iMac not starting. Help!!

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Level 1

4 points

iMac not starting. Help!!

Hi

I’m having an issue starting my iMac. I had to force it to shut down earlier as it wouldn’t wake from sleep. It’s not come back on since. It loads to a screen with a folder with a question mark in it. I’ve then managed to restart it in recovery mode. I have time machine on an external drive. I can’t restore to the iMac as it doesn’t seem to recognise the Mac ‘disk0’. So, I did a fsck (?) and it said “the disk0 appears to be OK”. Also, under the info tab, it says that the disk is “not mounted”. I can’t do anything in disk utility as every option is grayed out.

So, these are my questions:

Can I save my iMac myself?
Do I buy another external hard drive to restore time machine to and make this the bootable drive? Will this slow it down even more?
Take it to a computer shop and hope they can fix it?
Spend a load of money on a lovely new iMac?!

It is 8-9 years old, so I understand it’s had a good life. I’d tell you the specs of the computer but I can’t get that up on the screen.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Sioned.

iMac 27", macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 10, 2020 11:30 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

BDAqua

Level 10

245,489 points

Feb 10, 2020 11:49 AM in response to sionedowen

Hello Sioned,

Likely the drive has died or is dying, but in Disk Utility>View, try Show all Devices.

Likely
Yes, depends on drive & interface, but external drive works OK in operation, but slower in bootinfg, an external SSD might make it faster.
If you can find an independent AASP, that'd work.
Or... https://www.macofalltrades.com/shop/apple-desktops/imac/

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Answer 2

sionedowen Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 10, 2020 12:44 PM in response to BDAqua

I think it’ll likely be a new iMac.

Luckily all my other files, iTunes library and photos are on another external drive.

It’s been running ridiculously slow for the past few months and struggled after each restart so I think it’s had a good life. It’s too far to lug it to my nearest AASP with a toddler so it’s a new iMac (it’ll be good for schoolwork) and no holidays for a while. At least we know that it will be a good investment.

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

sionedowen Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 12, 2020 10:59 AM in response to BDAqua

UPDATE:

I took the iMac to a local computer shop. In the same day, I got a new 500Gb SSD put in for £105. Absolute bargain I think. The Mac is back up and running and is currently doing the long long process of restoring from my time machine. Winner.

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