memaxx

Q: iMac not booting after upgrade to Yosemite

I have upgraded to Yosemite yesterday and since finishing off the installation with powering down I am unable to reboot the machine. It powers up with the music cord, then the boot bar to the bottom appears, but after about 5-8% of the bar the things shuts off - black screen. I've tried to start in Safe Mode - nothing. I've tried with cmd-v to check the boot protocol and at one point it shuts off. Any idea? HDD dead?

iMac, iOS 8.0.2

Posted on Oct 18, 2014 7:54 AM

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Q: iMac not booting after upgrade to Yosemite

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  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Oct 18, 2014 8:01 AM in response to memaxx
    Level 9 (58,729 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 18, 2014 8:01 AM in response to memaxx

    What version of OS X was installable before Yosemite, if it was Lion to Mavericks then boot into the recovery partition and restore from a TM backup. When posting please provide useful information such as what version of OS X was installed, what iMac you have, how much available disk space, the amount of RAM installed etc...

  • by memaxx,

    memaxx memaxx Oct 18, 2014 9:10 AM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 18, 2014 9:10 AM in response to rkaufmann87

    OS X was on its latest version. iMac is just 5 months old. TM is on an external cloud (not ideal I guess). How do I start the reboot into the recovery partition?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 18, 2014 6:44 PM in response to memaxx
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Oct 18, 2014 6:44 PM in response to memaxx
  • by memaxx,

    memaxx memaxx Oct 19, 2014 6:19 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 6:19 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I could restore from TM now, but can't boot from Safe Mode. Still doesn't work ....

  • by Alexander Robinson1,

    Alexander Robinson1 Alexander Robinson1 Oct 19, 2014 6:53 AM in response to memaxx
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 6:53 AM in response to memaxx

    You should maybe be able to get into internet recovery and try to repair or repartition (with data loss) the disk

    OS X: About OS X Recovery

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Oct 19, 2014 8:49 AM in response to memaxx
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Oct 19, 2014 8:49 AM in response to memaxx

    Did you reset the NVRAM?

  • by dirty_south173,

    dirty_south173 dirty_south173 Oct 22, 2014 1:31 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 22, 2014 1:31 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I manage one of the biggest call centers in the world and use iMacs and would like to share this helpful work around for all new Yosemite users, hope this helps & good luck

    1. Unplug the Ethernet cable or disable the WiFi
    2. Unplug the power cord or battery, wait 25-30 seconds for power to drain/clear and then boot up unit, the OS should load after this..

  • by mrowe25,

    mrowe25 mrowe25 Oct 23, 2014 7:46 AM in response to dirty_south173
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 7:46 AM in response to dirty_south173

    Thanks, Roy, turning it off and on again did the trick!

  • by dirty_south173,

    dirty_south173 dirty_south173 Oct 23, 2014 12:21 PM in response to mrowe25
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 12:21 PM in response to mrowe25

    My previous post was a work around for at home/personal users which should work, the OS try's to retrieve user authentication Info from the previous logged on user so disconnecting the network cable or disabling or turning off the WiFi/ wireless should do the trick.  For all those Domain Admins/Users enable do not write on the users directory so the OS doesn't recognize a user account to try and retrieve info, if you perform this the OS will just create a temp user profile folder and delete it when theirs a power failure and not try to look for it after the power failure when booting up not causing to give you the gray boot up splash screen and go right into OS X, hope this helps and good luck!

  • by dirty_south173,

    dirty_south173 dirty_south173 Oct 23, 2014 3:10 PM in response to dirty_south173
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 23, 2014 3:10 PM in response to dirty_south173

    Detailed work around for at home/personal users which should work,disconnect the network cable or disable / turn off the WiFi / wireless and then reboot the computer.  Make sure to leave the power cord and battery of for 25-30 so the power drains before you boot back up this should do the trick.

     

    For all those Domain Admins/Users, enable do not write on the users directory so the OS doesn't force a local directory on the startup disc and try's to retrieve info.  If you perform this the OS will just create a temp user directory profile folder and delete it when a power failure or reboot occurs and doesn't look for it after the power failure or reboot when booting up and not give users the gray boot up splash screen with progress bar and go right into OS X, hope this helps and good luck!

     

    Once you have booted the unit up successfully perform the following below.

     

    Step 1 Open System Preferences and select Users & Groups

    Step 2 Select Login Options

    Step 3 Select Edit on the network account server button/section

    Step 4 Select Open Directory Utility

    Step 5 Select Active Directory

    Step 6 Select small gray arrow pointing to the right on the left side to collapse

    Step 7 uncheck Force local home directory on startup disk and then select the OK button.

  • by kdh05,

    kdh05 kdh05 Oct 30, 2014 8:51 PM in response to dirty_south173
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2014 8:51 PM in response to dirty_south173

    Hi,

    Thanks so much for posting this very helpful information.  I am going to give it a shot.

     

    My experience was similar - the mac wouldn't boot at home, but it would boot just fine at workResetting the PRAM would often get me going - if I my next login was with the network unplugged.

     

    A couple of quick questions.:

    1) Would you recommend that this issue be reported to Apple as a bug?

    2) Do you happen to know if this is just an artifact of "upgrades" to Yosemite (i.e., clean installs work ok)?  Or, is there an underlying issue with Yosemite on Active Directory Domains for all machines (old / new alike) when they are booted away from the domain?

     

    Thanks in advance...

  • by 8Christoffe8,

    8Christoffe8 8Christoffe8 Nov 2, 2014 2:33 AM in response to memaxx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 2, 2014 2:33 AM in response to memaxx

    If you have Mcafee try removing it. I was told by Apple Help that some versions of Mcafee are not compatible with Yosemite. I removed it and my iMac is starting up ok now.

  • by sungtny,

    sungtny sungtny Nov 7, 2014 11:02 AM in response to dirty_south173
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 7, 2014 11:02 AM in response to dirty_south173

    I have the same problem. I tried this but did not work for me. I agree it has to do with active directory. It works when when connected to the network. When I take it home and restart the computer it starts to hang. Anyone has found any other solution?

  • by SPTigertech,

    SPTigertech SPTigertech Nov 12, 2014 1:01 PM in response to dirty_south173
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2014 1:01 PM in response to dirty_south173

    Are you ready for my 2 cents? I, too, am frustrated by this issue. It has popped up on about 20% of the machines I have updated here at the high school (about 50 or so). Our Macs authenticate to Win 2008 server running Active Directory & use OS X Server for management.

     

    I updated a couple of Mac Airs to Yosemite & it looked good. The update solved a Mavericks problem with the login sticking at "Updating Managed settings" for at least a minute-- that's a problem when a whole class are needing to get rolling! Under Yosemite, the login is very fast for the Macs that are working properly, but oh those "stickers!" The Macs that stick will not go beyond the progress bar screen. This is for Macs that are bound to AD & connected to our network & it happens both for wired & wireless connections (MacBook Air and iMacs).

     

    I've had success running Disk Utility & Disk Warrior on some of the afflicted machines. (Put the "patient" in Target mode & connect it to a Mac with the diagnostic software installed via Thunderbolt cable.) Those are now running OK with Yosemite. But there are others that I had to roll back to Mavericks using our Apple server's Net Install feature. (You could also do a System Restore by starting the Mac while holding ⌘-R)

     

    I don't recommend binding client machines to AD without forcing the Home directory on the local disk. That will put the user's Home on the network, which creates other problems due to a lot of writing back & forth across the network (i.e. it hogs your bandwidth & can cause corruption).

     

    I reported the problem to Apple a few days ago. Ultimately, the "fix" will probably be a 10.10.1 update.

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