asked on

iMac won't start up; recovery mode also not giving me solutions...

I have a mid-2010 iMac running Sierra that has served me well. I’ve been using it as an external monitor for my new MBP the last few months. Last week the SuperDrive failed... then a few days later it wouldn’t restart.

I booted in Recovery mode and ran disk first aid - errors (The First Aid error message says: {checking several files & volumes...} The volume Mac HD could not be verified completely. File system check exit code is 8. File system verify or repair failed. Operation failed.) I’ve tried to reinstall the OS - it appears to Download fine, but cannot install.

I've zapped the PRAM.

I've also started in Internet Recovery mode. Disk first aid returned the same errors as above, with the addition of "Problem -69842 occurred while restoring the original mount state"

Is there anything else I can try before trying to wipe the drive clean? (Hoping this is a last resort; I believe all my info is backed up... but it’s still a scary thing to do!) Of course if my HD is simply dead, maybe even that won't help.... However, when in Recover Mode, it gives me the basic info of the HD, so I'm thinking it can at minimum be seen - and perhaps IS operational?

strung

Sounds like the HD is dead or dying.

If you don't want to replace it and you have a good backup you could try erasing it in recovery mode and installing a fresh OS.

Scott Silva

You are going to have to replace the hard drive and do a restore... If the old hard drive is still accessible, you might be able to mount it with a USB adapter and recover your data...

Travis Martinez

There is a possibility of correcting the file system errors by booting to single user mode. It basically comes down to being a Linux system. The following is how to boot to single user mode and run the command "fsck -fy":

http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/07/how-to-repair-a-mac-disk-with-fsck-from-single-user-mode/

If the system isn't repaired from single user mode it is still possible to retrieve the data with a drive dock and another machine.

Scott Silva

Hopefully all the beating the drive night take during a full FSCK won't finish it off before you can recover your files...

The SAFEST choice is a new drive... Not the cheapest. but the safest...

cathi swanson

ASKER

Thanks all! Since the machine is hooked up with iCloud, it looks like my Desktop and Documents folders are viewable there... I'm checking them out to make sure that all the files (that I can remember!) are there... then will proceed to... something. not really sure what my next step will be. ;)

serialband

I have a mid-2010

Replace the disk with SSD, if that disk is also from 2010, it's run its course in life. Even if you can somehow get it running again it's on its very last legs.

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