Cannot get iMac to boot in recovery mode

Question

Cannot get iMac to boot in recovery mode

I gave my husband my old iMac after he got me a nice, shiny iMac for Christmas. I specifically told him NOT to turn on automatic updates and to run what he wants to update by me and of course, this request was ignored.

He got a bad update and I just want to reinstall the OS without losing data but it just won't boot up into recovery mode. His update caused it to reboot or start up with a black screen for a ridiculously long time then take it's sweet time loading on the white screen with the apple logo and progress bar.

This happens whether I do this from the machine turned off or as a restart:

Restart > hear it go "on" > hit cmd&R keys and hold them until I see the apple (this takes a full 10 minutes) > let keys go.

Computer then hangs here at the apple for another few minutes then the screen goes black again, the Cminor note chimes and the screen reboots once again to the apple screen and hangs there, rinse and repeat one more time until it boots up to the login screen.

The above happens whether I try to hold the cmd&R keys each time it goes black or not.
I have been at this repeatedly for 3 hours now. I really wish there was an easier way to boot into recovery mode.

The machine is running Sierra (not high Sierra).
It's a 2009 build. It was just fine until he updated and when that happened (about a month ago) I found others with this same issue on an update.

Any help getting this thing to boot into recovery mode would be appreciated.

*edit to add: I was following the instructions on booting in recovery mode via this link (has always worked for me)
How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.8), null

Posted on Mar 1, 2018 10:16 AM

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Answer 1

Stuart423

Level 6

9,258 points

Mar 1, 2018 10:32 AM in response to Twitchin Kitten

Here's an idea of what's happening on each of those steps you mentioned: About the screens you see when your Mac starts up - Apple Support

Recovering to the current OS might not be possible if the 'bad update' corrupted and corroded the plumbing inside the Mac. You might consider the ctrl-option-shift-r choice...takes you backward, but gives you solid ground to start from.

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Answer 2

Mar 2, 2018 1:11 PM in response to Stuart423

Stuart423 wrote:

Here's an idea of what's happening on each of those steps you mentioned: About the screens you see when your Mac starts up - Apple Support

Recovering to the current OS might not be possible if the 'bad update' corrupted and corroded the plumbing inside the Mac. You might consider the ctrl-option-shift-r choice...takes you backward, but gives you solid ground to start from.

Thanks! I'll try once I run this by him to see if he's OK with the possibility of losing data as well.z

i'm just hoping it does boot up. If it doesn't I'm not sure how to fix this as I would have to reinstall any version of the OS in recovery mode and it just won't boot to that.

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Answer 3

Mar 3, 2018 3:00 PM in response to Stuart423

Stuart423, Ugh! and GAH!

I did get it to boot as you describe above and I did reinstall the OS without losing data, but it still takes so **** long to start up on a restart of from being straight up turned on.

So, now if this thing has a bad install and "the plumbing is corrupted" as you describe as a possibility of the issue, does this mean the hard drive is borked? Or the motherboard? Or something else? AND if it's either of any of these "plumbing" issues or something else, will a full on wipe and reformat do the trick or will I just be wasting my time and that Apple update killed a very reliable machine?

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Answer 4

Mar 4, 2018 11:01 AM in response to Stuart423

I decided to run a EtreCheck on the machine and here ya go. If anyone knows what this all means by all means lemme know!
I did notice "fitbit" in there somewhere and for the life of me the only fitbit in this thing was 3 years ago and this computer has been wiped out as if it's going to a new home twice since!

***********************

EtreCheck version: 2.6.6 (226)

Report generated 3/4/18, 13:48

Runtime 2:15

Download EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com

Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.

Hardware Information: (What does this mean?)

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)

[Click for Technical Specifications]

[Click for User Guide]

iMac - model: iMac11,1

1 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable

[Click for upgrade instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

4 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Video Information: (What does this mean?)

ATI Radeon HD 4850 - VRAM: 512 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440

System Software: (What does this mean?)

macOS 10.12.6 (16G29) - Time since boot: about one day

Disk Information: (What does this mean?)

ST31000528AS disk0 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 999.35 GB (634.93 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H ()

USB Information: (What does this mean?)

Apple Card Reader

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

GenesysLogic USB2.0 Hub

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Configuration files: (What does this mean?)

/etc/hosts - Count: 14

Gatekeeper: (What does this mean?)

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: (What does this mean?)

/Applications/HMA! Pro VPN.app

[not loaded] com.Privax.AppFirewall (1 - SDK 10.10) [Click for support]

/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.asix.driver.ax88772 (1.0.0 - SDK 10.9) [Click for support]

[not loaded] foo.tap (1.0) [Click for support]

[not loaded] foo.tun (1.0) [Click for support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.6.7 - SDK 10.7) [Click for support]

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.wacomtablet (6.2.0w4) [Click for support]

[not loaded] jp.co.yamaha.driver.YamahaUSBAudio (1.1.0f1 - SDK 10.6) [Click for support]

~/Library/Services/ToastIt.service/Contents/MacOS

[not loaded] com.roxio.TDIXController (2.0) [Click for support]

Startup Items: (What does this mean?)

tap: Path: /Library/StartupItems/tap

tun: Path: /Library/StartupItems/tun

Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

System Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.apple.bluetooth.PacketLogger.plist - /AppleInternal/DevTools/Hardware/PacketLogger.app/Contents/MacOS/PacketLogger: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist [Click for support]

System Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.apple.airplaydiagnostics.server.mac.plist - /AppleInternal/Applications/AirPlayDiagnostics.app/Contents/Resources/AirPlayDi agnosticsServer: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.apple.driver.ethcheck.plist - Invalid signature!

[loaded] com.apple.driver.ethcheckthunderbolt.plist - Invalid signature!

[loaded] com.apple.emlog.plist - No signature!

[loaded] com.apple.gkreport.plist - No signature!

[failed] com.apple.mobile.keybagd.plist - /usr/libexec/keybagd: Executable not found!

[loaded] com.apple.postfix.newaliases.plist - No signature!

[loaded] org.apache.httpd.plist - No signature!

[loaded] org.net-snmp.snmpd.plist - No signature!

Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a...plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist [Click for support]

[running] com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist [Click for support]

Launch Daemons: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]

[failed] com.fitbit.galileod.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.skype.skypeinstaller.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.Helper.plist [Click for support]

[loaded] com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist [Click for support]

User Launch Agents: (What does this mean?)

[loaded] com.nchsoftware.wavepad.schedule.LikeSurvey.plist [Click for support]

[running] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist [Click for support]

User Login Items: (What does this mean?)

GrowlHelperApp Application (~/Incompatible Software/Growl.prefPane/Contents/Resources/GrowlHelperApp.app)

iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Other Apps: (What does this mean?)

[running] 2BUA8C4S2C.com.agilebits.onepassword4-helper

[running] com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp.1080

[running] com.apple.xpc.launchd.oneshot.0x10000007.EtreCheck

[running] com.wacom.TabletDriver.1136

[running] com.wacom.Wacom_TouchDriver.1124

[running] org.mozilla.firefox.5404

Internet Plug-ins: (What does this mean?)

FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 28.0.0.161 - SDK 10.12 [Click for support]

QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 15.010.20056 - SDK 10.8 [Click for support]

AdobePDFViewer: Version: 9.0.0 [Click for support]

Flash Player: Version: 28.0.0.161 - SDK 10.12 [Click for support]

WacomNetscape: Version: 1.1.1-1 [Click for support]

Silverlight: Version: 5.1.50709.0 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]

WacomTabletPlugin: Version: WacomTabletPlugin 2.0.0.4 [Click for support]

JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 15.0.1 - SDK 10.12 Check version

Safari Extensions: (What does this mean?)

1Password

3rd Party Preference Panes: (What does this mean?)

Flash Player [Click for support]

WacomTablet [Click for support]

Time Machine: (What does this mean?)

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 999.35 GB Disk used: 364.42 GB

Destinations:

Dalek Caan [Local]

Total size: 999.73 GB

Total number of backups: 19

Oldest backup: 2/10/18, 11:18

Last backup: 3/1/18, 04:19

Size of backup disk: Too small

Backup size 999.73 GB < (Disk used 364.42 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: (What does this mean?)

3% WindowServer

2% fontd

2% plugin-container(4)

1% kernel_task

0% SystemUIServer

Top Processes by Memory: (What does this mean?)

2.66 GB plugin-container(4)

1.15 GB firefox

1.06 GB softwareupdated

833 MB kernel_task

213 MB mds_stores

Virtual Memory Information: (What does this mean?)

5.58 GB Free RAM

10.00 GB Used RAM (3.65 GB Cached)

0 B Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: (What does this mean?)

Mar 3, 2018, 11:17:37 AM Self test - passed

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Cannot get iMac to boot in recovery mode

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