iMac Late 2009 wont boot

[leolb2615]

Hello.
I have a late 2009 21.5 inch iMac. It was running High Sierra perfectly until I attempted to do a security update from the Mac App Store. Now, it boots to the Apple logo and black bar. After 1-2 hours, the black bar fills up, but nothing happens, even after leaving it like that for several hours. Sometimes it also crashes in the boot process.

I have tried going into recovery mode with command + R, but nothing happens, it continues to the boot process.

I have tried installing High Sierra on a separate HD and connecting i to the computer with USB, but when I press alt the computer either just shows a white screen or continues to the boot process, I cannot select that it boots from the USB.

Please help me, I would rather fix this myself than go to an apple store.
Thank you!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello.
I have a late 2009 21.5 inch iMac. It was running High Sierra perfectly until I attempted to do a security update from the Mac App Store. Now, it boots to the Apple logo and black bar. After 1-2 hours, the black bar fills up, but nothing happens, even after leaving it like that for several hours. Sometimes it also crashes in the boot process.

I have tried going into recovery mode with command + R, but nothing happens, it continues to the boot process.

I have tried installing High Sierra on a separate HD and connecting i to the computer with USB, but when I press alt the computer either just shows a white screen or continues to the boot process, I cannot select that it boots from the USB.

Please help me, I would rather fix this myself than go to an apple store.
Thank you!

You are thinking of software issues, but sometimes it's just a hardware failure which you can't fix by yourself.
Anyway, it's a 12 years old computer.

 

[noone]

This sounds hardware related, versus software. And considering that it's 12 years old, Apple considers it "obsolete" meaning they can't/won't do any repairs on it.

 

[leolb2615]

Is there any way I could fix this myself? Would replacing the hard drive be a possible solution?

 

[The_Croupier]

Make a HS bootable install USB, hold ALT/Option key on boot, boot the usb, reinstall HS system files without erasing your disk.

If you don’t have a bootable usb or access to a Mac to make one they can be bought cheaply on eBay.

 

[leolb2615]

Make a HS bootable install USB, hold ALT/Option key on boot, boot the usb, reinstall HS system files without erasing your disk.

If you don’t have a bootable usb or access to a Mac to make one they can be bought cheaply on eBay.

I already have installed High Sierra on a seperate HD. But when I hold ALT/Option, I only receive a white screen. After that, nothing happens

 

[The_Croupier]

Using a usb keyboard?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"Is there any way I could fix this myself? Would replacing the hard drive be a possible solution?"

It's not worth spending much (or any) money trying to fix a computer that is now 12 years old.

It's time to look for a replacement.

You might take a good look at the recently-released m1 iMac.

Or possibly consider something "Apple refurbished" -- I bought my last Mac that way, very satisfied.

BE AWARE that a completely NEW "large-screen" iMac is in the works, and Apple will probably announce it Jan/Feb 2022.
But... it sounds like you may "need something now".
And as the old saying goes:
"If you NEED now, then BUY now"...

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Back to the recently installed memory.