Seriously sick to death of my imac

[albusseverus]

I think you've done pretty well for 10 years. Time to get a newer one. Seriously. Even a 2015 would be an improvement.

 

[Skitty31]

Nope, no soldering.

Look at the iFixIt and OWC sites for the drive replacements and iFixIt for the battery. As you replace the battery, you'll see that the drive is a side job that takes a few minutes extra.

Besides the list below, you'll need a bottle of white-out or light colored, opaque lacquer like nail polish. There will be a few tiny connectors on the motherboard and inline. Marking one side of each half will show you the correct polarity when reassembling. On a few, it's not that hard to force it back incorrectly causing problems like the fans going on full or the microphone not working. A little white paint saves tons of time.

As the battery gets weaker, it will cause settings to be lost but black screen and/or weird objects mimicking GPU problems are also common. Most of the older Macs that come to me for GPU problems leave with a new battery and nothing else. Yours is 10 years old, way, way past time. A CR2032 battery from the pharmacy or convenience store is fine. The BR2032 that Apple uses has a wider heat tolerance, that's all.

Ok. These links are to Amazon UK.

Tons of SSDs on the market. Everyone I know is using the WD Blue 3D or Sandisk Ultra 3D (same drive), Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500. All have 3D Nand and 5 year warranties. The SanDisk 3D has it on price at the moment 250GB–4TB with 3 sizes in between.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WDS500G2B0A-Blue-Internal/dp/B073SB2MXW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=wd+blue+3d&qid=1567198269&s=gateway&sr=8-1&th=1

You'll need the following magnetic Torx drivers: T6, T8 & T10, a Phillips #2. A pair of suction cups, a spudger or two, a tool that pokes all come in handy.
This kit should have the tools you need except for a Phillips driver and suction cups. Magnetized drivers are a must, IMO.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kaisi-Scre...VGAE44XADV98T5XR8441&qid=1567196715&s=gateway

There are many ways to get the front glass off but nothing beats a pair of suction cups like these—one each in the upper right and left hand corners and pull till the magnets release.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MMOBIEL-Su...s=imac+tools&qid=1567195181&s=gateway&sr=8-38

You will need to deal with the temp sensor—remove it and the fans go full-on. The software so-called solutions absolutely suck. With the 2009-10, you have three choices (the 2011-on are different and the following won't work):

a) short the leads of the one in there already—keeps the fan quiet but if the drive warms up the fans don't come on. I really don't like that.

b) Use an optical drive sensor instead (not the one on your optical drive!). It works but isn't calibrated for a hard drive or SSD. Still, it works and is less expensive than (c)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Replacemen...c+temp+sensor&qid=1567198965&s=gateway&sr=8-2

c) OWC has a sensor specifically for the late 2009-10 iMac.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/OWC-OWCDID...c+temp+sensor&qid=1567199707&s=gateway&sr=8-1

The right bracket is convenient and helps keep the drive cool. Or you can use double-stick foam tape to attach the drive to the back after you remove the HDD. Some stick the SSD to the old drive and leave the old sensor in but I don't recommend that—the internal cooling is worse and there's no heat sensor? Yikes!

Anyway, lots of bracket designs but this is the one for the iMac. If it looks like this, you're good.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-De...o+3.5+adapter&qid=1567200158&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Thankyou for your time and effort

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

You have an iMac that is now TEN YEARS OLD.

You can't expect it to run newer versions of the OS very well. It's just too old.

It's time to start shopping for a replacement.
Either new or perhaps Apple-refurbished.

VERY IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION:
DO NOT buy ANY new or refurbished Mac UNLESS it has an SSD inside.
Do otherwise, and you are going to regret your buying choice!

 

[mikehalloran]

OP:

You have an iMac that is now TEN YEARS OLD.

You can't expect it to run newer versions of the OS very well. It's just too old.

It's time to start shopping for a replacement.
Either new or perhaps Apple-refurbished.

VERY IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION:
DO NOT buy ANY new or refurbished Mac UNLESS it has an SSD inside.
Do otherwise, and you are going to regret your buying choice!

Although I know how to keep one going for years, I agree with this completely.

Per my other posts, High Sierra is the last OS these can run — quite well on an internal SS but...

 

[Luis Ortega]

Fully aware how old it is but it’s literally for browsing and using word, upto 6 months ago it was running as fast as the day I got it.
Not spending £1500 to browse the net and download the odd movie.
If spending £100 odd quid on a new hard drive gives me a couple more years that would do me.

Could it be some sort of malware or attack on your computer?
Would wiping out the hard drive completely and reinstalling a fresh version of your OS and the software you want be an option?

 

[mikehalloran]

Could it be some sort of malware or attack on your computer?
Would wiping out the hard drive completely and reinstalling a fresh version of your OS and the software you want be an option?

The only possible outcome will be more hours diagnosing what is already known.

Having serviced hundreds—literally—2009–2012 iMacs, I can state with absolute certainty that the original HDD is in the final throes of its death spiral.

I still maintain most of these for schools but replaced the HHDs and batteries beginning 2015 or when 5 years old, whichever came later. By that time, I had made many service calls over failing/failed HDDs over the previous years. Replacing all the HDDs was done to save money.

Having replaced all those spinning heat pumps and batteries, can you guess how many have suffered GPU issues? Not one.

I tested every one that I pulled in TTP since most did not show symptoms. Most looked something like this after 5 years. BTW, you'll see that this passes a SMART test.

Since I had a 2010, I had gone through all of this: testing, format to 0s to write around bad sectors (that sometimes lasted a week), reinstall the OS dozens of times, had Apple replace the OE 1TB drive under AppleCare. My 2010 has the eSATA mod from OWC so that, when I booted from an external, it was the same as working from the internal (not available on the 2009).

I still have the only drive I ever pulled that was in clean shape. It's a 500GB OE HDD from an early 2009 24" iMac. Only one.

Fix it or replace it. I gave directions for one but recommend the other.