Path: ...!news.misty.com!1.us.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!peer01.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!fx14.iad.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Snit Newsgroups: alt.computer.workshop Subject: Re: P - snit Imac (again) Organization: Southern Nevada Institute of Technology References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=fixed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: Usenapp for MacOS X-Usenapp: v1.27.2/l - Full License Lines: 272 Message-ID: X-Complaints-To: abuse@blocknews.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 06:41:51 UTC Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 06:41:51 GMT X-Received-Bytes: 12075 Bytes: 12310 On Jan 21, 2024 at 7:17:07 PM MST, "Gremlin" wrote : > Snit news:mA2rN.43641$6ePe.43164@fx42.iad Sun, > 21 Jan 2024 06:11:30 GMT in alt.computer.workshop, wrote: > >> On Jan 20, 2024 at 8:52:00â\u20acŻPM MST, "Gremlin" wrote >> : >> >>> Go ahead and attempt to enter safe mode. Let me know your results. >> >> Going to be specific here... >> >> 1) Turned it off. >> 2) Hit power button. >> 3) Immediately held down the shift key (the left one if that matters). >> >> No dice. Progress bar sat there for five minutes. Used a weight on the >> shift key and walked away. >> >> Tried again but this time held the shift key before turning the power on >> (not the "by the book" way, but I have seen it work). >> >> No dice. Progress bar sat there for five minutes. Used a weight on the >> shift key and walked away. > > Yea, I didn't think that was going to be of much use. Snit, I need to know > specific answers to some questions. > > Is the machine using the original hard drive it shipped with as far as you > know? Yes. Certain it is. Well, certain it is what is in the machine... not really using it in any meaningful sense. :) But, yes, that is the drive in the machine. > SC seems to recall you having a technician look at this machine before and > told you the mb was the issue? Carroll makes up many stories, especially about me. That is not in any way true. I have had other Macs where the motherboard was replaced, and it was effective (other than the tech did not put a serial number on one of the Macs and I had to get that fixed later). > I think I remember you mentioning you thought > the mb was the problem previously; what made you determine that? Motherboard or something of the sort. Hardware... and something rather major. > > Is this Apple Silicon or Intel? https://support.apple.com/kb/SP759?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US Intel. It is a 2017 machine! > > SC asked you if the machine had been slowing down on you previously; he > found a post from you where you reported that it would literally appear to > freeze up on you, and then after about 30 seconds or so, act is if nothing > was wrong. Is this correct? Yes. I do not recall a spinning ball during that time but I am not certain. > > Have you tried to use the netboot feature? Tried Net Recovery.... But do not recall details. Best to repeat and be specific instead of guessing and getting details wrong. I did say Net Boot before. That is an error. My apologies. > If so, did it actually complete > the process? I can think of a reason it might not with a HD physically > connected that's having a problem. It's similar to PXE, and still relies on > all of the present hardware working and cooperating with each other. If the > what I suspect is a failing HD has a controller issue contributing to the > failure (or it's a logic issue with the firmware due to too many bad sectors > and no place to remap) this too can bork your efforts to succesfully > complete the process, or if you are succesful, maintain system stability. > PCs routinely probe the hardware bus to check in with the hardware it > detected during post. I suspect your imac does something similar. With a PC > if a hardware device unexpectedly fails, the system may not be able to > recover from it; resulting on modern OSes as a kernel panic/blue/blackscreen > of death and system reboot if it's configured to auto restart. OK. > Sometimes, you could have a seriously fuxored driver being loaded at some > point which can also cause kernel panics, but we can rule this one out due > to the fact the system isn't stable if it's booting on it's own internal or > not. It's not going to be loading the same identical drivers likely from the > network image you'd use on netboot. And if you did a system restore back to > factory, it would have the original drivers again. > > It's not actually hanging on you going thru post right? The picture you > shared shows it passed post, but, it isn't making it thru software > initialization/OS load. I think this is correct. > >> Repeated the process with another keyboard. No mouse has been connected. >> >> Same results. No sign if it doing anything. > > I wouldn't have expected any change with a keyboard/mouse swap. That's not > the issue. Bad external devices can cause issues. > >> My next recommendation would Command+R to try to get to Recovery Mode. > > I don't think that's going to help. Yea, after confirming what Recovery mode > actually is and does, I'm pretty sure it's useless. It would attempt to > restore onto the HD i still suspect has an issue. I am speaking of testing the drive. Was also thinking of booting from the net but that is not an option. My mistake. > > >>> Also, if >>> you can access a startup screen that shares the steps the machine is >>> taking as it boots up instead of the loading bar please do so and >>> record the video. >> >> Verbose Mode. >> >> Command+V as you boot. >> >> No response. Tried the other keyboard. No luck. One is not a keyboard >> designed for Macs, so actually tried it twice -- once with Windows key >> and once with Control. > > Interesting... > >> As if the keyboards are doing nothing... but when I did see it boot once >> I did try to enter my password... and got a couple letters in before it >> went to the spinning wheel (I left that detail out before, my >> apologies). > > I see. doesn't look like it had initialized USB human input by the time you > tried to enter verbose mode. Is there not a key you can press while the > loading bar is present to see those details? I do not believe so. > I can on any of my machines > here. I don't need to tell them before hand I want to see the 'verbose mode' > screen. I assume you are familiar with that term. > I like that...verbose mode...It's also possible you have an issue > with the USB controller IC. this is something that can be diagnosed; the bad > news is, if it is the IC, you can't 'fix' it; you'll have to replace it. > And, it's a surface mount little bastard. Now, it's been my personal > experience that when the USB controller goes tits up, the entire usb > platform is dead in the water; it doesn't work then stop working then work > again. I'm not going to say that's impossible, just that I've never seen a > machine with that issue doing it. Whatever it is doing is weirdly inconsistent. Maybe it has the computer version of my atypical dysautonomia. :) > > Let's rule out any possible hardware issues we can detect prior to opening > it first though. We'll start with the most often failed component causing > such issues; the HD. > > Snag a copy of an MXLinux ISO please and write to to a USB stick. As far as > I know, your imac can boot from a USB stick with MXLinux present on it. If > it will, we can use that to check the condition of the internal hard drive > from SMARTS pov. Been a while since I created such a disk, but I am sure I can do that. Well, before I used Puppy and Mint and maybe others but not MXLinux that I recall. Sure it is much the same. I will do that... but will have to fit it into work the next couple of days. By the end of the week I will not be available for this for a while. Sorry for the coming and going... and sincerely appreciate your efforts here. ========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========