Imac reboots to "?" folder - done all steps found

[swoops4fun]

Hey All,

My Mac has been running great for some time now - several years. Now it will randomly reboot itself and comes up to the flashing folder with a ?
I power down for a minute, turn back on and all is for for another time frame.
I have performed all the recommended steps found online at start up, ran a virus scan after successful login.
I'm fresh out of ideas so I thought I would see what anyone thought.

Thanks

John





macOS Catalina 10.15.7
iMac 27" Late 2013
3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel i5
32GB 1600MHz DDR3

 

[TonyAguila]

Hey All,

My Mac has been running great for some time now - several years. Now it will randomly reboot itself and comes up to the flashing folder with a ?
I power down for a minute, turn back on and all is for for another time frame.
I have performed all the recommended steps found online at start up, ran a virus scan after successful login.
I'm fresh out of ideas so I thought I would see what anyone thought.

Thanks

John





macOS Catalina 10.15.7
iMac 27" Late 2013
3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel i5
32GB 1600MHz DDR3

Good job supplying your system information short of specifying if you have a hard/fusion main drive or SSD. The flashing “?” is almost always an indication of problems with the startup drive. Your model ID, by the way, is “iMac14,2.” If you are able to boot into Recovery (hold down ⌘-R immediately on restart), you can choose to reinstall macOS Catalina. Reinstalling macOS will fix most of the software issues, but not firmware or hardmare problems. And if you have flash storage (SSD) for your main drive, you probably have to turn TRIM on. Let’s see first what reinstalling macOS does. Good luck.

 

[swoops4fun]

Thanks for your reply Tony
Not sure what you mean by model ID is "iMac 14.2" thought
I have performed at boot up, first aid from disk utility, reinstalled OS. and reset the NVRAM.

I have a 1TB SATA hard drive.
Whatcha think is the next step sir?

 

[TonyAguila]

Thanks for your reply Tony
Not sure what you mean by model ID is "iMac 14.2" thought
I have performed at boot up, first aid from disk utility, reinstalled OS. and reset the NVRAM.

I have a 1TB SATA hard drive.
Whatcha think is the next step sir?

iMac14,2 is your model ID. It tells a lot about your configuration without bothering to spell everything out. The only variables not covered by the model ID are the options, such as amount of memory or drive size.

Resetting your parameter RAM will disable TRIM from your system. You just need to reboot, and preferably from a Safe Boot, open Terminal and enter this command:

sudo trimforce enable <enter>

It will ask you for your admin password and ask for your consent, twice, I think. It will then lead you to restarting. That’s it. To verify, you need to open Systems Settings, and more info, and look for the place that details your internal SSD. Things differ from different versions of macOS, but start with System Report. There should be a place there that confirms this. TRIM is vital for the long-term health of your SSD. It’s often referred to as “garbage collection.” This also affects not just your internal SSD, but all SSDs connected to your Mac.