Chosen Solution

I’m looking for some pointers on how to diagnose the issues I am seeing on my 24" iMac (early 2009, 2.66 A1225). Here is a synopsis of what I am experiencing:

  1. Boot up takes about 20 minutes, or more… generally the machine sits at the “white screen” for most of this time.
  2. When machine comes up, the blue tooth interface simply does not exist. I’ve taken a few basic steps like resetting PRAM … I did boot from the CD to run the AHT but that yielded nothing, in fact, it hung. I let it run over night… about 18 hours straight. So, I am trying looking for some advice on some things I could look at that could give me a clue what’s going on - honestly, at this point the machine is not worth taking to a shop. IF I can get it to work it will either be my 7 year old daughter’s first computer, or dedicated to hosting my film scanner which requires a fire-wire interface (and for which I have a Mac mini that could do the same thing). For all practical purposes, this could easily just be sent to recycling but I’d like to use it as a practical learning experience. Right now, I have two working theories:
  3. It’s a problem on the logic board (from what I can tell, expensive part if you can find it)
  4. it’s a problem with the blue tooth module (I am assuming that is a daughter-board) I am also curious, in terms of circuit cards, what functions of this model iMac are built on to the logic board and which are provided by daughter-boards?

Disconnect the hard drive. Boot from the original system installation disk. if it boots right up, the issue is most likely a failing hard drive. I’d drop in a SSHD drive.

Look over the guides and notes or the teardown for for EMC 226, 2308 or 237 how this machine is put tighter overall they are similar. Often AHT will not catch a problem with just one run if it’s an overheat issue. You may need to run it 2 or 3x in succession. When was the last time this machine booted without the wait? Did you add apps, peripherals or change OS before the WSOD? Check your free space on the HD. If you don’t have 12GB or ~20% of the total that may be part of your boot problems. White screen boot sometimes is a corrupt system folder. Try safe (shift) booting (faster?) and then creating a new master user and setting (or choosing that) as a log in may solve corrupt font/file issues. If not you may have to backup and wipe the drive then reinstall and update the OS. You don’t mention what OS you’re running. If you’ve upgraded it from the original that may have a part in the slow down… or an attached peripheral. Try booting with no peripherals attached. (Faster?) Try turning off Bluetooth and using a USB keyboard/mouse (any kind will work - doesn’t have to be Apple) Faster? If this answer is acceptable please remember to return and mark it accepted.

Hi Scott I have the exact same problem with a friend’s iMac - same build, 27". All of the symptoms you have, I have. All of the things I’ve tried result in exact the same way. So I’m curious … have you eventually found out the cause and a possible solution? Thanks Kristof

I had the same issue. Just disconnect the BT board solved the long boot issue. Changing the BT board solved the whole problem.