VladMatvei
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: iMac (27) does not boot.

Good day,

 

I have been using my iMac for over 4 years now and I have never experienced any problems with it. Yesterday, a popup window appeared saying that my machine has some problems with graphics. I have clicked to report this issue and the screen of my iMac turned white.

 

Now, I am not even able to boot my iMac. Sometimes it freezes on white screen (no logo, no spinning loading icon) or spontaneously turns off on loading bar. I thought reinstalling the O.S. would solve my issue, so I have made a bootable USB Yosemite installer. I have tried to open the installation via the option button on boot however, the same problem occurs; the iMac either turns off or freezes on white screen.

 

Could anyone tell me what could be the problem with my machine?

 

Many thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Dec 16, 2014 12:23 PM

Close
VladMatvei

Q: iMac (27) does not boot.

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Dec 16, 2014 12:27 PM in response to VladMatvei
    Level 10 (271,794 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 16, 2014 12:27 PM in response to VladMatvei

    I'm assuming that when you boot using the OPTION button that the boot manager screen appears as it should. if so that would suggest the display panel is fine. I would suspect a dead hard drive.

  • by VladMatvei,

    VladMatvei VladMatvei Dec 16, 2014 12:32 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2014 12:32 PM in response to Kappy

    Yes, the screen manager appears when OPTION button is clicked. Is it possible to run a hard drive test via single-user mode (command line)?

  • by Kappy,Helpful

    Kappy Kappy Dec 16, 2014 12:59 PM in response to VladMatvei
    Level 10 (271,794 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 16, 2014 12:59 PM in response to VladMatvei

    Yes.

     

    Boot into single-user mode.  After startup is completed you will be in command line mode and should see a prompt with a cursor positioned after it.  At the prompt enter the following then press RETURN:

     

    /sbin/fsck -fy

     

    If you receive a message that says "***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****" then re-run the command until you receive a message that says "** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK."  If you re-run the command more than seven times and do not get the OK message, then the drive cannot be repaired this way. If you were successful then enter:

     

    reboot

     

    and press RETURN to restart the computer.

     

    Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

  • by VladMatvei,

    VladMatvei VladMatvei Dec 16, 2014 1:29 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2014 1:29 PM in response to Kappy

    Thank you Kappy, this is the message I receive:

     

    The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired after 3 attempts.

    *****The volume was modified *****

     

    Do you think erasing the HD could solve the problem? Maybe this is just a catalog corruption and my mac is not able to repair it?

  • by Kappy,Helpful

    Kappy Kappy Dec 16, 2014 2:03 PM in response to VladMatvei
    Level 10 (271,794 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 16, 2014 2:03 PM in response to VladMatvei

    I do not know. There are some corruption errors that Disk Utility/fsck cannot fix. But no way to know if the drive directory is corrupted or the drive has failed. All you can do is try to fix it. Boot from your Snow Leopard installer disk and run Disk Utility from it.