I have a iMac 17inch Intel 2GHz Core 2 Duo, 1Gb of ram loaded with Mac OS X 10.5.8 that is having some major problems! Last night programs started to freeze and it showed the spinning wheel like 14 times in 20 minutes. I would have to wait like 30 seconds for it to unfreeze. When a program did freeze it also would not let me access Finder, Finder also froze for those 30 seconds. Then I go to check my email, well when I try to close it out it stops responding and will NOT force quit so I had to hold down the power button because I tried clicking shutdown but it timed out because it couldn't force quit. When I turned it back on it took around 21 minutes, and I am not joking, it was at the Apple screen for like 15 of that then at the light blue for the rest. When I click on a app on my dock it doesn't bounce and doesn't show the light below it so I have no way of telling if the program is launching. Does my mac hate me or is it on the edge? I almost forgot about the broken cd drive that will not eject disks that I have had for almost 6 months now. Please Help Me!
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Is my iMac on the edge of dying? Please help!
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Those are the symptoms of a Mac that's having major trouble accessing its hard drive.
Either your hard drive is dying, it's badly corrupt, or you've got an attached peripheral (like a backup drive) that's failing or acting up.
Before you do anything else, if you don't have a current backup, make one.
After that, see if you can get Disk Utility to open; you can check the SMART status of the drive there (select the drive and look at the status at the very bottom of the window). If it says failing, the drive is on its way out. If it says verified, it still might be bad; try running "Verify Disk" and see what it says. If nothing comes up, failing drive (or other hardware component).
It'd be easier to run this from the disc the computer came with (you can access Disk Utility from the menus in the installer), but if your optical drive isn't working, either, that might not be an option. I suppose it's possible the problems are actually being caused by the optical drive, but the hard drive sounds more likely.
Also try disconnecting everything but the mouse and keyboard and see if it helps.
Either your hard drive is dying, it's badly corrupt, or you've got an attached peripheral (like a backup drive) that's failing or acting up.
Before you do anything else, if you don't have a current backup, make one.
After that, see if you can get Disk Utility to open; you can check the SMART status of the drive there (select the drive and look at the status at the very bottom of the window). If it says failing, the drive is on its way out. If it says verified, it still might be bad; try running "Verify Disk" and see what it says. If nothing comes up, failing drive (or other hardware component).
It'd be easier to run this from the disc the computer came with (you can access Disk Utility from the menus in the installer), but if your optical drive isn't working, either, that might not be an option. I suppose it's possible the problems are actually being caused by the optical drive, but the hard drive sounds more likely.
Also try disconnecting everything but the mouse and keyboard and see if it helps.
Re:
🙁 Just heard a click... I am going to try what you said but would the apple store be able to install a new hard drive and a dvd drive?
🙁 Just heard a click... I am going to try what you said but would the apple store be able to install a new hard drive and a dvd drive?
Yes, the Apple store can and will install both for you. How much it will cost, however, is going to depend on whether it's still under warranty or not (if not, I'm guessing it's probably cheaper to have a 3rd party place fix it, though of course it's free to ask how much it'll cost).
Note, by the way, that even if you have somebody replace the drive, you should backup whatever you can immediately.
Note, by the way, that even if you have somebody replace the drive, you should backup whatever you can immediately.
Re: Not HD
EDIT EDIT
EDIT EDIT
THOUGHT I HAD IT FIXED! BUT NOT EDIT EDIT EDIT
The Fix?
EDIT: NONE!
EDIT EDIT
EDIT EDIT
THOUGHT I HAD IT FIXED! BUT NOT EDIT EDIT EDIT
The Fix?
EDIT: NONE!
BlueRevolution
macrumors 603
Re:
I thought 0 ing the hard drive would work but then when I installed snow leopard, I heard a click and the hard drive turned off. I used a special tool that said it was a spin up problem. I had a 250 GB Seagate barracuda laying around. I opened it up and lets just say macs are made very weird. I was able to undo the tape with out ripping it and I unscrewed the screen and turned it to the side so I was able to see the hard drive. I removed it, put the 250 in and moved the screen to its correct place. I stuck the tape back on and replaced the casing. And right now I am on my working macintosh.
If you need any kind of repair or work needed for your mac feel free to contact me! I can do anything half off
I thought 0 ing the hard drive would work but then when I installed snow leopard, I heard a click and the hard drive turned off. I used a special tool that said it was a spin up problem. I had a 250 GB Seagate barracuda laying around. I opened it up and lets just say macs are made very weird. I was able to undo the tape with out ripping it and I unscrewed the screen and turned it to the side so I was able to see the hard drive. I removed it, put the 250 in and moved the screen to its correct place. I stuck the tape back on and replaced the casing. And right now I am on my working macintosh.
If you need any kind of repair or work needed for your mac feel free to contact me! I can do anything half off