Q: 2009 iMac will not boot: Any way to save it?
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Oct 21, 2013 2:40 PMby baltwo,HelpfulReset the NVRAM/PRAM and Reset the SMC, and see if that fixes the problem.
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Oct 22, 2013 10:09 AMby ds store,HelpfulAnders Eldor Boye wrote:
Had it for a while no, but now I can't get past the swirling circle at start up. Any way to save the poor thing?
Ah, not that hard actually. It's just a software problem probably.
Press and hold the power button down to force a hardware shutdown, then using a wired keyboard, press and hold the Shift key down while booting up, this enters Safe Mode and does some drive repairs.
Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
If you get into the machine, backup your user files to a external storage drive right away.
Most commonly used backup methods
Next go around and update all your third party software, something one of them installed into OS X has failed/needs a update or needs to be uninstalled using the developers uninstaller to get it out of OS X.
How to uninstall/install software on your Mac
If that doesn't work, then do #8 Reinstall Just OS X here, that will kick it out and repair OS X at the same time (other software may have to be reinstalled)
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
If the Safe Mode drive repairs fail, then you will see a progress bar that has gotten stuck while booting, then your in more serious trouble.
.Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
