My 2009 iMac with osx Lion will not start up.

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My 2009 iMac with osx Lion will not start up.

I see a gray screen with an apple and a spinning circle. I have tried pressing shift on start-up, as well as the Alt, Cmd, R & P keys, to no avail. I have had to shut down using the start up button on the back of the computer. I don't have a copy of Snow Leopard, my original operating system. I have two questions. Is there any other way to shut down then using the power button? I'm afraid I'm damaging the operating system or computer. How can I restore or repair my computer?

Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Aug 30, 2015 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

sterling r

Community Specialist

Aug 31, 2015 1:04 PM in response to mlthaxton

Hi mlthaxton,

It sounds like your computer is having trouble booting your computer, even to Safe Mode. You can indeed force the computer to turn off and in a case like this it would be appropriate to do so if it is not responding at all to you:

Shortcut Description

Power button Hold for 5 seconds to force your Mac to turn off.

From: Mac keyboard shortcuts

Then I would attempt booting into the Recovery partition with this process and checking the disk for errors with this article:

OS X: About OS X Recovery

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

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Answer 2

mlthaxton Author

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Sep 2, 2015 7:34 AM in response to sterling r

Thanks sterling r.

I was able to reboot my iMac using command + R and then access the utilities window. I wanted to try and repair the disk, but the only active button was Verify Disk Permissions. I selected it, but the time to verify was 4 days. After 30 hours the utility stopped verifying the disk permissions.

I then clicked on the verify icon (the microscope) and was able to verify the disk. I got the message that the disk needed repairing, the utility gave me an error message and told me that the disk could not be repaired.

Is there anyway that I can now backup iPhoto library before reinstalling the OS? I am unsure of how comprehensive the most recent backups have been and that I may lose 2-3 months of most recent photos.

mlthaxton

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Answer 3

sterling r

Community Specialist

Sep 6, 2015 2:47 PM in response to mlthaxton

Thanks for the update!

In order to copy off files before you reinstall the OS, it looks like you will have to use Target Disk Mode to use another computer to copy them off:

Share files between two computers with target disk mode

What is target disk mode and when should I use it?

Target disk mode lets you share files between two Mac computers with FireWire or Thunderbolt ports. This is useful when you need high transfer speeds. This is also useful if the display on one of your computers isn't working and you need to get files from the computer.

Alternatively, you can also use AirDrop to share files between two Mac computers wirelessly. For more information, see Mac Basics: AirDrop.

How to set up and use target disk mode

To get started, connect your two computers with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. Then, follow these steps.

If the computer that you'll use as a disk is off, start it up while holding down the T key and skip to step four. Otherwise, click the Apple () menu and choose System Preferences.

Click Startup Disk and then click Target Disk Mode.

You will see a message asking "Are you sure you want to restart your computer in target disk mode?" Click Restart.

Once the computer starts up in Target Disk Mode, it will appear as a disk icon on the desktop of the other computer. Double-click the disk to open it and browse the files on that computer.

Transfer files by dragging them to or from the disk.

Eject the disk by dragging its icon to the Trash (the Trash icon will change to an Eject icon when you do this).

To exit target disk mode, press and hold the power button on the computer you used as a disk. Then disconnect the cable.

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Answer 4

mlthaxton Author

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Sep 22, 2015 5:54 PM in response to sterling r

Thank you, sterling r.

I had no idea that copying files was so easy. Thanks for clueing me into target mode. I was able to save all of my files.

After restoring to progressively earlier backups, my computer still will not boot up. So, I will next try a fresh OS install from online. If my computer is still hanging once I do the fresh install, can I safely assume that I have a hardware issue? If so, would the issue most probably be the hard drive?

There is one other issue. The iMac came with 4gb of RAM. I upgraded several years ago to 8gb. The new RAM worked well until I tried upgrading to Mavericks. The computer would automatically start in utility mode. To solve this, I switched back to the original 4gb of RAM. That was about 3 months before my computer stopped booting up. So, could the fact that I was swapping the RAM in and out be a factor in the computer not booting up now?

Thanks again.

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Answer 5

mlthaxton Author

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Sep 22, 2015 5:57 PM in response to mlthaxton

and just to be clear, after switching back to the original RAM, I stopped the Mavericks installation. I still have Lion as my OS.

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Answer 6

sterling r

Community Specialist

Oct 1, 2015 1:36 PM in response to mlthaxton

Hi mlthaxton,

I'm glad to hear that you were able to back up your files using Target Disk Mode.

Generally, erasing your Mac and starting with a new OS X installation would indicate a hardware issue, if the situation persists.
Third party RAM may have been a factor in the issues you saw a few months ago. From the information given, it's hard to say if it would have led to the issues you're seeing now.

If your Mac still doesn't boot to OS X after a clean install using Internet Recovery, you may want to look into hardware diagnostic or service options using the following link:

http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United_States&product=Macd esktops

Best Regards.

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