I’ve recently received this mac that needed a full wipe and reset. I went onto disk utility and followed the apple steps of “erase Macintosh HD, select APFS, erase, exit disk utility” Bing bang bosh, then I went to reinstall the MacOS as that was wiped with the erasing and when it asked to select a drive the error message when I selected Macintosh was “S.M.A.R.T ERROR: this disk has software damage and can’t be repaired. Back up all data immediately.” Something along those lines. I don’t need any data that was previously on the device other than the MacOS so I can run the thing. I didn’t know what to do from here to I went through a few sections on the recovery mode (didn’t really click anything important) and accidentally left recovery mode. Now when I turn on the mac it gives me the file symbol with the ? In it. I’ve looked up solutions and they all say hold command R to enter recovery mode however mine doesn’t even allow me to enter that. It isn’t a faulty keyboard as I was just using it for everything else (which was the only other solution I could find). Any help would be appreciated as I could really use this mac. It’s a Mid 2010 21.5 inch (which is considered obscelete which is a pain🙄) IMac
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Erased hard drive and can’t access recovery mode
- Thread starter Tminty
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Some 2010 Macs can do "internet recovery", but others cannot.
Try this:
a. Power down, ALL THE WAY OFF
b. Press the power-on button and immediately hold down:
Command-OPTION-R
(this is not the same as booting to the recovery partition)
c. If connecting via wifi, you may need your wifi password.
What happens next?
During a successful boot to internet recovery, you will see a "spinning globe", and after a while you will see the internet utilities.
If you DO NOT see these things, I'm guessing the 2010 you have isn't capable of internet recovery, and other paths will have to be followed.
Try this:
a. Power down, ALL THE WAY OFF
b. Press the power-on button and immediately hold down:
Command-OPTION-R
(this is not the same as booting to the recovery partition)
c. If connecting via wifi, you may need your wifi password.
What happens next?
During a successful boot to internet recovery, you will see a "spinning globe", and after a while you will see the internet utilities.
If you DO NOT see these things, I'm guessing the 2010 you have isn't capable of internet recovery, and other paths will have to be followed.
Sorry for the late reply, I’ll give that a try when I get home. Big thanks for the help
Ok So I have tried this with both command and option keys to make sure that it isn’t broken keys, the symbol i get is still the flashing “file ?” symbol. Do you think there is another method I could use?
IF internet recovery won't work (and apparently it doesn't on this one)
and...
IF you don't have an original install DVD with the OS on it
then...
You're going to need another way to get booted.
That could be:
A "universal" install DVD
or...
A bootable USB flash drive installer
or...
Another drive that has a bootable copy of the OS already installed on it.
Do you have access to another Mac?
If so, which Mac, how old is it, and what version of the OS is on it?
and...
IF you don't have an original install DVD with the OS on it
then...
You're going to need another way to get booted.
That could be:
A "universal" install DVD
or...
A bootable USB flash drive installer
or...
Another drive that has a bootable copy of the OS already installed on it.
Do you have access to another Mac?
If so, which Mac, how old is it, and what version of the OS is on it?
I'm having exactly this same problem - I thought I was reading my own post. I can always put the old drive back in the system but I only need Recovery to actually work. I have been able to get Internet Recovery working twice - in both cases it seemed accidental because I was trying to get the Recovery console to access Disk Utility to format the raw drive [ssd].
But, after several minutes it went to I'net recovery then bailed later because it does not 'see' unformatted drive.
in no case has it booted to Recovery. In no case has it shown Apple Logo or anything else until it gets either Internet recovery, or the Disk-Not-Found folder/?? ..
In all cases, literally about 20 in the last 24 hours, the length of time it takes can be frightfully long [20 minutes before Anything actually paints on the screen] down to about 1 minute [the record]. But never Recovery.
???
But, after several minutes it went to I'net recovery then bailed later because it does not 'see' unformatted drive.
in no case has it booted to Recovery. In no case has it shown Apple Logo or anything else until it gets either Internet recovery, or the Disk-Not-Found folder/?? ..
In all cases, literally about 20 in the last 24 hours, the length of time it takes can be frightfully long [20 minutes before Anything actually paints on the screen] down to about 1 minute [the record]. But never Recovery.
???
Ok so I do have another Mac that’s fully functioning, it’s a MacBook Air 13 inch early 2014 which is currently running on OS X 10.9.5 (I believe this is quite an outdated one but I haven’t got round to updating it yet i think there may be newer versions available that I can try to download). Do you think it would be possible to download a copy of whatever this OS is onto a usb stick or something similar and then install it onto the non functioning mac? I don’t know if this would then go past the current “file ?” Screen, you’re the expert here not me 😂so what do u suggest?
OP:
According to everymac.com, the mid 2010 iMac shipped with OS 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard), and can run OS's up to 10.13 (High Sierra).
Do you have a USB hard drive of any kind around that you could use for experimental purposes?
REASON WHY:
It might be possible to "clone a copy of" the OS on the MacBook Air to a USB hard drive, and then attempt to boot the iMac from it.
One other thing to try (just to see if it will work):
Try booting the imac to "target disk mode":
a. power off
b. press power on button
c. IMMEDIATELY hold down the "T" key (only) and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN
d. What happens next?
According to everymac.com, the mid 2010 iMac shipped with OS 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard), and can run OS's up to 10.13 (High Sierra).
Do you have a USB hard drive of any kind around that you could use for experimental purposes?
REASON WHY:
It might be possible to "clone a copy of" the OS on the MacBook Air to a USB hard drive, and then attempt to boot the iMac from it.
One other thing to try (just to see if it will work):
Try booting the imac to "target disk mode":
a. power off
b. press power on button
c. IMMEDIATELY hold down the "T" key (only) and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN
d. What happens next?
I will have a look into updating my MacBook then trying to get a large enough usb to download the copy of the macOS and I’ll get back to you. I assume I’ll need a usb stick with about 15GB or so for the download. I tried the target disk mode and it also failed giving the same symbol unfortunately. I’m quite busy at the moment with A levels and such but as soon as I get the stuff needed for this copying I’ll let you know, thanks for all the help