iMac A1225 - will not boot (replacing logic board)

[ThePhotoDemon]

I am working on a 24" A1225 iMac...it needed a logic board. Put a new board in it, HDD has been wiped and prepped with OS X Installer (I've tried both Yosemite and El Capitan). If I let it boot "normally" I get to the grey Apple screen, the progress bar gets to about 30%, and it stops. After a couple of minutes the computer audibly says "To use English as the main language press the Return key." Nothing further, even I press the Return key. After a few minutes the screen will go black (assuming it's going to seep, but can't wake it up). If I try to run an OS X installer from a USB drive, I get the same result. Even purchased a new HDD and got the same result.

The only startup key combinations that work are single user mode, verbose mode, option, and reset PRAM.

Any ideas? I really want to get this back up and running so I an get it back to it's owner.

 

[organicCPU]

Any ideas?

Did you try to enter Apple Hardware Test ?

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

Did you try to enter Apple Hardware Test ?

Yep...doesn't work. Neither does the recovery command. Only single user mode, verbose mode, option, and reset PRAM will do anything.

 

[organicCPU]

Yep...doesn't work. Neither does the recovery command. Only single user mode, verbose mode, option, and reset PRAM will do anything.

If you boot up in single user mode, do you see a partition named Recovery HD when typing "diskutil list" at the command prompt? Are you using a wired keyboard when you try to press and hold "D" to enter AHT or Command+r or Option+Command+r for internet recovery?

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

If you boot up in single user mode, do you see a partition named Recovery HD when typing "diskutil list" at the command prompt? Are you using a wired keyboard when you try to press and hold "D" to enter AHT or Command+r or Option+Command+r for internet recovery?

No recovery partition....HDD is wiped, only has OS X installer on it. Using a wired keyboard.

 

[organicCPU]

Internet recovery (Option+Command+r) should work if your hardware works, HDD is formatted correctly HFS+ with GUID partition scheme and there is an internet connection. Last thoughts from me: Are the installers older than February 14? Did you try a SMC reset? Do you have a cloned system on an external drive to test if that is bootable?

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

I booted my MBP in target disk mode and tried to boot the iMac off that and had no luck. The furthest anything will load is 30-60%. The Yosemite installer is old, probably a year or more at this point, and El Capitan is fresh - I just downloaded it a couple of weeks ago.

Internet recovery connected when I tried booting from my MBP, but I think it crashed, or just didn't work. Could try cloning my iMac and give that a go.

 

[organicCPU]

Internet recovery

My mistake -> internet recovery was introduced in 2011, made it into some 2010 models through firmware update. There are 3 models with Model Number A1225. The 2007 model came with 10.4.10 or 10.5, the 2008/2009 models came with 10.5. If you had the original installer cd you could try to install Leopard. The idea with cloning your iMac is a good one to see if it's bootable at all. Could it be a RAM failure? Only the 2009 model works with 8 GB, the others with 6 (officially 4) GB. Some users described how they manually built a Recovery HD Partition for Lion (the first system that used recovery), but I'm not sure if that'll be a good idea for your model. Look here and here for more input.

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

The model I'm working on is 2009 I believe. Don't know what was originally on this one, and I'm not certain the owner still has the original disks.

will try cloning my machine tomorrow and see if I can get anywhere.

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

Cloning my drive didn't make a difference. We're really at a loss for what to do with this machine. About to put the old board back in and tell the owner to come get it.

EDIT: reinstalled the old board, no difference in booting. Booting from the HDD gets to about 30%; booting from the OS X installer on a USB drive gets to about 60%.

 

[organicCPU]

reinstalled the old board, no difference in booting.

Maybe the board isn't the problem. It could also be a graphics card, memory or anything else issue. I suggest my first advice again. Run the Apple Hardware Test.
If you don't have the original system installer disks available, this site on github has links of plenty versions of AHT and gives advice how you can identify your exact model. For testing the memory you could try memtest. You can also find a command line version that should work in single user mode inside the GUI app rember from Kelly Computing.
Hope that helps to narrow down the real problem!

 

[ThePhotoDemon]

No luck with the hardware test. It will not respond to the keyboard command (tried D and option-D). I don't have my laptop with me or another Mac available today so I can't download one of the hardware tests from the link you shared.