I have a mid-2011 iMac with Sierra. I tried to login this morning and it looked like it was going to work but then the graphics got all jumbled and it rebooted...then kept rebooting. Powered it down and restarted and it just got stuck on the rebooting cycle. I tried recovery mode but it would not go through. Just got stuck on a white screen. Tried booting to my Time Machine backup. Stuck on a white screen. Tried to wipe and rebuild to High Sierra using a bootable USB stick. Stuck on a white screen. Is it time to start shopping for a new mac? I have everything backed up. Just wondering if it is my hard drive, like I think it is. Any help would be appreciated.
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Is my iMac hard drive dead?
- Thread starter jmac049
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If you have an external bootable source (external hard drive), boot from that and use Disk Utility to do a First Aid on the iMac hard drive. That will tell you if the drive is bad. I had a 2011 iMac that the hard drive failed but I could still boot to recovery with it. A totally failed hard drive will not boot to recovery. It's always best to have a bootable clone on hand - one that you made with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper. Time Machine is fine for recovering files and being able to boot from it provided the internal hard drive is working.
I guess it is dead then. I can't boot from any external drive, the recovery drive, time machine, or a bootable USB. It just goes to a blank white screen every time and eventually reboots over and over again.
It’s a long shot, but you could try booting with just one memory stick. Also, if you feel like you are able, perhaps removing the internal hard drive entirely might help. If the drive is failing but not completely dead, maybe it is interfering with the boot process.
Tried the memory stick and it didn't work. Not sure about my ability to remove the hard drive. I might depending on what Apple says. I made a genius bar appointment. If its too much, I may try it since I have a back-up macbook. Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it.
Should you wish to open it yourself:
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Teardown/5485
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2428+Teardown/5485
"I tried to login this morning and it looked like it was going to work but then the graphics got all jumbled and it rebooted...then kept rebooting. Powered it down and restarted and it just got stuck on the rebooting cycle. I tried recovery mode but it would not go through."
This sounds more like a graphics card or logic board failure to me.
At 7 years old, it's probably not worth the cost of a repair (wouldn't hurt to inquire, anyway).
I'd start looking for a replacement.
This sounds more like a graphics card or logic board failure to me.
At 7 years old, it's probably not worth the cost of a repair (wouldn't hurt to inquire, anyway).
I'd start looking for a replacement.
That's usually the sign of something major has failed, not the hard drive. Even with a failed hard drive you should be able to boot from an external source. Could be a bad logic board or GPU. Make sure you take it to an Apple Store and not an authorized Apple repair service. The genius bar will run diagnostics for free, an authorized Apple repair service will charge for that.
Definitely sounds like a failing graphics card or logic board. I have had a fair amount of luck reseating the graphics card on the logic boards on these but I'd say it's probably a hardware failure. You can pick up a replacement graphics card pretty cheap now.
Be prepared for an Apple Store to decline service as it is considered 'obsolete'. An Apple Reseller may be better if you have one near.