1 iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) - Is it dead?
Hi everyone,
I’ve visited this site many times in the past but only registered an account today because I’m hoping to get some advice on my iMac issue.
I use to work as a PC Technician back in my 20’s and now I’m a security analyst, so I’m not a complete noob, but my knowledge on troubleshooting apple hardware is limited to SMC & PRAM resets, that’s about it.
While using my iMac yesterday, it suddenly rebooted, but the reboot was a bit unusual, it was as if the power was pulled from the device. It came back on by itself after a few seconds, and then went into a reboot loop. I was unable to enter recovery or even boot from a USB drive (which has macos high-sierra installed as a rescue drive). Eventually I managed to boot into recovery from my usb rescue drive and quickly made backups of all my data. I then rebooted the iMac, figured it will go into a reboot loop again, but this it booted just fine and was stable for 5 hours after which it completely went dead. This time I was unable to power it up again.
Current situation:
- The iMac does not switch on and there are no beeps or anything. Complete silence, in fact it’s as if the power cable isn’t even connected as there is no fan noise or anything.
- I did however notice that when I press the power button and listen closely that I can hear some kind of “tick” sound…It continues for as long as I am holding the power button, but it’s very faint and you have to listen really closely in order to hear it. It goes “tick….tick….tick…tick..”
I live in London, UK and have a genius bar appointment tomorrow but it’s such a hassle to get to the Apple store as I need to carry the device through public transport so was hoping to maybe get some ideas on what hardware components could possibly cause this type of issue.
I will continue to update this post in the future once I get the device repaired but hopefully I can get some indication as to what the problem is….
Thank you!
UPDATE: (1 JAN 23:22)
I found this video online. This is exactly the sound it makes when I press and hold the power button. The only difference is that mine appears to have absolutely no power whatsoever, just this clicking sound.
UPDATE: (02 JAN 15:55)
So I just received a call from the Apple authorised repair shop….They say they found a liquidy substance inside the machine. He says he has never seen anything like this before. He says the machine didn’t power on with a replacement PSU and there is damage to the board and the fan which would need to be replaced. I’m looking at 800 pounds or more! I told him there is absolutely no way that ANY liquid could get into the machine as the iMac sits on a little desk in my room against the wall. And there is NO water leakage or anything in my room, I double checked.
The tech guy sent me these two photos: this does not look like liquid to me? It looks more like moisture or something?? WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE? Have anyone seen something like this before? I hate to say this, but I do live with two other guys and we DO NOT get along..they even got violent one time. I would put it past them to sabotage my machine. Surely if this is moisture, it must have come from heat? And if that was the case I would have heard the fan go crazy, which it didn’t, it ran normally and I know the fan worked because the RPM would go up when the system is under load. Urggg….I really cant believe this :(
Esta é uma boa pergunta?
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Possible Conspiracy: (hopefully not related)
Oh what the !&&*, why not, might as well add this to thread. In early November I was gathering information on a whistleblowing legal case. I rebooted the iMac (can’t remember why) and was unable to get back to the desktop. Knowing my way around macos software repairs, I figured I’ll fix it from the recovery partition but was unable to get that far as my firmware password was not being accepted. I recall writing it down, but then discovered that the firmware password in my hiding place was no longer there. Long story short, I had to take the iMac to an apple store to have the firmware password removed.
Here’s the bit where it gets a bit dodgy for me…The behaviour of the iMac as described above started whilst I was working on this exact whistleblowing case. And now the iMac is dead…. just saying… :)
por Eras
I would change my locks and make sure all of the windows have good window locks. Have you investigated on getting an alarm system yet? ;-}
por Dan
In all honesty, it's only been two days since the mac died. I was suspicious the first time round with the firmware password incident, but now with the second incident perhaps it's wise not to ignore it anymore. If there truly is something sinister going on then locks and cameras will not really help if the adversary is this dedicated! :)
I guess if all else fails, TrueCrypt and multiple copies of the data in multiple locations...! But who knows... this might all just be "coinsidance", right!
por Eras
Any one have keys to your place that you need to get back?
por Dan
I have two bulldogs who are mostly indoor pets but require me to leave one of the doors open every day. Getting into my house does not require keys, just getting past the dogs thats all. But they mostly hang in the living room, and the door that is left open is in the spare-room, so its not hard to sneak past them. But god forbid....if the dogs catch on then they are pretty must toast :p~
por Eras
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