2011 iMac died on its own?

[sjh004]

two nights ago i woke up to hear my imac with a black screen and a fan running very loudly. i waited 45 mins and nothing happened so i forcibly powered it off with the power button. Now it doesn't turn back on. I hear the optical drive click but then nothing, no display turn on no chime. did apple try to push a firmware update monday night for the 27" 2011 imac as thats the only other time i've heard the fans run like that.

My 2010 macbook pro just died due to a faulty HD-> motherboard cable, so replaced it with a Touchbar MacBook Pro (loving it) but can't afford to replace a desktop as well. any suggestions as to what might be wrong with the computer?

 

[maflynn]

did apple try to push a firmware update monday night

Nope, I don't beleive apple is updating the firmware to a 5 year old computer.

If you're not getting a chime, usually means something bad happened because its failing it POST.

 

[briloronmacrumo]

Ditto Mike's comment. Also, 2011 iMacs failing is not an unusual event. Their graphic cards fail and so do the original internal HDDs. When mine( mid 2011 27in ) failed a couple of years ago with a dark screen it was a bad HDD and a bad GPU. The Apple store was able to diagnose and repair. Apple *had* a free repair program for this model's GPUs but IIRC it expired. Sometimes Apple fixes things out of warranty ( or repair program ) depending on your circumstances and their view of them. Good luck with a tough problem. Hope you have a good backup.

 

[zhaoxin]

What is the version of you macOS? Is that macOS Sierra 10.12.2?

 

[osantos767]

Nope, I don't beleive apple is updating the firmware to a 5 year old computer.

If you're not getting a chime, usually means something bad happened because its failing it POST.

I have the exact same iMac as the OP, and my firmware was updated on Monday, and a few hours later my iMac just turned, and wont boot up again. No chime or anything. The graphics card was just replaced a few weeks ago. I took back into the Apple repair shop I used and I'm waiting to hear back from them.

 

[kiwipeso1]

You probably auto-updated to 10.12.2 during the night, so it may have died when you force killed it during the update.

I have the model below, and it is running constantly by a hot window (it's mid-summer here).
What I have found is that using the second bay for a SSD system works well, as the HDD only needs to be on during those times I access files from that drive.

I did have a graphics issue about 15 months ago, but that was from the old mavericks video driver staying on the yosemite update, so to solve that I wiped the SSD system and clean installed, then selective restored from time machine backup.

I should note that you may need to ask an apple tech to temporarily install an SSD to try out my suggested fix, the worst that can happen if it works is that you'd get a massive speed boost to your iMac.

 

[sjh004]

I had replaced the HDD to an SSD about 1 year ago. and it was working swimmingly. the mac was still running Yosemite if i recall, i hadn't gotten around to updating that one to Sierra yet. Thanks for all the suggestions. luckily i had recently built a PC. i will perhaps try taking a drive and making a hackintosh with it.

 

[Fozziebear40]

My 2011 iMac has just died as well. It is the same spec as the machines having graphic card replacements up until 4 years after purchase. Mine is 5 years now, but, according to UK consumer law it has to live for at least 6 years.

As this was an inherent problem from purchase I am definitely going to try to get Apple to fix it. Mine turns on to the chime and the Apple logo, I can even press alt and get my external SSD to show up. It then boots through to a white screen then nothing.

I won't be buying a new Apple computer with the ridiculous UK pricing now.

 

[Lankyman]

I won't be buying a new Apple computer with the ridiculous UK pricing now.

Apple computers are dead in the water now in the UK. It doesn't matter where the blame lies, the prices have become disproportionately high. It's not even that I don't have the money as I do. I'm simply unwilling to pay those prices for old tech and old designs.

I'll be going back to Windows. W10 fits the bill nicely and there's plenty good hardware out there for much less cash.

 

[kiwipeso1]

Apple computers are dead in the water now in the UK. It doesn't matter where the blame lies, the prices have become disproportionately high. It's not even that I don't have the money as I do. I'm simply unwilling to pay those prices for old tech and old designs.

I'll be going back to Windows. W10 fits the bill nicely and there's plenty good hardware out there for much less cash.

There is always a price for bad electoral decisions in the UK and USA, but you are welcome to come to NZ and live in a growing economy that speaks English, a stable political system and has fast internet. If you only care about English-speaking country, and none of the others mentioned, Australia is another choice