Thinking of Getting a New iMac (1 Viewer)

[Thomas Newton]

A pop up keeps asking do I want to use the new disc with Time Machine. I’m not sure if this is from superduper.

That one is from Mac OS X.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I’m in step 7 of putting things back together. There is so little leeway, that so far I am unable to plug the cable back in. I’m also not sure which side goes up. I don’t have tiny hands. Any suggestions. There’s a little arrow on the plug. Maybe put it facing up?

iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2428 Hard Drive Replacement

Upgrade your hard drive for an increase in storage space. This guide also includes steps to upgrade your iMac's hard drive with a SSD. It describes...

www.ifixit.com

 

[Thomas Newton]

I’m in step 7 of putting things back together. There is so little leeway, that so far I am unable to plug the cable back in. I’m also not sure which side goes up. I don’t have tiny hands. Any suggestions. There’s a little arrow on the plug. Maybe put it facing up?

iMac Intel 21.5" EMC 2428 Hard Drive Replacement

Upgrade your hard drive for an increase in storage space. This guide also includes steps to upgrade your iMac's hard drive with a SSD. It describes...

www.ifixit.com

I believe that SATA connectors are "keyed", with an "L"-shaped free space area surrounding the pins on the plug. If you use a magnifying glass and a flashlight to examine the cable and the connector on the drive, that may clear up the issue.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Those SATA connectors are easy. This is the display data cable connector in step 7. It’s just so difficult to access and to tell if it has to go in a particular way.

 

[JohnRice]

Sometimes you need a pair of tweezers to get the connector in place, and like Thomas said, there's some kind of lip somewhere to prevent the connector from being inserted incorrectly. In fact, a magnifying glass can be a huge help. I'm quite near-sighted, so I just take my glasses off because I can see so close.

 

[JohnRice]

Those SATA connectors are easy. This is the display data cable connector in step 7. It’s just so difficult to access and to tell if it has to go in a particular way.

There's still usually a notch somewhere to make sure it only connects the right way. Like I said, magnifying glass, if you have one, and tweezers. I was hoping the iFixit kit came with one.

 

[JohnRice]

Maybe OWC's video on the procedure will help. I always use their videos since I prefer that to stills.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Well, Now I’m not sure that I haven’t damaged the plug end of the cable. At this point, I’m going to take it to a repair place and have them finish the job. Damn, it’s just this one cable, space is limited and the plug is quite weird.

 

[Johnny Angell]

So I called a guy and he said “I can come out after my current customer.” And he did and he determined that I had ruined the display data cable plug. So he order one on eBay and comeback and install it it. It will cost $85 plus the cable. He then said lets plug it in and if it works. So even with out a display we powered it on and the computer chimed. Hey, I only screwed up a cable.

 

[Johnny Angell]

He got to talking about how the new macs are even harder to repair. Screens are heavier and it’s more difficult to plug things back in.

 

[JohnRice]

Oh well. I hope it's resolved soon. I guess this project ended up a little more expensive than planned, but you can get a couple more years out of it. You can always remove the drive once you do retire it and "recoup" some cost.

On one of the Minis I installed an SSD in a few years ago, when I removed one of the cables, the connector just popped off the board. Fortunately it was just power for the IR receiver and "On" light, so I just left it disconnected. I've disassembled about a dozen Minis, and that's the only time something like that happened.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Oh well. I hope it's resolved soon. I guess this project ended up a little more expensive than planned, but you can get a couple more years out of it. You can always remove the drive once you do retire it and "recoup" some cost.

On one of the Minis I installed an SSD in a few years ago, when I removed one of the cables, the connector just popped off the board. Fortunately it was just power for the IR receiver and "On" light, so I just left it disconnected. I've disassembled about a dozen Minis, and that's the only time something like that happened.

Yeah, a tad more $, but we’ll be happier with the drive mounted internally. And we intend to use this Mac until it dies.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! It’s done. The Apple repair guy came out yesterday and made short work of installing the new cable, something I couldn’t do at all. The Mac booted up, quickly, first try.

I didn’t post yesterday because I encountered a software problem. Microsoft Office 2016 wanted to be activated and would not activate. It wasn’t until today I found someone at MS who knew way and now it’s working too.

When I disassembled the Mac, it was difficult to get the screws holding the screen out without the magnets grabbing them. They are strong magnets. Well it was even harder getting them into the threads before the magnets grabbed them. I had to settle for doing 2 screws that weren’t next to magnets. That’ll have to be good enough.

As I write, Time Machine is doing a backup to the external drive. Tomorrow, I’ll be talking to Apple to determine the latest OS release I can upgrade the Mac too. I have to do that so I can upgrade Adobe PDF. Yeah, that’s how all this began.

Thanks to all here for your help. I couldn’t have gotten it done without you.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking to Apple to determine the latest OS release I can upgrade the Mac too.

The latest OS that you can run on a 21.5" mid-2011 iMac is macOS 10.13.6 (High Sierra) .

When getting the kit, use Safari – not Firefox. Make Safari your default browser until you have an installer kit in hand. If you try to get High Sierra and Mojave kits using Firefox, you will get errors to the effect "This item is not available in the U.S. store". If you use Safari, you will be able to get the High Sierra kit, and you will be able to see the description of the Mojave kit (even though you will not be able to download it).

If you are running an OS earlier than Sierra, and you can't access the High Sierra download page using your version of Safari, you may need to do an intermediate upgrade to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) . I'm not sure if this step is necessary, but I ended up doing it because an Apple representative suggested it.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I thought it would be good to put the cherry on top of this thread. I installed High Sierra today with no problem.

So I’m done...nope, because this whole ting started because the wife wanted Acrobat 2020 and it wouldn’t run on the previous OS she had. That is why we started the whole thing. So I install Acrobat...nope, it keeps saying invalid serial number. I re-entered that number multiple times, with and without dashes. Nope, never good enough.

I end up chatting with an Adobe tech who takes remote control of my computer, resets a system file, and now the same s/n I entered multiple times. I am officially done. Hallelujah! No wait, she’s making sounds about upgrading MS Office now. I shall resist.

Here’s the troublesome HD that required taking the Mac apart:

And here it is after I zeroed out all the bits: