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iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 (Late 2009, Core 2 Duo 3.06 or 3.33 GHz) ID iMac10,1, EMC 2374 (Late 2009, Core i5 2.66 GHz or Core i7 2.8 GHz) ID iMac11,1

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iMac (Mavericks) stuck on boot (only apple logo)

Dear friends,

last week I found my iMac stuck on screensaver, I couldn't do anything but forcing shut down. After restart I noticed that the boot process stuck on apple logo, the sequence is as follow:

1- I press the start up button

2- I can hear the chime and white screen with apple logo

3- Also spinning gear comes out

4- Then spinning gear go off and iMac remains stuck on white screen with apple logo

I performed the following actions:

- I reset PRAM and NVRAM

- I boot from CD or recovery partition and performed a User Permission Repair, a disk Verify, an OS installation over the previous OS and a total formatting of the internal disk with a new OS installation.

Nothing changed. I can only access in safe boot mode. Could be maybe a video card issue?

Strange thing: after resetting the PRAM (that brings the mac screen at the max brightness) when spinning gear comes off the system lowers down the brightness as if it should enter the OS but remains stuck. Maybe the video card is not the issue?

Thanks for help,

Paolo

Answer this question I have this problem too

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How long do you let it search (boot)? At least 10 minutes. If it were a GPU issue I don't think you could boot to repair partition… I think you may have a failing HD. Run AHT and see what it says.

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I already performed an AHT but no issue has been found.

I'll try to install a new system in an external unit.

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Some issues only turn up in AHT under stress… run it in advanced mode 2 or 3x in a row.

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Please give us the last four figures of your serial number or tell us if it is one of these: (for example, xxxxxxxxDHJQ):

DHJQ, DHJW, DL8Q, DNGH, DNJ9, or DMW8

DPM1, DPM2, DPNV, DNY0, DRVP, DY6F, F610

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Any further info/updates on this issue? I am experiencing same problem.

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Had the same problem, Macbook air/Mavericks hanging on startup with apple logo and spinning gear. Tried many solutions including the ones on this page, no luck.

Finally:

Boot to recovery: With computer off, press & release power button then immediately press and hold Command + "r" until recovery screen appears.

Open terminal: In the recovery screen, on the top menu bar click "Utilities" then "Terminal".

Type each of the following commands in terminal:

"mount -uw /"

press enter

"chown root /"

press enter

"chmod 1775 /"

press enter

"exit"

press enter

Close terminal and click restart from the top menu bar.

I must admit that I caused this problem myself by changing the permissions on my startup HD.

Hopefully this helps.

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How did you determine this fix and what exactly does it do? I am having the same issue with my imac (EMC 2374 Late 2009, Core i5 2.66 GHz) and have tried everything but fixes in terminal. I can target my drive from another mac and have it boot no problem...seriously nonplussed.

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OMG that worked for me!!!

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This is 100% a failing hard drive just hasn't failed completely yet. It could also be a bad SATA Cable.

If you open disk utilities in the boot CD, click on the hard drive (not the partition name) and at the bottom it will say S.M.A.R.T.... Verified means everything is good but sometimes it will say Failing.

It's most certainly a hard drive issue.

Update

This is tricky! It could still be but it could also be a GPU problem.

If you have an external hard drive, try installing OS X on to that the same way you do to the internal hard drive and just boot to that by holding down the Option key on boot.

If it loads fine from the external it's a HDD problem, if symptoms persist then probably GPU.

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Thanks for answer. Yesterday I downgraded the system to OSX lion and this is what I get after boot: http://imgur.com/PBOICfR

Is still an hard drive issue?

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Here we are: S5RU

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graphix=yes -x Before You boot from Maverick Partition

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This is NOT necessarily a hard drive problem. I have a 3 TB hard drive with two partitions. I have been using Mavericks one the #1 partition for a month, I'm on it now. I downloaded 10.9.4 yesterday and installed it onto the #2 partition. I then used Migration Assistant to move my user data and settings. When trying to boot from the new system I can only get to the Apple in both full start up mode and in Safe Mode. I let it try to start up all night with no results except to reboot onto the original partition. Sorry I don't have an answer but obviously it's not my hard drive failing or a GPU issue as my Mac Pro is running just right now.

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I also had the same issue.. The Apple guys have replaced the hard disk..but after a day the same issue happened again..Now I am waiting for the Apple person to fix it permanently.. In India the apple service is $@$*!&..

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Paolo Pizzuti will be eternally grateful.
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