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Slow and crashing iMac (27-inch, late 2015)

My iMac (27-inch, late 2015, 4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor, 32 GB 1867 MHz DDR3 memory, running macOS Catalina 10.15.2) is incredibly slow & beach balling constantly. Also now crashing, leaving us with a black screen and white line-through-circle icon. Any thoughts? Thanks!


Etrecheck report attached.


iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 16, 2020 10:38 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 16, 2020 10:47 AM

Prohibitory symbol


A circle with a line or slash through it means that the selected startup disk contains a Mac operating system, but it's not a macOS that your Mac can use. You should reinstall macOS on that disk.


I suggest that you backup your files, if you can, erase the drive, and reinstall macOS from scratch.


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible, back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the volume (indented entry, usually Macintosh HD) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  6. Set the partition map to GUID.
  7. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  8. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  9. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


If you have a backup of your files, then you should restore them to the computer wherever they belong. If you had third-party software, then restore it from the original media or re-download them. Be sure they are the current version.

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 16, 2020 10:47 AM in response to gregshine

Prohibitory symbol


A circle with a line or slash through it means that the selected startup disk contains a Mac operating system, but it's not a macOS that your Mac can use. You should reinstall macOS on that disk.


I suggest that you backup your files, if you can, erase the drive, and reinstall macOS from scratch.


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible, back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the volume (indented entry, usually Macintosh HD) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  6. Set the partition map to GUID.
  7. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  8. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  9. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


If you have a backup of your files, then you should restore them to the computer wherever they belong. If you had third-party software, then restore it from the original media or re-download them. Be sure they are the current version.

Slow and crashing iMac (27-inch, late 2015)

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