Failing HDD Mid 2011 iMac

[MOE-LARRY&CURLY]

Hi and thanks for reading this. Been running various very of Linux on the hdd and using the internal sod as a back up to Mac OS just in case. Duel boot I suppose. I know it’s old and I neeed to at least open the beast up and replace the hdd. So the hdd failed. I was able to boot into the sod and load MATE back on. Then I began to attempt a little data rescue of the hdd. I got what I needed. Upon restart of machine it just loads to a black screen with a curser middle top left. Nothing. I still can get into recovery mode and have use of the disk until, and terminal and have a back up of OS 10.13.6 which kinda works with Chrome. The ssd seems ok. Is there a command that can be used to make the machine recognize it again? I’ll add some pictures to help explain. Thank you!

 

[MOE-LARRY&CURLY]

Stupid auto correct. Ssd.not sod!

 

[Alexzee]

I don't have a Mac so I won't be much help there.

Glad to hear that you were able to retrieve what you needed.

An all black screen with a cursor at the top left is a sign that the bootloader and it's configuration files are corrupt or missing all together.

With Linux running live on a usb these commands should show the devices.

sudo fdisk -l

lsusb

And:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdX

Where /sdX is that would be which ever disk refers to the output of what fdisk -l returns

To test if your 1 TB HDD is failing you could use S.M.A.R.T.
Basically, smartmontools.

Perhaps our Administrator @wizardfromoz or our Moderator @Brickwizard know of some other strategies that could help.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Perhaps our Administrator @wizardfromoz

No, I am in the category of

I don't have a Mac so I won't be much help there.

Goof luck, though

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[Brickwizard]

The ssd seems ok.

Never assume the same electronics could last 50 years or 50 days run a full [it will take time] smartctl check

macs with black screens can be a right pig [I spent 5 days over christmas trying to fix one for my next door neighbour after diagnosing the problem and costing parts , I told him to save his cash and ditch it, as not cost effective to fix]

not being an expert in Mac, i can only point you to one of the sites i was using for information below..

iMac Black Screen? 8 Easy Ways to Fix It Now

Is your iMac on but the screen is black? Don't panic. Fix the iMac black screen by resetting the SMC, NVRAM, and more. Get your Mac working again in minutes!

recoverit.wondershare.com

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

If I remember correctly, the fruit co. should have self-diagnostics option from a key combo at startup. This also might be of help- https://support.apple.com/en-us/102550 . It should be built into your Mac. Could Be the Nvram as well.

 

[MOE-LARRY&CURLY]

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions. I was able to get a couple steps closer to a working install. I will start a new post in that regard as it is off this topic a bit.

 

[APTI]

I don't have a Mac so I won't be much help there.

Glad to hear that you were able to retrieve what you needed.

An all black screen with a cursor at the top left is a sign that the bootloader and it's configuration files are corrupt or missing all together.

With Linux running live on a usb these commands should show the devices.

sudo fdisk -l

lsusb

And:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdX

Where /sdX is that would be which ever disk refers to the output of what fdisk -l returns

To test if your 1 TB HDD is failing you could use S.M.A.R.T.
Basically, smartmontools.

Perhaps our Administrator @wizardfromoz or our Moderator @Brickwizard know of some other strategies that could help.

MACOSx does not have SMART. the bios usually has no support for it either. You would have to put the drive into another computer to check it.

Now you know something more about macs.

 

[Alexzee]

MACOSx does not have SMART. the bios usually has no support for it either. You would have to put the drive into another computer to check it.

Now you know something more about macs.

Would a live usb of Linux using SMART work?

 

[APTI]

Would a live usb of Linux using SMART work?

I have tried that and it did not for me. but won't hurt to try it yourself. I believe the BIOS has to support it in order to use it. MAC BIOS most of the time does not support it.

 

[Alexzee]

I have tried that and it did not for me. but won't hurt to try it yourself. I believe the BIOS has to support it in order to use it. MAC BIOS most of the time does not support it.

Sounds like Apple has the BIOS locked out.
Thanks!

 

[APTI]

Sounds like Apple has the BIOS locked out.
Thanks!

easy to take care of. Of course working in a shop I have the tools but all you need is a linux live USB and a pc to plug the drive into. You do not have to check the drive on the computer it belongs in. and the drives are all the same sata interface so it will not matter. You just won't be able to boot the HDD on the pc. But you will have access to SMART to check.

 

[Brickwizard]

if you still have a version o osx on the machine then use inbuilt analyser

check your Mac’s disk with Disk Utility,
Start Disk Utility from Applications -> Utilities.
Find your disk in the list on the left side (if you have multiple disks), and click on it.
Click on Info in the top right.
Look at the presented information.
it uses a reduced S.M.A.R.T application