Mid 2010 IMAC Locked up when upgrading

I suspect that one or more of the memory cards may be failing or the internal hard drive. The three beeps is a memory fault signal, but failing to install would point to the internal drive. The easiest thing to check is the memory. There are videos at mac-sales.com that show how to do that: https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/ Look for your system there. I would try removing one set of cards, seeing if it will install, or if the beeps disappear, then the other set, until you find the one causing the issue. If the beeps stop but the OS still won't install, it's more likely the internal drive has issues. There are videos at that same site for how to replace them on your machine, too.

Is it normal for these machines to get fairly warm/hot especially the upper left rear corner if looking from the front.

It can be warm in that corner. But it can also be that the machine is full of dust. If/when you open the case be prepared to see a lot of dust. If you have a gentle vacuum, that would be a good way to get rid of it, or you can use a can of compressed air to blow it out and then vacuum it up from wherever it goes.

I suppose it time to dig in and do a refresh. Before I get to far, is there a point of no return with a mac? With a PC I know I can swap any part fairly reasonable. Is this true for a mid 2010 imac?

Parts for Apple devices are a bit harder to find, so there is a bit more of a challenge. I would start with the memory, you can do that without opening the entire case, just the panel on the bottom, Try them one at a time, then if both come out good, reseat them in the sockets Then you can look at the SSD. One thing to do, once you get Snow Leopard installed, is to run First Aid on the SSD to see if any of it is failing. SSDs tend to work or fail, no in between, so it's unlikely it's actually gone bad. But a defective memory unit can cause all kinds of issues. If one of the memory units is bad, you can run without it for a while and get replacements from Mac-Sales.com.

So I have 2x 2gb and 2x 4gb. Do I remove in pairs or one at a time? I always thought they had to be in pairs.

I think you can try them one at a time, as long as the machine will boot. What I would do is pull one of them out, see if the beeps stop, and if not, put that one back in and try another. When the beeping stopped, the one in your hand is the bad one.

First i would like to just say thank you to everyone who is taking time to baby step, me, the newbie through this. sincerely, thank you. now on to my response. as far as the beeping is concerned, this happened twice during the, well to be honest, many attempts to get HS to boot. it has not happened at all with SL. That being said SL seems to be having its own kind of issue. i have taking some photos of the screen where the SL got stuck. (When i say stuck I mean even the keyboard and mouse would no longer respond) i also had the last 9 lines of the Installer Log up if this might help. I will try to post these is i can. Some additional info that may give someone other than myself a clue. I opened the IMAC up, which to be honest is not anywhere near as bad as most have made it out to be. there was a lot of dust on the Sinks and fans. i did get as much as i could with out being to evasive. there was also, a lot of dust built up on the sinks of what i am assuming is the Power Supply (upper left hand side) I also removed this. The SSD is in fact the OWC as mentioned before. The Ram cards are as follows. 2x Korean made 2GB ( I could not see a name, however, there was some red letters that i believe was an "N" and some other characters) and 2x 4GB OWC Ram Chips. Something interesting to note, there was what i believe to be a temp sensor foil taped to the SSD. Again, thank you and i will try and attach photos to next post

Pics

It's been a long time since I installed SL, but I seem to remember having to boot it a couple of times to get the installation complete. And the fact that you can get to the log says that what is there is working. What happens when you do the Power OFF, Power On cycle as the screen requests? The few lines of code seem to imply that the installer cannot find the installation files, which should be on the DVD. The reboot should, I think boot a basic system off the internal drive, then look for the finish to the installation on the DVD. At least that's how I remember it.

It boots the same as it did the first time. White screen black apple > MAC OS x select language > Agreement > Select Drive > Install Progress Screen

I wonder if the DVD is damaged? Any scratches on it? Fingerprints? Rubs? I'm beginning to think the machine is fine, but either the DVD or the DVD reader is not. I suppose you could see if an external DVD drive will do the installation, if you have one and if it works that way.

I would also assume this to be true. The disc is in mint condition and the only thing that makes me think other wise, it would boot HS either. i have removed both 2Gb cards to see if the newer 4GB cards can do it on there own.

Alrighty, SL is installed and running. I guess now i need to get a copy of Lion and from there i can download from Apple?

Ah, progress! From Disk Utility, try First Aid on the drive, just to make sure it works well. Then order Lion and we'll get that installed and from there you can get to the Mac App Store.

MacInWin said:

Ah, progress! From Disk Utility, try First Aid on the drive, just to make sure it works well. Then order Lion and we'll get that installed and from there you can get to the Mac App Store.

Click to expand...

AFAIK, one can get to the App Store if and when SL is fully updated to 10.6.8.





- Patrick
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Patrick, I think that is correct, so if he can get updated to 10.6.8, the store should be available. But I don't know if he can then jump from 10.6.8 to High Sierra directly. I thought I read somewhere you had to land on Lion on the way up. But hey, it's worth a try to see if you can go in just one step!

Jrochester87 said:

I would also assume this to be true. The disc is in mint condition and the only thing that makes me think other wise, it would boot HS either. i have removed both 2Gb cards to see if the newer 4GB cards can do it on there own.

Click to expand...

Good to hear it's booting now. My 2010 27" came Factory with 4x2GB Dimms and they were all Samsung. One was defective and I had the same issue you were having. Took out the one stick and all was fine. So I bought 4x8GB Dimms from OWC for 32 GB and never looked back.

Keep us posted on your progress.


This is the Dimm that was bad. Is yours same brand? Just curious.

Hey new comers. I'll post a pick of the cards I removed when i get home from work.

On another note, how can i upgrade SL if i don't have access to the apple store yet? Is this just going to pop up as a reccomend update? Can I tell the machine to go look for OS updates?

I think you can click on the  in the upper left corner and there may be a Check for Updates there. It's been a while since I ran SL, so the memory cells have been trashed and then erased for that data.