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- Mar 12, 2024
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Hello! I am having trouble finding answers on how to fix my iMac (bought new in 2020). It has been working perfectly since I got it, never laggy or anything. I used it last in early February and everything was fine and normal, and then I had a few weeks where I didn’t use my computer, it was shut down (but not unplugged). A week ago we had a really bad electrical storm, I believe it may have hit our house because it completely cooked our modem (could literally smell it). Every other appliance seems to be fine, including my parents iMac, just the router needed to be replaced.
The problem: After this storm I turned my computer on, everything seemed normal, no lag or anything until about 2 minutes using it. I obviously wasn’t using internet because our wifi was dead, just checking files to get something printed and it suddenly froze. I thought maybe my mouse had run out of battery but after maybe 30 seconds, the computer turned off, a few seconds later turned back on with the chime and apple logo, like it had done a restart. I was confused but thought maybe it was self fixing a lag so I logged back in but after another couple of minutes using it, the exact same thing happened.
Of course I immediately panicked because I hadn’t backed things up in a while, so the next time it turned on I quickly plugged in my portable external hard drive (which I haven’t used in months btw so it’s not that) and copied the irreplaceable things I needed across and ejected it before it restarted again. So as far as losing anything on it, I am safe - but I really cannot afford a new computer right now.
When I shut down, it often turns back on just to keep freezing and restarting - I have to unplug it to stop this.
Things I have tried:
- I restarted it in safe mode
- Unplugged the computer from the wall for a week (and Ethernet cable for good measure)
- As it was restarting I held down option+command+p+r to reset the NVRAM / PRAM, tried this multiple times
- Unplugged the computer and held the power button down (a video suggested that to “flush” the excess power, no idea if that even makes sense) which I was weirdly hopeful would work since this started happening after an electrical storm
- I attempted to complete the latest macOS update but the computer keeps freezing + restarting before it has even downloaded the update
- Rebooting in recovery mode (command+R) to reinstall the macOS. Freezes and restarts before it can complete
- Uninstalling 2 applications I was suspicious could be causing the issue (Soundflower and Adobe Acrobat)
Things that may be causing this:
- Power surge from electrical storm causing a hardware issue instead of software issue, like my modem. Maybe the lightning fried something
- Out of date macOS (reboots before I can update it or before it finishes updating)
- An out of date software (I uninstalled 2 applications during some of the windows I can use before it freezes and reboots)
- Maybe a virus?? (Unlikely because I hadn’t used in a while)
Any advice would be SO appreciated, I am not great with computers so if you could explain things as simply as possible that would be great!
The problem: After this storm I turned my computer on, everything seemed normal, no lag or anything until about 2 minutes using it. I obviously wasn’t using internet because our wifi was dead, just checking files to get something printed and it suddenly froze. I thought maybe my mouse had run out of battery but after maybe 30 seconds, the computer turned off, a few seconds later turned back on with the chime and apple logo, like it had done a restart. I was confused but thought maybe it was self fixing a lag so I logged back in but after another couple of minutes using it, the exact same thing happened.
Of course I immediately panicked because I hadn’t backed things up in a while, so the next time it turned on I quickly plugged in my portable external hard drive (which I haven’t used in months btw so it’s not that) and copied the irreplaceable things I needed across and ejected it before it restarted again. So as far as losing anything on it, I am safe - but I really cannot afford a new computer right now.
When I shut down, it often turns back on just to keep freezing and restarting - I have to unplug it to stop this.
Things I have tried:
- I restarted it in safe mode
- Unplugged the computer from the wall for a week (and Ethernet cable for good measure)
- As it was restarting I held down option+command+p+r to reset the NVRAM / PRAM, tried this multiple times
- Unplugged the computer and held the power button down (a video suggested that to “flush” the excess power, no idea if that even makes sense) which I was weirdly hopeful would work since this started happening after an electrical storm
- I attempted to complete the latest macOS update but the computer keeps freezing + restarting before it has even downloaded the update
- Rebooting in recovery mode (command+R) to reinstall the macOS. Freezes and restarts before it can complete
- Uninstalling 2 applications I was suspicious could be causing the issue (Soundflower and Adobe Acrobat)
Things that may be causing this:
- Power surge from electrical storm causing a hardware issue instead of software issue, like my modem. Maybe the lightning fried something
- Out of date macOS (reboots before I can update it or before it finishes updating)
- An out of date software (I uninstalled 2 applications during some of the windows I can use before it freezes and reboots)
- Maybe a virus?? (Unlikely because I hadn’t used in a while)
Any advice would be SO appreciated, I am not great with computers so if you could explain things as simply as possible that would be great!