Mac won't launch apps. Hangs! Help!

[iHavequestions]

I have 2017 iMac
4.2 GHz
64 GB DDR RAM
Catalina 10.15.7

My mac isn't allow me to fully open many apps such as Finder (technically opens but doesn't respond as soon as I kick it off without appearing), Chrome (doesn't respond/open at all) and random others while allowing me to open other apps like iMovie (opens fine but then stops responding after a few minutes.

I've tried a few things.

• Rebooted.
• Cleared my PRAM.
• Rebooted in Safe mode (same problem observed in safe mode - not sure what else to do)
• Rebooted again and tried again.

Some info that might be indirectly relevant:

• Nothing is hogging up resources according to activity monitor
• My Mac ran out of disk drive space a few days ago which caused some problems, but I did move some files off and it seemed better after that.
• Yesterday, I tried a soft reboot, the mac cleared all apps and hung on the blank desktop screen. I let it hang and waited until the morning and it was still hanging.

Thing's I'm considering trying (not sure if it's a good idea yet)

• Rebooting with no peripherals plugged back in (don't know why I didn't think of this before. Usually solves some problems)
• Upgrading to the latest macOS Monterey (will that likely fix up this problem if the above does not?)
• Reverting back to an older version of my computer through time machine (trying to avoid that since I did a lot of file cleanup and moving like I mentioned above. Don't want to redo all of that)
• Defragging disk

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[iHavequestions]

Thing's I'm considering trying (not sure if it's a good idea yet)

• Rebooting with no peripherals plugged back in (don't know why I didn't think of this before. Usually solves some problems)

Tried this. Didn't work this time.

 

[MacNerd01]

I would attempt to update, if settings isn’t shot too. That would (probably) fix it.

 

[iHavequestions]

I got through to being able to upgrade but when I do, it tells me that the Monterey file is damaged. Still hitting a lot of blockers!

 

[iHavequestions]

I can't seem to open anything. No way to even go to an older version of time machine, even in Safe mode. No way to upgrade OS. I can't even open a browser on that Mac to chat with support or get remote help. What else can I possibly do?

 

[MacNerd01]

Geez. Might wanna give Apple support or your local Genius Bar a call. If you’re talking to me here, you obviously have something to call or email with XD

 

[Pug72]

Sounds similar to what happened to my same spec iMac (though running Monterey).
Tried everything and concluded the fusion drive had failed. Ended up getting a Thunderbolt 3 external NVME SSD to use as a bootable drive which works fantastically well.
Didn't want to go through the hassle of removing the screen to replace the internal drive so am happy this worked so well.

 

[iHavequestions]

Sounds similar to what happened to my same spec iMac (though running Monterey).
Tried everything and concluded the fusion drive had failed. Ended up getting a Thunderbolt 3 external NVME SSD to use as a bootable drive which works fantastically well.
Didn't want to go through the hassle of removing the screen to replace the internal drive so am happy this worked so well.

If the drive fails, wouldn't I just not even be able to enter my desktop experience?

 

[DeltaMac]

I suspect that when you ran out of disk space, that you probably corrupted some of the system files, and that's causing you problems now. Reinstalling your present Catalina system should fix those issues (and is the easiest step to try now)
I would boot to a Catalina bootable installer. (if you don't have a current one for 10.15.7, download and make one for yourself)
Reinstall Catalina, which will reload the system files.
This is assuming that you DO now have sufficient space for a system reload - more than 10% space available, out of total storage space should be OK.

 

[Pug72]

Well mine took an age to boot up but did eventually. Then I'd get the hanging of apps.
I tried safe mode, then reinstalling the OS, then wiping and reinstalling the OS. Every time it would take forever to do, like excruciatingly so and was no better each time.

I tried the bootable drive idea on an external SSD I was using on my PS5 first and when it worked I bought a fast NVME.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

If the drive fails, wouldn't I just not even be able to enter my desktop experience?

When the SSD drive fails because of age, it can't be written anything to, but the data is still available for reading.

 

[profcutter]

Yeah, I’d say the next step is to create a new, bootable, external drive. It that works, sounds like the internal drive is damaged.

 

[iHavequestions]

When the SSD drive fails because of age, it can't be written anything to, but the data is still available for reading.

You may be right. I've done everything I can to try to either reboot from Time Machine in recovery mode or just reinstall a clean OS. Everything has failed. So it appears that I can't write to it.

 

[iHavequestions]

Sounds similar to what happened to my same spec iMac (though running Monterey).
Tried everything and concluded the fusion drive had failed. Ended up getting a Thunderbolt 3 external NVME SSD to use as a bootable drive which works fantastically well.
Didn't want to go through the hassle of removing the screen to replace the internal drive so am happy this worked so well.

I might have to go this same route. Do you see any issues with doing it like this permanently?

 

[Bandaman]

It's time to get a hold of Apple.

 

[Pug72]

I might have to go this same route. Do you see any issues with doing it like this permanently?

I don't think there'll be any issues, it's certainly an easier option than cracking it open. If I had no other option I'd have had a go or paid a professional to replace the internal drive, but I think this is a safer way to get up and running quickly.

You'll need to have (or know someone with) a Macbook to create the bootable drive on.

 

[iHavequestions]

I don't think there'll be any issues, it's certainly an easier option than cracking it open. If I had no other option I'd have had a go or paid a professional to replace the internal drive, but I think this is a safer way to get up and running quickly.

You'll need to have (or know someone with) a Macbook to create the bootable drive on.

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[Fishrrman]

Have you added RAM to this iMac?
if so...
Do you still have the original, factory-installed RAM?
if so...
Have you tried REMOVING the 3rd party RAM and re-installing the original RAM?
and then...
Running that way for 2-3 days?