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2009 iMac 27” won’t boot past the loading screen

S

Sebfromottawa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 2, 2021
15
1
Hello, I have a question because I have not been able to find any answers through my online research. I am stuck where my 2009 iMac 27” won’t boot past the loading screen. I have tried:

-safe mode restart

-control r disk Utility first aid

-reset the ram

-and reinstall os (which did not work and left me with a frozen loading screen right before it was done installing)

So, after all those didn’t work, I decided to create a macOS High Sierra boot drive and try to erase and reinstall the OS on my hard drive using the boot drive. I thought that would work out but it did not.

if anyone can help please do!

I will add that I upgraded the storage to a Kingston 240gb A400 ssd from the stock clunky terabyte hdd less than a year ago. So I wonder if this might be the case. Perhaps the ssd died since it was a cheaper ssd.

Thanks a lot!
 
Using the USB boot drive, when you start the computer with alt/option key pressed, what drives do you see ?
 
I see my internal hard drive (the ssd) and the boot drive with the orange drive icon.
 
yea I did that, then tried restarting, didn't work. then tried disk utility first aid and a reinstall and froze at the very end of the reinstall.
 
Did you change the date on the Mac to around 2018 ?

High Sierra will not load unless you change the date.

Use Terminal to make the date change just prior to reinstalling OSX.
 
If you have a large enough external drive you could install macOS and boot from the external drive. That would help identify if it is the internal SSD causing the issue without having to open up the iMac. Can you provide any more details on how far in the boot process does the machine gets? Does it just hang with the progress bar on screen or does it show anything else?
 
JuicelessMango said:
It's 12 years old, ditch that dinosaur and upgrade.
Click to expand...
ive had this thing since i was a kid. I understand where youre coming from becasue i use a newer macbook for most of my computing but this thing has sentimental value to me. its fun tinkering with old apple products, and i hope to get it running again to use as an external display. the thing has a 1440p display, not bad
 
4sallypat said:
Did you change the date on the Mac to around 2018 ?

High Sierra will not load unless you change the date.

Use Terminal to make the date change just prior to reinstalling OSX.
Click to expand...
Ok ill give it a try, can I access terminal from recovery more I do I go into safe mode?
 
DolsJ said:
If you have a large enough external drive you could install macOS and boot from the external drive. That would help identify if it is the internal SSD causing the issue without having to open up the iMac. Can you provide any more details on how far in the boot process does the machine gets? Does it just hang with the progress bar on screen or does it show anything else?
Click to expand...
I agree ill give that a try I ordered a OWC 120GB Mercury Electra 3G ssd, someone told me it is better suited for this Mac and ill use it to boot of.
it just hangs on the progress bar after the installation screen where it shows the time it is taking to install so I think the freeze is occurring close to the end
 
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Sebfromottawa said:
ive had this thing since i was a kid. I understand where youre coming from becasue i use a newer macbook for most of my computing but this thing has sentimental value to me. its fun tinkering with old apple products, and i hope to get it running again to use as an external display. the thing has a 1440p display, not bad
Click to expand...
Hey, I get it. I have a 27” from 2009 as well — installed an ssd in it last year. But once I get my new iMac this month, it will be decommissioned.

It is a good practice to not become attached to objects. On the other hand, the fact that you don’t give up on something quickly is also a good practice. Have fun with your project!
 
Kierkegaarden said:
Hey, I get it. I have a 27” from 2009 as well — installed an ssd in it last year. But once I get my new iMac this month, it will be decommissioned.

It is a good practice to not become attached to objects. On the other hand, the fact that you don’t give up on something quickly is also a good practice. Have fun with your project!
Click to expand...
yea I totally agree with you! check out this video you might want to try it.
I didn't even know this was possible till recently.
Thanks!
 
Sebfromottawa said:
Yea I am currently trying to fix it. are you sure its a failed GPU? I was thinking that it is a failed ssd. I purchased this one which is more suited for this old iMac: OWC 120GB Mercury Electra 3G
Click to expand...

Just make an USB installer of High Sierra, try booting from it then
- Go to Disk Utility, create a new partition (100GB is enough)
- Install High Sierra on the newly created partition.
If installed successfully, reboot to see if you can get to log-in screen.
You can isolate the error (disk or GPU) with this process.
 
Nguyen Duc Hieu said:
Just make an USB installer of High Sierra, try booting from it then
- Go to Disk Utility, create a new partition (100GB is enough)
- Install High Sierra on the newly created partition.
If installed successfully, reboot to see if you can get to log-in screen.
You can isolate the error (disk or GPU) with this process.
Click to expand...
Ok ill give it a try!
 
Sebfromottawa said:
I'm curious on why I should create the partition because I already erased everything on the ssd
Click to expand...
Sorry I didn't notice that.
In that case, your GPU has probably dead. Very basic function like boot screen at low resolution still work. Just when the driver is loaded and heavier tasks require the GPU to accelerate, the defects kick in and stop the machine (internal short circuit or trigger the thermal, etc)
I did experience that myself. A short-circuit WX4150 just bricked the whole machine.
 
Darn that's a shame but makes more sense because it couldn't be a dead ssd since I was still able to boot into safe mode. must be the gpu
 
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