iMac Hard drive (or OS?)problems

[LinBala]

hello,
I have a 2011 A1311 iMac 21'5 inch and recently it got stuck in some wired situration .
Basicly I turn on, and apple logo appers , and loads for sometime and gives me a shiny white screen with nothing on it.
At first I thought was some problems with Graphic card, but later on I could boot with windows to go drive, so Graphic card was not the problem.
I have tried every shortcut Mac can possibly have, but it just gives me white screen (try to reset, disk utilities,nothing pops up ) except option key that brings me to boot options.
so I got a 10.11 Yosemete boot USB and booted with it. But after loading for a long time(the bar goes to like half of way), goes to white screen again.
Is it the problem with the HDD in the iMac? Do I have to change the hard drive thats inside the mac? (note:I havent touch anything inside the iMac, every thing is from where they came when I bought from the Apple store.)
Thank you.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

hello,
I have a 2011 A1311 iMac 21'5 inch and recently it got stuck in some wired situration .
Basicly I turn on, and apple logo appers , and loads for sometime and gives me a shiny white screen with nothing on it.
At first I thought was some problems with Graphic card, but later on I could boot with windows to go drive, so Graphic card was not the problem.
I have tried every shortcut Mac can possibly have, but it just gives me white screen (try to reset, disk utilities,nothing pops up ) except option key that brings me to boot options.
so I got a 10.11 Yosemete boot USB and booted with it. But after loading for a long time(the bar goes to like half of way), goes to white screen again.
Is it the problem with the HDD in the iMac? Do I have to change the hard drive thats inside the mac? (note:I havent touch anything inside the iMac, every thing is from where they came when I bought from the Apple store.)
Thank you.

In the same way you run WindowsToGo, you can just make a MacOS-To-Go disk and use it with your iMac.
Anyway, opening iMac A1311 to change HDD to SSD is not very difficult.
Search Youtube for an instruction video.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It's possible that it's the hard drive, yes, but you're not at the point to make that determination.

What version of macOS were your running?

 

[LinBala]

I'm running 10.11 sorry for the late reply.
the newest update I got is that is the problem with the graphics card. The reason is that when I run windows after changing the HDD to SSD， I found a intresting thing is that the graphic card at device maneger is windows graphic card not the AMD like the Mac runs.
I then downloaded the Mac Bootcamp for windows and LOL, it turned black screen and only showed up when I booted to safe mode and disable the AMD graphic card driver.
Looks like I have to change the Graphic card then.

 

[LinBala]

Then May I ask one thing is that if I reinstall with new Mac Os what version can 2011 iMac handle?
Is there any suggestions? Thank you.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Your iMac can handle up to OS X.13 Sierra. Download a copy and burn to a thumb droie of +8GB. Boot from the thumb drive, format the platter drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID partition. Run the Installer.

Make sure you have an up to date backup as formattimg will erase the internal drive.,

 

[Fishrrman]

IF you can boot into safe mode (which DISABLES the dedicated GPU), but you CANNOT boot into "regular mode" (which needs the dedicated GPU)... then... it's certainly a GPU problem.

The Mac lineup in 2011 had problems with GPUs on both the iMacs and MacBook Pros (15" and 17").

The solution (if you wish to pursue it) is to either:
- replace the dedicated GPU card.
or
- try the "bake it in the oven" trick (just something I've read about).
or
- start looking for a replacement Mac.

 

[LinBala]

IF you can boot into safe mode (which DISABLES the dedicated GPU), but you CANNOT boot into "regular mode" (which needs the dedicated GPU)... then... it's certainly a GPU problem.

The Mac lineup in 2011 had problems with GPUs on both the iMacs and MacBook Pros (15" and 17").

The solution (if you wish to pursue it) is to either:
- replace the dedicated GPU card.
or
- try the "bake it in the oven" trick (just something I've read about).
or
- start looking for a replacement Mac.

thanks for this suggestion!
I've not able to boot into safe mode also for some reason(gives me a white screen)
this Mac I have is a secondary computer so I don't need to be hurry with it.Maybe I should get the GPU replaced though.

 

[LinBala]

Your iMac can handle up to OS X.13 Sierra. Download a copy and burn to a thumb droie of +8GB. Boot from the thumb drive, format the platter drive Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID partition. Run the Installer.

Make sure you have an up to date backup as formattimg will erase the internal drive.,

Oh thats great! Then I will go and download Sierra from my MBP then. Thank you for your tips.