IMac G3 Rev.A refuses to boot from an OS 9 installation CD.

My iMac has first got Mac OS 9.0 on it.
Then I just swapped in a new HD and installed Jaguar.
After that I realised that I need OS 9 to run in classic mode, so I put in my OS 9.0.4 CD and booted it holding down the C key. Doesn't work. Tried selecting the startup disk. No use.
I really need OS 9 for my iMac, please help me.
*note: My Performa 6320 managed to boot it, but found a "system error occered".

Is the CD white with a big orange "9" on it, or is it a grey system disk from another model of computer.? If the latter, the disk may not be compatible with a 1gen iMac, especially if it is for a much later model. The white disks are universal retail install versions that will install on any supported Mac model.

Similar Messages

G5 refuses to boot from external hard drive......

I have tried 3 different external firewire hard drive setups & it refuses to boot from any of them. This is extremely disturbing, because my trusty old G4 never had any issues like this. The latest one I tried is a Seagate enclosure (model # ST3500630AS), which is a Firewire external/SATA internal setup. The other one I have tried is my trusty old Kanguru S-80.0 (KU-35/81) - it has since been upgraded to a 120 GB drive internally. The third one I tried is a brand new Ultra enclosure (USB 2.0/Firewire 400) - the model# is ULT31310. This makes absolutely no sense. It will start to boot, but then it either gives me circle with a diagonal line through it or the Apple comes up & it just sits there (the fans will rev up after about a minute of sitting there). I cannot believe that 3 different firewire chipsets are not supported by the G5 for boot. If anyone has any ideas as to what is causing this problem, please let me know (It isn't a huge deal, as I can always yank the SATA backup drive & reinstall it into the G5 in an emergency, but I should be able to do it from an external drive). Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
G5 2.0 DC/Pismo 400 Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.5 GB, 16x DL DVD Burner, Nvidia 6600 LE/512 MB, Still going strong
G5 2.0 DC/Pismo 400 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.5 GB, 16x DL DVD Burner, Nvidia 6600 LE/512 MB, Still going strong

Did you reformat them to Mac Extended?
Did you install or clone the software onto the drive? what did you use?
Have you looked at OWC's FW cases? never had problem on my G4 or Mac Pro with their FW800 and 400 cases (all Oxford 911-912-924 which are mac friendly).
The Oxford 924 is FW800/400/USB2/SATA and accepts SATA drives.
http://www.macsales.com
You are getting kernel panics.
I avoid vendor cases. Most support PCs fine, but weak on Macs (even WD MyBook Pro).
One article today on Maxtor One Touch, older series, was that it would force a drive to 28-bit LBA mode, didn't support large 48-bit, and write to the drive's firmware. Again, avoid these vendor "solutions."
If you set it up and format it in Disk Utility, making sure to select Partition -> Options... APL format table, it should work. Other format types won't work.
Then use SuperDuper or Disk Utility to clone the drive (making sure that "ignore ownership" is OFF (not selected) in the Get Info for the drive volume.
I've got 8 FW cases from OWC and never had a problem with any.

Adobe on Leopard, refuses to boot from disc, disaster?

After buying Adobe CS3 Web Premium, I found out I couldn't install it because my drive was formatted as case-sensitive. So, I was forced to backup all my important data and re-initialize. I zeroed the drive, but told it to skip zeroing just before it was done with the last little sliver in the progress bar.
So, I get all the whole system updated. Install Aperture, Thunderbird, Firefox... everything is going great. Then get the updates for Aperture, everything works flawlessly. I had never seen it run so well. Then I finally install CS3 and the install process seems to go without a hitch.
So, I've got CS3 on there, but I want to do some stuff with Aperture before I get into it. I'm working with Aperture and everything is going great. Good performance, really speedy. Then, I decide to open Illustrator CS3. To my horror, Aperture starts to go completely wrong. It gets to the point where I can't use it for longer than 30 seconds without having it crash. So, I quit Illustrator and the problem persists. Finally, I decide to restart the machine, Aperture seems to have fixed itself with restart, everything seems to be alright, for now.
Hmm, I think, maybe the CS3 needs to be updated. Yes, it did, 524 MB of updates. The installer downloads it all, starts the updating process and hangs silently (liquid in the progress bar still flowing). I get no notification except in Activity Monitor, where launchd and another process (I forget which) are going crazy with the CPU. I force-quit the updater from Activity Monitor, reopen it, press the install button again. It doesn't do anything, so I found out I actually have to say "Delete All" as in, delete all the downloaded updates. Then the updater quits itself and I have to reopen it and redownload and install whatever the installer thinks didn't get updated. I had to force quit, delete all, redownload, and install about 5 times before it said it was through.
Oh man, that was bad. Now the whole machine is pretty much a sluggish mess. Naturally, I thought, "I'll run Disk Warrior." I had run it with an earlier version of Leopard before, so I expected it to work. Insert Disk Warrior, Restart, hold C key, disc spins for a second and ejects itself. System ignores my command and boots from hard drive.
But everything loads and things seem alright, so I think, "oh well, I guess everything is alright." I do some work in Illustrator, everything seems good. Listening to music, but not working in Aperture. The machine works great for about 2 days. Then, I decided I want to install Final Cut - I put in the Install DVD, it spins for a second and spins back down, nothing happens. No desktop icon, no optical drive showing up in Disk Utility, Eject button on keyboard doesn't work, iTunes - control > Eject Disc, now my iTunes is hung. I try to force quit, nothing happens. Force quit dialog, iTunes is listed as if it hasn't crashed, click force quit, it remains in the list. iTunes icon remains in the dock, arrow still below, but does nothing when I click it and won't poof. iTunes doesn't show up in Activity Monitor.
Okay, "definitely gonna try Disk Warrior again," I think to myself. Restart, reset PRAM twice, hold option to boot select screen, press eject to remove FCE disc, insert Disk Warrior, Disk Warrior icon shows up on screen, click it, click the arrow to boot to it. Wait a second - BSOD, no cursor! Disc spins for a while and stops. Press any key, it spins back up again and eventually dies down again, doing nothing. Forced shutdown holding power button, press power again, hold the C key to boot to disc. Disk Warrior spins up again and spits itself out, just as before. System boots to hard drive instead.
What am I doing wrong? The Mac Pros at school run Leopard and CS3 and they seem to be flawless. Am I the only one having these problems? I can't figure out if this is hardware or software. I'm currently creating an image of the Disk Warrior disc. I plan to restore it to my hard drive's second partition and see what happens. I'll let you know what happens. Until then, can anybody give me any hints on what might be wrong with my system or at least give me some sympathy? LOL. This is beyond frustrating.
I'd had my system ignore what seemed like successful insertion of optical discs and refuse to eject them before the fresh install, but I've never had it refuse to boot from a bootable disc like this. Any ideas?

Excuse me, it seems there is some data in the CrashReporter log for VersionCueCS3. I had forgotten to remove my search filter keyword.
This is a copy of the top section (which seems like it might be the most significant). If you want to see the rest, I'll gladly post it as well:
Process: VersionCueCS3Status [1577]
Path: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Version Cue CS3/Server/bin/VersionCueCS3Status.app/Contents/MacOS/VersionCueCS3Status
Identifier: VersionCueCS3Status
Version: ??? (???)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
Date/Time: 2008-09-10 20:41:58.527 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.4 (9E17)
Report Version: 6
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0
Thread 0 Crashed:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x90256b9e __kill + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x902cdec2 raise + 26
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x902dd47f abort + 73
3 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x948f9005 0x948b1000 + 294917
4 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x948f710c _gxx_personalityv0 + 1108
5 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x948f714b std::terminate() + 29
6 libstdc++.6.dylib 0x948f7261 _cxathrow + 101
7 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00005a11 start + 14545
8 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00005a39 start + 14585
9 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x000e6be5 0x1000 + 941029
10 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00003fcd start + 7821
11 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x0000374a start + 5642
12 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f241aa -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] + 250
13 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f51d2a -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKeyPath:] + 474
14 com.apple.AppKit 0x953a3cd4 -[NSBinder _valueForKeyPath:ofObject:mode:raisesForNotApplicableKeys:] + 876
15 com.apple.AppKit 0x953a38dc -[NSBinder valueForBinding:resolveMarkersToPlaceholders:] + 192
16 com.apple.AppKit 0x956e07bb -[NSObjectDetailBinder refreshDetailContent] + 96
17 com.apple.AppKit 0x953a2e77 -[NSBinder _performConnectionEstablishedRefresh] + 79
18 com.apple.AppKit 0x9539b0e8 -[NSObject(NSKeyValueBindingCreation) bind:toObject:withKeyPath:options:] + 744
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x953d771e -[NSNibBindingConnector establishConnection] + 166
20 com.apple.AppKit 0x951aeaa4 -[NSIBObjectData nibInstantiateWithOwner:topLevelObjects:] + 1211
21 com.apple.AppKit 0x951a4e12 loadNib + 264
22 com.apple.AppKit 0x951a4774 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) _loadNibFile:nameTable:withZone:ownerBundle:] + 946
23 com.apple.AppKit 0x951a43b7 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibFile:externalNameTable:withZone:] + 171
24 com.apple.AppKit 0x951a42f5 +[NSBundle(NSNibLoading) loadNibNamed:owner:] + 391
25 com.apple.AppKit 0x951a3fa4 NSApplicationMain + 434
26 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x000028d1 start + 1937
27 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00002242 start + 258
28 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00002169 start + 41
Thread 1:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x901e8506 semaphoretimedwait_signaltrap + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9021a84f pthread_condwait + 1244
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x9021c0d3 pthreadcond_timedwait_relativenp + 47
3 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f46e8c -[NSCondition waitUntilDate:] + 236
4 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f46ca0 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:beforeDate:] + 144
5 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f46c05 -[NSConditionLock lockWhenCondition:] + 69
6 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x0002720d devtech_private::ZString::ZString(char const*, unsigned long, devtech::EncodingInfo const*) + 339
7 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x0001d215 devtech::ZString::GetCString(char*, unsigned long, bool, devtech::EncodingInfo*) const + 2485
8 ....versioncueCS3.VCStatusMenu 0x00025738 devtech::ZString::GetCString(char*, unsigned long, bool, devtech::EncodingInfo*) const + 36568
9 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f00f1d -[NSThread main] + 45
10 com.apple.Foundation 0x92f00ac4 _NSThread__main_ + 308
11 libSystem.B.dylib 0x902196f5 pthreadstart + 321
12 libSystem.B.dylib 0x902195b2 thread_start + 34
Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (32-bit):
eax: 0x00000000 ebx: 0x902dd43f ecx: 0xbffff39c edx: 0x90256b9e
edi: 0x00115500 esi: 0xa0025578 ebp: 0xbffff3b8 esp: 0xbffff39c
ss: 0x0000001f efl: 0x00000286 eip: 0x90256b9e cs: 0x00000007
ds: 0x0000001f es: 0x0000001f fs: 0x00000000 gs: 0x00000037
cr2: 0xffe173cc
I suppose it would make sense that when items like com.apple.Foudation and com.apple.AppKit go wrong, the problems would spread system-wide.

IMac 2.4GHz (MA877LL) refuses to boot with 4GB ram, boots only with 3 GB

iMac 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo 20" Anodized Aluminum (MA877LL)
iMac 2.4GHz (MA877LL) refuses to boot with 4GB ram, boots only with 3 GB
2 x2GB Geil GX2S6400-4GDCA
Computer refuses to boot with both chips installed 4 GB.
Computer will boot and recognize 3 GB..( Apple 1 GB + 2 GB GEIL)
Both Geil Chips will boot, when paired with the Apple 1 GB chip.
machine recognizes 3 GB ram.
Please advise...

Ensure the computer's RAM is fully seated down, and then try resetting the PRAM by holding down options-command-P-R at boot. The computer will make the boot chimes and then reset and chime again. When it chimes the second time release the keys and let the thing boot normally. Hopefully that will let it recognize the RAM.

Satellite NB10t-A-101 refuses to boot from any external medium

I have just purchased an NB10t in the UK, and am trying to boot to a bootable USB
I have noticed the BIOS on this particular model is UEFI mode only, That in itself is not an issue as users can sign their own OS's with a CA and use them, however this laptop refuses to boot from any external medium...or even provide an error message.
I have changed the boot priorities in the BIOS and moved the USB to the top
I have disabled Secure Boot option in the BIOS
I have tried all 3 USB ports as well as 3 different drives (NOTE: THESE WORK FINE ON 3 OTHER SYSTEMS a dell laptop/desktop and an acer laptop)
I have also tried various distributions (Debian & Arch)
I have used multiple installation methods (Unetbootin/Full hard install/Rufus etc..)
I have tried all versions of your currently released BIOSs (Shipping with V1.0, Jan-V1.1 Feb-V1.2)
After trying all of these when pressing F12 at boot, the boot menu shows up but upon selecting a device the system continues to boot into the HDD (Win8)
After googling around I noticed you have released 2 BIOS updates I have tried all versions of these and still the system refuses to boot into my selected device
Can we expect any more firmware updates in the near future? Is there a way to workaround this issue to boot my chosen OS? Is there a CSM option?
Edit: Punctuation
null

Hi sorry about the multiple threads guys, the forums have been behaving a bit buggy over the past few days (anyone seen all the duplicates in the main satellite section?)
Onto my problem,
Just to make it clear to joselu90 I'm not trying to install or "reinstall" windows 8 or anything, I would like to install a Linux distro if possible
I have been doing as much reading as possible about the bay-trail architecture etc
In response to Tonny
+"This new Intel Bay Trail technology support only the UEFI capable devices and systems (Win 8, Win 8.1)"+
There are many Linux distro's capable of UEFI booting but some guidance on navigating toshiba's system would be very helpful
All I'm left with is this question that, "it should be possible to put another OS on this laptop" Or have Microsoft and Intel truly "jumped into bed with each other", so-to-speak and made it impossible to use any other software than their own? (I can't believe that to be the case) and we know for a fact that many Linux distributions support UEFI
Thanks for your time,
P.S I have not marked this question as answered yet..

X-Serve refuses to boot from HDD

Hi!
Short version: We have an X-serve, a later Xeon but not the latest that for some reason refuses to boot from any internal HDD both original Apple branded 80GBs and newer ones that works fine in other X-Serves we have.
Full:
The X-Serve was delivered with 10.5 but in order to use the OD with some other servers that runs on 10.6 I took out the org drive and put in a newer 750GB drive that we use in the other X-Serves and some MacPros with no problems.
This problematic X-Serve boots happily on the OS-X Server installer DVD. I format/partition the 750GB drive and installs 10.6 server on it. After installation and reboot it refuses to boot from the newly installed HDD.
I initially thought that the PRAM battery was out but If try bless -- info running on the installer DVD it correctly indentify the 750 drive and blessed system folder. I can also set it and the machine sets and reads the bless info. I can put in a cloned system drive (80GB original Apple HDD) from another identical X-Serve and it refuses to boot from it even if bless again reports a correct path and folder to the cloned 80GB drive.
I have also tried to install a 10.5 server system from the very DVD that the server was delivered with without luck.
Left to do is to install a new system on USB drive/stick or FW drive. But to be able to use the machine in production we cannot rely on external HDD of course.
So I'm open to suggestions and ideas – what can I do to get it up and running booting on HDD?
Could it still be a battery issue?
Regards, Per Mattsson
[email protected] – www.miun.se

I would be trying to boot off an external FW or USB drive as you mentioned, as a troubleshooting measure. If you can, use an external drive enclosure and install one of the drives from an internal drive carrier into that enclosure. I have seen drive carriers go bad, or it could be something more serious like logic board issue.

Unable to boot from OSX 10.6 installation DVD to run Disk Repair

Hello all,
I have something that is puzzling me. My MacBook Pro hasn't been giving me the best experience lately - the system just seems... slow.
So I ran a disk permissions fix and it found some errors which I repaired. Then, I thought it might be wise to run a disk check on the System Disk as well.
So I attempted to boot from the Mac OSX installation DVD - I tried both a "hold the "C" key" method as well as the "Set start-up disk preferences to boot from DVD" method. I even tried two different OSX installation DVD's in case one wasn't working.
Then, I reset PRAM and I reset SMC (or at least followed the procedure as outlined by Apple - it doesn't really seem to give a strong indication of whether the process occurred or not)
I just cannot get the system to boot from DVD. (I even tried TechTools Pro 5).
I even let it "sit" for more than 4 hours in case it was just taking it's time.
Can anyone think of what the deal might be? I'm REALLY wanting to run a System Disk check now!

Ta-Da! Worked!
You learn something new every day here! I had no idea that I couldn't boot from a standard OSX boot disk and had to use the in-box one.
It does raise the question of which version of Disk Check I will be using - as there has been several upgraded to my OS since I bought this MacBook Pro (it has 10.6.3)
THANKS! I really appreciate the help - now I can check the disk.

Can't boot from windows 7 usb installation media

When trying to boot from windows 7 usb installation media no efi boot option availiable. Using "boot from efi file" option whith each and every .efi file on installation media results in a message saying "The selected boot device failed. Press <Enter> to Continue".
USB installation media created using original windows 7 iso image and couple diskpart commands(resulting in clean flash storage with a single active primary partition) plus simple copying of the iso image's contents on usb flash.
Enabling/Disabling SecureBoot doesn't have any impact whatsoever.
Installation boots from aforementioned media successfully when CSM enabled, though i would really prefer installing Windows 7 in uefi mode. Which microsoft claims Windows 7 supports.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
PS: my disappointment in this particular HP notebook is unspeakable. Aside from issue of the current topic, It keeps defaulting to windows boot manager when dual-booting windows & linux no matter what i do, and windows 8.1 Pro is constantly BSODing whenever i try to run fullscreen games on high-performance GPU whith every graphics driver i could possibly install (including both hp's own and amd's). Found silly workarounds for both of these issues, however still hate HP treating it's customers that way.

Booting from USB 2.0 port or DVD with SecureBoot disabled gets me to a screen saying "starting windows", just before the actual setup begins and then system simply hangs. Still unable to install. Thanks for your suggestion though.

My iMac 24" late 2006 refuses to wake from deep sleep,

My iMac is refusing to wake from deep sleep or from a shutdown, will start if I persist in either using safe mode or command mode (cmd + s)but can take many attempts, have repaired permissions and verified disk, on permissions it is constantly changing the permissions on preference panes as listed below, but this is a shortened view, there are 23 lines like this.
permissions differ on "SystemLibrary/PreferencePanes/Displays.prefPane/Contents/Resources/sk.lproj/Di splaysPref.nib" should be drwxr-xr-x they are -rw-r- -r- -
Would it be ok to trash the Preference Pane folder and let it rebuild ???
Any help welcome

Helio, you can mostly ignore repeated Permission Repairs.
To remove Prefpanes, right click on one & nchoose Remove.
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons

IMac 24" Aluminium - No way to boot from DVD

Dear all:
Thank you for having this forum fully working.
My iMac 24" Aluminium (november 2008) can't boot, completely frozen, although all HW are perfectly working.
I'll try to explain the issue best I can.
SYMPTOMS
- Grey screen of death without Apple's logo.
- No bootable devices detected (either HDD or DVD) by EFI, when you hold ALT (Option) while booting.
- No way to force boot from DVD.
CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
a) HDD has 3 partitions created by DiskUtils:
/dev/disk0s2= Mac OS(HFS+)
/dev/disk0s3= Linux DVD Installer (FAT32)
/dev/disk0s4= User Data(HFS+).
b) rEFIt installed and fully working on the system ( http://refit.sourceforge.net/ )
c) Linux DVD installer partition was filled this way:
dd if=/path/to/linux.iso of=/dev/disk0s3
As you can see, there are no HW errors at all, everything was perfectly working before dumping the Linux iso into FAT partition.
TRIALS FOLLOWED (and all its combinations).
TRIAL 1 - Erasing EFI values on memory.
Leave the iMac disconnected from power cord a whole night for memories to loose their values.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JId524890zc.
TRIAL 2 - Force empty memories during boot.
CMD+ALT+P+R -> Result OK (reboot)
CMD+ALT+N+V -> No effect
CMD+ALT+O+F -> No effect
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
TRIAL 3 - Force boot from DVD.
C while boot -> Read DVD first, but can't boot.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
TRIAL 4 - From Startup Manager, try to boot from DVD.
ALT (Option) while boot -> See cursor arrow on screen, can't see DVD as boot option.
a) Try with DVD already inside the unit.
b) Try to insert DVD once I see the cursor arrow on screen.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1383424?start=0&tstart=0
TRIAL 5 - Remove RAM memories to reset EFI to factory defaults.
- Remove all RAM from unit.
- Boot from DVD (C key hold) -> Unit beeps.
- Shutdown and fill one bank with memory.
- Wait 15 minutes for EFI memories values to be deleted.
- Boot from DVD (C key hold) -> Access DVD first, but no boot.
TRIAL 6 - Boot from external Mac (Firewire + PC fully working).
This is the only trial missing before replacing the HDD of the unit... finger crossed.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=271975
IDEAS AND CONCLUSIONS
- Any more ideas?
- How is it possible that a SW problem affects the HW in a way that can't be booted from DVD? Somethings is terribly wrong on iMac EFI design... terribly poor stability.

Dear all:
Thank you for having this forum fully working.
My iMac 24" Aluminium (november 2008) can't boot, completely frozen, although all HW are perfectly working.
I'll try to explain the issue best I can.
SYMPTOMS
- After a chime... grey screen of death without Apple's logo.
- No bootable devices detected (either HDD or DVD), when you hold ALT (Option) while booting.
- No way to force boot from DVD.
CAUSE OF PROBLEMS
a) HDD has 3 partitions created by DiskUtils:
/dev/disk0s2= Mac OS(HFS+)
/dev/disk0s3= Linux DVD Installer (FAT32)
/dev/disk0s4= User Data(HFS+).
b) rEFIt installed and fully working on the system ( http://refit.sourceforge.net/ )
c) Linux DVD installer partition was filled this way:
dd if=/path/to/linux.iso of=/dev/disk0s3
As you can see, there are no HW errors at all, everything was perfectly working before dumping the Linux iso into FAT partition.
TEST BED
In the process of dealing with iMac booting problems I organized a test bed which allow to detect where the booting is failing:
STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditions.
STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memory to factory defaults.
STAGE 2 - Booting from external device.
STAGE 3 - Reinstall iMac firmware.
STAGE 4 - Hardware intervention.
Before running the test bed:
a) Unplug all devices except USB keyboard (no wireless keyboard, no mouse... you can plug an USB mouse once you see the graphical user interface up and running).
b) Combination of keys available on booting:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
STAGE 0 - Setting initial boot memory conditions
This bundle of tests must be executed before any test of next stages.
TEST 0.1 - Erasing booting memory values.
Leave the iMac disconnected from all wires (especially power cord) for 15 minutes for memories to loose their values.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JId524890....
TEST 0.2- Resetting PRAM memory.
a) Press Power button
b) Press CMD+ALT+P+R keys while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Hold these keys until you hear 3 chimes (3 reboots).
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379.
STAGE 1 - Reset NVRAM memories to factory defaults.
TEST 1.1 - Validate machine with Apple's Hardware Test.
=> Detect Hardware errors with Apple's Hardware Test
a) Original Apple's Installation DVD on the machine
Installation DVD should show something like this
DISC 1
Mac OS version 10.5.4
AHT version 3A152
Disc version 1.1
2Z691-6304-A
To use Apple Hardware Test, hold down the D key as the computer starts up.
b) Holding Down D key as the computer starts up
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509.
=> Hardware OK: continue with Stages 1, 2 and 3
=> Hardware Failure: jump to Stage 4 (skip Stages 1, 2 and 3)
=> Unable to run Apple's Hardware Test: jump to Stage 3, firmware restoration
TEST 1.2 - Change RAM Configuration: amount or disposition.
a) Open RAM Slot
b) Extract RAM stick from Slot.
c) If you only have one RAM stick, reintroduce it in the unused empty slot of memory.
TEST 1.3 - Resetting PRAM memory.
Please check TEST 0.2
STAGE 2 - Booting from external device
TEST 2.1 - Boot from DVD.
a) Introduce Apple's Mac OS original DVD on the unit.
b) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
=> Force DVD as Booting Device.
c) Press power button.
d) Press C key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the C key until you see the MacOS installer window.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager with DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
f) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138...
=> If still no boot from DVD: StartUp Manager without DVD inside the machine.
c) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
d) Press F12 key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
e) Keep hold the F12 key until DVD is spelled from the iMac.
f) Run StartUp Manager again (see steps above) .
g) Insert Apple's Mac OS DVD on machine while StarUp Manager is running.
h) From StartUp Manager, choose DVD as booting option.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/138...
TEST 2.2 - Firewire cable and Target Mode: run installer from external Mac.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.p...
TEST 2.3 - Remote Installation.
You can run this test twice: remote installation from PC and MAC.
=> Remote Installation Server on PC/MAC:
a) Mac OS DVD on PC/MAC optical drive
b) Install Network Client (just run setup.exe from DVD and follow the steps until everything is installed).
c) Keep open a window saying... machine is ready for Remote Install.
=> Physical Direct Network Connection between Remote Installation Server and iMac
a) Unplug power cord from iMac for 15 minutes.
b) Connect to the Server Machine this way:
Option 1.- Crossover Ethernet wire direct connection,
Option 2.- Using an Ethernet switch with no additional devices plugged to the switch.
=> StartUp Manager on Client
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press power button.
c) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
e) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6450
TEST 2.4 - NetInstall.
=> Prepare NetInstall Mac OS NetBoot Server
Option 1 - Using Mac OS X Server
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4178
Option 2 - Using Linux Server
https://docs.math.osu.edu/linux/how-tos/...
=> Force Boot from the Network
a) Run Test 0.1 and Test 0.2
b) Press Power Button.
c) Press N key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
d) Keep hold the N key until you see the Mac OS X Installation screen.
=> If no NetBoot after 15 minutes: NetBoot from StartUp Manager
a) Keep hold Power Button 10 seconds to reboot the machine.
b) Press ALT key while black screen, before you hear the chime.
c) Keep hold the ALT key until you see the StartUp Manager.
d) From StartUp Manager, choose NetInstall as booting option.
TEST 2.5 - Apple's Mac OS Installer/Reparation from External USB HardDrive.
Very unlikely to work.
=> Create Bootable OS X USB device
a) Format HDD with GUID partition.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7247
b) Fill the partition with the Mac OS X installer (only the version your iMac came with, no newer, no older).
=> Boot iMac from USB device
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1948
STAGE 3 - Reinstall/Repair iMac Firmware
TEST 3.1 - Using Firmware Reinstallation CD.
a) Download and burn Firmware Restoration CD for your iMac
iMac 8,1: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24012
b) From power off state, press the power button and continue to hold it down until the "Sleep" LED blinks rapidly three times, then slowly three times, then rapidly three more times... this could be chimes, instead of LED blinks! Keep the power button pressed down.
c) Insert the Firmware Restoration CD you have burned into the iMac's CD drive, then release the power button.
d) Monitor the "Progress Bar" beneath the Apple logo as the restoration process updates your iMac's firmware, taking care not to disconnect the power, shut down your computer or restart your computer (otherwise, you will have to start over). The iMac will restart automatically once the firmware restoration is complete.
TEST 3.2 - Using Apple's Propietary Software.
Contact Apple's Technical Support to know the price.
STAGE 4 - Hardware Intervention
TEST 4.1 - Replace the faulty Hardware on your own.
a) To detect faulty Hardware, please run Test 1.1
b) Replace the Hardware following those instructions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w6E2_Xqa...
TEST 4.2 - Contact Apple's Technical Support.

IMac turned off suddenly, won't boot from hard drive/CD drive

Hi guys.
Here is what I have:
27" iMac with:
Core i5 2.7
4GB RAM
Mountain Lion
Win7 on Bootcamp
Lion is installed, but I have the Snow Leopard install disc.
The system had just been recently reformatted so there wasn't really much on the computer itself other than an update to Mountain Lion and a Win7 install via Bootcamp. Other than that, nothing was recentlly installed.
What happenes is I was browsing and all of a sudden it completely shut down. No warning, nothing. Completely shuts down.
Okay.. weird... but when I try to load Mac back up, the Apple logo appears and then after a while of supposedly loading, the screen goes to a plain white screen until I force the computer off. Something similar happens when tryin gto boot into Windows: I get to the "Starting Windows" screen but after that everything goes black and I have to shut down manually.
Great. Now I'll just go into recovery and fix all of this right? Wrong. Can't boot into recovery either. Similar end result: white screen.
Last thing I tried is reinstall OS X Snow Leopard. After loading for about 1-2 minutes, the usual white screen appears after trying to boot from the disc.
I am at a loss. I don't think its the hard drive, because the problem occurs even when trying to boot from the disc. My suspicion is the RAM has gone bad. But, before I go the hardware route, is there any suggestions or recommendations anyone could make first?
In advance, I really appreciate anyone who replies and tries to help.
Thanks.

Xmotox,
I had the EXACT problem today. EXACT. Discs wouldn't boot, I did get the application disc to run the AHT but it said all was fine.
I called my buddy who said something about unplugging for a minute then holding power button while plugging the power supply back in. I thought it would be futile since we already did all the SMC reset procedures to no avail, PRAM reset didn't do anything, etc, etc... But what do you know, up pops the disc utility and my iMac is now restoring from time machine. It's not done yet, so I can't say it worked... BUT it's the farthest we got tonight. Could not get disc utility up via CMD-R or OPTION keys... but powering down, unplugging for a minute or so, then holding power button while plugging the power supply back in did the trick. Hope this helps!

Imac 21" mid 2011 can not boot from USB device?

Hi,
hope someone can help me.
Bought the new imac 21" and replaced the superdrive with a ssd drive.
Works great but it seems that the imac is not able to boot from any usb device.
I put my osx install disk in my external dvd drive and powered my mac.
While booting up (pressing cmd) the mac does not recognize my external dvd drive. This works great with my MBP late 2008. But the imac can not boot from the dvd drive. Also pressing "c" while booting does not work. Doing that a grey screen appears and after some time mac boots from hdd.
So i installed mac os via target mode over firewire withbmy old imac. This works.
But now i want to install windows on a bootcamp partition.
I can't boot from the windows 7 professional dvd, too. So i tried to create a bootable win 7 thumbdrive. Mac can't boot from this too. Reading many threads in some forum i tried with rEEfit. Reefit shows the usb thumbdrive whike booting, but using this will end in a black screen error from bios: "no bootable device....". Tried a knoppix on the usb thukbdrive, too.... No bootable device....
It seems that there is no way to boot from ANY external usb device like dvd drives or thumbdrives......
What more can i do? I tried for 2 evenings now, but nothing worked out for me......
Currently i don't see any any to install win 7 without an internal superdrive, but can this be??
Thanks for any comments.
Kwicks

Internal is definitely the easiest but you can boot from external HD or external optical drive, the mac is just very picky on what works and what doesn't.
For an external drive or usb stick it has to be GUID partition table and have 10.4.5 or better installed on it, for more info check this link out ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948 )
Hope this helps,
Joe

My imac has a grey screen wont boot from hhd pls help

hello,
I have an imac from late 2008 with snow leopard. Late saturday evening 24 Mar I had powered
down my imac then later turned it on. Now only a grey screen appears, nothing more. If I leave
the imac on a folder with a question mark appears and blinks.
I have tried the following to fix the problem and ALL HAVE FAILED:
they are:
1. resetting the pram. it doesnt work.
2. booting from the installation cd. The imac doesn't even READ the cd, the screen remains grey and doesn't
read the cd at all.
3. booting in the safe mode. nothing happens, the screen remains grey.
4. booting in apple hardware test mode: nothing happens screen remains grey.
5. boot with option key pressed, so as to choose mac HD or my windows partition. nothing
happens, the screen remains grey.
All of these have failed to fix the problem.
When I power on my imac I heard the chord, a slight spin of the HHD I'm sure that's what it is,
and then nothing.grey screen.
I have tried unpluggling the power cord for 15 seconds, reconnecting it, waitiing five seconds
and then powering up the imac. it doesn't do any good.
any help anyone can provide will be appreciated.
do you think it is a hard drive error or failure?
why doesn't it read or boot from the instllation CD?? and yes I am using the correct disk.
thanks folks for yr help and opinions.
Alfonso

Ok. so you stated the screen remains gray. Is it just plain gray? Does it have a folder with a question mark on it? Do you see the little pin wheel thingy?
You also stated you can't boot from the install disc. Turn the machine on and put the disc in the drive. Shut the machine down by holding down the start button for five seconds or so and wait a further 20 seconds. Restart the machine and hold down the 'C' key before the chime and keep holding it down until the machine boots form the disc. It can take up to three minutes to boot from the disc. Once it has booted from the disc select the language and go to the Utilities menu at the top and run the disc repair utility.
The hardware test is built in and should work regardless. Turn the machine on and hold down the 'D' key before the chime and keep holding it down until the hardware test starts.
I fear you have not given enough time or used the correct procedure to do the tests you state you have done.

Intel iMac, Open Firmware Password Protection and booting from CD

I have an Intel iMac I'm setting up for use in a public library. I want to prevent single user login with the Open Firmware Password Protection utility, but if I do, how do I boot from the OS disc, zap PRAM, etc? The OFPP page has instructions on removing the OF password, but it does not work on Intel Mac's. Also, is there an alternative way to prevent single user login?

No, you were right, I just misunderstood. Technically it's called single-user mode. But, you were right.
Anyway,
Since it seems that there might not be an answer directly related to your topic you could maybe give this a try.
In Simple Finder the user can not restart or shutdown. They can only sleep and log out.
The other problem, however, is if they log out then there are those Sleep, Restart, and Shut Down buttons on the login screen. Luckily, though they can be turned off.
So as of now, if some is logged in in a Simple Finder account they can not restart or shut down the computer in order to get into single-user mode. They can also not get into the Administer account since it is password protected.
The only problem I can see with this is that a person could do a hard shut down, hold the power button down until it turns off, and then boot up and enter single-user mode.
If you want to go ahead and do this, in order to get the computer up and running in the mean time, just post back and I'll be glad to help you set up a Simple Finder account.

Imac 24" 2.8GHz won't boot from any device

Have an Imac Intel Metal unit. 24" with 4GB Ram. Will not boot from anything. It chimes loudly, the grey apple appears, the gear spins and then freezes. Then nothing. tried booting from several external drives. Even pulled out the internal Hard Drive.

Hey MacMyDayTF,
Troubleshooting steps for those symptoms are outlined in the following document. I'd go through the steps within to see if that resolves the issue:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Best,
Delgadoh

IMac G3 Rev.A refuses to boot from an OS 9 installation CD.

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