iMac won't complete shutting down or restarting process

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iMac won't complete shutting down or restarting process

[I had posted this before, but the only answer I got (to restart in Safe Mode) didn't solve the problem. So, I try again.]

Whenever I try to restart my iMac (late 2009), everything goes as expected: one by one, apps close; the screen turns dark, but then the cursor/arrow jumps to the upper left corner of the screen, and nothing happens. It's not frozen, since I'm able to move the cursor. After that, the only thing to do is to force shut down.

I've just reinstalled OS 10.13.6, hoping to solve this, but it hasn't worked. There's a security update to be installed which won't, because the restart/install process never happens.

Also, I can't schedule the iMac to shut down and restart as I used to.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

iMac, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 30, 2021 10:31 AM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

245,309 points

Mar 30, 2021 12:25 PM in response to pedrocm

I'm fairly certain we can find the reason with...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info.

https://www.etrecheck.com/

Pastebin is a good place to paste the whole report if you capture the URL while there…

https://pastebin.com/

Whew, they've changed pastebin & made it harder, but after pasting in, click Create new paste button, then Embed button, then copy the URL...

The important part of the above is...

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/KuvnghqA

Workable but harder for me to work with...the Note tool on the bottom of this editor's toolbar, as shown in the image, to copy and paste the output from EtreCheck. In a Reply before you click post, look for this to add longer texts...

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,309 points

Mar 31, 2021 9:00 AM in response to pedrocm

Uninstall CleanMyMac per their directions , then run etrecheck again to see what chaff it left...

On CMM…

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251370955?answerId=252661013022#252661013022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251442443?answerId=252814053022#252814053022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251464557?answerId=252841819022#252841819022

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251889446?answerId=253629452022#253629452022

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

245,309 points

Mar 31, 2021 10:29 AM in response to pedrocm

Now rinse & repeat for AVG...

On AVG & Avast…

https://x704.net/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=8803&p=115715&hilit=avg#p115715

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251454104?answerId=252862395022#252862395022

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Answer 4

pedrocm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2021 8:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Thank you for your answer.

I did what you suggested: started in Safe Mode, run for half an hour, then tried to restart, to no avail — same problem.

I forced quit, and now I'm having a new problem: after logging in Normal Mode I get Beachball spinning on forever. So I decided to try and start from the HDD and run Disk Utility on my regular SSD start-up disk. No problem found.

Again I tried to start on Normal Mode from the SSD and got the spinning ball again. Restarted on Safe Mode and I did the Etrecheck, which report I'm posting here through Pastebin, hoping you can find something there that might help.

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/4Vr3t025

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Answer 5

pedrocm Author

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9 points

Apr 2, 2021 10:30 AM in response to BDAqua

I haven’t been able to do the Apple Hardware Test - it won’t start. But if there’s an hardware problem, only if it is something to do with the SSD - when I use the HDD as a start up disk the problem doesn’t occur. Also I ran DriveDX and it found no major problems.

I may try reinstalling the OS.

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Answer 6

pedrocm Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 31, 2021 9:22 AM in response to BDAqua

Ok. I unistalled CMM and ran Etrecheck again.

Here it is:

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/wERYG7T9

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Answer 7

pedrocm Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 2, 2021 4:24 AM in response to BDAqua

Hello, again.

Cleaned all that (I think...) Still no results.

I attach a new Etrecheck report:

https://pastebin.com/embed_js/GHUvJhEk

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

245,309 points

Apr 2, 2021 9:19 AM in response to pedrocm

OK, thanks, looks like we may have some hardware problem... or the OS needs reinstalling.

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Answer 9

BDAqua

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245,309 points

Apr 2, 2021 10:51 AM in response to pedrocm

Is this a Samsung SSD? 860 or greater?

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Answer 10

pedrocm Author

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Apr 2, 2021 11:15 AM in response to BDAqua

According to the Etrecheck report it’s a Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB.

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Answer 11

BDAqua

Level 10

245,309 points

Apr 2, 2021 11:22 AM in response to pedrocm

Ah, thanks, can only say that I've seen several problem reports with Apple HW & Samsung SSDs 860 & greater, might only be certain Macs, haven't sen particular problems with the 850.

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iMac won't complete shutting down or restarting process

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