2017 iMac Not Loading Repair – Turning on with forbidden circle sign

Repairing:

2017 21.5" iMac Not Loading Repair showing only a forbidden sign at startup. A common failure caused by failing Hard Drive. Check how we upgrade this iMac
21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign

This article is not educational material. It is instead a showcase of the services we offer.

Therefore, it should be used as general guidance on what to expect from such repairs.

In case you have a similar device and need repair, always rely on professionals. These are sensitive electronic devices, and small mistakes may cause irreversible electronic damage, requiring whole part replacement for 2 or 3 times the cost of the Repair.

Do not Risk Damaging your Device – Book this Repair with us Today!

iMac Not Loading Repair
iMac Not Loading Repair

2017 iMac Not Loading Repair – Turning on with forbidden circle sign

Interesting case of an 2017 iMac not Loading Repair where the iMac turns on with a forbidden circle sign. These 2017 iMacs are flagship models of Apple and although couple years old their 5K screen and powerful specs brightens up.

21.5 iMac hard drive health indicators shows failing hard drive
21.5 iMac hard drive health indicators shows failing hard drive

Looking at the health indicators of the hard drive, it is clear that the drive is failing. When drive fails, operating system install on it will be unstable

2017 iMac Not Loading Repair Process

21.5 iMac failed hard drive
21.5 iMac failed hard drive

There is one solution for such failure, and it is a Slow iMac Repair in Adelaide.

Drive with 10k working hours, should not fail so drastically. But looking at the indicators they also show that the system was overheating heavily. This must have caused drive mechanism to fail and cause operating system failing.

21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign
2017 iMac loaded with a service system shows internal drive structure damaged.

We want to load a service system and check if we can access customer’s data. Apart than repairing the system we also need to recover the data as customer did not have a recent backup.

21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign
iMac file system verify or repair failed

This tells us that the drive is so badly damaged that we cannot even get the data by standard means.

After discussing with the customer they were happy with us to do a data recovery on the drive. As well as repair the iMac.

Although new iMac is already out, and this is 5 year old models, the 2010-2019 iMacs are one of the most resilient models. They do come with an active cooling. Unlike new iMac’s which are essentially a thin screen with Macbook Air motherboard glued at the back. With no upgradable or modular parts.

iMac Not Loading Repair – Taking it Apart

Removing glued in screen on 2017 iMac
Removing glued in screen on 2017 iMac

Removing the screen on these iMacs is a delicate process. We have seen lots of customers cracking the screen while trying to separate the glue. It is a similar to a iPad or Phone screen which is glued in to the case, with a difference that the screen has about a 4kg of weight to it.

Sliced opened 2017 iMac for an SSD upgrade
Sliced opened 2017 iMac for an SSD upgrade

Once we sliced through the glue, we can remove the screen and peek inside of the iMac. Immediately we can spot the amount of dust collected within.

21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign
21.5 2017 iMac taken apart for SSD upgrade

This is a common issue, due to the thin design of these iMacs. Thinner they get, essentially faster they clog up. Apple introduced fannless design to tackle the issue with the new iMacs, however components still generate enormous amount of heat, and inevitably when a newer operating system comes along it will cause serious overheating problems, which we start seeing with A2337 model Macbook Airs.

Removing a failed drive of 2017 iMac
Removing a failed drive of 2017 iMac

Following step is to remove the failed drive and replace it with an SSD. Which not only will provide a faster response times, but also will ensure customer data is safe once it is recovered and transferred onto.

21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign
Replacing internal drive with an SSD

We trust this brand due to its longevity and reliability. Although we had to choose half of the customer storage size due to the limited budget, most of the of the shelf iMac’s come with 500GB SSD and will be sufficient for customers usage.

21.5 iMac Repair - Turning on with forbidden circle sign
Installed SSD on 2017 iMac

With installed SSD and freshly installed Monterey now we can move into recovering the data from the failed Hard Drive

Recovering data from Failed iMac Hard Drive

Recovering iMac Data…

Luckily although with a corrupted file structure, we still be able to access most of the data. Customer was happy for a partial data recovery and we managed to extract the data onto an external drive, which then can be used as a Time Machine backup.

12 hours iMac Data Recovery Sprint
12 hours iMac Data Recovery Sprint

After 12 hours of data recovery we managed to extract over 90% of customer’s data from the failing drive. Poor thing managed to hold itself for so long.

Successful iMac not loading Repair

Successfully Repaired 2017 iMac with not loading fault after a failed hard drive
Successfully Repaired 2017 iMac with not loading fault after a failed hard drive

Within 24 hours we had this gorgeous iMac repaired and ready to be returned to its owner. We collected it and returned it back to the customer in record time with data recovered and fresh Monterey system installed

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Do you need this Repair in Adelaide?

If your Macbook or Laptop is causing trouble and you need a Laptop & Macbook Repair Service in Adelaide, give us a call, and we will advise on the best scenario to get your Device repaired.

We at IT-Solve, specialise in Mac, Laptops and Electronics Repairs. We will do our best to repair your Device quickly without involving high costs and long waiting times in Repair shops. Our average repair takes under a week!

Trust Australia’s Highest Rated Macbook Repair Service!

5.0/5

Repaired, not Replaced!

We are committed to reducing e-waste in Australia. We do it by educating our customers on the reparability and longevity of their devices, as well as providing affordable Laptop and Macbook Repairs here in Adelaide.
Although our best intentions and hard work, this is not an easy task. Customers must accept that cost of high-quality electronic repairs is between a third and half of the price of a new device. However, with the current trend of planned obsolescence in electronic design, we see more and more Laptops having shorter lifespans. To tackle that, while we do our repairs, we target common planned obsolescence engineering design mistakes to ensure we extend the life expectancy of the Laptops we Repair. Check some of our Repair Cases to get an idea of the process.

That said, if we buy a new one or write it off via insurance, it does not guarantee that the new one will not meet the same fate as the older one pretty soon.

Quite often, we see accidents reoccurring within less than 2-year gaps. So if we can save 2000$ or even 1000$ today by repairing our faulty Laptop or Macbook is brilliant. That’s an extra half cost of a Device, ready to be spent on another one. If the time comes or our need for performance changes.
When that time comes is up to us to buy a new one or keep pushing the one we have, but delaying it by a year or three is always a good starting point and saves another abandoned Laptop or Macbook from polluting our only Planet.