2011 iMac sometimes doesn’t boot

[dazed]

Hi,

my 2011 21.5 iMac is sometimes not booting up unless I reset the pram (and sometimes it doesn’t boot then either). Could this be a failing hard drive? Pram battery needs replacing?

It’s got its original hard drive, and other than me adding additional memory when I first got it, it’s still stock.

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you get any error messages?
What do you see when it "won't boot"?

The PRAM batteries do get old and fail.
I believe the one in my 2006-vintage white Intel iMac is completely dead.
But it still boots.

Do you normally keep the iMac plugged directly into the wall?
Or... is it plugged into a power strip that is normally "left on"?

If either of the above is true, I'd like to make a suggestion.
I know it sounds off-the-wall, but I would recommend that you try "my way" for a period of 4-6 days, to see if it makes any difference.

Here's what to do:
1. If you keep it plugged into the wall:
1a. At night, shut it down (all the way off)
1b. After it "goes dark" PULL THE PLUG OUT OF THE WALL
1c. In the morning, plug it back in, then press the power-on button.

2. If you leave it plugged into a power strip that is ALWAYS powered on:
2a. At night, shut down
2b. Reach down and POWER OFF the power strip
2c. In the morning, reach back down and power ON the power strip, then press the iMac's power on button.

Again, try this routine for 4-6 days, and if it changes anything, let us know.

Personal experience:
I use the #2 routine above, but I've always run things this way.
Actually, with [what I believe to be] a dead PRAM battery, as soon as I power-on the power strip, the iMac boots up on its own without even having to push the power-on button.

 

[mreg376]

Hi,

my 2011 21.5 iMac is sometimes not booting up unless I reset the pram (and sometimes it doesn’t boot then either). Could this be a failing hard drive? Pram battery needs replacing?

It’s got its original hard drive, and other than me adding additional memory when I first got it, it’s still stock.

Thanks

@Fishrrman's suggestion is good, although I think you'll have your answer in a lot fewer than 4-6 days. I always keep my iMacs running 24x7, and my 2007 iMac lasted a decade that way, with a RAM and SSD upgrade along the way (the SSD in year 7), and it's still working. I would suggest that 7 years is likely past your hard drive's expected bedtime. That's a lot of spins. Sitting at the cusp of failure a drive does weird, hard-to-identify things to your computer. You may want to consider replacing the hard drive with an SSD (they're actually pretty inexpensive now), and there are how-to's out there that are doable if you're patient and have the right tools. Get it from Amazon or someone with a 30-day return, just in case the drive was not the problem, and your iMac is beyond the point of no return. If the problem was your drive, the SSD will give your iMac a new lease on life and remind you of when it was new, or better.

 

[dazed]

Thanks for the suggestions. I keep it powered on 24/7 as it’s my iTunes library.

I don’t get any errors, it just takes a long time for the progress bar to reach the end and then it just stops and does nothing. I’ve left it overnight and it still hadn’t booted.