Brand new imac Retina and can't enter Apple Diagnostics. Doing it wrong?

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Level 1

84 points

Brand new imac Retina and can't enter Apple Diagnostics. Doing it wrong?

I've had various issues with my brand new imac retina. I've spoken with Apple Care about two of them (Finder icon issue; slow shut down) and we're working through it all trying to figure out if it's software and whether the current beta update will solve the problem when it comes out. They've extended their 14 day exchange to 60 days for me while we sort it out.

All said, one thing they suggested was to run the Apple Diagnostics by holding down D upon booting. I've tried running this, it comes to a screen wanting me to pick the language, and nothing happens. It's like it doesn't do anything upon picking the language, just sits there.

The Sr. Tech I was talking with just said "that's strange" but with other things we were discussing he went about focusing on the other things.

I may try yet another separate call to discuss this with them but I thought I'd check here to see if anyone has encountered/solved this issue, see if I'm going about it the wrong way.

I'm holding down D and I'm connected by ethernet. This is the new imac retina 5k, 2014.

Thanks.

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Nov 17, 2014 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 17, 2014 12:51 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

The update to Mac OS X 10.10 is not a beta, it was released to day, 10.10.1 Build 14B25. The download is 315 MB and may help your operation.

Also, after downloading and installing, open Disk Utility and select the internal storage, usually Macintosh HD, and then run Repair Permissions - the installer messes up a lot of the permissions.

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Answer 2

Ramblinmanva Author

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84 points

Nov 17, 2014 12:57 PM in response to Ralph Landry1

Ralph,

Good news, thanks. I am not at home but the beta (while in beta) had been mentioned in some other threads I was following. Good to hear it came out today--can't wait to test it tonight.

Still wish I could figure out what is going on with the Apple Diagnostics as it would seem that should run on my machine. I'll try that again tonight too. Thanks.

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Answer 3

Nov 17, 2014 1:01 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

You are welcome, Clayton.

I have not had a great deal of success with Apple Diagnostics, aka Apple Hardware Test, except for finding really serious, obvious things. If there is a problem with hardware I have found it far more productive to take the machine to an Apple store genius bar and have the technicians run their diagnostic tools - way beyond anything we mere mortals can get our hands on.

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Answer 4

Nov 17, 2014 1:05 PM in response to Ramblinmanva

Clayton Rhoades wrote:

They've extended their 14 day exchange to 60 days for me while we sort it out.

That's might nice of Apple. Personally, I would not be sorting anything out on a brand new Mac. I would be demanding a brand new replacement. One that is suppose to work rigiht out the box.

I may try yet another separate call to discuss this with them but I thought I'd check here to see if anyone has encountered/solved this issue, see if I'm going about it the wrong way.

I'm holding down D and I'm connected by ethernet.

The techs wanted you to run Apple's Hardware Test. See KB Article: Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support

Thanks.

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Answer 5

Ramblinmanva Author

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84 points

Nov 17, 2014 2:17 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Baby Boomer: Thanks for the response.

I had seen that linked article before. Based on this being a new imac, I'm thinking it would be the Diagnostics and it should run when holding down D. First line from the link:

Important: If your Mac was released after June 2013, you will use Apple Diagnostics rather than Apple Hardware Test (AHT). See Using Apple Diagnostics for instructions.

I've been on another thread where a lot of people are having the finder issue related to the icons. I spent probably 3 days setting up my new imac and admittedly was a bit hesitant to start all over (hence my phone calls with Apple). The Sr. Tech did not feel it was hardware related and others on the thread I'm on about the Finder issue don't all seem to have hardware issues. Perhaps being an "early adopter" of sorts (combined with some Apple hiccups in my opinion) have resulted in these issues (i.e., exchanging it for a new one may not solve the problem). Sounds like the new update may solve it. I will see tonight.

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Answer 6

jrmyeh

Level 1

34 points

Jan 3, 2015 7:27 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Clayton,

I'm having exact same, or at least very similar, problem as yours. Wondering if you've received any decent answers yet.

My story...

1) Late 2013 retina MBP, came loaded with Mavericks as I recall.

2) Some time ago, did a clean-install upgrade to Yosemite (off of a USB drive). That went uneventfully.

3) I have successfully, several times, run Apple Diagnostics ("D" on startup) in the past, and now can't remember if the last time I did so was under Mavericks, or if I'd ever done it under Yosemite.

4) Lately have noticed my machine "double rebooting" - meaning that when I reboot, I hear a start-up chime twice, and then it goes through the remainder of the boot normally. This caused me to try running Apple Diagnostics again. So, pushing D immediately after pushing the power button takes me to a "Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while." screen, which runs for less than a minute, then sends me to the language selection screen you mentioned, with "power down" and "restart" selections at the bottom. Choosing English places a check-mark next to the selection, but then nothing else happens. No diagnostic option button appears at the bottom, the screen doesn't change. Nothing. The fan runs harder, so I assume something is making the CPU work harder, but I have no idea what.

5) I then tried doing all the other checks / fixes I could think of - resetting PRAM and SMC, booting into the repair partition and running volume checks and permissions repair on my boot volume, and booting into safe mode, followed by a restart. Trying to get into Apple Diagnostics after all this yielded the same result as before.

I'd love to find an answer that doesn't involve either my reinstalling Yosemite or having to schlep this thing to an Apple store, if possible.

Thanks,

J

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Answer 7

Ramblinmanva Author

Level 1

84 points

Jan 3, 2015 7:41 AM in response to jrmyeh

Jrmyeh: I'm not at home to run my own test and this may sound really silly but here goes...

I think your problem is not being able to get past picking English on that screen?

When I kept having this problem of getting stuck at the screen where I picked English and nothing happens, I'm embarrassed to admit that I recall finding that I thought something would happen after I picked English. Turns out you select English and then there was a small arrow to the right to make it go to the next screen. I can't recall exactly but there is definitely something on that screen to make it go to the next screen and I felt like an idiot when I noticed it. Can you try again and double check?

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Answer 8

jrmyeh

Level 1

34 points

Jan 3, 2015 7:49 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Clayton, thanks for your reply! And yes, that's definitely a mistake I could see myself making.

I just rechecked it, and alas, no arrow. All I get is a small check-mark to the left of "English", and the usual "shut down" and "restart" options at the bottom. Searched for arrows, or other selectable things, and couldn't find any.

Thank you for your help.

I generated a new post with this question, so maybe something will come of that.

This machine's definitely acting squirrelly, but it's subtle and hard to diagnose at this point.

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Answer 9

Ramblinmanva Author

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84 points

Jan 3, 2015 7:53 AM in response to jrmyeh

Sorry to bring up things that would be more simple but did you double click on English? By pressing in on a mouse button and not lightly clicking like you would with a track pad? I'll see if I can log in and duplicate my issue and how I fixed it. It was something simple. Sorry.

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Answer 10

Ramblinmanva Author

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84 points

Jan 3, 2015 7:58 AM in response to jrmyeh

I was able to get to my imac and test this. Unfortunately for you, mine is now working correctly. I was having some other issues on this imac and recently did a complete clean install and it solved my problems. The diagnostics run smoothly and goes right to work, not asking me to select a language.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

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Answer 11

jrmyeh

Level 1

34 points

Jan 3, 2015 8:09 AM in response to Ramblinmanva

Thanks Clayton - I'm afraid I may be headed there eventually (another clean install).

Just to confirm, are you running latest Yosemite?

Thanks again,

J

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Answer 12

Ramblinmanva Author

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84 points

Jan 3, 2015 8:10 AM in response to jrmyeh

Yes, I am. I performed a re-install of the software and some of my issues persisted. Only doing a full clean install seems to have solved the problems I was having.

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