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iMac stuck on logo screen with progress bar half way filled

I want to recycle my old 2009 iMac but I can't erase the hard drive. When I turn it on the logo screen appears and the progress bar starts to fill up, but stops half way. I've already taken it to Apple and the Genius Bar technician said the iMac was done.


I just want to make sure I erase it for recycling. I tried holding down the D key at start up but I don't see the diagnostics screen. Is there another way to erase (or destroy?) the hard drive so I can recycle it? I know the display panel can be easily removed, but I'm not sure how to remove the hard drive if that's the only thing I can do at this point.


Anyone out there have a solution or suggestion?


Thanks,

Jose

Posted on May 10, 2021 8:54 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 10, 2021 9:48 AM

Please attempt to restart in the Recovery Partition by holding down Command + R when you restart the computer. If you can get into the Recovery Partition, then enter Disk Utilities and erase the drive. If you cannot enter the Recovery Partition, you can remove the drive and take a sledge hammer to the HD. As you do not state if it is an early or late 2009 please navigate to the following address to learn how to get inside the computer to remove the HD.


https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 10, 2021 9:48 AM in response to JLVicente

Please attempt to restart in the Recovery Partition by holding down Command + R when you restart the computer. If you can get into the Recovery Partition, then enter Disk Utilities and erase the drive. If you cannot enter the Recovery Partition, you can remove the drive and take a sledge hammer to the HD. As you do not state if it is an early or late 2009 please navigate to the following address to learn how to get inside the computer to remove the HD.


https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos

iMac stuck on logo screen with progress bar half way filled

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