Is my iMac dying? Help please!

[Sooz]

My iMac is acting up. I cannot wake it from sleep.  When I'm done using it, I select Sleep. 
Yesterday, it wouldn't wake up so I had to press the Power button on the back of my computer.

Today, it wouldn't wake up at all even when I pressed the Power button, so I ended up turning it off from the power strip.  When I turned it back on, it reloaded fine. Then I couldn't use Safari or Firefox at all.  I didn't try to open any documents. 

Then I went under the apple and selected Restart.  It restarted and then gave me my desktop picture, and my dock, but nothing else that I have on my desktop (like folders, etc)    I had to do another turn-off the power button and then waited a few minutes, then pressed it again, and finally got my regular desktop with my folders back on the screen.

I'm on OS El Capitan 10.11.6 and Safari 11.1.1 and I have not updated anything.
I have SuperDuper and Time Machine, and I also have Disk Warrior.

What is going on with my computer??? ...and how do I fix it???   

If you know me, you know I don't know what I'm doing... you'll also know I need very very basic baby-step instructions, and pictures help too. 

Thanks in advance!!!
Smiles,
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

Do you remember the year of the iMac? It may appear if you use the "About this Mac..." item in the Apple menu (far left-hand end of the Menu Bar).

If you can run Disk Warrior, it might indicate the drive is beyond repair. Hopefully, your SuperDuper backup is bootable and you can try starting up from there. You'll need to start up from a drive external to the Mac for DW to work.

Here's a list of ways to start up (NOT "Restart" [see post from jon below) your Mac without using any other software:
My suggestions are to use these methods, in this order and write down the results for each. These methods just need you to hold down certain keys, this list just notes which keys for each method:

• Shift key: Safe Mode (does some more thorough disk testing)
• D key: Runs Diagnostics or Hardware Test
• Option Command P R (all at once): Rests some of the internal memory
• Option key: allows you to see what other disks you might be able to use for Start Up

That last method is important if you want to try to use DW.

There is one more method, but this gives you enough to keep you busy for a few minutes. Please let us know the results of each method. Thanks!

[jchuzi]

Just to expand on Jim's instructions:

Pressing Option-Command-P-R must be done as soon as you hear the startup chime. It is best to do this from a cold start, not a restart. In other words, shut down completely, press the Power button, depress all those keys simultaneously as soon as you hear the chime, and release the keys after the SECOND chime. (Yes, the computer will chime a second time, even though it doesn't do this with a normal start).

[Xairbusdriver]

Thanks, for the extra details Jon!

[Sooz]

Thanks Jim and Jon.... and wouldn't you know it, now it's working slick as snot on a doorknob in July (what an image!)  I don't remember the year of my iMac and it doesn't appear anywhere I can find.

Is there a chance that this was somehow related to my cable internet provider, and not my computer?

Thanks for the extra & special step-by-steps!!!!! (I love you people here!)
Smiles,
Sooz

[jchuzi]

To find out everything that you (n)ever wanted to know about your Mac, including the year and model, go to the Apple menu and click About This Mac. BTW, I can't imagine why your ISP would have anything to do with this.

Considering what happened, it would be a good idea to run Disk Warrior.

[Xairbusdriver]

All the different Start Up methods are safe and may actually provide some info that will be of use in the future. It will take some time, your usual Start Up time times the four methods. And the last one will help you know if you can actually run Disk Warrior to fix any problems it finds. You can run DW from the internal drive, but it will not be able to actually fix any problems it finds while you are still running on that drive. You have to have the Mac running on a completely different drive (probably the SuperDuper drive) so it can "unmount" the internal drive. It is not possible to "unmount" the internal drive while you are using it as your Start Up drive. It's like trying to take out a cars engine while you continue to drive it.

[Sooz]

Ohhhhh, so complicated!!!!  I need to sit down and study, and make notes, and an outline for the step-by-step way to do all this--but THANK YOU!!!  I know I ran Disk Warrior once before, but goodness knows I have forgotten all about it.
Here's a screenshot about my mac (thanks, J)

[Xairbusdriver]

Complicated? Three of the methods require only one finger! OK, maybe holding one finger on one hand on the keyboard while using one finger on the other hand to press the power button. Even a hunt-n-peck "typist" can do that! None require more than two hands!

As for reporting results, I'd be happy just hearing that things just worked!

[Sooz]

Jim, it's complicated to me! LOLAM!  Okay, it's about 12:40 a.m. here so I'll hope to do this tomorrow. 

Once I do the Start Ups 1 through 4 methods as noted above, i.e. SuperDuper and that "unmounts" the internal drive so I can use Disk Warrior, will I get any prompts after DW does its magic for how to get things back to how they were before (only better & fixed)?

Thanks, as always, for your patience!!!
Smiles,
Sooz

[jchuzi]

Step-by-step instructions for using Disk Warrior:

1. Restart.

2. As soon as you hear the chime, press and hold Option until you see a choice of startup disks (may take 20 seconds, so be patient), then release the key.

3. Wait until the available disks stop loading (may include a Network option).

4. Click the SuperDuper disk and press Return. The computer will now start up from this disk but the startup time will likely be considerably slower than your normal startup. Be patient!

5. Launch Disk Warrior from the SD disk and run it on MacIntosh HD (your internal drive). DW will go through 9 steps, but no changes will be made until after the last step, at which time you will be asked if you want to proceed. In all my time using DW, I have never had it do any harm, but you will get a list of whatever it thinks the problems are. I have always opted to let it do whatever it wants, and it has saved my bacon on more than one occasion.

6. To get back to normal, simply restart. By default, the computer will start up from the internal disk.

[Sooz]

Here's my work in progress:

1. Shift key: chime, logo, progress bar, users enter password, then once that was done, a lovely "wave" of my desktop, from bottom to top, and then desktop appeared as normal.

2. D key: "checking your Mac" with a *minutes remaining* progress bar, then "No issues found, Reference Code ADP000"  but I could only move the mouse up and down, not sideways, so I played with it until I could click on the restart button on the screen--that mouse behavior was different.

3.  Option Command P R (all at once): after two chimes, I released the keys, apple logo appeared, then the progress bar, then the desktop was restored.

I have not done # 4, Option key yet.  If #2 showed there were no issues found, does that mean I'm good to go, or should I just continue and do # 4-Option Key, and then do Disk Warrior as Jon has so clearly (thank you thank you thank you!!!!! ) made step-by-step for me? 

Gotta to to Costco and use some of my birthday gift cards! ... will check back later. 

Smiles,
Sooz

[jchuzi]

The fact that nothing seemed awry is good, but it's not the last word. Apple's Disk Utility has its strengths, but it's not as comprehensive as Disk Warrior. I have had instances when Disk Utility couldn't find the disk but DW could and proceeded to fix it.

It's worth your time to use DW and I urge you to do it.

[krissel]

Hi Sooz,

Probably nothing to do with your problem, but just out of curiosity, have you checked your main drive (click on "Storage" in the window you get from clicking on About this Mac) to see how full it is?
Or click on hard drive icon, press  Command-I (Command + letter i ) to open the Get Info window and look at the topmost panel displayed. You will find the disk information displayed for Capacity, Available, and Used.
You usually get a warning if disk is close to full but you may not quite be at that point yet. Worth checking anyway.

[Paddy]

Good point, Kris - and what I was going to suggest before I read the rest of the thread and saw that things seemed to be back on track. I have seen (and continue to see) some very wacky behaviour with an almost full iMac drive. I clear stuff off enough that things start working again, but the major housecleaning still awaits me. So that is an important thing to check. It's amazing to me that I've now got well over 1TB of data (the photos don't even live on my main 1TB drive anymore - that's another 600GB) and there MUST be a lot of cruft in there. I think *maybe* it's time to chuck the 6 versions of the community notice we sent out for the election debates 6 years ago in Leaside...Sigh.