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mid 2010 iMac internet recovery stuck on apple logo
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Being a 2010 Mac, it may not be able to DO "internet recovery".
That ability arrived in 2011, but I understand that SOME 2010 Macs (that have had a firmware upgrade) can do internet recovery, but NOT "all of them".
Can't offer more info than that.
That ability arrived in 2011, but I understand that SOME 2010 Macs (that have had a firmware upgrade) can do internet recovery, but NOT "all of them".
Can't offer more info than that.
That error is often a network error of some kind.
Make sure that you are connected to your router through ethernet -- Wifi may not be a good choice for this.
As Fishrrman pointed out, the 2010 Macs are the oldest that will connect through internet recovery, and there must have been a firmware update installed at some point that provides that function. Some 2010 Macs still might not reliably provide that boot to internet recovery, so BEST plan would be to have a bootable installer for the system you want.
USB flash drives (minimum of 8GB) are a good choice for that.
Make sure that you are connected to your router through ethernet -- Wifi may not be a good choice for this.
As Fishrrman pointed out, the 2010 Macs are the oldest that will connect through internet recovery, and there must have been a firmware update installed at some point that provides that function. Some 2010 Macs still might not reliably provide that boot to internet recovery, so BEST plan would be to have a bootable installer for the system you want.
USB flash drives (minimum of 8GB) are a good choice for that.
I've had intermittent results with SD cards. USB flash drives are a better choice, in my experience.
But, my best results are using a cheap SSD in and external case - with multiple partitions, each with different macOS installers. 120GB SSD for less than $20, external USB-C enclosure, less than $10. Installers from Mac OS X 10.5.6 to macOS 10.15 beta -- Eleven partitions for those, using just over 65GB, so lots of space left for what's to come. And, installing from that SSD is very fast. I can boot and install to any Intel Mac, and move that SSD to a Firewire enclosure, if I need to install on PPC Macs. Works good, and quite reliable and fast, compared to my experiments with SD cards.
(Maybe you didn't wait long enough for the SD boot!)
But, my best results are using a cheap SSD in and external case - with multiple partitions, each with different macOS installers. 120GB SSD for less than $20, external USB-C enclosure, less than $10. Installers from Mac OS X 10.5.6 to macOS 10.15 beta -- Eleven partitions for those, using just over 65GB, so lots of space left for what's to come. And, installing from that SSD is very fast. I can boot and install to any Intel Mac, and move that SSD to a Firewire enclosure, if I need to install on PPC Macs. Works good, and quite reliable and fast, compared to my experiments with SD cards.
(Maybe you didn't wait long enough for the SD boot!)
i lost my usb drive and i had also waited like 30 minutes for the sd boot and it still didn't boot and the 10.13 high sierra installer would have loaded a very long time ago by then (i'm trying to install snow leopard on the mac), also i do have an external hard drive but it's failing because i dropped it once
eh?
16GB flash drives for less than $6 US. Or, 16GB in a pack of 10 for less than $30 at Amazon.
You can replace a hard drive in that external, probably 2TB for less than $50, so you can get that one working properly again. Or, swap to an SSD - 1TB SSD can be less than $100 (an SSD won't fail just from a drop - no moving parts!)
There's lots of options - What are you gonna do?
i'll probably try to find my flash drive and try using that to install snow leopard with
OP wrote:
"i can't use ethernet because my router uses a sim card"
I admit to being dumb, but what kind of "router" doesn't have ethernet ports?
If you can't connect via wifi, you're probably going to have to have either:
- an external drive that is bootable to the finder. Perhaps it can boot this iMac
- a BOOTABLE USB flash drive with the OS of your choice on it. If you can't make one yourself, you can go on ebay and BUY one for about $20.
- a software install DVD that will boot the Mac and install an OS onto it. You need either a DVD that is SPECIFIC to that year and model, or, a "full retail" DVD that will install the OS onto ANY Mac.
"i can't use ethernet because my router uses a sim card"
I admit to being dumb, but what kind of "router" doesn't have ethernet ports?
If you can't connect via wifi, you're probably going to have to have either:
- an external drive that is bootable to the finder. Perhaps it can boot this iMac
- a BOOTABLE USB flash drive with the OS of your choice on it. If you can't make one yourself, you can go on ebay and BUY one for about $20.
- a software install DVD that will boot the Mac and install an OS onto it. You need either a DVD that is SPECIFIC to that year and model, or, a "full retail" DVD that will install the OS onto ANY Mac.
my router has ethernet ports, but i don't have a cable that's long enough to reach the imac
i'm going to try to make a bootable usb drive using my external hard drive
and i don't have the install disks
now when i try to use the startup disk preference in system preferences i get a "Building boot caches on boot helper partition failed." error when trying to set it and i can't boot in to the startup manager because my keyboard doesn't work when booting for some reason
If you don't have the original Snow Leopard restore DVD that came with your 2010 iMac, and unless you have an older Mac (another one older than this 2010 iMac), then you will probably not be able to install Snow Leopard, or it will be a big puzzle to actually do that. Reason is - your iMac came with a version that Apple never added to the commercial Snow Leopard installer. It only exists on the version of DVD that originally came in the box with your new iMac.
I know you mentioned a High Sierra installer...
Do you have a bootable one?
Do you have a real need to install Snow Leopard? Yes, I know that's what it originally used.
But, you don't need to install that first, if you ultimately want to go with High Sierra. Just boot to THAT, and install the system that you eventually would install. You don't need intermediate installs, if you already have the bootable High Sierra installer.
I know you mentioned a High Sierra installer...
Do you have a bootable one?
Do you have a real need to install Snow Leopard? Yes, I know that's what it originally used.
But, you don't need to install that first, if you ultimately want to go with High Sierra. Just boot to THAT, and install the system that you eventually would install. You don't need intermediate installs, if you already have the bootable High Sierra installer.
i don't want to have to redownload high sierra and it also wouldn't boot when i rebooted (which was often) until the second time i rebooted it on that 2010 imac so i don't want to actually use high sierra
Booting issues, and a 2010 Mac, makes me think that you may have a hard drive that is not going to last much longer (or is already failing)
I suggest that replacing the drive will be a good next step (it will likely go a long ways toward fixing the issues that you are having now).
In addition, if you decide to swap out your hard drive, you should make that an SSD. You will wonder why you didn't do that before now.
Does your DVD drive still work?
Where did you get the Snow Leopard installer that you are trying to use?
I suggest that replacing the drive will be a good next step (it will likely go a long ways toward fixing the issues that you are having now).
In addition, if you decide to swap out your hard drive, you should make that an SSD. You will wonder why you didn't do that before now.
Does your DVD drive still work?
Where did you get the Snow Leopard installer that you are trying to use?
the hard drive's "S.M.A.R.T" status is failing
i don't know how to replace the hard drive
the dvd drive in it does work
and i got the installer from some website
You don't need to know "how to replace the hard drive"
Good repair steps here - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2390+Hard+Drive+Replacement/8919
that site also offers the correct tools that you need. You can scan through the steps to see if that is something that you want to try. Or, the steps are there, maybe you have a friend who can help you out.
If the Snow Leopard installer that you downloaded, is an image of Apple's Snow Leopard installer (the commercial DVD, OS X version 10.6.3), then you will not likely get that to install on your iMac, which requires a newer version of 10.6.3 that Apple never provided on their commercial installer. I can predict frustration about this (I've been there)
Good repair steps here - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+27-Inch+EMC+2390+Hard+Drive+Replacement/8919
that site also offers the correct tools that you need. You can scan through the steps to see if that is something that you want to try. Or, the steps are there, maybe you have a friend who can help you out.
If the Snow Leopard installer that you downloaded, is an image of Apple's Snow Leopard installer (the commercial DVD, OS X version 10.6.3), then you will not likely get that to install on your iMac, which requires a newer version of 10.6.3 that Apple never provided on their commercial installer. I can predict frustration about this (I've been there)
i don't have anything to replace the hard drive with and it hasn't failed yet
why do you think i have any friends
and yes the disk image is of the retail one
also the boot issues were happening when i used an external hard drive and when it would get to the lock screen, it would say "You shut down your computer because of a problem." or something like that
why do you think i have any friends
and yes the disk image is of the retail one
also the boot issues were happening when i used an external hard drive and when it would get to the lock screen, it would say "You shut down your computer because of a problem." or something like that
Purchase the replacement drive that you need.
"hasn't failed yet", but reports SMART errors - SMART reporting is part of the drive for a good reason. It will give you advance notice of possible impending failure....
I didn't say that I think you had friends. It was just my idea that you might know someone who can help you out. (You did say that you don't know how to replace the hard drive, and I was just offering a couple of suggestions, just in case you decide to try that
I did not intend to imply anything at all. (But, I do hope you have friends 
)
The ""shut down because of a problem" is simply that you apparently had to shut down (holding the power button, or just unplugging the power cord), and the next time that you boot to that external drive, it will then complain that you shut down because of a problem. But then, you already knew that (because you had to force a shutdown!)
So, a completely normal message at that point.
"hasn't failed yet", but reports SMART errors - SMART reporting is part of the drive for a good reason. It will give you advance notice of possible impending failure....
I didn't say that I think you had friends. It was just my idea that you might know someone who can help you out. (You did say that you don't know how to replace the hard drive, and I was just offering a couple of suggestions, just in case you decide to try that
I did not intend to imply anything at all. (But, I do hope you have friends )The ""shut down because of a problem" is simply that you apparently had to shut down (holding the power button, or just unplugging the power cord), and the next time that you boot to that external drive, it will then complain that you shut down because of a problem. But then, you already knew that (because you had to force a shutdown!)
So, a completely normal message at that point.
i don't have any moneyPurchase the replacement drive that you need.
"hasn't failed yet", but reports SMART errors - SMART reporting is part of the drive for a good reason. It will give you advance notice of possible impending failure....
I didn't say that I think you had friends. It was just my idea that you might know someone who can help you out. (You did say that you don't know how to replace the hard drive, and I was just offering a couple of suggestions, just in case you decide to try that
The ""shut down because of a problem" is simply that you apparently had to shut down (holding the power button, or just unplugging the power cord), and the next time that you boot to that external drive, it will then complain that you shut down because of a problem. But then, you already knew that (because you had to force a shutdown!)
So, a completely normal message at that point.
i don't have friends
i found a 10.6.7 install disk but it's for a 2011 macbook pro, should i try to install it on my imac
You start of with your first post asking for internet recovery, what you didn't say in your first post and still didn't say is why you have to use Internet recovery.
In a later post you say this
Doesn't compute, how did you get into System preferences, on your Disk or some other medium?
Your posts are confusing.
Why!!!!
There is no reason to reinstall OS X/macOS, I started of with OS X 10.0 beta, never reinstalled since then, I installed Updates and new releases over the existing OS.
There is no reason to reinstall OS X, you are wasting your time.
That is almost 20 years without a reinstall.
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just because you haven't ever reinstalled doesn't mean that i don't have to ever reinstall
Tell me why you want to reinstall, there is no reason to reinstall, none.
It's not the mandatory 2 year Windows reinstall because it will get slow.
OS X/macOS does not slow down, and if it does there are easier ways to solve it without a reinstall.
There's just 1 or 2 reasons to reinstall, 1 of them is if you F...ked up your disk by fiddling with permission, second is if the filesystem is so corrupt that even Diskwarrior can't repair it, and that is very..VERY rare.