I have tried several ways to startup imac. I have not used it in a while and now cannot get it to boot. Got it to start running the dignostic test with ALT+D....but test just hangs towards the end. It just hangs there. Doesn't finish. Please help. I can't get to disk utility. I don't have the disk that came with imac.
iPhone 13, iOS 17
Hi,
I suppose internal HDD of your iMac is something wrong. If you have another Mac, create USB memory Bootable macOS installer or install macOS on external drive to startup from it.
Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
Can you boot into Recovery? The instructions depend on the model and year of your Mac, and the version of MacOS. What model and year do you have, and what version of MacOS?
Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support
Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon - Apple Support
If you can boot into recovery, you can run Disk Utility and check the file system on the boot drive.
Note also that running the Diagnostic check can take many hours to complete, such as the steps of checking the hard drive and memory. So while it may appear to hang, I would let it run overnight, at least.
The Diagnostic utility hanging as you describe can be indicative of a hardware fault.
What screen is showing when you turn the iMac on...?
see > If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support
"Disk that came with the iMac"?
Just what version of iMac is this, anyway?
... I don't have the disk that came with imac.
The last iMac that shipped with discs ended production in early 2011.
imac diagnostic test just hangs
