iMac with Kingston SSD will not restart...only hard reboot

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iMac with Kingston SSD will not restart...only hard reboot

Hi,

I am having a slightly strange issue after installing a 240GB Kingston SSDNow 300V in my 20 Inch iMac 8.1 to replace the Western Digital spinning disk that gave up the ghost.

I have done a fresh install (numerous times now) on the SSD and tried various partitioning regimes all with the same result.

Power on hardware boot is no problem, waking from sleep also no problem... the issues arise when the iMac is restarted (soft reset) as it comes up with the flashing grey folder with the question mark; inserting the Snow Leopard DVD to have a look and the SSD does not appear, only the DVD. However, after pressing the power button everything boots up fine again and incredibly fast.... I am having no other issues with this drive other than that it will not soft reset.

I have included screen shots of the my setup just incase I have miss something important.

and the drive (proof it boots when turned off and on again....)

I have looked on the apple firmware update page but strangely the entire 2008 iMac line up is missing so this appears to be the only firmware and SMC available. When and if I get this to work properly I will enable TRIM btw...

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am seriously pulling my hair out here and have spent over a week trying to figure this out.

Marc

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Will only boot from power off

Posted on Apr 4, 2014 3:00 PM

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Answer 1

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,486 points

Apr 4, 2014 5:21 PM in response to Marcdboorman

It sounds like you've covered your bases but have you tried the simple things like resetting the SMC and PRAM?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

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Answer 2

Marcdboorman Author

Level 1

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Apr 5, 2014 3:12 AM in response to SeaPapp

Thanks For the reply Mike. Unfortuntely yes I have done both. I even tried again this morning with no avail....

Marc

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Answer 3

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Apr 5, 2014 9:39 AM in response to Marcdboorman

Is it the same after erasing the disk & starting again ?. Just wondering, since the recovery partition appears to be 3+GB and disk0s1 has a BSD name of disk0s2. You've selected it in System Preferences - Startup Disk ?.

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Answer 4

Marcdboorman Author

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Apr 5, 2014 4:02 PM in response to andyBall_uk

Hi Andy, I've tried several partition regimes from one partition to three (shown above) all result in the same.

Marc

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Answer 5

Marcdboorman Author

Level 1

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Apr 10, 2014 2:14 PM in response to Marcdboorman

Having done quite a bit of research I think I have found the problem (no fix though!)

There appears to be a few other SSD's that seem to have exactly the same issue, albiet generally with PC's. The issue appears to surrround the SATA hotpluging capability. As Intel Macs have no Bios there is no way to enable/disable it.

So it appears I am stuck with the issue. I am tempted to try another drive (Crucial M500) but I fear I may have exactly the same problem. Still havn't actually found anyone who has upgraded an Imac 8.1 with an SSD.

Regards

Marc

P.S. Here are some links to people with some simlar (albiet PC related problems)

Corsair drive, Another corsair, Intel SSD and an OCZ drive:

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