iMac shows image of mouse and keyboard on startup

Thank you for your quick response.

I’d been happily using the iMac with a with a wired extended keyboard and Magic Mouse, then after I’d left it for a couple of hours, I came back to it and it shut itself down.

On restarting, it looked like it was taking a bit longer than usual so I left it for a bit and when I came back, it was showing the mouse and keyboard diagrams alternately.

So, I googled this and tried a number of suggestions and at one point managed to get as far as the first aid window to check the volume - seemed ok.

I got as far as the Restore from Time Machine options. But this only gave me the option to restore to an external volume.

So this morning I’ve done as you suggested and got as far as the Apple logo and progress bar which held for a few minutes before shutting itself down again (all while still holding down the shift key).

Then I tried another normal restart (still with both wired keyboard and mouse) and after about five minutes, the screen showed the Apple logo and progress bar again before it shut itself down once more… Stalemate! 😟

Another update - after yet another failed restart, I got the "question mark in the folder" icon with the Apple support info at the bottom, so I'm assuming it's dead.

At least that's until I get to an Apple store which is at least a four hour round trip away, so that's not happening anytime soon!

Had a good 7 years out of it, though...... so, biting the bullet and ordered a brand new iMac!