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iMac can't reload Lion

2008 24 inch iMac that was updated to Lion, then erased in order to give to our other child (me, haha). Ran utilities to

verify disk before reinstalling Lion. Needed to run repair and I did. It said disk wasn't okay. I researched in discussions,

erased it again making sure it was formatted correctly. Now it says it is okay after Repair disk. Download Lion,

HD has the yellow triangle with exclamation point and says it cannot load Lion. Try again, run Repair and now

HD is not okay. Then it is again. Try loading Snow Leopard (from DVD) to see what happens. Won't download,

HD is now not okay again. Is this futile and a trip to Genius Bar is in my future?

Posted on Jan 27, 2014 4:38 AM

Reply
11 replies

Jan 27, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Daisy Newcomb

I followed this advice and the triangle disappeared. It is now installing Snow Leopard from the DVD. We will see what happens.


Kappy Tampa, FL and Vancouver, BC

Re: Disk Utility cannot unmount disk

Sep 23, 2011 4:13 PM (in response to hoosier)

Drive Preparation


1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.


2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.


3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.


4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.


5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.


6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

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Jan 27, 2014 3:27 PM in response to Daisy Newcomb

You could try to reformat the drive and maybe write out bad blocks if that's what the problem is. Choose one of the secure options like a seven pass secure erase and maybe you'll get lucky. Other than that I think you're looking at replacing the hard drive, either yourself with a guide from iFixIt http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2111+Hard+Drive+Replacement/5 211

Or take it to the nearest Apple Store or AASP. The figure I've heard dropped around here is about $200 for a 1tb hard drive.

Don't be disappointed.....ALL hard drives will fail, it's just a matter of when.

iMac can't reload Lion

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