Won't boot to Safe Mode

[0115927]

A couple of months ago my kids' 2007 24/2.4 iMac stopped working. When I pressed the power button I could hear the fans start for a split second, then nothing. After some searching, I determined that it was most likely the power supply. As you can imagine, something as old as this was hard to find cheap parts for, but I found a 2008 24/2.8 power supply along with everything but the HD, optical drive and display. So, I swapped my HD and optical to the new chassis, dropped the LCD in and fired it up.

I was elated to hear the startup chime and see the Apple, but then the progress bar would stop about half way and it would shut down.

As it sits I can boot into single user and recover modes, but not safe mode. The disk cannot be verified or repaired using Disk Utility or fsck. Am I just hosed? Or is there something I'm missing?

Thanks!

 

[Dragoro]

Wish I could help you but don't know enough. Just was wondering on the particular need to boot into safe mode?

 

[0115927]

If I can get into safe mode I can maybe salvage some files. My TM backup was deleted off of my backup drive - don't know how or when, but I'm going to lose 1.5TB of stuff if I have to erase the HD.

 

[Dragoro]

Ouch, wow. Hope someone here can help ya!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

A couple of months ago my kids' 2007 24/2.4 iMac stopped working. When I pressed the power button I could hear the fans start for a split second, then nothing. After some searching, I determined that it was most likely the power supply. As you can imagine, something as old as this was hard to find cheap parts for, but I found a 2008 24/2.8 power supply along with everything but the HD, optical drive and display. So, I swapped my HD and optical to the new chassis, dropped the LCD in and fired it up.

I was elated to hear the startup chime and see the Apple, but then the progress bar would stop about half way and it would shut down.

As it sits I can boot into single user and recover modes, but not safe mode. The disk cannot be verified or repaired using Disk Utility or fsck. Am I just hosed? Or is there something I'm missing?

Thanks!

It could be your hard drive thats dead. Why did you not just put your Hard drive in a USB 3 enclosure ($20 tops from amazon) and then boot to another comoputer to get your files off??

 

[0115927]

It could be your hard drive thats dead. Why did you not just put your Hard drive in a USB 3 enclosure ($20 tops from amazon) and then boot to another comoputer to get your files off??

Because the HD wasn't the problem initially, the iMac wouldn't power up. Now it powers up, but I do believe that you're correct that the HD might be dead. I'm going to try booting to TDM, and if that works I can maybe salvage some files. I'll post later tonight on that.

 

[hfg]

I would not "experiment" with your old drive and the valuable data it contains. I would immediately install a brand new drive into the iMac, and then get it going through the normal "new install" methods. Once it was running, put the old drive with your data into an external enclosure and look for your files ... and copy them over if found.

 

[0115927]

I would not "experiment" with your old drive and the valuable data it contains. I would immediately install a brand new drive into the iMac, and then get it going through the normal "new install" methods. Once it was running, put the old drive with your data into an external enclosure and look for your files ... and copy them over if found.

Probably the better approach (though target disk mode isn't exactly experimenting). I'll have to swing by Microcenter and grab a drive and enclosure tonight.