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BluRayn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 28, 2020
3
0
I have a mid-2010 iMac, bought it brand new way back then, lol. I've done all the updates since getting it and didn't run into any major problems til yesterday. I went to update my Mac cuz it kept bugging me to update. When it restarted and loaded the update, it gave me the stop sign. Researched what the stop sign meant, tried multiple varieties of logging in (hold option, hold command-option-R, hold comm-R, etc. I can get into Disk Utility, I can see the mac HD and that it's not mounted (I'm guessing it unmounted to update?? I dunno). I can run First Aid on it, it says it's fine and appears to be ok, but it won't mount it. I'm assuming it's 'stuck' mid-update, but, it keeps coming back to the stop sign, or just an apple (for hours).

I tried booting from the recovery, didn't work. I tried reinstalling macOS from Disk Utility, but because the mac hd is unmounted, it wouldn't give me to the option to install to that one, just to the recovery partition.

From one of the sites I was on yesterday (iboysoft.com) looking up answers, I used their software to get into the hard drive to move files off the drive (but didn't actually do it cuz it cost $90) but I was able to see everything's still on the drive data-wise, so that's good.

I tried all the things I could find yesterday but still, after about 12 hours, I gave up and went to bed. This morning I tried one more time, and it's been a couple of hours now and it's still just showing an apple. I know that sometimes an update can take forever, but I don't know if it's actually updating or not!

I guess my question is, besides buying a new iMac, lol, is there anything else I can do to get it to boot? Do I need a new hard drive even though it shows that it 'appears to be ok'? Can I shoot it?

Thanks for any help!!!
 
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Can you boot from a bootable USB drive like a Yosemite or El Cap?

If you can, you can see the status of the hard drive and if you can boot from a USB, this ensures the logic board is still working.

From there, you can decide if it is worth keeping...
 
I don't have a copy of High Sierra (what it's trying to install/update). I need that one, right? Or what's the one before that? Can I get a copy of that? I have a Macbook (what I'm using right now) so I can download it to a usb, just clueless what to do next!
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Nevermind, looked up the different OS, Sierra was the one before. I'm getting a USB drive to download an OS onto it and we'll see if it'll load it from there, once I figure out how to do that. Oh, the things I'm learning!! ;) Otherwise, I'm thinking I need a new hard drive. Weird that it says it's 'ok' but yet won't mount. However, it IS pretty old!!
 
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I don't have a copy of High Sierra (what it's trying to install/update). I need that one, right? Or what's the one before that? Can I get a copy of that? I have a Macbook (what I'm using right now) so I can download it to a usb, just clueless what to do next!
[automerge]1593383740[/automerge]
Nevermind, looked up the different OS, Sierra was the one before. I'm getting a USB drive to download an OS onto it and we'll see if it'll load it from there, once I figure out how to do that. Oh, the things I'm learning!! ;) Otherwise, I'm thinking I need a new hard drive. Weird that it says it's 'ok' but yet won't mount. However, it IS pretty old!!
If you are looking to upgrade to Mojave or Catalina for your mid 2010 try this:


upgraded my late 2009 iMac with no problem.
 
I found where to download the OS but I'm clueless how to make a bootable usb! I googled it but I found this very complicated thing, so, I figured I'd ask in here again cuz 😭😭😭😭 hopefully somebody can help me make rhyme or reason with this. It still acts like it's just 'stuck' mid update, but everything else is telling me I need a new hard drive. Which is it's own scary thing as I've never replaced one on a mac before!! :eek:
 
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