iMac 27” boot problem

Glad to hear you got it all sorted out- eventually … sadly, den. thed is correct- there is no native ( and free) way to do so… there is a way, but it’s kinda pricey… I suggest if you wanted to have a bigger screen with your new iMac…,you could plug it into your tv set ( assuming it has an HDMI input on it) … that’s pretty cheap ( if you have a long enough hdmi cable around your house or hdmi cable+ adapters you might already have , well, there you go)

john B

I dunno much, greenstead… that -2003F error means it cannot establish a secure connection with Apple’s MacOS Recovery servers so I guess you’re trying Internet Recovery… you’d have to try.. resetting the smc, zapping the pram a few times, then see if you can get to Startup Manager( by holding down “option” on startup/restart… to do

the first two, do this ;

( hopefully I’ll be allowed to post this link, sometimes the admins here are pretty strict about links)

then, try startup manager… by default MacOS looks for an internal “good” working HD or SSD then an external one.. but since you don’t have an internal one… then see if you have a recovery partition there, boot into that then you should be able to install MacOS again, don’t forget at the end to make your external disk the default bootable one… you must do that or else it’ll only boot to the recovery partition… if you had a bootable USB stick/thumb drive this might be easier.. as a last resort you could try booting from a DVD copy of Snow Leopard Retail, and if you’re trying Internet Recovery.try Option+ Shift+ Apple+ R keys held together, this’ll get you the closest version of the Mac OS that’s still available -as for -2003F make sure you’re plugged into working Ethernet connection , I guess

john B

[Edited by Moderator]

• Error -2003F means that Internet Recovery has been interrupted and needs to be restarted.
• Help! What does -2003F mean? - Apple Community

Thanks John,

I guess admin removed yr link.

I also guess the link was to show how to reset smc and pram, and get into startup manager.

There are many websites show this process.

I will try it later today.

Many thnx for now.

The state of the bad internal drive can affect starting up from an external drive.

If you have recovered all of your data from the internal drive, then try erasing it and leaving it empty.

Sorry, but the new iMac does not support using the old 27" iMac as a display.