2009 imac 27" only will boot with original drive

[pcpete]

I had a client come in with a 2009 imac 27" running 10.12. It was not always loading or crashing shortly after loading. The hard drive and ram were both tested and came back good. My gut said it was probably a failing logic board. It does run well from an external usb install of 10.12. At this point my thought was a possible corrupted install or possibly a bad sata controller.

I got approval for a clean load on a new ssd. I knew it may have issues, but then I would reevaluate with the customer. The only was we would know would be to try it. Here is where we ran into issues. After we put it back together with the newly formatted ssd it would only boot to a white screen with no apple logo. The option key to boot from an external device did also not work. At first we thought we damaged the screen or connector, but that was not the issue. Turns out it will only boot and appears to post properly is is the original hard drive is installed. When that hard drive is installed the boot to external devices also works. To add a bit more info a clone of the original drive also works.

I suspect this is some sort of a firmware issue. To add to things, Sierra has a bug which when booting to the recovery partition, the command prompt and firmware settings are unavailable. So I am unable to check any settings there. I was considering upgrading the clone I made to high sierra as a way to possibly get to the recovery partition and the firmware settings.

Not quite sure where to go from here

 

[Markverhyden]

How exactly did you install 10.12 on the new SSD? Sounds like it was an issue with that.

 

[pcpete]

How exactly did you install 10.12 on the new SSD? Sounds like it was an issue with that.

We were unable to. If his drive in not plugged in internally, the computer will only boot to a white screen with no apple logo and the option key does not allow you to boot from an external device

 

[Markverhyden]

Then it's a logic board or something else problem. I assume you've flashed the PRAM and reset SMC?

 

[timeshifter]

Can you clone the original drive to the SSD?

Did you try a different SSD?

How about booting from the factory (or good HDD) and then installing the OS to the new SSD when it's attached by FireWire or USB. Then install the SSD in the machine and see if it will boot.

With the SSD installed, what happens when you hold down the Option key during boot? Just a white screen?

 

[pcpete]

Then it's a logic board or something else problem. I assume you've flashed the PRAM and reset SMC?

yes

 

[Markverhyden]

And actually just had another thought. Firmware password maybe?

 

[pcpete]

And actually just had another thought. Firmware password maybe?

I mentioned I thought it was a firmware issue, but do to a bug in sierra, the firmware tools and terminal are not available on many omputers through the recovery mode. I was thinking about installing an upgrade to high sierra on the clone to see if I would have access to those tools

 

[sapphirescales]

2009? That's your problem right there. There's a reason why Apple won't work on any Mac older than 5 years. It's most likely a crap-shoot that will come back and bite you on the a$$.

 

[Markverhyden]

And how long did you wait on boot up? I've seen some of these take upwards of 3-4 minutes until the missing disk icon shows up. And according to Apple that model, late 2009, is on the very edge of compatibility.

 

[pcpete]

Can you clone the original drive to the SSD?.

Did you try a different SSD?

How about booting from the factory (or good HDD) and then installing the OS to the new SSD when it's attached by FireWire or USB. Then install the SSD in the machine and see if it will boot.

With the SSD installed, what happens when you hold down the Option key during boot? Just a white screen?

i missed your post Saturday. Thanks for the suggestions. I did try installing the the ssd using a different machine and then putting it back in but that did not work. Yes unless his original drive or the bit by bit clone I made was installed internally, it would not post, just show a white screen.

I ended up putting the cloned drive in, which allows me to use the option menu to boot a usb version of OSX. I formatted the internal clone, then installed high sierra on it from the external OS. Then I booted the recovery console and added and removed a firmware password(this was probably not needed). Either adding and removing the firmware password, or the installation of the new OS seemed to fix everything. Now it will boot using the option menu without any internal HD installed like I would have expected.

 

[kwest]

Try this install the os from another mac setting the drive as external then you can try to boot to it externally on the iMac. If it works then put it internal and it should work.

I have also had to install 10.7 then upgrade on old iMacs.

I had one recently that doing what I said above was the only way to get it working with ssd

 

[cyabro]

There is a bug in the disk utility in the high Sierra recovery / installer in that you won’t see brand new, unintialised, discs in there.
If you go to View and select show all devices then close and open disk utility again you’ll see them.
Then you can format etc as usual.