EMEX2009 wrote:
My 2017 Intel iMac isn't working
Friends, help! My 2017 Intel iMac suddenly stopped working—there's a folder with a question mark... After rebooting with the R command, it doesn't see the Time Machine backup or the Macintosh drive. Reinstalling the operating system also doesn't work.
What can I do?
I've been racking my brain for two days now. 🤔
More than likely the internal Hard Drive has failed.
Here is an Apple article with instructions to fix the problem assuming the internal drive is still healthy:
https://support.apple.com/102601
Here is another Apple article with other startup screens you may see in case you need to help with other macOS startup issues:
If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support
If the internal drive has failed, then you may be able to install macOS to an external USB3 SSD to boot & use macOS while booted to the external SSD.
When you boot into Recovery Mode (Command + R) or Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R)....sometimes the Mac may instead boot into the older online installer for the version of macOS which originally shipped with the computer from the factory. This older OS may be too old to recognize the new drive layout used by later versions of macOS 10.13+.
Also, Time Machine cannot be used to restore to an older OS using Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant. And Time Machine no longer restores the OS portion of the drive.