2012 iMac stuck on white screen + no keyboard.

[sintholo]

Model is Late 2012 21.5" iMac.

A bit of background that may be relevant, but I'll keep it brief:

• It has a bootcamp partition with Windows 7
• I believe the drive was failing, as the mac partition (Mavericks) crashed over a year ago and I wasn't able to fix that through any methods.
• I had finally gotten all my data off & was ready to erase the drive when the white screen started. I tried many troubleshooting options that I could find but none worked.
• I replaced the drive hoping that would change it, it didn't.
• The keyboard stopped registering when the white screens started & still won't register after the new drive (I know because the caps lock key no longer lights up on boot). Mouse is fine.
• I have a boot drive for High Sierra that I made, but it won't boot past white screen with or without this plugged in.

Basically I want to know what my options are here in terms of fixing this *without* a keyboard, and if I can't fix it is it worth taking to a professional? Should I keep the new drive or is that not the problem?

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums.

There is a possibility that the graphics card or logic board is defective. You say the keyboard doesn't work but the mouse does? What indication are you getting showing that the mouse if fine?

Also.... do you hear the boot chime? (bong) Your keyboard is probably okay but can't work if the graphics or logic board is defective. You can take your iMac to an Apple Store and have them run diagnostics. The diagnostics are free at an Apple Store but any repairs are at your cost. Apple authorized repair service shops will charge you for the diagnostics which is why we recommend taking it to an Apple store.

 

[krs]

I would try booting into verbose mode to see if that provides a hint why the Mac gets stuck on boot up.

 

[pm-r]

I would try booting into verbose mode to see if that provides a hint why the Mac gets stuck on boot up.

I don't know if that would provide anything obvious, and besides, not too many Mac users know how to even invoke it, or even understand what it might say:
Start up your Mac in single-user mode or verbose mode
Start up your Mac in single-user mode or verbose mode - Apple Support

They may be better off trying to use Safe Boot Mode — press and hold the shift key on bootup, then login if possible. But it sounds like the GPUor some other hardware has failed.



- Patrick
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[krs]

I don't know if that would provide anything obvious, and besides, not too many Mac users know how to even invoke it, or even understand what it might say:

Agreed - but then they can just copy the log file and post it here.
Someone here can then perhaps identify what the problem is (or might be)