Mac not booting past apple screen

[panakattack]

So I have no idea what is going on with my iMac. It's an aluminum 21.5 inch 2011 iMac. So when I boot up the mac, it will not go past the apple screen. I've booted disk utilities and pretty much did everything (verify and repair, time machine, install maverick again). Reinstalling Mavericks will do the trick and the computer will start up but all then apps will start to become ridiculously slow and not responsive. Shutting down properly (if my computer allows me) is a chore because it has to force quit individual apps before shutting down. Most times my computer will freeze (perpetual color wheel) for ungodly amounts of time which will force me to hard shut down via power button which then starts the cycle over again (will not boot past the apple screen). Can anyone diagnose the problem with what I described? I really don't want to dish out the money to get it fixed at the Apple Store. My warranty has expired.

Edit: I just tried running in single user mode-typed in fsck -yf and it said that the drive appears to be ok. I typed reboot and it restarted, but it still won't go past the apple screen

Edit: my computer will not boot in safe mode. I get a "no entry" symbol

 

[r0k]

So I have no idea what is going on with my iMac. It's an aluminum 21.5 inch 2011 iMac. So when I boot up the mac, it will not go past the apple screen. I've booted disk utilities and pretty much did everything (verify and repair, time machine, install maverick again). Reinstalling Mavericks will do the trick and the computer will start up but all then apps will start to become ridiculously slow and not responsive. Shutting down properly (if my computer allows me) is a chore because it has to force quit individual apps before shutting down. Most times my computer will freeze (perpetual color wheel) for ungodly amounts of time which will force me to hard shut down via power button which then starts the cycle over again (will not boot past the apple screen). Can anyone diagnose the problem with what I described? I really don't want to dish out the money to get it fixed at the Apple Store. My warranty has expired.

Edit: I just tried running in single user mode-typed in fsck -yf and it said that the drive appears to be ok. I typed reboot and it restarted, but it still won't go past the apple screen

Edit: my computer will not boot in safe mode. I get a "no entry" symbol

Not booting into safe mode is not the end of the world. I had a Mac that wouldn't make it into safe mode and I solved it using a reinstall (which nowadays by default is what we used to refer to as an archive and install).

 

[mdhwoods]

Sounds like a possible hard drive issue.

 

[panakattack]

Just erased my hard drive and reinstalled Mavericks....nothing but apple screen.

 

[damidget]

Just erased my hard drive and reinstalled Mavericks....nothing but apple screen.

Could be any type of hardware issue.
Might be software but the evidence you provided pretty much rules that out.

 

[panakattack]

Update: so it took maybe like 20 minutes to come off the apple screen to the set up map screen (since I reinstalled mavericks) and it is taking about 5 minutes for each screen after clicking "Continue" which leads me to believe that my computer is still acting up. It is still ridiculously slow.

 

[msevild]

Download a program called Smart Utility. Do a google search, it is a free app. That program will I've a little more detailed information about the hardware status of your hard drive. Sounds like a bad hard drive to me.

 

[panakattack]

So I bit the bullet and took my comp to the Apple Store. Lo and behold, got a hard drive issue. This is the 2nd time in 4 years that I've had an issue. Back in 2011, my new imac just died so they have me a new one. Now a hard drive issue with he new one. Is it me, or is Apple rigging these computers to just die at a specific time so they get our money when they repair it?

 

[mdhwoods]

So I bit the bullet and took my comp to the Apple Store. Lo and behold, got a hard drive issue. This is the 2nd time in 4 years that I've had an issue. Back in 2011, my new imac just died so they have me a new one. Now a hard drive issue with he new one. Is it me, or is Apple rigging these computers to just die at a specific time so they get our money when they repair it?

lol, no conspiracy. Just typical failure of electrical / mechanical parts. If parts were engineered to never fail think of all the companies that would go out of business. Apple didn't make the drive, they just use them.