iMac 27" (Late 2012) randomly goes into repeated restarts

I realise that my Mac is old but...


Have a recent issue-in the last week-of my iMac Catalina 10.15.7 randomly going into repeated restarts.

Has only happened while using Firefox 110.0.1 and most often when solving a jigsaw on https://thejigsawpuzzles.com/.


I realise that my Mac is old but...


The issue is similar to what occurs in a power outage ie screen goes black, but on restart goes into repeated restarts.


I installed a new power board about 4 months ago...no other issues since.


At no stage has there been an error message.


Tried starting in Safe mode, but it would not progress from dark screen to the Apple screen.


Able to start in Recovery mode, then used Disk Utilities to repair all volumes.


Issue recurred. Disconnected all external drives and restarted in Recovery Mode....repeated disk repair then restarted.


Did an Etrecheck Pro Scan and reviewed Minor Issues and found nothing of concern.


Completed a CleanMyMac X review and followed suggested actions.


After all of this the computer again went into the repeated restarts, but after the last Recovery start has not restarted.


Left the computer in Sleep mode for the last 15 hours and started normally on mouse move.


As soon as I have copied one large file onto an external drive I will try to reinstall Mac OS in recovery mode.


Another issue which may or may not be relevant is that PS 23.5.4 has been running slowly eg pointer goes into spinning mode when I complete a small action...so I wonder if there might be a RAM issue (24GB RAM installed) although diagnostics does not suggest this....or a memorey/cache? issue with Firefox.


Does anyone have have any other suggestions?



iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 5:40 PM

Reply

Similar questions

7 replies

Mar 14, 2023 5:50 PM in response to Stephen Kirk

First get rid of CleanMyMac, that is malware and creates more problems than it solves. If you have any other cleaning, antivirus, or other third party "maintenance" apps please uninstall and then restart in Safe Mode and retest.


Other than that we would need to see a clean EtreCheck report, having multiple sets of eyes review it is wise and may overlook something whereas others may notice glaring issues.

Mar 14, 2023 10:35 PM in response to Stephen Kirk

I suspect you may have an external peripheral that is causing the issue. Please shut down the computer and disconnect all wired peripherals including:


• External Hard Disks

• USB Hubs

• Printers

• Scanners etc.


Then restart the computer in Safe Mode per the directions in Safe Mode. Then restart normally and check to see if the problem goes away. If it does then it's an external peripheral or the Safe Mode restart fixed the problem. You can re-introduce each external peripheral then restart until the problem re-occurs and when it does then you know that last peripheral is the cause of the problem and must be replaced.


This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

iMac 27" (Late 2012) randomly goes into repeated restarts

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.