occasional prohibitory symbol when booting iMP

[ambientdaw]

Actually not so occasional. Maybe every 4th time I start my refurbished iMac Pro I get the dreaded prohibitory sign. Sometimes twice in a row but usually shutting off and turning back on fixes it. I am doing some research here as the Apple support person said the next step is re-installing the OS and I do NOT want to do that. We did NVram reset and tried first aid on the SSD.

Any expert opinions on what is causing this mess? I will know in a few days if the reset worked. She said installation of the OS if interrupted in the slightest by download problems could introduce bugs or malware into the system. That sounds whacky so I am not sure she is an expert. I would love to know how this could be so bugged out and yet be working on a regular basis, this has been going on for 5 months or so.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The Apple person is talking out her butt. The install file is verified before it starts the install process. You aren't going to get Malware from a MaOS file taken from the Apple server.

If the OS gets corrupt (for some reason) you can get the symbol. Often times, it is because the drive is going bad.

Reinstalling the OS is an easy step and could solve your problem.

 

[ambientdaw]

It took me weeks to get all my pro audio DAW-related plugins working on Catalina. I fear re-installing the OS would break much of that. So not so easy?

 

[Apple_Robert]

It took me weeks to get all my pro audio DAW-related plugins working on Catalina. I fear re-installing the OS would break much of that. So not so easy?

If you aren''t willing to do basic troubleshooting tasks that could possibly solve your problem, I am not sure what you expect from Apple or this forum.

 

[ambientdaw]

of course i'm willing. You have to do what you have to do.

I am curious about this statement "often times, it is because the drive is going bad"

 

[ambientdaw]

Well, it's worse now, got the prohibitory symbol three times in a row. Time to reinstall the OS. Does anyone think the SSD could be going bad even though it passed the first aid test?

 

[ambientdaw]

SO, reinstalling Catalina did not help. Is wiping this sucker clean and migrating everything back from Time Machine the best choice or should I bring it to the genius bar at Apple for further tests?

 

[Apple_Robert]

SO, reinstalling Catalina did not help. Is wiping this sucker clean and migrating everything back from Time Machine the best choice or should I bring it to the genius bar at Apple for further tests?

I would do a clean install without migrating. Otherwise, you might reintroduce the problem to the new install. If the problem persist after this, your drive is probably failing. Backup data if you can.

 

[ambientdaw]

Thanks. Genius bar might not be able to tell if the hard drive was failing, I presume? That would logically save a big step if the clean install didn't work (took many days to get all pro audio apps and plugins working). Sounds like you are not confident that a failing hard drive would show itself with tests.

 

[hoodafoo]

I had to look up what "prohibitory sign" was. I had always called it "ghostbusters sign" ?