27" iMac won't boot properly after power outage

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27" iMac won't boot properly after power outage

Help! My iMac won’t boot properly following a power outage. I left my iMac in sleep mode and we lost power due to a thunderstorm. When I turned it back on, it chimed, got the Apple logo then white screen with spinning pinwheel (beach ball). I am a freelance videographer and editor, so my computer is my livelihood. Yes, I know, I should have had it plugged into an APC, but I can’t afford to have it repaired professionally and I would appreciate any tips on what could be the problem. Here are the specs of my computer:

27” iMac OS X v. 10.7.5 Lion

2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 Processor

12GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Here are the troubleshooting steps I’ve taken so far:

Rebooted in OS X Recovery mode and ran disk utility, after verifying the disk, it said “The Volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK”
Reset the SMC
Reset the NVRAM
Launched Single User Mode by shutting the iMac down and turning it back on while pressing Command-S. At the command-line prompt, I typed fsck –fy and hit return. After the checks were complete, I got the message that “The Volume appears to by OK”
Launched disk utility again in recovery mode and ran Repair Permissions
Performed a safe boot and it came up fine. Of course, I was unable to connect any peripheral devices to run a quick backups of anything I’ve done since June 2^nd, but I’ll deal with that later.
Shut down the computer and left it unplugged from back of iMac and the surge protector for 24 hours. The next day I plugged it back in and just walked away for an hour. When I came back, it was on the login screen. I was so excited that everything was fine. However, it took over 15 minutes to login and once I was logged in, it would take over 30 mins to just open applications, so something is still wrong. It has never run that slow.
The only thing I have not done yet is reinstall Mountain Lion. I’m hesitant in doing that since it runs fine in safe mode. Would the operating system be the problem if it runs fine in safe mode? My last time machine backups was on 2 June, so I’m not too worried about reloaded the OS X and losing data, I just don’t want to take that step if it’s not necessary.

What is a logic board failure? If it fails, would my computer still run in safe mode? Based on the troubleshooting steps I've taken so far and the fact it did start after an hour, but runs too slow to do anything, what could be the problem? I would greatly appreciate any advice or recommendations for this issue. Thanks!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jul 16, 2015 8:45 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 16, 2015 8:50 AM in response to jpfedele

It is possbile that a power surge damaged one or more devices connected to your Mac, and not the Mac itself.

Try disconnecting all peripherals and then see if you can startup.

Tom

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Answer 2

jpfedele Author

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Jul 16, 2015 10:46 AM in response to Tom Nelson1

Tom,

I already tried that when I reset the SMC. I unplugged everything from the back (two removable hard drives, mbox mini for Pro Tools, and speakers). Right now, I don't have any peripherals plugged into the iMac and it still won't boot properly. Stuck on a white screen with spinning pinwheel.

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Answer 3

Csound1

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59,973 points

Jul 16, 2015 10:47 AM in response to jpfedele

Unplug it, wait 30 minutes, plug it in and turn it on.

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Answer 4

jpfedele Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 16, 2015 10:53 AM in response to Csound1

Did that, several times, and it didn't work. I even left it unplugged for over 24 hours.

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Answer 5

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 16, 2015 11:01 AM in response to jpfedele

Boot to Safe Mode and run this: Etrecheck. Post the report here.

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Answer 6

jpfedele Author

Level 1

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Jul 16, 2015 11:17 AM in response to Csound1

Dumb question...how do I do that? If my iMac is only working in safe mode and I'm unable to get on the internet, how can run that program? Even if I download it from another computer, I'm unable to connect any peripheral devices to load and run it. What's your recommendation?

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Answer 7

Csound1

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Jul 16, 2015 11:37 AM in response to jpfedele

Use a wired connection, not wireless.

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Answer 8

MichelPM

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Jul 16, 2015 1:14 PM in response to jpfedele

Do you have a backup external hard drive with a bootable OS X on it that you can boot into to see if your Mac can boot to that?

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Answer 9

jpfedele Author

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Jul 17, 2015 6:54 AM in response to MichelPM

I have a removable hard drive I used for Time Machine backups. Would the bootable OS X be on that or is that something I was supposed to load myself on that removable drive? Is there a way to check if I have a bootable OS X on that hard drive?

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Answer 10

MichelPM

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Jul 17, 2015 7:19 AM in response to jpfedele

You can't boot a Time Machine Backup.

You needed to create a copy (clone) of your entire Mac's system to another external hard drive using a data cloning utility like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper or even using OS X Disk Utility app that has a similar copying operation.

If you haven't done this prior to your Mac issues, then currently, it's too late, now.

Once your system is back up and running, it would be a good idea to purchase a high speed, good quality FireWire or Thundebolt external drive and create a cloned (copy) bootable backup of your running Mac system.

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Answer 11

jpfedele Author

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Jul 17, 2015 8:02 AM in response to MichelPM

Thanks so much! That's nice to know. I'm sure I saved the OS X DVD that came with my iMac, I just have to find it. Can I boot from that or will that wipe out my machine and reset everything to factory settings? Another question, if everything seems fine in Safe Mode, what do you think is my problem with booting normally? I've read some stuff online about logic board failures. Is replacing a logic board something I could do or leave that a professional?

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Answer 12

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Jul 17, 2015 8:17 AM in response to jpfedele

If it boots in Safe mode it is most likely to be a 3rd party OS utility or kext that is preventing boot, Safe mode disables all 3rd party extensions at boot. The trick is finding which one it is.

Did you download Etrecheck and run the report as I asked?

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Answer 13

MichelPM

Level 10

80,980 points

Jul 17, 2015 8:19 AM in response to jpfedele

If your Mac came with gray colored install discs, then you can boot to this disc, holding down the C key at startup and see if your Mac boots to the disc.

If it boots to your original install disks, it will immediately go to the installer, first. You can quit the installer app and allow the Finder to load and use OS X disk Utility to try and repair your Mac's internal hard drive.

Also, you can use that OS disk to install OS X to a properly Mac formatted external hard drive, then update the OS on that drive at a later date after the initial install from disc to external hard drive.

If your Mac's Logic board was fried, your Mac would NOT be working, at all!

Let this be an expensive lesson to you. If you do professional work, your workstation and computer needs to be professional, as well.

This means having your computer and important peripherals connected into a good quality Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) AND multiple external backups sources with, at least, one backup source/drive having a bootable and current OS running on it.

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