Is my iMac dying? Help please!

[jchuzi]

It can take 15-20 minutes for the computer to boot from the DW recovery disk. Try it again and wait awhile. Another issue is the type of USB port that your computer has. If it is USB 2, the wait will be inordinately long (I gave up, as you did, with a friend's computer that had USB 2). USB 3 is waayy faster. To find out which you have, go to the Apple menu, click System Preferences, and then click System Report. You should then select USB.

[Xairbusdriver]

GREAT! We now know that the DW thumbdrive DOES have a bootable OS on it. However, booting from a USB thumbdrive is extremely slow. It will likely take much, much longer than 5 minutes. ooops, I see that Jon has already reported that to you. Let me see what else he may have said...

OK, I'm pretty sure you have USB 2, after we get this step done, we'll talk about updating your TS Profile to show some of this kind of technical info that will provide info we often need.

The question is, do you have time to wait for DW to (eventually) get your Mac started up? If you decide you do, I'd use that time to get a new mouse. You'll probably have time to drive to a computer shop and back while it starts up. I do exaggerate just a bit...

Most any USB mouse will work and it doesn't need to be USB2. If it claims to be USB 3, it's mostly a sales pitch! As long as it has the same connector as the one you have (take your old one with you), it can plug right into your Mac.

[Sooz]

   Thanks for all your hand-holding and help! 

I went to the Apple menu, clicked on System Preferences, but there was no System Report to click. Screen shot is below.

I may have time to wait for DW to get my Mac started up--so that white screen with just the apple logo in the center was a good thing?
And if I had waited maybe 20 to 30 minutes, what would have happened? .... and then ??

At this point, I'm seriously questioning if I want to do this at all.  I'm not quite frustratingly defeated and overwhelmed, but it's getting close.

You guys must have very advanced *brilliant* brains! This is so *beyond difficult* for me!  I cannot thank you enough, and if you are ever in my part of the world, you're welcome at my table for a good meal!  Thanks also for the input about a replacement mouse--it only acted weird during the times I noted and it works just fine the rest of the time. Silly mouse!

Gonna go make friends with my LaZBoy chair.
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

I went to the Apple menu, clicked on System Preferences, but there was no System Report to click.

Close, but no banana!
The trick is:

• Click (and release the mouse button) the Apple menu (it used to be multi-colored, now it is just black).
• Press the option key and notice what happens to the first item in the list. Each time you press that key, the first item in the menu will change from "About This Mac" to "System Information...".
• While holding the option key down,
  
  press return
  Or
  enter
  Or
  move the cursor down to that item and click it.

Sit back and wait for the System Information window to open in all its glory!

[Sooz]

Aha!  Thanks for the step-by-step, Jim!  I couldn't have done this by myself and didn't even know anything about it--thanks again!

I'm attaching screenshots. Look like I have USB 3 ?

Sheesh, after all this, I've forgotten the original question, let alone how to update my TS profile.

[jchuzi]

Congratulations on having USB 3, and please accept my apologies for telling you to access System Preferences when it should have been Apple > About This Mac. On the bright side, my wife tells me that my age has finally exceeded my IQ, and I can barely spell IQ. 

[Xairbusdriver]

Congratulations, Sooz!

Your next exercise is to let Disk Warrior!

You have two ways to get that thumbdrive to start up your Mac

• First step with either method is to insert the thumbdrive into the Mac
• Now, pick one of the following methods to start up the Mac
  • Restart the Mac while holding the option key down When the window displays the available bootable disks, select the DW icon and press the "Restart" button.
  • Open System Prefs and select "Startup Disk". Select the DW icon and press the "Restart..." button.

Remember the start up will take a lot of time. Also, DW may operate much slower as it will probably access the thumbdrive often to get more sections of its code while it performs its tests.

Eventually, you will see a report (or be asked if you want to see one) that will show you more than you'll probably care to know. You will need to decide if you want DW to replace the current System files directory with what it thinks it should be. After all the time and effort to get to this point, I think most folk will simply say "Please!" and click the "Do Your Swap Thing" (or whatever the button is labeled) button. That may also take some time...

Finally, you will want to shutdown the Mac and start it up with the newly rebuilt directory file system. I suggest the easiest and safest way is:

• Use the normal "Shut Down..." menu.
• Remove the DW thumbdrive
• Press the Power button/switch

Your Mac will now start up and your mouse may even work! But I wouldn't be surprised to have more problems with it...

Hopefully, all the problems you mentioned in post #1 will be gone:

My iMac is acting up. I cannot wake it from 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

[Sooz]

No apology necessary, Jon, but thanks for the grin about what your wife says.  You don't post as if you're someone 170 yrs old (with "eye cue" the same).   

Y'all know, I'm certainly not that intuitive when it comes to computers!

Jim, I've printed out your step-by-steps.  Thanks! 
But wait!  When I did the restart and held down the Option key, and I selected the DW icon, there was no restart button...there was just the DW Recovery icon and I clicked on that and got that white screen with nothing but the apple logo in the middle.

This time, because you don't even have to spin me around to call me *Dizzy*, I'm going to insert the DW thumb drive, open System Preferences and select the DW icon and I'll press the Restart button....and from there, will cross my fingers and will give it 30 to 40 minutes to do it's thing!  (I've printed out your latest post--love the humor!)

Everyone now, cross your fingers!
Sooz

[Sooz]

It's been an hour and nothing is going on except for the white screen with the Apple logo in the center.

How much trouble am I in with this??
How much longer should I be cooling my jets??? ( So glad I have a Kindle so I can post this update!!)

[jchuzi]

If it has been an hour, I would bail out and force a restart. My patience would have been exhausted also. As I see it, you have two choices for using DW:

1. Redo your SD clone from scratch. You should have a good, bootable clone at this point. Use the Option key trick to start from the SD clone (hold down Option at startup, select the SD clone and press Return). Of course, you have to have the clone connected to the computer! Then, you can launch DW and run it on the internal drive.

2. If #1 doesn't suit you, follow the directions on the DW insert that came with the thumb drive. I mean the one that says "Starting up from your Mac's built-in OS X Recovery". This looks formidable but even I, with my low eye-cue, have done it.

Insert the DW thumb drive and restart. As soon as you hear the chime, press and hold Command-R until the Apple logo appears. You should see an "OS X Utilities" menu.

Choose Terminal from the Utilities menu. When the Terminal window is displayed, type /Volumes/DW/go and press Return. You'll have to agree to the license agreement, but then you can run DW. When finished, quit DW and restart from the Apple menu.

If #2 seems too difficult, I don't blame you. All I can say is that I have done it successfully.

[Sooz]

Hi, Jon,

I'm mentally exhausted! Thanks so much for your quick response!

I had to force a restart, but left the DW thumb drive in.... mistake, so I did another forced restart but removed the thumb drive and my desktop was restored. 

As for my two choices you noted, I think I'm going to not do anything for today. I'm just too toooooo stressed out!  (where's the smiley for 'mentally exhausted'?   )

As for redoing my SD clone from scratch--which, at this point, seems to be the easiest thing for me to do, but not today -- *this* (see screenshot) is my SD clone, yes?? It's on my desktop.  Is this what you mean by the clone connected to the computer?

Then, launching DW, I'd double click on DW, which is in my Applications folder, under Utilities, yes?

Thank you again!

[Xairbusdriver]

A suggestion:

We really don't know where any corruption is on Sooz's internal drive. DW, while an outstanding and often life-saving app, does not look for corruption anywhere except the drives main directory. It won't see, much less be able to repair, a corrupted System file or even a .plist file.

So, if SD has been making copies since this thread started, it will be just as corrupted as the current OS. It also does not search for or 'see' corrupted files; it dutifully copies what ever it sees has changed since the last backup. When the corruption first happened, SD copied that corruption the next time it ran because that file actually changed (it most probably has at least a new modified date or byte count). Therefore, I see no reason to make a new clone of the still undetermined reason why the OS is not running normally.

Hopefully running DW will find any problem in the drive's directory and that will be all that is needed to solve the problem. Using the current Recovery Drive or the SD clone is probably the best and quickest way to do that. Forget about the thumbdrive, for now.

I'm beginning to wonder if the DW thumbdrive is actually usable. I doubt it is built on read-only ram, it's probably a normal read/write type (probably USB2) and it can loose data/bits/bytes just by sitting on a shelf for years. It also might not be usable on the current OS if it was built for an earlier OS or even for non-Intel hardware.

These are just my opinions and suggestions, I'm no expert!

I'd would like to know, Sooz, if your Mac is still showing the same problems you reported at the start of this thread? The loss of control, not the malfunctioning mouse; that is a simple and inexpensive fix.

[jchuzi]

As for redoing my SD clone from scratch--which, at this point, seems to be the easiest thing for me to do, but not today -- *this* (see screenshot) is my SD clone, yes?? It's on my desktop.  Is this what you mean by the clone connected to the computer?

Then, launching DW, I'd double click on DW, which is in my Applications folder, under Utilities, yes?

Thank you again!

Everything above is correct. On the other hand, if Jim is correct, it might be best to reinstall the system. You can read complete instructions in How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery. I would do this as a last resort after trying to repair any damage with Disk Warrior. Don't panic: it's fairly painless and you won't lose anything. During the installation process, it is advisable to drink a lot of single malt Scotch. 

[Sooz]

Hi, Jim--my Mac is *not* showing the same problems that I initially reported.

Hi, Jon--I'll have to re-read this thread and find the directions for trying to repair any damage with DW.   Thanks for the link about reinstalling, but I'll have to work myself up to doing that...as for the single malt Scotch, I'd like to go to Scotland for that, and try a wee dram of a lot of different ones!

You folks here are the BEST!  Thank you so much, from me, aka Member #32 in the way back machine (I've learned stuff, I know I have!).

Smiles,
Sooz

[Xairbusdriver]

my Mac is *not* showing the same problems that I initially reported

Great! Take the weekend off! We'll discuss stuff next week.