote: »

well thats a no go for now, my girlfriends macbook doesnt have enough available storage and everything on it is too important to delete :rolleyes:

Sounds about right!


As I said though, if you're getting a chime and an Apple logo then there's a good chance a fresh install would help quite a lot. Up to yourself as to how much time to put into your project though, really!

gaza4

scratch the above comment, i found an installer for OS el capitan in her app folder and loaded it onto a usb with Disk Creator.

unfortunately i'm still getting the same result, apple logo and loading bar that gets about 2/3s done then just a blank grey screen

PropJoe10

gaza4 wrote: »

scratch the above comment, i found an installer for OS el capitan in her app folder and loaded it onto a usb with Disk Creator.

unfortunately i'm still getting the same result, apple logo and loading bar that gets about 2/3s done then just a blank grey screen

Alright. It could be that your hard drive is the issue - from there, you're looking at hardware testing really, I reckon. There's some steps in this article that you could try in sequence to see if you can make any headway:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8336836

If that was me I'd probably start by whipping out the hard drive and replacing that, then try running the installer again.

gaza4

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Alright. It could be that your hard drive is the issue - from there, you're looking at hardware testing really, I reckon. There's some steps in this article that you could try in sequence to see if you can make any headway:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8336836

If that was me I'd probably start by whipping out the hard drive and replacing that, then try running the installer again.

i believe i've tried most of those steps but yeah trying a new hard drive could be a good shout.



There was also a Yosemite installer in the girlfriend apps so gonna give that a run for the sake of it

Jurgen Klopp

Can't offer any advice but this is an interesting project given it was tossed out

Be great if you get it working

PropJoe10

gaza4 wrote: »

i believe i've tried most of those steps but yeah trying a new hard drive could be a good shout.



There was also a Yosemite installer in the girlfriend apps so gonna give that a run for the sake of it

I doubt if the Yosemite installer will work if the El Cap one failed, but anything is worth a try in those cases!


Also, in case you didnt try this, see if you can get into the recovery partition. CMD +R before the Apple logo appears - if you can get to the Utility menu, go to Disk Utility and see if you can repair the drive using the first aid option.


Edit - just out of interest, what's the specs of the RAM sticks you fired into that machine? Any idea what speed the RAM is, and if the two sticks are matching or are different specs or speeds?

gaza4

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Alright. It could be that your hard drive is the issue - from there, you're looking at hardware testing really, I reckon. There's some steps in this article that you could try in sequence to see if you can make any headway:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8336836

If that was me I'd probably start by whipping out the hard drive and replacing that, then try running the installer again.

The steps in the link:
1. Done many times by now
2. No peripherals to remove
3. Done, no result
4. Done, no result
5. Cant be done
6. Wont boot into Safe Mode
7. Ran extended Test, no trouble found
8. Wont open Utility Menu
9. Cant be done
10. Cant be done
11. Cant be done
12. Cant get into Utility Menu
13. Cant get into Utility Menu


Pulled out the HDD and repleaced it with an SSD i had from an older PC build. It didnt show up on the boot menu, i guess coz its windows format, but i assumed the OS installer would handle that. Anyway, the OS Installer ran just like every other time I've tried booting, bar loads 2/3s then nothing


As for the RAM Ive got a Kingston 2GB pc3-10600s and a Samsung 1GB pc3-10600s. Both were working fine together in an old windows laptop, the only spare DDR3 memory i had to hand.

gaza4

Pic of the Ram

PropJoe10

From what I can find online, that RAM should be compatible with the machine you have - I'm quite out of suggestions at that stage, unfortunately. RAM can be a bit finniky, so you could always try a couple of different sticks (or even 1 at a time) to see if that helps - other than that, you'll need to check with someone more knowledgeable than me on Macs I'm afraid. Sorry, and good luck with the project!

gaza4

PropJoe10 wrote: »

From what I can find online, that RAM should be compatible with the machine you have - I'm quite out of suggestions at that stage, unfortunately. RAM can be a bit finniky, so you could always try a couple of different sticks (or even 1 at a time) to see if that helps - other than that, you'll need to check with someone more knowledgeable than me on Macs I'm afraid. Sorry, and good luck with the project!

seems like i have hit a very hard dead end, like you i am not so knowledgable about macs. i'm reluctant to spend much money on this but looking into new/different RAM might be on the cards. Oddly when i found the machine the RAM was missing. An indication of tried/failed repairs?


I wonder would compub have any information? might pop into them and see if they can provide some guidance.


anyway thanks for all your help PropJoe, much appreciated indeed. This is gonna become a bit of a cold case for now i think but if/when i make any progress i'll be sure to update here.

PropJoe10

gaza4 wrote: »

seems like i have hit a very hard dead end, like you i am not so knowledgable about macs. i'm reluctant to spend much money on this but looking into new/different RAM might be on the cards. Oddly when i found the machine the RAM was missing. An indication of tried/failed repairs?


I wonder would compub have any information? might pop into them and see if they can provide some guidance.


anyway thanks for all your help PropJoe, much appreciated indeed. This is gonna become a bit of a cold case for now i think but if/when i make any progress i'll be sure to update here.

Could indicate failed repairs for sure, but hard to read much into that really. Sorry I couldn't help you to fix that but do indeed update this if you make any progress! Good luck!

FanadMan

Only throwing it out there but maybe take a look at Louis Rossmann on youtube. Maybe he has fixed one of these with that same problem.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6nZlvfz4YWoBWbjiaYJA3g

ZENER

Why not make a Windows 10 USB installer and boot from it ?

Ken

mhaise

I have a 2010 iMac which was running great up until recently when I started getting lines on the screen, this would come and go but eventually it wouldn't boot at all. I could go into safe mode and got all my files off the hard drive but no matter what I tried it wouldn't boot normally. On a normal boot it was when checking the graphics card found it wasn't working it would hang at that stage.

I later found out that this was a known issue which Apple were repairing up to a couple of years ago. When I contacted Apple repair centre they told me that it couldn't be repaired as it was OBSOLETE ffs thanks a bunch Apple.

I had updated the hard drive to a 1TB fusion drive only 2 years previous. In the end I bought a MacBook Air so that I could access all my Aperture photo libraries of which I had 10 years of photos.

Up to the graphics card problem I was extremely happy with it. Unfortunately where I live we don't have any independent repair centre like Louis Rossmann as I'm sure if the graphics card was replaced it would work fine.

gaza4

mhaise wrote: »

I have a 2010 iMac which was running great up until recently when I started getting lines on the screen, this would come and go but eventually it wouldn't boot at all. I could go into safe mode and got all my files off the hard drive but no matter what I tried it wouldn't boot normally. On a normal boot it was when checking the graphics card found it wasn't working it would hang at that stage.

I later found out that this was a known issue which Apple were repairing up to a couple of years ago. When I contacted Apple repair centre they told me that it couldn't be repaired as it was OBSOLETE ffs thanks a bunch Apple.

I had updated the hard drive to a 1TB fusion drive only 2 years previous. In the end I bought a MacBook Air so that I could access all my Aperture photo libraries of which I had 10 years of photos.

Up to the graphics card problem I was extremely happy with it. Unfortunately where I live we don't have any independent repair centre like Louis Rossmann as I'm sure if the graphics card was replaced it would work fine.

interesting, how did you diagnose the problem as being the GPU? is the GPU integrated on these machines? if not it should be easily fixed with parts from ebay