iMac Hard Drive Replacement Not Working

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Level 1

8 points

iMac Hard Drive Replacement Not Working

Hi, I'm troubleshooting an iMac model A1224 for a friend. He recently obtained the used iMac and it came with a note attached to it reading 'bad hard disk'. It's booting to a Prohibitory symbol. The Command+R combo occasionally got to the Startup Manager screen but all choices will hang for a long time then end with the Prohibitory symbol again. Sometimes is just failed to same screen without even getting startup mgr. The macOS internet recovery options also fails to same screen, it never gets to startup mgr, and was connected to the internet via cable.

I tried Mac OS X Leopard & Snow Leopard written to a thumb drive with TransMac. Using the Option key startup I get to startup mgr and select the thumb drive OS. Boot starts with the Apple logo for a bit, but then fails to the prohibitory screen. Removed HDD and tested with TransMac which failed to mount the volume, ending in an error message. So I decide to replace the hard drive.

I replaced the hdd with a used Seagate 500GB, confirmed working on a PC but was formatted with NTFS. Before install I formatted the drive using the 'Format Disk for Mac' option in TransMac (v12.5 btw), no problem. After install startup mgr pops up quickly at power on with option key held but doesn't (at all) if I use Command+R. Choosing the OS option on the thumb drive fails as described in previous paragraph.

The only other noteworthy things, maybe, is that 1) the startup chime wasn't playing at power on. But after resetting NVRAM it now plays.

Is there more wrong with this iMac than just the drive? Maybe the controller is bad? Is there anything I may have missed? Any help or advice (constructive, hehe) is welcome. It's not critical to get her working, I could tell my friend it's dead. But I like a bit of a challenge and have resurrected a 'dead mac' on at least one other occasion. Thanks in advance, apologies for a long post.

Posted on Sep 22, 2019 4:09 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

HWTech

Level 9

56,072 points

Sep 22, 2019 6:46 PM in response to Dahammy

If all your friend needs is basic Internet browsing and email, then try installing Ubuntu onto the iMac. Ubuntu should install easily and should include the necessary Mac drivers by default. Ubuntu will have access to the latest versions of the most common browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Vivaldi. Plus Ubuntu has access to at least two email apps one of which is Thunderbird.

Ubuntu should run really well with 4GB of RAM, but Ubuntu may still be able to browse the internet with as little as 2GB or 3GB if only one or two Windows/tabs are open at one time (although 2GB will be pushing it).

I don't recommend the default Ubuntu as it really requires a powerful computer with lots of RAM. However, the other Ubuntu flavors such as Kubuntu, Ubuntu-Mate are very good choices. Other more basic flavors are Lubuntu and Xubuntu, but they may not be as user friendly. All of the Ubuntu flavors use the same underlying core, but utilize a different graphical interface called a Desktop Environment, plus some of the default apps will be different, but you can install more from the Ubuntu repositories. Most of these Ubuntu flavors will use about 200MB to 300MB of RAM when booted to the desktop for the first time.

I haven't personally used Ubuntu in years, but I do use Debian stable (even on Macs) without issue. Ubuntu is built from Debian with some extra modifications. Debian unfortunately takes a little more effort to setup initially due to Debian's philosophy on non-free drivers and firmware. Since you don't have any OS on the drive now, you really don't have anything to lose in trying one of the Ubuntu flavors.

If the Ubuntu flavors don't have all the necessary drivers installed by default and you find it to difficult to determine what is needed, then try Linux Mint which is based on Ubuntu. It is a very nice looking system, although I personally don't like some of the under the hood modifications they made to Ubuntu.

Use Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux) to create a bootable Ubuntu USB installer. Option Boot the USB drive and select the orange icon labeled "EFI". If for some reason Ubuntu won't boot after it is installed, then you may need to rename the Ubuntu bootloader located on the hidden ESP/EFI partition. Some older Macs will only boot an unblessed third party OS when the bootloader is located in "/boot/boot.efi" on the hidden EPS/EFI system partition.

If you are not familiar with Linux, then I highly recommend reading the Debian Handbook as it contains a lot of useful information on how to properly manage the system. Most of the Debian information applies to Ubuntu as well. This page contains lots of useful references to Debian base distributions:

https://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals

The Debian Administrator's Handbook is a great resource even though it hasn't been updated in a few years, but most of the important maintenance & care items should still be valid. You don't need to read everything, but at least understand the basics if you want to support Ubuntu on your friend's iMac. FYI, the biggest difference between Debian and Ubuntu is how the software repositories are distinguished so you will need to consult the Ubuntu documentation regarding the layout of the Ubuntu repositories.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,910 points

Sep 22, 2019 4:18 PM in response to Dahammy

This iMac is extremely old and may not be worth fixing. First purchase a Snow Leopard DVD directly from Apple ($20), here is the link: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard?fnode=b9e23076f91bed1b4296f28bced57ec61112b5b98c20e181ae8ca9b37b564af9340b2dfa9fccc0433e8239793f0f70bf7d956722ecd22350bc214733d7b37751e16d872e09b3c9d66cc88c2388350919cccd21008b6236f44c983016f3d7a314

When the drive arrives, boot the computer from the SL DVD and then format the HD you installed. Once the drive has been formatted then simply install Mac OS and you should have a working computer assuming nothing else is wrong. Once the computer boots from the new HD , then update using https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1399?locale=en_US to get to 10.6.8 and then you should be set.

Remember you still will have a VERY old computer that is limited and can't be upgraded beyond 10.11.x however if you just want to use it for surfing the net and e-mail it should be okay.

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Answer 3

Dahammy Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2019 4:27 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for the link and advice. I'll advise my friend and see what he wants. He's an older guy and only needs it for very simple web surfing (and email) so it'd be nice to get it working but you're right it is quite old and seems to now be in the 'not worth it' stage.

Thanks again!

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Answer 4

Dahammy Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 22, 2019 9:38 PM in response to HWTech

Oh fantastic idea, thank you! I don't know why I didn't think of this since I just recently got the latest Raspberry Pi to see what all the hoopla is about. I got a bit one-track minded with macOS I guess! This is my first real foray into open(ish?) OS so I'm still learning a lot about NOOBS and Raspbian in general, but I understand they're Debian based so Ubuntu is probably a great alternative.

Your suggestion is really quite a clever solution and should completely suffice for what he needs. Thanks a ton for all the info and great links, this will help a bunch.

Cheers!

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iMac Hard Drive Replacement Not Working

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