Fix Your Stuff Community Store

Model A1225 / Mid 2007 and Early 2008 / 2.4, 2.8, or 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

433 Questions View all

Options

iMac freezes during startup. unable to reinstall OS.

Hi There,

Half a year ago I replaced my HD with an SSD (Samsung EVO). All worked great till yesterday, when my iMac froze. Since then I was unable to startup. The apple sign shows up, but about a 1/3 of the way into the progress bar, it gets stuck. Then the screen goes black and the progress bar starts again. After 3 times of this, the prohibitory sign comes up.

I tried reinstalling the OS from a USB drive. The drive showed up, but when I chose it, the above scenario reoccurred. I tried recovery mode and AHT - same problem.

The computer froze while I was working on a large photoshop file, and after several warnings (which I ignored) that the startup disk is full, the screen went off and on a few times before it froze. I restarted it and opened the same file again, and after a few seconds it froze again. Haven't been able to start it since.

What could be wrong?

There aren't any Mac technicians in my area and it will be a pain (and expensive) to get someone to look at it, so I'm trying to figure out if it's even worth attempting to repair.

Thanks!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

Is this a good question?

Yes No
Score 0
Add a comment

2 Answers

Filter by:
Most Helpful Newest Oldest
Chosen Solution

Options

Turns out the graphics card died and that's what hindered the startup process. At least this is what the technician said. However, I'm not going to verify the validity of his diagnosis. Time to get a new computer.

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No
Score 0
Add a comment
Most Helpful Answer

Options

Programs need space on the hard drive to use as a scratch pad. If you can reboot, empty your trash and either move some of your large files to the trash or an external drive. This may not be all of your problems but it's a starting point. Repeating the same things and expecting different results is generally considered to be insanity.

Was this answer helpful?

Yes No
Score 3

12 Comments:

Problem is I can't reboot!...

Photoshop keeps a large cache of file history (that you can undo) but once you close the app, the space clears up. Therefore this should have had no effect on startup.

Is it possible that it didn't clear the cache because the app crashed?

I find it hard to believe that the startup disc would allow the space to completely fill up, but if this IS the case, how can I access the files on the SSD?

by

Boot the machine in Target Mode with another Mac. Give it some breathing room. Then run Disk Utilities from the other machine.

by

Thanks! I tried booting it in target mode. Disk utility could not mount the drive and said it needs to be repaired, but was unable to repair it. The only computer I have access to with firewire is running OS 10.6.8 , so I'm not positively sure that this diagnostic is correct. Perhaps that computer isn't capable of dealing with an SSD?

by

Get a USB to SATA Adapter, pull the drive and get some of the junk off it before trying to repair it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Speed-Data-...

by

Thanks so much! I already took it to the lab this morning...

by

Show 7 more comments

Add a comment

Add your answer

Dannah will be eternally grateful.
View Statistics:

Past 24 Hours: 0

Past 7 Days: 0

Past 30 Days: 0

All Time: 806