IMac Won't Boot: Keeps trying to get past the Blue Screen but can't

The sequence of events:

I spilled coffee onto my keyboard, which is connected by cable to my iMac.

Unplugged the keyboard (and mouse which was plugged into the keyboard) and tried to get all of the coffee out.

Tried to load up my iMac with a wireless keyboard that I don't often use, but which does connect to it. It froze on the WHITE screen.

I looked up troubleshooting options and the leading suggestion was a SAFE boot. I did this, and it worked. I got into my computer and it all looked pretty normal. The same suggestions said that there was a good chance that the iMac would now reboot properly, so I restarted it and...

Frozen on the BLUE screen. It just keeps flashing a little as it cycles around.

I tried the Single User boot with "/sbin/fsck –fy" at the prompt. I had to type that twice for it to come back saying everything was OK. Still freezes on the blue screen when I try to boot.

I tried fixing my permissions just in case (1775) and it didn't accomplish anything.

I also tried doing the above with a different wire-connected keyboard that had no damage or issues.

I'm freezing on the blue screen every time. But that safe boot worked once, so I have hope...

Suggestions?

Welcome to our forums.

First try doing a SMC reset for your iMac. That's easy to do: Shut the iMac off and then unplug it from the AC power outlet. Let it set that way for about 10 minutes or so and then plug it back in and try to start up again. As long as you have a working keyboard and mouse and no damage to the iMac itself, it should boot normally unless there is another problem. Let us know.

chscag said:

Welcome to our forums.

First try doing a SMC reset for your iMac. That's easy to do: Shut the iMac off and then unplug it from the AC power outlet. Let it set that way for about 10 minutes or so and then plug it back in and try to start up again. As long as you have a working keyboard and mouse and no damage to the iMac itself, it should boot normally unless there is another problem. Let us know.

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Thanks for the message.

Unplugged for 15 minutes then retried the safe boot and the single user fsck -fy approaches. Both got me stuck on the blue screen again.

Try resetting the NVRAM. If your iMac was working OK before the spill on the keyboard, it should work normally if nothing else was damaged. If the NVRAM reset doesn't work, then we have to assume you have other problems that may require more involved maintenance.

Also, it would help if you told us the year and model of your iMac and which version of OS X it has installed. I'm thinking you might try booting to recovery (command plus r) when rebooting, if your iMac is running 10.7 or later.

A spill may well kill the keyboard ~ but an iMac?

harryb2448 said:

A spill may well kill the keyboard ~ but an iMac?

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One would think. But I'm getting worried.

chscag said:

Try resetting the NVRAM. If your iMac was working OK before the spill on the keyboard, it should work normally if nothing else was damaged. If the NVRAM reset doesn't work, then we have to assume you have other problems that may require more involved maintenance.

Also, it would help if you told us the year and model of your iMac and which version of OS X it has installed. I'm thinking you might try booting to recovery (command plus r) when rebooting, if your iMac is running 10.7 or later.

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I am not sure how to get the details under the current circumstances. But it's circa 2010 and I want to say running something like 10.4 -10.6.

I did the steps to reset the NVRAM, got the two startup chimes, and it moved on to continue spinning its wheels at the blue screen. I can hear it audibly trying to process from time to time.

The computer was working perfectly until this ridiculous coffee / keyboard thing.

Do you have the original install CD/DVD? You could try booting from them to see if you can get past the blue screen.

MacInWin said:

Do you have the original install CD/DVD? You could try booting from them to see if you can get past the blue screen.

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I don't. I think it got lost in a move.

I tried booting it in Target Mode, just to get my work off of it for the time being, but even target mode led to the blue screen.

I read somewhere that you should use Disk Utility in Safe Mode before trying fsck. I did get it to boot that one time in Safe Mode, but when it didn't boot normally on the next couple attempts, I tried fcsk and this may have screwed up what was working with the Safe Mode boot?

That at least leaves open the possibility that it's something rather small and fixable?

I don't think it's something small and easily fixable. It's beginning to sound like your iMac may have coincidentally suffered damage during the keyboard spill. Whether that damage is connected to the spill... who knows? Anyway, I think the blue screen may indicate that your graphics adapter has gone south which is not an easy fix. Your 2010 iMac should have a replaceable graphics card but it requires removal of the logic board to change out. That's my guess as to what's wrong. But it's just a guess so you might need to have someone who is familiar with repairing Macs look at your machine. You could also have a bad hard drive that's acting up so don't overlook that possibility.

This is friggin' disastrous.

Would you advise against opening it up and removing the hard drive to see if I can load it as an external HD and back up my latest work (thus also seeing whether the HD is an issue).

I'm not very experienced with iMac surgery but I'm not a total klutz.

I don't see where you ever told us what model iMac it was, but check with ifixit.com to see if they have directions on how to get to the hard drive and make the decision on whether to open it up or not. If it's not too old, you might see if an Apple store can help. If it's too old for them, look for an authorized Mac service technician.

MacInWin said:

I don't see where you ever told us what model iMac it was, but check with ifixit.com to see if they have directions on how to get to the hard drive and make the decision on whether to open it up or not. If it's not too old, you might see if an Apple store can help. If it's too old for them, look for an authorized Mac service technician.

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It's a 27 inch iMac. I THINK it would be called "late 2009" from the way I see people categorizing them further.

I also THINK it is running 10.6, though I can't confirm. If there are any kind of external markings anyone knows about that could confirm the "late 2009" think, I can look for them.

That model iMac, if it is the late 2009, has a specific hard drive which must be replaced with the identical model drive, usually a Seagate.

Also it must have the heat sensor cable reconnected correctly or the fans will road like a Jumbo taking off all the time. If you remove the hard drive, to to OWC macsales and check out their overrider for this problem. Get the OS X.6.3 DVD from Apple, pop it in and boot from it, go to Utilities and run Repair Disk to check the state of the drive. Cheap diagnosis tool for $20.00.


https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/

I will add a minor addendum that I was able to get into Target Mode by pressing T. All I have is the big firewire symbol on the screen. Don't currently have the cables to see if I can register the HD on another computer. But I had previously been unable to get that far.

Say again lash out the $20 and get OS X.6.3 Snow Leopard from Apple Onilne. You will be able to boot from the DVD, and then run Repair Disk to check the state of the hard drive. If it checks out fine, and runs Repair and hat is successful proceed with the install.

harryb2448 said:

Say again lash out the $20 and get OS X.6.3 Snow Leopard from Apple Onilne. You will be able to boot from the DVD, and then run Repair Disk to check the state of the hard drive. If it checks out fine, and runs Repair and hat is successful proceed with the install.

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With my computer in its current state, is there a way to verify 100% that this is the specific OS version disk I need?

`199%? Sorry can only go on your description and if it is anywhere near accurate yes. A Snow Leopard OS X.6.3 DVD from Apple Online will work on an Intel iMac 2006-mid 2011. After that no.

harryb2448 said:

Say again lash out the $20 and get OS X.6.3 Snow Leopard from Apple Onilne. You will be able to boot from the DVD, and then run Repair Disk to check the state of the hard drive. If it checks out fine, and runs Repair and hat is successful proceed with the install.

Click to expand...

Just to double check before acquiring 10.6.3, according to this chart, it seems (with my limited knowledge) that given what I know of the computer (late 2009 to early 2010 27" iMac) it could be any of 10.6.1, 10.6.2 or 10.6.3.

https://support.apple.com/en-qa/HT204319

Does it seem like I could get 10.6.3 and find that I needed one of the other two?