Can't boot into OS X nor Windows on iMac

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Level 1

13 points

Can't boot into OS X nor Windows on iMac

Hi,

I was playing Call of Duty 2 on Windows (via Bootcamp). All of a sudden, the game's graphics glitched a little, then the screen went black (like when the iMac is shut down, except I could still hear the computer running). This never happened before and I've been playing CoD for the past 2-3 months and also another game for years. When this happened, I force shut down my computer by pressing the button on the back for a few seconds. Then I tried booting back to Windows, but when the screen went from white to black, it stayed black, and not black-lit (?), but black, as in when the computer is shut down. So, again, I did a force shut down and this time I tried to boot into OS X. The little Apple logo and progress bar both appeared and the bar loaded 100%, then when it switched from the logo & bar to the login screen with the icons of the accounts, both screens were present, meaning, the loading screen was basically 50% opacity over the login screen and I could not click on the little circular icons of the accounts "in the background". So, again the computer did not respond to anything and I did another force shut down. Next, I tried again booting into Windows and it was a success. I chose to start Windows normally, then when I logged into my account, a message welcomed me saying I experienced a blue screen of death (even though the blue screen never appeared because it was pitch black). I clicked OK (or whatever the option was there) and tried using the computer as if nothing really happened. Then when I opened Chrome and restored the tabs that were closed (about 15-20, I know, too many) the blue screen of death actually appeared and the computer restarted on its own, but when it did restart (my computer automatically boots into Windows unless chosen otherwise) the screen went black again, as if the computer was shut down. So I tried to boot into OS X again, and now not only does it not get to the 50% opacity screen thing, at around one third of the progress bar the screen goes completely white and nothing happens after that.

I hope everything makes sense... Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be and how I could solve it? Thanks in advance!

I'm running Windows 7 via BootCamp and Yosemite on a late-2009 27" iMac.

Posted on Jun 26, 2015 3:57 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jun 26, 2015 4:02 PM in response to briansc

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Alternatively, see:

Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Choose the version you have installed now:

OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

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