Hello, I am suddenly experiencing issues with my iMac, and I was hoping somebody here could give me a few pointers. I'd like to try everything I can before heading to the genius bar.
iMac was purchased around late 2010 (around September or October; I recall it was shortly after the newest models were released). It is 21", 500gb hard drive. I'm uncertain on the other specs as of the moment, but it was the base model at the time.
I put in a bit of research before posting my problem here, but I couldn't find a situation exactly like mine.
2 days ago I left my computer on overnight (no programs were running, nothing) and next day came back to it, tried to open firefox and itunesthe icons bounced for absolutely ages and the computer became very laggy. I used the power button to force it to shut down, since i couldn't do anything on the computer itself. i haven't been able to use it since, the reboot process is stuck at the apple logo screen, with the loading bar barely half full.
what i've tried based on other advice i found floating around:
1. command + R to open disk utility. i clicked "verify disk" and it said the disk needed to be repaired, etc.
2. i clicked "repair disk" and it said the disk could not be repaired, and to reformat it, and something else i can't recall.
3. i erased the disk, and reformatted the drive to the os extended journaled option.
4. this is where i became unclear on what to do next. a lot of the advice said to reinstall the os... so i clicked out of disk utility and clicked "reinstall os" or something on that screen where you are given the multiple options (eg. restore from time machine, reinstall os, disk utility, etc.)
5. i let it do its thing, and tried rebooting, but again it's stuck at the screen. this time, i can't even seem to get into disk utility mode. right now i'm just letting it sit at the apple logo loading screen.
6. i should note, i do have a recent backup (completed around 5 days ago) on a portable hard drive, so i'm not too worried about data loss... except my photos in iphoto. somehow, even in the past, i never figured out how to move iphoto photos from one computer to another, even with the hard drive backup. lost a lot of photos four years ago when i upgraded computers.
7. i had also upgraded to os yosemite when it was released a couple of weeks ago. no problems then.
obviously i'm not terribly computer savvy, so i apologize in advance if i haven't explained some things well.
i'm really puzzled as to why my computer would suddenly act up like this. it's always been quite gently treatedit's sat at my desk, never banged around or dropped. i do mostly web surfing, typing, movie-watching, some streaming (spotify), some downloading. i run antivirus programs regularly, keep my folders and trash cleaned, stay on top of updates, generally make sure everything is is clean and well ordered to the best of my ability and knowledge.
does anyone have any tips on what my next steps should be? i would deeply appreciate any advice!
iMac was purchased around late 2010 (around September or October; I recall it was shortly after the newest models were released). It is 21", 500gb hard drive. I'm uncertain on the other specs as of the moment, but it was the base model at the time.
I put in a bit of research before posting my problem here, but I couldn't find a situation exactly like mine.
2 days ago I left my computer on overnight (no programs were running, nothing) and next day came back to it, tried to open firefox and itunesthe icons bounced for absolutely ages and the computer became very laggy. I used the power button to force it to shut down, since i couldn't do anything on the computer itself. i haven't been able to use it since, the reboot process is stuck at the apple logo screen, with the loading bar barely half full.
what i've tried based on other advice i found floating around:
1. command + R to open disk utility. i clicked "verify disk" and it said the disk needed to be repaired, etc.
2. i clicked "repair disk" and it said the disk could not be repaired, and to reformat it, and something else i can't recall.
3. i erased the disk, and reformatted the drive to the os extended journaled option.
4. this is where i became unclear on what to do next. a lot of the advice said to reinstall the os... so i clicked out of disk utility and clicked "reinstall os" or something on that screen where you are given the multiple options (eg. restore from time machine, reinstall os, disk utility, etc.)
5. i let it do its thing, and tried rebooting, but again it's stuck at the screen. this time, i can't even seem to get into disk utility mode. right now i'm just letting it sit at the apple logo loading screen.
6. i should note, i do have a recent backup (completed around 5 days ago) on a portable hard drive, so i'm not too worried about data loss... except my photos in iphoto. somehow, even in the past, i never figured out how to move iphoto photos from one computer to another, even with the hard drive backup. lost a lot of photos four years ago when i upgraded computers.
7. i had also upgraded to os yosemite when it was released a couple of weeks ago. no problems then.
obviously i'm not terribly computer savvy, so i apologize in advance if i haven't explained some things well.
i'm really puzzled as to why my computer would suddenly act up like this. it's always been quite gently treatedit's sat at my desk, never banged around or dropped. i do mostly web surfing, typing, movie-watching, some streaming (spotify), some downloading. i run antivirus programs regularly, keep my folders and trash cleaned, stay on top of updates, generally make sure everything is is clean and well ordered to the best of my ability and knowledge.
does anyone have any tips on what my next steps should be? i would deeply appreciate any advice!