iMac not always booting correctly after EFI-update

Question

iMac not always booting correctly after EFI-update

Hi,

I bought a new late 2012 iMac on Monday. After setting it up from a Time Maching back-up and updating software and also EFI, the iMac didn't boot correctly. As I interpret it, the iMac applied the EFI-update and restarted, but while rebooting just the moment before the desktop pops in it remained stuck. The spinning wheel under the Apple logo kept on spinning but nothing else happened.

I turned it off and did an SMC-reset, which did the trick, sort of. Today I turned the iMac on, and again it didn't boot correctly. Again, only a SMC-reset resolved the issue temporarily as it seems.

Does anyone know how to procede? I'm not ultra satisfied with such an unforeseeable behavior as you can certainly imagine.

Thanks in advance,

Lorenz

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 19, 2012 1:23 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

thetimeparadox

Level 1

121 points

Dec 19, 2012 1:41 PM in response to lorenz.paulus

When the account boots correctly, go to disk utilites and try to repair the permissions to the Hard Drive. It seems like you have a software rather than a hardware issue.

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Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,115 points

Dec 19, 2012 1:43 PM in response to lorenz.paulus

Is yours a 21.5" or a 27" iMac?

Were your prompted to do the EFI by Software Update?

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Answer 3

Dec 19, 2012 2:35 PM in response to babowa

It's a 21.5" and yep, indeed, i was prompted to do so.

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Answer 4

babowa

Level 9

78,115 points

Dec 19, 2012 3:46 PM in response to lorenz.paulus

Okay, just thought I'd check because the update did say it was only for the 21.5" - in any case, so that is not the cause of your problem. I don't have any other suggestion for you except that if you just now got it, I would absolutely either call Apple (make use of your warranty) or take it to a Genius Bar and ask them to take care of it. It could almost qualify as a "DOA" since you were prompted to install a firmware update immediately after setup.

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Answer 5

Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Dec 19, 2012 3:57 PM in response to lorenz.paulus

Take it back and get a refund. You have 14 days to return it No Questions Asked. Then buy another that actually works correctly.

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Answer 6

Dec 28, 2012 6:59 AM in response to lorenz.paulus

Okay, I tried again to do an SMC-reset, PRAM-reset, and repair disk-permissions. As a result, the iMac boots now fine, as it seems. The moment I face only the slightest of problems again, I'll call Apple.

Thanks guys for your help!

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Answer 7

Dec 30, 2012 12:46 AM in response to lorenz.paulus

Back again!

Booting in verbose mode, I figured that an error message:

com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication[262]) Exit timeout elapsed (20 seconds). Killing

is preventing proper start-up. Has anyone experienced this behaviour before?

bye,

lorenz

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Answer 8

spritrig

Level 1

6 points

Dec 30, 2012 6:01 PM in response to lorenz.paulus

I am getting the same killing off of authentification service. See my post of Dec 30, 2012 11:16 AM on this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4611065?answerId=20732028022#20732028022

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Answer 9

Jan 9, 2013 12:23 AM in response to spritrig

After talking two times to Apple Care for about one hour each, I've come to no conclusion what the problem is about or how to fix it.

I tried to erase my HD und reinstall Mountain Lion again, which I did also two times. The strange thing was that I faced the same issue every time after transferring my TM-back-up to my iMac. So I came up with the idea that my back-up was broken somehow and included that error.

Anyway, I erased my HD once more, installed Mountain Lion as clean as possible, and installed all of my software manually. I haven't seen the issue since. It just took me like 20-30 hours to try out everything and two useless calls to Apple Care. It's like the Windows-times are back…

Maybe this helps anyone.

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