[help] Can't Figure Out Old Imac

Ok, A friend is giving me his old iMac DV for helpin' him out on something, and cuz he got a new eMac. Anyways, he's giving it to me because he also broke the damn thing somehow. I've used PC's forever, and have no clue how to fix stuff on a mac. So, When I turn it on, a little disk pops up with a blinking question mark. I figure this means it wants a disk, so I pop in the original "software restore" cd, and an error comes up that says: "Sorry, and error has occurred. Unimplemented trap. Hold shift to turn extentions off... etc." So I hold shift and the same thing happens. I also tryed sticking in the OS cd, and it did nothing.

So how could I reinstall the OS, or clear the HD or do anything on this computer? Does it have some kind of BIOS menu like PC's? Someone please comment with anything. I would at least like to make some progress on fixing that iMac.

#205465

To boot from the CD stick it in and reboot holding C on the keyboard. From there you can erase the HD and reinstall the OS

#205507

Thanks a ton! I would have never guess to hold the c button down for any reason.

#205511

If you've got anymore questions just ask dude

#205523

ok, I did a clean install, and I'm gunna install osx, but I can't seem to eject the OS 9 cd out of the computer! This little iMac doesn't have an eject button, and it always boots to the cd. When it does that, it doesn't let me eject the cd. :rant: How the heck to I get it out of there?

#205524

Boot holding down the mouse button that will eject the CD for you. When you reach your desktop. Go into the Startup Disk prefs and select your HD. Otherwise you'll get a little sad mac picture when you boot because it tries to looks for a startup folder.

#205534

Thanks again But of course this little iMac loves to be difficult. Now that I can pop the cd out, when I turn it on, that disk icon with the blinking question mark comes up again. I booted from the OS 9 installation cd, and selected the Mac HD for the startup disk, but it still ask for a disk when restarting. Any ideas?

#205544

Have you installed an OS on it? Usually the blinking ? means there is no System Folder present.

#205556

Yep, it did it a second time just to make sure. I click on the Mac HD and everything is there, but I still can't boot up without the installation cd.

#205723

OS9 should have came with a Utilities disk, on there is a Disk First Aid program, pop in that and run that see what it says.

#206463

I ran the Disk First Aid program and it said there was one minor error. So it repaired it, then I did other clean install of the OS. Still had that stupid disk with the bliinking ? mark. I dunno what I'm doing wrong here. When I run the bootdisk, it loads up and everything, then a window pops up with the cd contents. I run the Install OS 9 program, then when that's done, it ask to install more programs or quit, I choose more programs, then it installs them and then there is notthing after that. Is there somthing I have to do next? Because if I restart the computer without the bootdisk, It does that ? mark thing, but if I run it with the bookdisk, I just go back to step one. It doesn't make sense to me.

#208100

Sounds like you have one jacked up Mac.

Making a HD bootable in any Mac OS is a piece of cake.

Sounds like the boot sector of your HD may be toast.

They're plain old IDE drives, so go pic up a new one and try loading the OS again.

#208118

Well, I guess that old iMac does need some upgrading. Smaller HD's are pretty cheap. Would anyone know about Mac's and what kind of RAM?

#208217

To ensure "guaranteed" working RAM, check out Crucial; Simple select Apple from the Manufacturer and then the model and it'll give you a list of compatible RAM (so you can order). To be sure of the type/date of Machine you're probably best checking somewhere like Apple-History and looking for your iMac (probably check the specs since they're quite a few iMac revisions, or ask your friend when he bought it).

Good luck, hope you enjoy your mac!

#208741

Thanks everyone! I'm acually posting this from my iMac The harddrive was fryed the whole time. I was able to help out a friend and he hooked me up with a Seagate. (I recommed helping out your friends and co-workers as much as you can, I do whenever i can, and I got an iMac and HD out of it! ) So now I just need to upgrade the RAM and the stupid ball mouse (don't go back to ball mouse after years of using optical, it feels uncontrollable). Again, thanks you guys for helping me out finding what's wrong with my new toy.

#210747