Does my imac (late 2009) have a start up issue??

[grwren]

Hi. I hope someone can tell me if my imac might have a startup issue or if it's starting correctly. My imac starts with a whitish/light grayish screen for about 10 seconds, along w/chime, then the Apple logo and progress bar, goes on to boot and goes about business like all is good. However, there are a lot of internet white screen startup threads that say the white start screen could signal a potential hardware, software, firmware, etc. problem. But, the following Apple Support website link: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210905, indicates there should be a blank screen at startup of either black, blue or gray (is that perhaps grayish/whitish such as mine ?) but it doesn't say for how long?

Is 10 seconds ok or too long? Could there be a problem? Can someone please clarify the proper imac startup procedure for me 'cause I'm confused?

Thank you!

 

[SecuritySteve]

That sounds totally normal to me. If my memory serves from back when I had such a machine, the apple logo doesn't appear right away. It was only after upgrading to an SSD internally that the apple logo came up any faster. No need to worry.

 

[velocityg4]

Definitely normal. My 09 iMac and 10 MBP do that. As with older Macs. The Apple logo is loaded by the disk when the OS starts loading. It comes up a bit faster with an SSD in them now.

With modern Macs. I don't know if it is just the SSD starts loading so rapidly or if the Apple logo is loaded by firmware before the OS starts to load. As to why it comes up so much sooner.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can also check in your System Preferences, Startup Disk pane. Make sure your boot drive is selected. If your boot drive is the default internal drive, then it WILL boot, but often takes some extra time, probably checking for other boot partitions (because none is actually selected), then finally "hits' on the boot drive, and continues with the boot. Properly selecting that in Startup Disk sometimes will make a noticeable difference in boot times.

 

[EugW]

You can also check in your System Preferences, Startup Disk pane. Make sure your boot drive is selected. If your boot drive is the default internal drive, then it WILL boot, but often takes some extra time, probably checking for other boot partitions (because none is actually selected), then finally "hits' on the boot drive, and continues with the boot. Properly selecting that in Startup Disk sometimes will make a noticeable difference in boot times.

Yup. This is a common problem. If for some reason the startup disk has been de-selected, then it can add something like 5-10 seconds to the boot time.

 

[grwren]

Thank you all for that clarification, it's very much appreciated. There's just so much out there on the "white screen" hang issue that it can be a bit misleading! I feel a good bit better knowing that this old thing is still capable & still has some life left in it!😊

DeltaMac & EugW, regarding your input on Sys. Pref. & Startup Disk, to be honest, I have been playing around with Linux Live usbs & Linux installed on an ext. usb hd and I have noticed that sometimes after external boots the mac can take a bit longer to startup. But I've also learned that re-selecting the Mac. HD as the preferred start drive can seemingly get things back to normal.

This all leads to one last question I hope one/or both of you can answer: I've noticed that leaving the Linux ext. usb hd connected at start up (but not the live usbs) causes the imac to default boot directly to ext. drive, bypassing the Mac. HD. There is a whitish screen for just an instance that goes to black while it boots to the Linux ext. usb hd.
Does this sound normal?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[DeltaMac]

I don't have experience to rely on - but, your Mac appears to be defaulting to a Linux boot drive.
And, the boot (hardware) process is likely going to be "different" from a default Mac boot.
Your own boot is not normal, mostly because you are booting to a non-native system, and you can expect that it will do something different compared to a macOS (normal) boot.
Probably a good first step would be "don't leave a (non-Mac system) boot drive plugged in to your Mac when you restart!"
Or, use your Option key to make sure the correct boot drive is used. If THAT doesn't help, do an NVRAM reset as you restart. That should reset any "madness" which a Linux install has "blessed" you!

 

[grwren]

Generally speaking I always did & usually still do use the Option key to select where I want it to boot too if the ext. drive is plugged in. But, one day I forgot and it booted directly to the ext. drive! I don't recall it ever doing that before but maybe I never allowed it too! Anyway, now if the ext. drive is plugged in and I don't use the Option key, it'll default to the ext. drive. Just curious how it got into the mode of being able to default to the ext. drive? The other odd thing is it default boots only to the ext. hdd, not the ext. usb live drives?

Anyway, no real problem, I have a pretty good idea of what to expect now and how to get it back to a normal boot mode if necessary. And I will try NVRAM reset as a precaution. Thanks for all your input, much appreciated!