Imac wont boot - anything!

[Kaywam]

Dear Mac friends!

I have a late 2012 imac. It recently crashed compleatly and would not boot agen. Tried deleting OS and do a recovery, but none of the install options work like boot from usb, recovery by internett or safemode etc.

I figured it was a HDD issue, and bought a new SSD and swaped the old one (phu, what a job). I also changed the Ram while at it. (Way nice job


However, i still have the same issue:

it freze during install/boot, both from usb boot and both recovery options. i have tried every startup key combination there is, nothing gets me forward.


Running diagnostic it tells me all is well with hardware. Im pretty handy with mac, but now im at a loss of options for what to do. Any suggestions?


Running it in verbose mode it stops at something with apfs rebuild?


and in when i tried booting it from usb in Linux hoping i could get somewhere there it stops at acpi error .. same with Elementery OS.


Anyone have any suggestions on where to go from here??

 

[honestone]

Need to ask you some questions:

1. How are you making posts here? Are you using another Mac? If so, what exact model is it?

2. What exact Mac OS have you been using?

3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You can actually dod a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent products available (both free and commercial) that can help you with those tasks.

4. This is critical: have you been backups to an external device? If so, what software did you use to do that?

 

[Kaywam]

Need to ask you some questions:

1. How are you making posts here? Are you using another Mac? If so, what exact model is it?

2. What exact Mac OS have you been using?

3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You can actually dod a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent products available (both free and commercial) that can help you with those tasks.

4. This is critical: have you been backups to an external device? If so, what software did you use to do that?

I am new to this forum, so im not sure if this is spam or something else?
None of what you ask seems relevant to my question. Sorry.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

No, it's not SPAM. honestone is just asking for a little more information in order to help out.

-Some of the info in your screenshot seems to be related to Linux. Do you have Linux installed and/or have you done anything with EFI dual boot?
-Can you list the diagnostic results?

C

 

[Kaywam]

Hi! Thanx for clarifying, and for engaging

I got my macbook pro next to my imac, and i used it to create three different sets of bootable usb OS. High Sierra, Ubuntu and Elementry. None of wich would start up at my imac.
The High Sierra freze, just like it does when trying to boot from Internet recovery.

The two linux os, both freze as well. I attach a photo of the Linux messaage below.

 

[Kaywam]

Here is a screenshot of where the Verbose mode freze when trying to load high sierra from a bootable usb.
The same happens when trying to load the original OS - from internett recovery

 

[Kaywam]

Need to ask you some questions:

1. How are you making posts here? Are you using another Mac? If so, what exact model is it? It is the
iMac Intel 27" EMC 2546

2. What exact Mac OS have you been using?
I have tried bogh High sierra and tje original os from internet recovery.

3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You can actually dod a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent products available (both free and commercial) that can help you with those tasks.
Yes i have done some, but right now i have a clean brand new ssd installed, formated to apples extended journal.

4. This is critical: have you been backups to an external device? If so, what software did you use to do that?

Hi,

Need to ask you some questions:
I got a time machime backup from the old hard drive, but it wont work either.
1. How are you making posts here? Are you using another Mac? If so, what exact model is it?

2. What exact Mac OS have you been using?

3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, from a software perspective? You can actually dod a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent products available (both free and commercial) that can help you with those tasks.

4. This is critical: have you been backups to an external device? If so, what software did you use to do that?

 

[honestone]

I am new to this forum, so im not sure if this is spam or something else?
None of what you ask seems relevant to my question. Sorry.

Although Cory did "clarify" this, I certainly did not appreciate what you stated above. If you look at my history, you'll see that I have made a number of posts here, have always been helpful to folks, and a number of my posts get "liked" by others.

As Cory so correctly stated, I was just attempting to get more needed information. A number of folks come on here expecting a "one button/keystroke" solution, but that is NEVER the case.

Also, regarding your statement above:

"iMac Intel 27" EMC 2546"

It was NOT the iMac I was asking about, as per your first post, you stated you were having issues with your iMac. I asked specifically if you had another Mac that you were using to make posts here.

 

[Kaywam]

Although Cory did "clarify" this, I certainly did not appreciate what you stated above. If you look at my history, you'll see that I have made a number of posts here, have always been helpful to folks, and a number of my posts get "liked" by others.

As Cory so correctly stated, I was just attempting to get more needed information. A number of folks come on here expecting a "one button/keystroke" solution, but that is NEVER the case.

Also, regarding your statement above:

"iMac Intel 27" EMC 2546"

It was NOT the iMac I was asking about, as per your first post, you stated you were having issues with your iMac. I asked specifically if you had another Mac that you were using to make posts here.

I truly am sorry. I was not trying to offend, and was perhaps to casual in my comment. English is not my first language, so perhaps i missed something in translation too.
I do come asking for help, and am gratefull for all i can get!

My laptop is a MPXV2HA MacBook Pro 13"TB i5 3.1GHz/8G.
Mostly im writing on my phone though..

Kay

 

[honestone]

I appreciate the apology. However, I would think that taking care of a Mac is just like taking care of an automobile, and such a task is language independent. Yes, Macs are (typically) reliable machines, just like automobiles manufactured by either Honda or Toyota. But even with that being the case, it is imperative to follow the scheduled maintenance for automobiles, and even Hondas or Toyotas. Plus, depending on tool availability and how knowledgeable one is, one can perform some (maybe a lot?) of maintenance themselves on cars. Same is true for Macs.

In any event, the reason for the question about another Mac is that it is possible to try and use it to "repair" your iMac. However, given that you want to use 3 different operating systems with it does make things complicated. If it was just due to High Sierra, then offering some detailed help, at least on my part, would be "easier". But using the other two operating systems does complicate manners.

Maybe you could explain the need to use Ubuntu and Elementry.

 

[Kaywam]

I appreciate the apology. However, I would think that taking care of a Mac is just like taking care of an automobile, and such a task is language independent. Yes, Macs are (typically) reliable machines, just like automobiles manufactured by either Honda or Toyota. But even with that being the case, it is imperative to follow the scheduled maintenance for automobiles, and even Hondas or Toyotas. Plus, depending on tool availability and how knowledgeable one is, one can perform some (maybe a lot?) of maintenance themselves on cars. Same is true for Macs.

In any event, the reason for the question about another Mac is that it is possible to try and use it to "repair" your iMac. However, given that you want to use 3 different operating systems with it does make things complicated. If it was just due to High Sierra, then offering some detailed help, at least on my part, would be "easier". But using the other two operating systems does complicate manners.

Maybe you could explain the need to use Ubuntu and Elementry.

Thank you.
Uhm, i only want to run high sierra. But since i could not get it to boot, i thought i would try and boot another OS to see if it was possible to get them to boot.

Kay

 

[honestone]

OK. Since you only want to run High Sierra on your iMac, you can use your MacBook Pro to get this done. But there are some steps you need to go through. Additionally, even though you thought my initial post was "spam", you did not answer one question I asked (the critical one): have you been making backups of your iMac to an external device? This could be critical for this project.

The first question is, do you need anything at all from the iMac, ie, applications, files, folders, etc.? If you do, then this is where a prior backup is mandatory. If not, then fine.

OK, the steps you will need to do first are:

1. With your Mac Book Pro, download the latest version of High Sierra from the App Store. It will be V10.13.6, and when it completes, there will be a file entitled "Install macOS High Sierra" within your Applications folder.

2. You'll need to purchase a Thunderbolt-3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb--slid--product-MMEL2AM/A

You'll also need to purchase a Thunderbolt 2 cable:

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Thunde...531789178&sr=8-3&keywords=thunderbolt+2+cable

The reason for all that (in #2) is that your MacBook Pro has a Thunderbolt 3 port, whereas your iMac has 2 Thunderbolt ports.

OK, the next steps depend upon your answer to the question above about whether or not you need anything from your iMac (and thus have a backup). Once you answer that, I can provide detailed, step-by-step instructions as to what you need to do.

By the way, what Mac OS are you using on your MacBook Pro? And is the internal drive in your iMac a Hard Disk Drive (HDD)< or a Sold State Drive (SSD)? (I believe the one inside your MacBook Pro is an SSD).

 

[Kaywam]

OK. Since you only want to run High Sierra on your iMac, you can use your MacBook Pro to get this done. But there are some steps you need to go through. Additionally, even though you thought my initial post was "spam", you did not answer one question I asked (the critical one): have you been making backups of your iMac to an external device? This could be critical for this project.

The first question is, do you need anything at all from the iMac, ie, applications, files, folders, etc.? If you do, then this is where a prior backup is mandatory. If not, then fine.

OK, the steps you will need to do first are:

1. With your Mac Book Pro, download the latest version of High Sierra from the App Store. It will be V10.13.6, and when it completes, there will be a file entitled "Install macOS High Sierra" within your Applications folder.

2. You'll need to purchase a Thunderbolt-3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter:

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter?afid=p238|sEc33DURg-dc_mtid_1870765e38482_pcrid_246386725857_&cid=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb--slid--product-MMEL2AM/A

You'll also need to purchase a Thunderbolt 2 cable:

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-Thunde...531789178&sr=8-3&keywords=thunderbolt+2+cable

The reason for all that (in #2) is that your MacBook Pro has a Thunderbolt 3 port, whereas your iMac has 2 Thunderbolt ports.

OK, the next steps depend upon your answer to the question above about whether or not you need anything from your iMac (and thus have a backup). Once you answer that, I can provide detailed, step-by-step instructions as to what you need to do.

By the way, what Mac OS are you using on your MacBook Pro? And is the internal drive in your iMac a Hard Disk Drive (HDD)< or a Sold State Drive (SSD)? (I believe the one inside your MacBook Pro is an SSD).

My iMac used to have a 3TBHDD but after the freeze, I exchanged it for a new 250gbSSD.
I don't need any files from my old one.
I will borrow the cables from my friend tomorrow, so please describe the idea you got in full so I can give it a try?

Kay

 

[honestone]

OK, but you still did not answer 2 of my questions:

1. Have you ever run backups? (I suspect the answer is no). If you have not, it would be imperative if you purchase an external drive and start to make backups for both of your Macs.

2. What specific Mac OS are you running on your Mac Book Pro?

And just to clarify something: you now have a 250 gig SSD inside the iMac, correct? What brand/model is it? And what did you do with the 3 TB HDD?

After you answer those questions, and after you download High Sierra from the App Store with your Mac Book Pro, and after you obtain the (correct) adapter and the cable, I can then provide a step-by-step process you can do through.

 

[Kaywam]

Hehe, thanx for the advice
I do run time machine backup on my macs, as mentioned earlier. But since i got all my main documents in icloud, i dont need it as much. I did try to restore from timemachine on my imac, with no luck. And i run high sierra 10.13.6 om my mbp.

I got the download done, and cabels at hand.
Go for it!

 

[honestone]

OK, what you will be doing is booting your iMac in "Target Disk Mode", described here:

http://osxdaily.com/2010/04/07/how-to-boot-a-mac-in-target-disk-mode/

So, here are the steps:

1. Make sure both machines are off (but plugged in).

2. Connect the adapter to your Mac Book Pro.

3. Connect the Thunderbolt cable from the adapter to one of the Thunderbolt ports on the iMac.

4. Start up the Mac Book Pro. Let it get completely to the desktop.

5. Start up your iMac, but hold down the T key on the iMac's keyboard. What will happen is that the iMac's internal SSD will appear on the Mac Book Pro's desktop.

6. On the Mac Book Pro, do the following:

A. Launch Disk Utility there, select the iMac's internal SSD, and Erase and Format it. For the Format, choose APFS.

B. After that completes, navigate to the file "Install macOS High Sierra", which should be inside the Applications folder on your Mac Book Pro. Launch it, select the iMac's internal SSD (which you just formatted above), and do a fresh, clean installation of High Sierra onto the iMac's SSD. It will take some time, but at least you are working with SSDs, both on the iMac and on the Mac Book Pro.

7. When that completes, restart your iMac. Not sure if/how you can recover anything from the cloud (I do my backups differently), but if you can't, you'll have to go through the complete setup process on your iMac, just as if you had purchased a brand new one (and you are not "migrating"/copying anything from a backup).

Time Machine is "OK" for backups, but I prefer to use SuperDuper! for both of my Macs, which makes a bootable, backup/clone of my entire system. That's right, I said bootable. I can tell you for a fact that 1) it makes the installation of new Mac OS much easier, and 2) it makes recovery easier. Basically, I can boot either of my Mac from that (external) SuperDuper! backup, and it's just about like having another machine. The other excellent software which does the same thing is Carbon Copy Cloner. If you are interested, here are links for each one:

SuperDuper! - https://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Carbon Copy Cloner - https://bombich.com/

You can use either one of them in demo mode. There are, though, 2 differences between them: 1) Cost. SuperDuper! costs $27.95, whereas Carbon Copy Cloner costs $39.95. 2) Carbon Copy Cloner also backs up the )hidden) Recovery HD partition whereas SuperDuper! does not. For me, though, that is not a detriment, as 1) that partition gets created on a clean installation of the Mac OS, and 2) I have other disk cleanup/maintenance/repair tools I can use.

Finally, it would be good to get into the habit of doing frequent disk cleanup/maintenance/repair tasks. If you want some recommended software for doing that, just let me know.

But again I must emphasize that doing frequent backups is critical. If you had a SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner backup of the High Sierra "piece" on your iMac, this process would be easier.

Let is know how it all goes.

 

[Kaywam]

Well, I'm still trying to sort this out.. High Sierra won't install when in target mode as a built in security feature.
I did get one step closer to trying something new while in target mode, as I did a scan for disks in terminal and found the blade flash on the back of the logic board and formatted that as well.
Still no luck with the bootable installers from usb though.. I wager it is the cpu that is fried. but thanx for trying with me.

 

[honestone]

Hmm, sorry about that. I forgot there are issues with Target Disk Mode and High Sierra in Target Disk Mode. You might try either of the following:

1. Once again, with the connections, start up you Mac Book Pro, then start your iMac in Target Disk Mode.

2. Launch Disk Utility on the Mac Book Pro, but this time have it Erase and Format the internal SSD on the iMac as MacOS Extended (Journaled), GUID Partition Map. Then launch the "Install macOS High Sierra" file. That will reformat the internal SSD as APFS, and "should" work.

Or:

1. Make a bootable USB Flash Drive with High Sierra on it. The easiest way is to use Disk Maker 7, described in this link:

https://blog.macsales.com/42448-create-a-bootable-macos-high-sierra-install-drive-with-diskmaker-x-7

You of course would do all that on your Mac Book Pro. For that, click on "Download DiskMaker X 7", and the download will proceed and finish quickly. Install Disk Maker, connect the Flash Drive to one of the USB ports on your Mac Book Pro, and then proceed to where it says "Launch DiskMaker X 7".

Once that completes, plug in theFlash Drive into one of the USB Ports on the iMac, start up the iMac while holding down the Option key, and the USB Flash Drive, with the installation for High Sierra on it, should appear. Select it, and you should be good to go.

I would recommend using Disk Maker 7 for the job. This APFS business is "quirky", so say the least! But making the USB Flash Drive gets around that.

By the way, I assume Disk Utility told you that the internal SSD on the iMac is OK. Is that right?

Oh, and before I forget, do one other thing FIRST: make a copy of that "Install macOS High Sierra" file in another location on your Mac Book Pro. Also, once you get your iMac up and running, copy the "Install macOS High Sierra" file from your Mac Book Pro to your iMac. You can re-use the Flash Drive for that, but you'll need to first Erase and Format it after the Disk Maker process is done. And "place" it on your iMac in a different location than the Applications folder. The reason for that is that after you launch that file from the Applications folder, it gets removed after the installation completes. If you needed that file again, you would need to re-download it from the App store, which (I suspect you saw), takes some time. By having a copy of the file, you can avoid that hassle.

 

[honestone]

Let me add something else (better in a separate post). I have always done an installation of the Mac OS onto either of my Macs from their respective SuperDuper! backups. That has always worked like a charm, and I will do the same when OS 10.14, Mojave, arrives. That will, most likely, not be right away, as I have 6 critical applications that need to be compatible with Mojave before I upgrade. Typically the companies that develop such applications will come out with upgrades for Mojave compatibility, but rarely right away.

The point is, though, that having a bootable backup/clone like that made by either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner makes it much easier, and smoother, to install a new version of the Mac OS. It is possible to do it with a Time Machine backup, but that is definitely a more arduous way to go about it.

Hence, another "plug" for SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[honestone]

Need to let you know something else. I just posted a thread entitled "Frustration with App Store", and the issue could apply yo you. There is a chance that when you downloaded High Sierra from the App Store, that it is not the latest version. In fact, it could be version 10.13.2! Yeah, hard to believe Apple could be that stupid.

If that is the case, you can still install it, and then after that completes, download the OS 10.13.6 Combo Updater, available from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1970?locale=en_US

Then, apply it, and you will then arrive at V10.13.6. Yeah, I know, what a hassle! But looks like Apple screwed up!