IMac is freezing during start-up from OS X installation disk

My iMac 27" is freezing during re-installation of the complete machine from Leopard OS X installation disk. The machine ends up (also in safe mode) with a screen showing something like "horse steps in the snow" as shown in both pictures, which can be seen on:
http://whbakker.demon.nl/screen and http://whbakker.demon.nl/detail
I cannot find a thread or a good suggestion, what to do to re-initialize the complete machine.
Thank you in advance for your answers!
Willem.

willemhb wrote:
My iMac 27" is freezing during re-installation of the complete machine from Leopard OS X installation disk.
Can we assume you mean your Snow Leopard installation disc & that it is a grey one that came with this iMac?
27" iMacs are new enough that they can't run Leopard (OS 10.5), nor can they run some of the earlier versions of Snow Leopard. The installer on the disc should check for this & refuse to attempt an install if it is the wrong one, but if you are trying to boot from the disc to start the install it will never get that far. This is because the earlier OS versions lack the necessary extensions to support the latest hardware in the iMac. Thus, a safe boot won't help since there is still no source for them.
Also, if you have installed any aftermarket memory modules, it is possible they are not fully up to spec & incapable of running Snow Leopard. You may be able to verify this by starting up from the Apple Hardware Test, which you run from the original grey system disc by following the instructions printed on it. If you get an error with "MEM" in it, it means one or more memory modules is defective. If they are aftermarket ones, contact the supplier for replacements. If they are Apple-supplied modules they are covered by a one year Apple warranty (or 3 year one if you bought the Applecare protection plan).

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