iMac Question: When I turn on my 2012 iMac 21, I get a basically white screen with a gray bar making its way slowly across the screen. That takes several minutes. Then I have to enter...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

When I turn on my 2012 iMac 21, I get a basically white screen with a gray bar making its way slowly across the screen. That takes several minutes. Then I have to enter a password. Is that normal?

uhaas2009

I don’t think so. Make sure you back up everything in case of a brake down

docerz

Try this: Command +R key at startup. Disk Repair...when finished...Restart. This often works.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

uhaas2009 wrote:

I don’t think so. Make sure you back up everything in case of a brake down

There's nothing essential on it, but Time Machine has it backed up.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

docerz wrote:

Try this: Command +R key at startup. Disk Repair...when finished...Restart. This often works.

Thanks. I'm running a Zoom session at 11:00, so I'll wait till it's finished.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

For aq quick fox call Apple (800) 275-2273

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

jerryc41 wrote:

When I turn on my 2012 iMac 21, I get a basically white screen with a gray bar making its way slowly across the screen. That takes several minutes. Then I have to enter a password. Is that normal?

I have the same model & year. Everything happens on my iMac that you outlined except mine doesn't take several minutes. from hitting the ON switch until the Desktop populates is less than a minute. Call Apple Tech support at 800-275-2273 for a no expense tech support-they're great.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

The Mac CPU is doing work organizing things during start-up. If you have been having annoying problems, the first possible remedy is Restarting letting the Mac to reorganize. Do you have a moderately full hard drive and lots of stuff. The Mac has to build a directory.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

docerz wrote:

Try this: Command +R key at startup. Disk Repair...when finished...Restart. This often works.

I tried that, but it didn't find any problems. I guess I'll just have to be patient and wait for the gray line to crawl across the screen.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

John_F wrote:

The Mac CPU is doing work organizing things during start-up. If you have been having annoying problems, the first possible remedy is Restarting letting the Mac to reorganize. Do you have a moderately full hard drive and lots of stuff. The Mac has to build a directory.

From what I recall, it's about 1/3 full (500GB drive).

Floyd Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama

jerryc41 wrote:

When I turn on my 2012 iMac 21, I get a basically white screen with a gray bar making its way slowly across the screen. That takes several minutes. Then I have to enter a password. Is that normal?

Jerry
Unless you're worried about access to the iMac, you can get rid of entering a password everytime you turn on the computer. In Preferences, go to Security & Privacy, uncheck the box about requiring a password, then on the line above click on Set Password, enter your current password, Tab to the next box requiring the new password, click on Enter, tab to the repeat password box and click on enter,close out the page. From now on when the password is requested in the start up process, click on Enter and the iMac wheel will begin to turn and quickly the desktop will populate.

Bret Perry

No, it means macOS is probably attempting to fix a problem with your hard disk.

You can check the SMART status of the hard drive:
Open Finder, select Applications, then scroll down to Utilities, select Disk Utility.
Select the primary disk from the list on the lefthand side, not a partition.

Check the SMART status of the disk information overview in Disk Utility.
Verified - Indicates the drive is in good health.
Failing - Indicated the drive needs urgent attention.

Any message that states the disk has a fatal hardware error or problem means the disk will fail soon, and you need to take action ASAP.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Floyd wrote:

Jerry br Unless you're worried about access to the... (show quote)

Thanks, but I've tried, and I've been told that because it's based on Linux, a P/W is required. I'll try your suggestion. I hate passwords.

sourdough58 Loc: Maine

Make sure you back up everything in case of a breakdown. Go to the apps folder on your HD, find “Utilities” folder next locate “ Disk Utility app” it has a stethoscope on it, open, select your drive on the left and “first aid” on the buttons on the top left. Wish you well

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

sourdough58 wrote:

Make sure you back up everything in case of a breakdown. Go to the apps folder on your HD, find “Utilities” folder next locate “ Disk Utility app” it has a stethoscope on it, open, select your drive on the left and “first aid” on the buttons on the top left. Wish you well

Thanks!