iMac 27 2009 problems

[oscarodas]

Hi, I was given a dead iMac 27 late 2009, I managed to get it working to an extent: the fans run at full blast even thought there's no internal hard drive installed iStat Menus and also HDD fan control but they don't do anything, and that is the second question I tried connecting an ssd drive and a normal drive but the system would not recognise them, but if i attach them externally to an usb cable they are recognised, the other issue is that when I press the D key at start for diagnostics nothing happens it boots into the operating system, by the way the computer runs very good with the external hard drive, even the dvd works, any help would be appreciated, thank you.
Oscar

 

[dictoresno]

Could be a bad SATA cable. They have been known to go bad.

 

[oscarodas]

Could be a bad SATA cable. They have been known to go bad.

Thank you, I think the easy way will be to swap the dvd for aa ssd then, I was looking at the cables and they look like part of a harness sneaking behind the board.

 

[Fishrrman]

I believe a 2009 iMac would be 24", not 27" …?

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Late 2009 iMacs have a heat sensor cable attached to the hard drive, and unless the identical drive to the original is installed, the Jumbo roaring fans will continue. If you are going to spend money on the now eight year old model, go to OWC (macsales.com) and purchase a special kit which enables fitting of any hard drive and the sensor cable.

Late 2009 are in fact 27" models.


https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/

 

[oscarodas]

Hi, thank you for the replies, I managed to fix all the problems, the hard disk cables weren't sitting properly on the motherboard, plus I got a samsung ssd which I installed internally and everything is back to normal, the ssd is recognised and the fans are running silently. Oddly because I have another samsung ssd with the sierra system installed and the iMac wouldn't detect it when installed internally.