Help with Imac

[lasasj]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 2009 imac that started freezing up more and more a few months ago. I reinstalled the OS Yosemite, and the system worked great for a few weeks and then it started freezing up again. I reinstalled the OS again, it worked better (but not great) and when I woke up this morning, the imac has the folder with a question mark blinking. Could anyone help me with this issue? Is it my hard drive?

 

[DeltaMac]

The flashing folder means that your iMac does not see a bootable system.
You may get that if the system is OK, but some boot files are corrupted.
Or, there's some other minor issue in the system installation.
Or, could be that the hard drive is failing.
Then, you could also have a bad drive cable, or the drive controller on the logic board is not working properly. So, lots of possibilities.

Your symptoms sound like your hard drive has been failing - and perhaps has now died completely.

And, you can boot to your Yosemite recovery system (command-R), and see how your hard drive checks in the Disk Utility.

 

[lasasj]

Help with imac

Thank you. I will check the hard drive tonight or tomorrow before booting. I had performed the diagnostics on it a month ago and it said it was ok but I'm not sure if the diagnostics will catch everything.

If it is not the hard drive, is there something else I can do to help diagnose what the problem is, or is it pretty much something that I won't want to pay to replace? Not sure why, but I have a feeling it's a hardware issue. Not sure why reinstalling the OS worked so well the first time, but it's been getting worse and worse until it stopped.

 

[Les Kern]

98% change it's the Hard Drive. Worth the 60 bucks to find out IMO.

 

[lasasj]

Help with Imac

Thanks. I haven't worked on mac hard-drives before. Are they relatively easy to change, like a laptop (just need a screwdriver)? It's a 2009 27" imac with a 1TB HD.

Any helpful hints/links/threads/videos on how to change one would be appreciated. Also, how do I go about reinstalling the OS with a new hard drive?

You guys are great. Thank you very much for the prompt responses.

 

[firedept]

Here is the guide from iFixit on replacing the hdd in your iMac. iFixit guides are pretty thorough. I think I have the right model picked, if not, just search their guides and find the correct one.