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HELP! My 27" Intel iMac Just Blue Screened...

My 27" Intel iMac just blue screened and no longer loads passed the progress bar, before it reboots again and again. Any tips you can provide would help tremendously, like alternative ways to reinstall the OS without losing files, for Cmd + R and Option + Cmd + R options don't work. The latter option loads all the way to the spinning earth globe, but then reboots again and again like the Cmd + R. Please help asap for my business has come to a screeching halt because of this, so I'm losing money every day I can't access my 8K plus clients. Thanks, Paul

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 26, 2023 9:00 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 26, 2023 9:17 AM


There is a support article about screen colors on startup;

symptoms vary, and main article link below is from follows:


"Learn what to do if your Mac starts up to a blank screen, such as an empty gray, black, or blue screen."


Main article in reference, also includes the above:

If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156


There may be a graphics issue; or not. Depending on troubleshooting

results; try a restart in Safe boot mode, as a test for other issues. IF

nothing else, that may preclude visit to Apple authorized service.


How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery


If you can't start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314


Other helpful persons may be able to offer better ideas.

Take care! [edited 2x]


15 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 26, 2023 9:17 AM in response to StarCruiser


There is a support article about screen colors on startup;

symptoms vary, and main article link below is from follows:


"Learn what to do if your Mac starts up to a blank screen, such as an empty gray, black, or blue screen."


Main article in reference, also includes the above:

If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156


There may be a graphics issue; or not. Depending on troubleshooting

results; try a restart in Safe boot mode, as a test for other issues. IF

nothing else, that may preclude visit to Apple authorized service.


How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262


Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-macos-recovery


If you can't start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314


Other helpful persons may be able to offer better ideas.

Take care! [edited 2x]


Jun 27, 2023 2:34 PM in response to StarCruiser


..starcruiser..

While some ideas are fine, those better ones require forethought &/

or premeditation to have them work with longer term plans or goals.


A bootable clone of the working macOS, as full backup on boot capable

storage drive (SSD or durable 'faster spin-rate' HDD) & suited enclosure

for an external drive situation to function, either as eventual internal

replacement, or running external full system. Or a swappable backup.


A different approach may be to make a bootable installer for your Mac

on an external drive; that essentially does what the 'reinstall macOS'

could do. Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


These installers ^use Terminal commands; generally not in this way.

I've never had to use them, often a reinstall does fine, as they don't

erase user files; unless the System & Drive are wiped or damaged.


There is a possibility that a newer macOS (Mojave 10.14.6) could be

an avenue out of this; only if the internal drive is not defective.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683


How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904


(..it's always a good idea to back up your Mac before trouble

& Time Machine backup can be useful, ahead of demand..)


All my macs, desktop/vintage/& portable, are backed

up with Time Machine to a basic external USB HDD.

An older G4 Mac has boot capable clones on FireWire

(LaCie FW400 250GB) external enclosure, does OK.)


When a drive has 'recovery' partitions still intact, you may be

able to start the Mac from the system drive, and choose

a recovery partition; then use that to repair the main drive.

[The OPT key is one of those, which may or not work; this

would show choices of partitions on the startup screen.]


Jun 26, 2023 9:16 AM in response to StarCruiser

If your Mac just glitched and shut down, you may have greater problems that a reinstallation of the OS will fix. What specifically leads you to believe the OS needs to be reinstalled?


If a component has failed, so can an OS reinstall. Have you been getting any error messages or other warnings?


What year is your Mac and have you been experiencing any operational problems before this event? I assume your OS is 10.13 High Sierra which is quite old.


As far as your clients are concerned, you may have to rely on your backups if your system is incapacitated.


have you tried a safe boot? If not, try one: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support


Jun 29, 2023 1:32 PM in response to StarCruiser


When I use or attempt to use those recovery partitions, I simply

click on them, or an arrow beneath just the one (+hope it works)

And try to get the chosen one to open utility and repair disc, etc.


There are tedious steps here, too; and right now, I can't recollect

what I used two days ago; when I restarted my Mac mini and ran

those items, then restarted and it worked OK. Had been nearly a

month since last restart; my Mac mini has 2- HDDs & 4 partitions.


So I see more than a few macOS items, when starting up with OPT.

And this is an 'intel based' older one; would support Catalina, tops.


While its not easy, maybe you could post screenshots? (or not).


I'm not using a flare gun to signal help; just I need to go offline

& hoped a few who follow these threads, may be able to help.


Jun 26, 2023 3:54 PM in response to ku4hx

Hi ku4hx, the only thing I have been able to do is run Apple Hardware test, the extended version, which took 3 hours and came back with "no trouble found". So, I assume the problem is software. I haven't gotten a single error messages since the initial blue screen, which has changed to a grey ever since. I have had no operational issues before this event, other than a corrupt Safari that has been taken over by some kind of overlay. History: I bought this all-in-one when there were no other options for running an Avid Recording Studio, other than way out-of-date Power Macs. The Apple phone salesman said it had sufficient horsepower to run all of my AV apps without any problems. He was wrong, for it wouldn't run Avid Media Composer, Avid Symphony, Pro Tools, Final Cut, etc. Even one of Apple's high level tech support people told me that their salesman should never have sold much less recommended this iMac to me, because it's nothing more than a glorified notebook computer with a big display. Unfortunately, Apple wouldn't let me return it so I wasted nearly 4K on a computer that I have only been able to use for email correspondence with my 8k+ clients since it's purchase in 2011. To add insult to injury, now it went blue screen without any warning. Yes, I have tried to Safe Boot several times with no success. The only thing I see from time to time is a globe that spins slowly. I have never seen a mac that won't let me access Disk Utility in Safe Mode. Is there a backdoor way to bypass the OS so I can at least clone the drive? Paul

iMac 27": Sep 2011

MacOS: High Sierra. Ver: 10.13.6

Process: 3.4 GHz, Intel Core i7

RAM: 32GB 1333 Mhz DDR3

Graphic: AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB (2560x1440)

Serial:

Jun 27, 2023 10:51 AM in response to K Shaffer

Thanks K for all the links. It seems that every solution I find, involves starting the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the start button on the back on my 2011 mid year iMac and then immediately holding the Shift button. Unfortunately, that trigger doesn't work for some reason. CMD + R doesn't trigger the macOS Recovery feature either. Do you know of any other way to enter safe mode? Perhaps I can load the OS onto an external thumb drive? I did see what looked like a recovery screen the second time I tried rebooting the computer, which gave me the ability to choose reinstall High Sierra 10.13.6. But, when I rebooted I got the same grey screen with the Apple logo and progress bar. My only progress so far has been stopping the constant reboot every time the progress bar on the Apple logo screen is about half way. The unexpected change occurred after I ran the Apple Hardware Test twice (short & extended version), so I guess that helped. Both runs of AHT, returned no hardware issues. I wish there was a way to initiate a hard drive sector and repair scan, from outside of the OS, in case the AHT wasn't thorough enough to catch everything. If any ideas come to mind, I'm all ears! Thanks a million, Paul

Jun 27, 2023 11:36 AM in response to K Shaffer

Hi K,

Forgot to mention that every time I try to start up in Safe Mode, the Apple logo appears and the seemingly endless progress bar slowly creeps from left to right. In other words, it doesn't stop when it reaches the far right hand end of the bar, because I can clearly hear computer activity in the background as if the OS is installing something. Could that be a continuation of the OS 10.13 High Sierra reinstall that I initiated days ago the 2nd time restarted the computer and saw the macOS Recovery panel and chose the OS Reinstall? Should I let it run for a few hours or manually shut it off and try to start up from macOS Recovery again? Thanks a million, Paul


Jun 27, 2023 12:51 PM in response to StarCruiser

Hi Keith,

Well, swapping wired keyboards didn't help for pressing and holding the Shift key after restarting the computer still doesn't enter Safe Mode, nor does restarting and pressing Option, Cmd, and the R key enter macOS Recovery. Is it possible to install a basic version of High Sierra on a thumb drive and access Safe Mode or macOS Recovery from it? Or, do I need to install it on an SSD drive? There must be some kind of workaround that I can use. Let me know... Thanks again, Paul

Jun 27, 2023 12:52 PM in response to Keith Barkley

Hi Keith,

Well, swapping wired keyboards didn't help for pressing and holding the Shift key after restarting the computer still doesn't enter Safe Mode, nor does restarting and pressing Option, Cmd, and the R key enter macOS Recovery. Is it possible to install a basic version of High Sierra on a thumb drive and access Safe Mode or macOS Recovery from it? Or, do I need to install it on an SSD drive? There must be some kind of workaround that I can use. Let me know... Thanks again, Paul

Jun 29, 2023 12:50 PM in response to K Shaffer

Hi K,

I have been trying every solution I can to create a bootable installer that I can put on a 32GB thumb drive, and boot up my 2011 27" Intel iMac so that I can run disk utility to try to repair it. But sadly, I just discovered that I cannot download High Sierra 10.13.6 onto a new iMac because Apple won't allow you to download an operating system that is older than the OS your computer came with, which is insane to say the least. In other words, I can't use a new M1 iMac to fix an older Intel iMac. Without a bootable OS installer, I can't even begin to utilize the ideas you suggested, so that I can retrieve client contact information, scheduling and data on nearly 10K clients. There must be some way to to get a copy of High Sierra 10.13.6 from somewhere. Please let me know if you have a reliable way to procure a copy of HS10.13.6. Thanks a million K! Paul

Jun 29, 2023 1:15 PM in response to StarCruiser


Perhaps a virtual machine may have been a pathway to run that.

But unlikely nowadays, while I'm not aware of those much; and

a few older ones were within my acquaintance a decade ago!


The devil is in the details, and where steps follow tedious path

that may not be accessed now. I don't know.


I'd asked other mac users to intercede here; maybe someone?

Take care, good luck, & safe travels!🌼🐝|🎣🐟|🏕🍄

Jun 29, 2023 1:18 PM in response to K Shaffer

Oops, I forgot to mention that I tried your Option key idea and it generated two hard drives, one with the name Macintosh HD and the other one says Recovery-10.13.6. But once again, it goes so far and nothing happens. It accepted the network name and password, which allowed me to choose the Recovery-10.13.6 drive, and it returned to a grey page with the Apple logo in the middle, but that's as far as it went. I was left starring at a stationary Apple logo with no progress bar! Does that mean the Recovery partition empty? Thanks, Paul

HELP! My 27" Intel iMac Just Blue Screened...

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