iMac 2009 Stuck in Boot Screen

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Level 1

11 points

iMac 2009 Stuck in Boot Screen

I have a iMac 2009. It is stuck in the boot screen. The progress bar stops in the middle of the process and the bar pulses slightly. It does start up fine in safe mode though. I have tried everything I can find on forums to try to resolve the issue:

1) I erased the drive and installed a fresh copy of High Sierra (I have a Samsung SSD)

2) I reset the NVRAM and SMC

3) I am not able to do a apple hardware test (AHT) though.

4) I cleared all of the login items.

5) I disconnected all of the peripherals.

For the most part I understand that it probably not a hardware issue since I can start in safe mode.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 21, 2020 1:00 PM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

60,356 points

Mar 23, 2020 12:06 PM in response to abes1234

I don't see anything in the report as there isn't anything installed.

First make sure you have a good backup of your data.

Run DriveDX and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

Try creating a new admin user account just to make sure that there isn't some corrupt preference file in it.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/set-up-other-users-on-your-mac-mtusr001/mac

Run the Apple Diagnostics.

Is the memory in the iMac all original? If not how long has it been installed?

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,539 points

Mar 24, 2020 9:50 AM in response to abes1234

With the external HD connected boot into Safe Mode, launch Disk Utility and erase the EHD. Then download and use the free/demo version of Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your hard drive to the external drive. Then try to boot from the external drive. It will take longer than from an internal drive but if the problem is the internal drive it should boot.

Remember your Mac is considered obsolete by Apple and is very, very, very old in computer years. I would seriously consider replacing it with a new or newer model rather than trying to repair it if that's what is needed.

Apple offers refurbished models at a good savings on their website. Just search in the Mac section for "refurbished". They are warranted as they were new models and Apple Care can be had for them. Just some food for thought.

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Answer 3

abes1234 Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 23, 2020 2:17 PM in response to HWTech

Hello,

It is a complete fresh image. I erased the disk and put on a fresh copy of High Sierra

I tried creating a new account and deleting the old one, but this didn't do anything. It doesn't even really let me get to the login screen. It just gets stuck in the white screen with the progress bar. It just gets about half way there and you see the progress bar pulse a bit.

I am unable to run apple diagnostics. It doesn't do anything when I hit the D ket at login. Ive tried to run that multiple times. I did again and nothing.

I upgraded the RAM and put in an SSD about 3 years ago so I have been using that updated HW for a while.

Thank you,

Abe

report

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,356 points

Mar 23, 2020 3:59 PM in response to abes1234

The SSD looks Ok, at least nothing stands out to me.

See if you can run the Apple Hardware Test.

@Old Toad's suggestion is a good one just on the off chance there is some odd issue with the SSD.

In the mean time you can try testing your memory by creating a bootable Memtest86 USB drive using Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux). Option Boot the USB drive and select the orange icon labeled "EFI".

I'm really leaning towards a bad GPU here especially since your SSD appears to be Ok.

It would be interesting to see if Knoppix Linux will boot to a desktop. I've seen Knoppix drop into a command prompt on some systems that I suspect had bad GPUs. If you want to try it you can create a bootable Knoppix USB drive using Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux). Option Boot the USB drive and select the orange icon labeled "EFI". The computer may appear to be frozen on the Apple boot picker menu while Knoppix boots, but this is "normal" for a Mac so give it lots of time to finish booting. I've had some odd graphical issues with the Knoppix v8.6 so don't worry if the screen flickers a bit. The interesting thing is whether it will make it to the Knoppix desktop or whether it will fail and drop you into a command prompt.

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Answer 5

abes1234 Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 24, 2020 8:59 AM in response to abes1234

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

210,539 points

Mar 23, 2020 2:40 PM in response to abes1234

Do you have an external HD you could install a system on or clone your current drive to and boot from it.

Did you upgrade the RAM yourself? If you did where did you get the modules.

Just to be sure open the memory compartment and make sure the modules are well seated.

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Answer 7

abes1234 Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 24, 2020 8:06 AM in response to Old Toad

Hello,

I do have an external drive, but I don't know how to do that process. I do have my old hard drive and could reinstall that and see if that helps, but that's a pain.

I changed my RAM about 3 years ago. I actually tried what you recommended. I even removed them and resintstalled them. I even took my old RAM and resinstalled that. Neither really worked, but a couple of weird thing happened. So, when I switched them out (this happened with the old and new RAM (Inconsistently)), but the progress bar moved further in the process but still stalled, Another weird thing that happened was that at the bottom of the screen, maybe one inch high, were many many very thin vertical bars across the length of the entire screen. It's not the wide ones you seem to see across the entire screen that I have typically seen with GPU failures, These were very thin lines, thousands of them, and all colors.

Additionally, I forgot to mention a couple of other symptoms that may help diagnose. Initially, when I was able to boot it properly, when the failure happened, I was working and the cursor of the mouse changed and I was not able to click anything or type anything, I was able to move the mouse and everything on the screen appeared fine. but i needed to doa hard shutdown. THis happened twice. After the first tie I had the issue where I could not boot. After letting it sit for over 24 hrs it let me boot normally. When it happened the second time no such luck. I can only boot in safe mode.

Also, I feel this started after I installed Norton Ant-virus. I recall having issues with this many years ago and uninstalled it, but I didn't have this issue, but I did have to install a clean version of the OS.

Thanks,

Abe

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Answer 8

abes1234 Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 24, 2020 8:08 AM in response to HWTech

Hello,

I am unable to do the AHT. I tried several times an dnothing happens when I boot and hold the D key down.

I qil try to do some of the suggesting you have listed and report back.

Please read my response to Old Toad with some additional symptoms.

Thank you,

Abe

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

245,189 points

Mar 24, 2020 9:10 AM in response to abes1234

That is about the point at which Graphic Card drivers are loaded, only hope outside of replacing the GPU is to use System Report?Software>Extensions to try to see which Graphic Drivers arent loading in Safe Mode.

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