Apple Hardware Test

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Level 1

116 points

Apple Hardware Test

I have a 2007 2.8 GHz dou core intel iMac. The Super Drive is defective so I have been using a LaCie FireWire external drive.

I have been trying to get to the Apple Hardware Test on start up with my iMac running Mountain Lion by holding down the D key and all I got was a folder looking icon with a question mark on it. So I tried holding down the Option and D keys and nothing happens, it just goes on to a regular start up. Because my Super Drive is defective I can not put my original disk in the drive to start with. When trying to access the AHT I have only my keyboard and mouse attached. Is there another way to get the AHT on my system?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 3 gb ram, 750gb hd

Posted on Oct 13, 2012 9:24 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 13, 2012 9:31 AM in response to trouble me

So you disconnected your ehternet cable before attempting to d key startup and then reconnected to try opt-d startup?

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Answer 2

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 13, 2012 9:41 AM in response to macjack

I connect by wifi and it works great when running DU from start up. I have never seen any where to use cmd-d on start up so I just tried it and it does not work either.

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 13, 2012 9:50 AM in response to trouble me

No, that was a mistake, I tried to edit but wasn't quick enough.

I'm not sure why it's not working for you.

Drive Genius has somehardware tests you can run in demo mode.

You cownload and run Rember to test your RAM.

What specifically are you looking to test and are you having a specific problem, other than not being able to run AHT?

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Answer 4

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 13, 2012 10:49 AM in response to macjack

With in the past three weeks my iMac has started running slow. Apps go unresponsive for minutes at a time, it takes about 10 minutes to start up and this is the only test I have not been able to run trying to chech things out.

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Answer 5

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 13, 2012 12:25 PM in response to trouble me

You've tried starting in Safe Mode and see if the problem still occurs?

Restart holding the "shift" key.

(Expect it to take longer to start this way because it runs a directory check first.)

If this works look in System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login items and delete any third party login items (-), you can always add them back with the (+). Also look in /Library/Startup Items. Nothing is put in that folder by default, so anything in there is yours.

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Answer 6

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 13, 2012 2:59 PM in response to trouble me

Can you see disc 2 after putting it into the LaCie? If so, I can tell you how to set up your machine to boot into the AHT without using the disc or ext CD/DVD reader.

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Answer 7

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 13, 2012 4:25 PM in response to baltwo

Starting in safe mode did not help.

@ baltwo - yes I can see the disk after placing it in the LaCie.

And thank all of you for your help.

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Answer 8

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 13, 2012 4:48 PM in response to trouble me

Mount disc 2, run this command in the Terminal app (copy & paste it into the window that pops up when you launch it, hit the return key, OPTION-click & hold Finder's Dock icon, and select RELAUNCH:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1

That unhides all hidden files/folders.

Now, drill down to /"Applications Install Disc"/System/Library/CoreServices/ and drag the .diagnostics folder into your ML boot volume's /System/Library/CoreServices/ folder.

In the Terminal window copy & paste in this command, and hit the return key:

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/CoreServisce/.diagnostics

at the Password; prompt, carefully type in your admin password, since nothing shows up on the screen, and hit the return key. If successful, you'll get the normal $ prompt.

Run this command to hide the normally hidden files/folders and RELAUNCH the Finder again.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0

Restart, holding down the CMD+D keys. This should cause the machine to boot into AHT. Let us know how it turns out.

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Answer 9

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 14, 2012 6:43 AM in response to baltwo

The "sudo chown -R" command in terminal came back with a response of "can not find file". Even though I can see the file is in the CoreServices folder it is still invisible. I tried making a new diagnostics folder but when you place the " . " in front of the folder name it turns invisible.

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Answer 10

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 14, 2012 7:55 AM in response to trouble me

This is a brilliant solution by baltwo!

Unfortunately dyslexia fat fingers speling errers a malfunctioning keyboard effects him from to time...

Instead of ...

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/CoreServisce/.diagnostics

Make that

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/CoreServices.diagnostics

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Answer 11

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 14, 2012 8:31 AM in response to macjack

I still get the response of "file or folder can not be found. I did try going ahead with a restart anyway and I still get a Folder icon with a question mark on it when I try holding the D key, then it goes on to a regular start up. I really want to thank everyone for helping out here.

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Answer 12

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 14, 2012 8:49 AM in response to trouble me

My keyboard is malfunctioning too. I left out the backslash...

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics

EDIT: Just did an ls on CoreServices and I'm finding no .diagnostics there...

baltwo will be back...

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Answer 13

trouble me Author

Level 1

116 points

Oct 14, 2012 8:58 AM in response to macjack

That did it. Running test right now. Thank you once again.

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Answer 14

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Oct 14, 2012 9:57 AM in response to trouble me

Ahh... it was baltwo's solution! Terrific idea!

@ baltwo...

I still don't get the path to .diagnostics?

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Answer 15

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Oct 14, 2012 12:08 PM in response to macjack

Thanks for catching my fat-fingering error. For everyone else, it should be

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/CoreServices/.diagnostics

I still don't get the path to .diagnostics?

I don't understand what you're not getting? /System/Library/CoreServices/ is where Apple hides the directory that allows running AHT w/o using an install disc.

UPDATE:

Try

ls -al /System/Library/CoreServices/

which is what you need to display all invisibles.

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