iMac locking up but can boot in Safe Mode HELP!!

[Bertrand Morin]

I'm thinking along the same lines as you, but just for troubleshooting it would be worth a try to remove everything IMO.

 

[Bertrand Morin]

Similar story on old imac (the same as your correspondent.
But only these bother me:


The following internal tasks failed to complete:

/usr/sbin/system_profiler -xml SPApplicationsDataType


and

Les informations du diagnostic : (Qu'est-ce que cela signifie ?)

Dec 1, 2015, 10:51:45 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/FinderSyncAPIExtension_2015-12-01-105145_[expurgé].crash

Nov 30, 2015, 01:07:45 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Mail_2015-11-30-130745_[expurgé].hang

Nov 29, 2015, 11:52:37 PM Examen de soi - succès

 

[Mikebike125]

Well, I tried doing a HD wipe with hopes of reinstalling everything from scratch and I don't think I was doing something right because it seemed to be stuck on loading things. My plan is to take the Apple guy up on his offer to let them wipe the drive and put El Capitan on it. I will be taking it down there tonight and hopefully this will solve everything.

 

[halledise]

you need to startup from the usb containing El Capitan - hold down option key as it starts up - erase from disk utility and then install OS X.
that'll work

 

[Mikebike125]

Thanks halledise but I have some bad news. After taking it to Apple, they said they are 99% sure that my video card is going. They loaded Cap on it but it would not boot all the way through and then it had some crazy gray screen with many small black squares on it. The Apple guy said it looks to him like the GPU is failing. I almost don't mind replacing it myself but I am not sure it is worth it. Plus I don't even know what video card to get. I don't need an upgraded card, I just need one that is the same and works.

 

[Mikebike125]

Looks like a new video card is about $250 and I can get a refurbished iMac that is 2 years newer for $350 from a local refurbisher. I might go that route. It is sad that it only needs a video card and the price is so prohibitive.

 

[halledise]

Thanks halledise but I have some bad news. After taking it to Apple, they said they are 99% sure that my video card is going. They loaded Cap on it but it would not boot all the way through and then it had some crazy gray screen with many small black squares on it. The Apple guy said it looks to him like the GPU is failing. I almost don't mind replacing it myself but I am not sure it is worth it. Plus I don't even know what video card to get. I don't need an upgraded card, I just need one that is the same and works.

oh dear

 

[Brian33]

I can sympathize, Mikebike125 -- my 24" Early 2008 iMac recently had the same fate. It would boot and work in Safe Mode, but in my case, wouldn't even boot in normal mode anymore. I'd been dealing with a semi-failing GPU (ATI Radeon HD 2600) for awhile, and recently had noticed many, many more GPU DEBUG INFO dumps and ERROR IN SLOT 1 errors in the system log...

Anyway, I did find a possible explanation for why yours and mine worked in Safe Mode but not booted normally. I read somewhere that Safe Mode disables hardware acceleration in the graphics card. I believe we had a hardware fault in that circuitry of the ATI card.

I still liked this iMac a lot and really hate to see it go. I have the skills to replace the card myself, but I'm not sure it's worth the cost, and more importantly, suspect that any card I put in would fail pretty soon, too. Sigh.