Odd Problem with Late 2013 iMac after HD Replacement - Help!

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Odd Problem with Late 2013 iMac after HD Replacement - Help!

I have been servicing Macs since 1995 and I can't figure this one out.

A 512gb hard drive in a 21.5 Late 2013 iMac died. I replaced it with an SSD of the same size.

Now when it boots, the Apple Logo and the progress bar are missing - just a black screen - but after a minute or so, the login screen shows up. I can then log in and the machine is normal.

If I restart, it chimes, I get a black screen with no apple logo or progress bar, and then back to the login screen.

If I start in recovery mode, no apple logo, no progress bar, but after a minute I have the recovery mode screen. Same with booting with the option key down / and in Safe mode.

I've tried zapping PRAM, resetting SMC, tried with Sierra/High Sierra/Catalina no difference. I even tried another SSD thinking the power difference might be an issue. No difference.

The computer works fine after booting, it's just the initial startup no matter what way you start the machine up is missing the standard Apple logo and progress bar. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Nov 17, 2020 6:47 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

den.thed

Level 9

77,548 points

Nov 17, 2020 8:07 PM in response to Robert Wallis

How did you initially format and install macOS on the SSD?

It sounds like something is missing, I’m just not sure what. If you (cloned, used a different Mac or installed from a bootable installer) then I’m thinking that you need to start over using the following instructions.

Startup in Recovery, use Disk Utility to Erase and Format the SSD, as per > How to erase your Mac - Apple Support

Then Quit Disk Utility and Install macOX while in Recovery, as per > How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

56,126 points

Nov 18, 2020 8:52 PM in response to Robert Wallis

I think @woodmeister50 is on the right track, but I'm thinking the SSD isn't getting into the Ready State soon enough. Or macOS just doesn't like the SSDs you are using.

What make & model SSD did you install? Not all SSDs may be compatible.

What happens if you boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to bypass the local recovery mode partition?

Also try running DriveDx on the SSD and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. You can run the SSD's short self-diagnostic during the DriveDx trial period. It is also possible to run the long/extended self-diagnostic during trial mode by using the command line to initiate the test.

I've also been seeing lots of weird behavior with macOS and Apple hardware with their more recent hardware from 2013+. It is actually becoming quite irritating for how often it happens and how difficult it is to figure out the cause.

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Answer 3

Nov 17, 2020 8:23 PM in response to den.thed

Thanks for the response. The initial install to the SSD was from a bootable USB installer I've used hundreds of times with no issue. I even took an SSD out of another iMac that was booting and working fine, and it booted in the problem iMac, just no apple or progress bar. Put it back in the other iMac, apple and progress bar back. I'll try your suggestion booting into recovery wiping the drive and doing the install that way to see if it makes a difference. I'll post back!

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Answer 4

Nov 17, 2020 9:44 PM in response to Robert Wallis

I tried what you suggested - Booted into Recovery, erased the drive, then reinstalled Catalina from recovery mode - no change. What is very odd is that if I boot with the option key down, I then see the bootable volumes. If I select the SSD from there, it boots and shows the apple and the progress bar and boots like it's supposed to. If I then restart with no keys held down, I still get the black screen, and after about 15 seconds I get the login screen. No apple or progress bar. Crazy. Makes no sense.

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Answer 5

den.thed

Level 9

77,548 points

Nov 18, 2020 10:02 AM in response to Robert Wallis

Yea' year ago and many macOS's ago, you could Clone from one Mac to another and startup from most any comparable OS X build version. Today the macOS build versions are more tuned to hardware and much stricter than they used to be.

Hmm.. If you did a clean install using macOS Recovery. Then try removing all of the other available startup volumes, point the Startup Disk in Preferences at the macOS on the SSD and see if that helps.

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Answer 6

Nov 18, 2020 10:16 AM in response to Robert Wallis

Perhaps something is odd when you created the drive.

Just a shot, get the machine booted then open disk utility.

In the upper left corner of the window click the icon make sure

"Show all devices" is selected. Select the physical drive and do a repair disk

on it. This will fix possible drive boot entry and partition issues.

Then select the APFS container on the drive, not the

volume(s) in that container and do a disk repair on the container itself.

This should take care of any issues with how volumes within the container

are set up.

It does sound like some sort of EFI bootloader issue.

If that fails, boot again this time in terminal do a "diskutil list"

and post the results.

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Answer 7

Nov 18, 2020 12:30 PM in response to woodmeister50

Hi - Thanks for your help - I did those repairs in Disk Utility before with no luck - just did it again and no change. I've tried this with two different SSD's with the same result. On the first SSD I set up, I took it out and put it in a 2013 Mac Mini. It booted fine with apple logo and progress bar. I'm thinking it has something to do with the hardware in the iMac - although after it gets to the login screen, it's all normal. The ONLY problem is the missing Apple and progress bar on boot. It's just bizarre!

Here is what I get with the terminal command:

admin@admins-iMac ~ % diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *512.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 511.9 GB disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +511.9 GB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume Macintosh SSD - Data 4.3 GB disk1s1

2: APFS Volume Preboot 81.6 MB disk1s2

3: APFS Volume Recovery 529.0 MB disk1s3

4: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk1s4

5: APFS Volume Macintosh SSD 11.1 GB disk1s5

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Answer 8

Nov 18, 2020 1:36 PM in response to Robert Wallis

Thought maybe something may jump out but all seems fine.

This is certainly "one for the books" as they say.

My best guess is that one or two things are happening.

Perhaps during "normal boot", for some reason the display

is not getting initialized until later in the boot sequence

or for some reason is simply not loading the "boot progress"

code during normal boot.

Here is an off the wall thought, once booted, go into System

Preferences and manually select the boot drive and reboot,

even though it says there is only one choice.

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Odd Problem with Late 2013 iMac after HD Replacement - Help!

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