iMac freezing

Hi,

I have a 20 inch 2.66 Ghz (Early 2008) iMac. It recently started to freeze up for no apparent reason when using it. Now it won't even boot up completely. It freezes up when reaching about 60% of the progress bar during booting. I have to force a shut down.

I tried the following one step at a time:

• deleted all login items
• disconnected all peripherals
• ran Disk Utility First Aid
• reinstalled system
• try to boot from an external drive

None of this stopped the freezing. However, it boots up in safe mode. It might be a hardware issue but I can't figure out a way to diagnose the problem properly. It won't load Apple Hardware Test or Apple Diagnostics.

Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks

However, it boots up in safe mode

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That is usually a sign of software conflict, so either find the cause of the conflict or do a clean OS X install and then import/migrate your personal data from a backup.

What was the recent thing that you installed??? Maybe try deleting it.





- Patrick
======

What version of macOS? Is it still running on the original hard drive? If so, that might be the culprit.

Too old for Diagnostics. Do you have the AHT DVD?

If not consider downloading from here and burn to a DVD or Thumb Drive and boot from that. It is an iMac model 8.1:-


https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest

Thank you for the suggestion but nothing installed recently.

The iMac is running from the original drive. After everything else failed to help I installed Mojave using an OS patcher. I did it to similar computers without issues. I chose this option because it's not possible to download any macOS in recovery mode with these older computers. Apple remove them from its servers. I also tried booting from an external drive with a fresh install and the problem persists.

I don't have the AHT DVD. I suspect some hardware issue so the links to download the Apple Hardware Test is appreciated. I am helping a friend using remote/long distance tech support so some juggling is required.

After everything else failed to help I installed Mojave using an OS patcher. I did it to similar computers without issues. I chose this option because it's not possible to download any macOS in recovery mode with these older computers.

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Talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire in order to try to solve the problem!!! Gheese.

Maybe a member will supply the URL you could use to download at least the Mountain Lion Apple made available if you let them know the area you live in.

Besides that, do they not have the original installer optical disk they could use to boot from and/or install???

Or, do they not have any BackUp they could use???





- Patrick
======

The original DVDs and a backup are not available.

The Mojave install was a last resort option. I did this upgrade on several and similar computers including the one I am using to write these posts without any problem whatsoever. I really don't think this worsened the issue.

I am based in the US but helping someone in Canada.

Thanks

Those patches are used at the owner's risk. Did the troubles start after updating to Mohave?

As mentioned previously, the issue wasn't caused or changed by the Mojave update. It was the very last thing I tried.

I chose this option because it's not possible to download any macOS in recovery mode with these older computers. Apple remove them from its servers.

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No, they don't. If the owner ever loaded Lion or later, he/she should be able to get back to that from the "Purchased" tab at the Mac App store. Here is an article from Apple on how to get back to older versions of the OS:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Note that you can get to the version the computer came with, or to the nearest still available version, of the software.