iMac OS problem

[Mothers]

Hi Guys looking for a little advice

I have a 27 iMac 2011 wont finish the booting process hangs at the very end. I have reloaded os a few times and runs ok until I switch off. but when i restart i have to reload os again. I have everything backed up on time machine. So I have ran disk utility first aid and reformatted drive. Any advice is appreciated

I thought it’s the Hard dive and ordered a new SSD drive today (it can’t hurt anyway).

Mothers

 

[28Gauge]

My guess is that the hard drive has failed. I had similar symptoms on my 2011 27” iMac when my spinning hard drive crapped out. If I remember correctly, I got about 6 years of use before I had to replace it.

 

[mikehalloran]

If I remember correctly, I got about 6 years of use before I had to replace it.

Lucky you.
I replaced hundreds on a maintenance schedule with a school district. 5 years was chosen for the interval — 6 years meant I often had to make service calls for premature failure.

To the OP. You will need the OWC Temp sensor. Without it, you'll have to use crapware fan controller that forces you to monitor and control the temperature manually. Plus, you get to listen to the fans roar full speed on boot up.

When in there, replace the NV RAM battery. It's past time. A common CR2032 if you're installing an SSD. Very easy with the glass off and screen loose (does not have to be removed for any of this).

 

[Cruz3LT]

Lucky you.
I replaced hundreds on a maintenance schedule with a school district. 5 years was chosen for the interval — 6 years meant I often had to make service calls for premature failure.

To the OP. You will need the OWC Temp sensor. Without it, you'll have to use crapware fan controller that forces you to monitor and control the temperature manually. Plus, you get to listen to the fans roar full speed on boot up.

When in there, replace the NV RAM battery. It's past time. A common CR2032 if you're installing an SSD. Very easy with the glass off and screen loose (does not have to be removed for any of this).

You keep bashing software that operates and monitors your fan control and even say that you have to listen to the fans roar full speed on boot up. That is not true at all. I run Mac Fan Control and I do not hear them at all at boot up and it monitors it self. I only put in the parameters to when the fans need to ramp up. Another thing, my Samsung 860 Evo is reading a temperature value, so I am going to assume that it does have one internally built in. I could be wrong though.

 

[Fishrrman]

Can it boot successfully to internet recovery (not sure if a 2011 iMac can DO internet recovery)?
Can it boot successfully to an external USB hard drive?

 

[mikehalloran]

You keep bashing software that operates and monitors your fan control and even say that you have to listen to the fans roar full speed on boot up. That is not true at all.

Like hell it isn't. The fans roar till the extension loads. Remove the temp sensor from a 2009–2012 iMac and you'll see I'm right.

If you're a gamer who uses it in addition to the onboard temp sensor, that's different. This, however, is a 2011.

Can it boot successfully to internet recovery (not sure if a 2011 iMac can DO internet recovery)?

You already know the answer to that. The 2011 iMac can't do internet recovery. You can option-boot and reinstall the current OS and/or restore from a Time Machine backup.

Likewise, one can go into the Repair partition and run Disk Utility. Try to repair the volume. Keep running till it is green but if you get the same error in red three times, give it up. If the error in red keeps changing, that's good and you'll probably get to green eventually. DU often fixes problems one at a time — I've run it over 50 yimes on a drive to get it into the green... Except it doesn't really repair the basic problem; it writes around it. You hope it lasts long enough enough to get the data off. I've had that last anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 weeks.

Error messages on an old HDD are a 100% indicator of mechanical failure. I've worked on and replaced hundreds of these. Not one passed a complete SMART test even if they exhibited no symptoms to the student. OTOH, I have a small stack of HDDs from 2007–early 2009 iMacs that are still good. I use them for testing this and that.

A 2011 iMac should boot from a USB startup drive with any OS from 10.6.4 – 10.13.6, 8GB or larger. Likewise, a USB or Thunderbolt external. It may or may not do so from a Firewire drive — if it shows up in an Option Boot, there's a chance.

 

[faraway52]

You already know the answer to that. The 2011 iMac can't do internet recovery.

Our Mid2011 iMac did internet recovery without any problems. Was there an early/spring 2011 iMac without that feature?