jim49b
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Is there any reason for El Capitan not working on recent iMac?

I was running OSX Yosemite on a 20" iMac purchased new in May of this year.Had great difficulty installing. Took numerous reboots, and a command/recovery operation. Removed all peripherals, and was finally able to complete installation. Now, all I get is the circle of death, not responding to any commands. Turned off computer, and restarted several times, and finally could not even log-in. In desperation, performed another command/recovery operation and restored system to day before El Capitan installation. Seems to be working fine now, but very disappointed with El Capitan experience so far. Strangely, was able to install on first try on 2011 MacbookPro from which I am writing this post.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Oct 5, 2015 7:48 AM

by poikkeus1,Solvedanswer
poikkeus1 poikkeus1
Level 4 (1,602 points)
iPad
A:

I'd see the reason why you might have some difficult installing on a 20" iMac. Older computer, slower processor.  However, you should have no problem installing  on your relatively new machine.

 

Just to cover the basics: Make sure you're 100% backed up. Make sure El Capitan is downloaded into a 8GB thumb drive. Make sure copies of your software are saved, with the serial numbers. Before your proceed further, make sure to disable anti-virus utilities; they can make your new install a **** on earth. In fact, you might want to start off by disabling the anti-virus, because that could be thing that's stopping your install.

 

You have three options: downgrade to Yosemite, which worked for your before; reinstall El Capitan again with antivirus off; or clean install El Capitan. Post here once you've made your decision.

Posted on Oct 5, 2015 10:08 AM

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jim49b

Q: Is there any reason for El Capitan not working on recent iMac?

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  • by jim49b,

    jim49b jim49b Oct 5, 2015 9:45 AM in response to jim49b
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 5, 2015 9:45 AM in response to jim49b

    Correction to equipment described above: 21.5" late 2013 iMac, purchased earlier this year with 2.7 GHz, i5 chip and 8GB RAM

  • by JimmyCMPIT,Helpful

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Nov 3, 2015 6:43 AM in response to jim49b
    Level 6 (8,476 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 3, 2015 6:43 AM in response to jim49b

    It's not out of the question to have an install "go wrong" and sometimes what you did (reinstall) is a viable solution.

    If the mac starts showing signs of serious instability you may consider restoring to a previous known working OS (provided you have a backup)

    or redownloading 10.11 and performing a clean reinstall, then restoring your data (either way have a backup)

     

    you have 90 days of complementary support from Apple, but if you purchased apple care it's 3 years of support. You may wish to contact them, and you may also considering running the diagnostic tools on your Mac to either tell you there is something more to this or that your Hardware checks out. Even without AppleCare your HW has a year of support and if there is a problem better to discover it now.

     

    https://www.apple.com/support/contact/

     

    Using Apple Diagnostics - Apple Support

  • by poikkeus1,Solvedanswer

    poikkeus1 poikkeus1 Oct 5, 2015 10:08 AM in response to jim49b
    Level 4 (1,602 points)
    iPad
    Oct 5, 2015 10:08 AM in response to jim49b

    I'd see the reason why you might have some difficult installing on a 20" iMac. Older computer, slower processor.  However, you should have no problem installing  on your relatively new machine.

     

    Just to cover the basics: Make sure you're 100% backed up. Make sure El Capitan is downloaded into a 8GB thumb drive. Make sure copies of your software are saved, with the serial numbers. Before your proceed further, make sure to disable anti-virus utilities; they can make your new install a **** on earth. In fact, you might want to start off by disabling the anti-virus, because that could be thing that's stopping your install.

     

    You have three options: downgrade to Yosemite, which worked for your before; reinstall El Capitan again with antivirus off; or clean install El Capitan. Post here once you've made your decision.