Imac (slot loading) won't boot from CD

Hello,
My imac (350 MHz G3 blue coloured) does not want to boot from a CD. I need to erase the hard drive with the Disk Utility but it will not start up from the CD. I held down the "C" key at startup and it keeps flashing the question mark symbol at the grey screen. What can I do?
Can I use open firmware commands? I already tried reset-nvram and reset-all but that didn't work.
You see I better give the background info here:
I removed the original 9 GIG hard drive and replaced it with a blank 80 GIG drive. I thought I could then format it from a startup CD and then reinstall the OS. No luck. It doesn't boot at all from the CD.
Then I tried taking out the hard drive again and this time I installed OS 10.1.5 onto it from another computer. (It is the only appropriate OSX I have.) I then put the hard drive back into the slot loading imac and hoped the imac would like it and boot up. Again, no luck.
Any suggestions,
can I use some magic open firmware commands?
Did I not install the hard drive correctly? i.e. are you not supposed to just remove and swap hard drives with imacs? I just followed a pdf instruction manual - didn't take than long.
How can I make this imac boot? (Its stuck on the grey screen with the flashing question mark.
Thanks!

A Jumper is meant a little -mostly- black plug that connects two pins of your harddrive. That Pins are next to the connector where the cable is plugged into. There you have two pins for Master, two for Slave and two for Cable select. You must select Master in a 350 MHz to get the HD working.
Just ask someone in a Computer store to help you with the Jumper.
By the way, my 350 is the only iMac I have seen which doesn't even take a notice of presseing "C" at startup. I have to press the Option (ALT) key and select the CD Rom from the boot up menu. Everything else is ignored...

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Imac 350Mhz G3 Slot loading-Won't boot from cd's

So here's what's going on
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http://www.apple-history.com/?page=gallery&model=imacslot
I plugged it in today(it uses the same cable as my summer 2000 indigo imac) and i turned it on, it make 3 angry sounding clicking noises.
Then it started up, and the hard drive is kinda...old sounding.
It came up with this gray box with a globe(the earth) in it ( I know this has something to do with os X) and then after flashing that for about a minute, it went to the os 9 flasing folder with the question mark and the mac face and then the question mark, and then the mac face etc.
I fixed that by resetting pram. But now it comes up with a flashing question mark folder ala-os 9 problems.
The thing is, it won't start up from ANY disks I put in it. It sounds like it's starting to spin it up, the flashing folder will pause, as if it was going to go away and then boot up from the disk, and then it just doesn't.
Also, I've tried booting from a disc by putting it in and holding down alt, which as you know allows you to choose a boot disc. It has the same result, of note though is that it doesn't show a hard drive as an option to boot from, just the disc I put in.
I've tired the disk warrior bootable disc, and the pro tools bootable disc. Neither works.
I've currently opened it up and taken out the hard drive and cd-rom drive. Pressed what I now know is the CUDA button, but never held it down for 5 seconds like I've read you're supposed to do.
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When I'm workin on an Imac, I generally plug the mains cable back in after I've removed the case. (but turned off at the wall!)
American and Japanese power outlets do not have a switch at the wall. American power strips tend to have a switch, but there is no guarentee that the switch is on the 'live' side of the circuit. (Only with the ANSI standard requiring asymmetric plugs in the 1990s in effect has that issue been addressed). Many properties remain unearthed and/or poorly earthed and/or have those three-prong to two-prong converters in service. There are many homes here still wired with "legacy" wiring that are cloth insulated, or are part of the old DC circuits converted for AC use, especially in Northeastern U.S. where Edison was dominant (as opposed to the Midwest, where Westinghouse was dominant).
Unfortunately, BS 1383A isn't applicable here. Fortunately, 115V is usually not potent enough to kill.

IMac can't/won't boot from Leopard DVD

My 1GHz G4 iMac can't or won't boot from the DVD, although I know the media is good.
I get stuck on the grey screen, the rotating bug stops rotating after about 5 minutes.
It will still boot from the hard disk fine, and will boot with other DVDs as well. Hardware diagnostics check out fine.
I did try single user mode, it will get there OK.
Verbose mode spits out a lot of messages (who knew? - lol), but nothing that seems to point to any one issue. It too stops spitting out messages after about 10 minutes.
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I did try the clicking the mouse thing just for the heck of it... no joy.
I do see a few other threads like this one, so I'm not alone on this.
The error messages I see are (not going to type them out all the way):
launchd[1]: Failed to count the number of files in /System/Library/StartupItems no such file or directory
Then a bunch of mDNSResponder errors, also saying either no such file/directory or invalid destination port.
Then a message saying Folder Manager is being asked to create a folder (cach) while running as uid 0
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IMac G5 iSight won't boot from external optical drive . . . FW or USB

Hello, all. I have an iMac G5 iSight with a busted optical drive. Every six months or so, OS 10.4 eats itself (directory structure goes corrupt), and I need to reinstall.
The issue I'm having is that the computer won't boot off of my external optical drive. It's not shown as a choice in the Startup Manager, whether it's connected via USB or FireWire. Any ideas?

Okay, sorry this took so long . . .
Reset the SMU, NVRAM, and PRAM, no luck. Tried different FireWire port on the iMac, no luck. Tried different FireWire port on optical drive--LUCK.
Ah.
Wipe and reinstall got underway, and finished the first part. Unfortunately, my OS 10.4 Disc 2 turned out to be scratched, and wiping the hard drive didn't get rid of the logic board error either.
Took it to Apple retail store, and it was BOA (bricked on arrival). Astoundingly, it would not power, POST, turn on the fans, nothing. They then replaced the power supply, so they could troubleshoot the hard drive/fan/whatever issue.
Now the computer POSTs, and they finished the reinstall, and said it passes their advanced diagnostics. I asked them to run the diags on the install CD, so they could see they fan error, and they agreed. That was around 7:00 last night.
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IMac 24 Aluminum won't boot from USB Hard drive

I just got an iMac 24 from the Apple Refurb store. It comes with Snow Leopard, but I need to install a Leopard partition for my wife to ensure 100% compatibility with Photoshop CS3, among other things. I created a partition just for Leopard, so that's good to go.
I can choose the boot partition on my Leopard install drive when starting by holding the "alt" key, that's no problem. However, after I choose that USB drive, it reboots... over and over and over and over. To be sure it isn't the drive, I tested it with my Macbook Pro, and it booted up just fine. I tried another USB drive, same exact problem.
I don't have a Firewire external that I can repartition for the purpose of installing Leopard. I only have it on hard drive. Then I tried making a DMG with disk utility and burning it to a DVD+R DL, but it tells me the disc isn't large enough, even though it's 8.5GB and the image is 7.6GB.
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The Leopard install DVD I used to make the image is not available, it got stolen along with laptop bag it was in last Spring.
Is it this "image" (clone) of the installation disc that you are trying to boot from a USB drive, or a full installation of Leopard? If it's a clone of the installation disc on a USB drive, there are a few considerations.
First, what type was the original Leopard disc (the one you lost)? Was it a retail disc (the type sold separately in a box) or one that came with another Mac model, such as a MacBook Pro. If it's the disc from a MacBook Pro, it will not work because your iMac is a different model. Those included disc usually only work with the model it came with.
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BB iMac G3 Won't Boot From CD

I can't seem to get my friend's G3 iMac (Bondi Blue) that to boot from a CD. It's spent it's life as part of a corporate network so on boot it tries to load something from the network called "Macintosh Manager." Because it is no longer connected to that and I don't have an admin password, I can't get any further. It forces me to shutdown.
I don't have the original OS9 systems disks, but I do have a OSX 10.2 install disk. But I can't get the CDROM drive to boot the disk. I can hear it spin up for 2-3 seconds, but then it stops. It continues to try this until I eject the CD, then it goes into it's Macintosh Manager behavior described above.
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Depending on just how paranoid they were at that company, they could have made it very difficult to boot from an alternate source of software. But if you can find a Mac OS 9 CD, try booting from that and removing anything with "Multiple Users", "MultiUser Startup", or "Mac Manager" in its name, and you may succeed in defeating it.
The Bondi Blue iMac is very much like an early iBook with an integrated CRT. It uses a very similar insubstantial CD Drive. But changing Hardware requires removing the chassis, so I would try the OS 9 CD first. OS X 10.2 is very cranky. It may just be deciding not to boot...because!

IMac won't boot from Firewire?

Hey gang-
I wanted to post this to save anyone else pulling out their hair if they have a Mac that won't boot from a Western Digital (WD) external Firewire drive. I recently purchased a Western Digital My Book Studio 2 TB FireWire 800 External Hard Drive.
I bought this drive intending to partition it into two 1TB partitions- one for a bootable backup and one for a Time Machine backup. I do my bootable backups with the application SuperDuper, which is outstanding for this purpose. I have used it to create bootable backups on 3 different Maxtor external Firewire drives, and they have all flawlessly booted all my Macs. I expected no different from this new Western Digital (WD) 2TB drive.
Unfortunately, the WD would not boot 2 out of my 3 Macs when connected via Firewire. It would NOT boot an Intel MacBook (Late 2007 edition) or an Intel iMac (Mid 2007 edition). It does boot our Intel iMac (Mid-2010 edition). Strangely, the WD booted all 3 Macs when connected via USB, though needless to say very slowly in all cases. If you need additional technical information, read on.
Technical Info: The following tests were done with the WD connected via Firewire. The WD is correctly formatted for booting Intel Macs with GPT GUID formatting. Note that the WD appears as a bootable drive in System Preferences->Startup Disk on all 3 of my Macs. But when attempting to boot via Firewire, I get only a grey screen on the Intel MacBook (Late 2007 edition) and the Intel iMac (Mid 2007 edition). The Intel iMac (Mid-2010 edition) boots normally. When booting with the Option Key held down, Startup Manager does NOT see the WD as a bootable drive on the Intel MacBook (Late 2007 edition) and the Intel iMac (Mid 2007 edition). It does appear as a bootable drive on the Intel iMac (Mid-2010 edition).
When connected via USB, the WD boots all three of my Macs, but very slowly compared to the internal drive.
It's probably worth noting that the Late-2007 MacBook and the Mid-2007 iMac all share the then-new Santa Rosa architecture. So I'm guessing that they may share the same Firewire chipset. And for whatever reason, that chipset does not play nice with the WD chipset.
So, bottom line is that if you need a Firewire bootable backup, be sure to test the drive right away so that you don't think you have a bootable backup when in fact you don't.
On the good side, the drive is amazingly quiet. At this point, I need to decide whether to keep the drive, knowing that I have only USB as a bootable option on 2 out my 3 Macs, or return it. But in any case, wanted to pass this on to anyone else having problems booting from an external Firewire drive.

baltwo wrote:
FWIW, many WD HDs won't boot Macs and booting Macs isn't supported. Details at their site. That's the main reason I never recommend their crappy HDs.
Actually I'm very familiar with that list- spent a lot of time looking at this past week!
Ironically, the majority of that page is a list of drives which they claim WILL boot Macs. In fact, the list is entitled "List of Mac-bootable WD external drives..."
And yep, mine is on there...on the list that reads "The following external hard drives should be bootable on Intel-based Mac computers systems through FireWire (1394a/b)" is "MyBook Studio" as well as my drive model number.
But that's all beside the point. Like you, I couldn't recommend their drives at this point. At least make sure if you buy one that the vendor has a good return policy.
Dave

Imac g5 won't boot from any Cd/DVD

Hey,
New member here.
I have an Imac 20" 1.8 Ghz PowerPC G5, running Mac OS X 10.4.9.
My problem is my computer won't boot from from any DVD or Cd, not the original system disc (10.3.5), not from a newer Imac system disc (10.4.7), not from a Disc Warrior 3.03 disc.
What I get from the Disc Warrior disc is a gray screen with white letters backed in black, saying
"panic (cpu 0 caller 0xooze49do): unable to find driver for this platform: "powermac8,1""
Plus other stuff written underneath it, looking like a log of how far it went.
When I try to boot from the original 10.3.5 DVD, it does boot up but doesn't work after that - it gets to the language to choose and stops.
When I try to boot from the 10.4.7 DVD, I get the gray screen, same results as the Disc Warrior cd.
I even copied my system folder (10.4.9) onto a firwire drive and start from that, but I get the gray screen again.
I zapped the pram, and reset the Open Firmware - still no dice.
Can anybody shed some light on this?!?
Many thanks!
Rufmanj

To Apple Discussions.
Please check out the following thread which the original posted had the same error you had.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4459207#4459207
You may find some helpful troubleshooting solutions in the above thread.
Make absolutly sure you are using the "DVDs" that originally came with the computer.
Also, see Knowledge Base Article; http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106805 Mac OS X: "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts

27" iMac won't boot from anything BUT the main drive

Hi all,
My lovely 27" iMac is in perfect working condition, but I thought I'd try to install a OS on a large SD card to see if I would gain any speed.
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If I try to hold down the option key during startup, the iMac WILL let me choose which OS to boot from, but if I choose anything else than the OS already installed it freezes.
I've even tried to boot my Mac Pro from the iMac install DVD - no problems.
I've even run a hardware test on the iMac - no problems.
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I WAS using the DVD that came with the machine, but I fear Apple may have sent me the wrong one?
In trying to solve the issues I'd tried other OS disc's (A Mac Pro install DVD and a OS X Leopard DVD) - but none of them would even boot, nor install of my iMac. I always end up with a white screen during boot up.
As I described, the original iMac install DVD would indeed boot my Mac Pro, do the disc seems ok?

IMac G5 won't boot from CD drive, Please Help

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Where did you get the CD from?
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Why won't my Intel iMac boot up, either from the internal hard drive or the DVD drive? It just displays a light grey screen, without any other icons, etc. The fact that it won't boot from the original system DVD is what baffles me the most. Any ideas?

Why won't my Intel iMac boot up, either from the internal hard drive or the DVD drive? It just displays a light grey screen, without any other icons, etc. The fact that it won't boot from the original system DVD is what baffles me the most. Any ideas? It uses the latest version of Mavericks. Thanks!

If the C key for Install Disc or R Command for OS X Recovery startup commands are not working, try holding the Option key for the Startup Manager.
see > Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
If that does not work and you using a wireless keyboard, it may have become unpaired and you need to dig up a USB keyboard to invoke the startup commands.
For more on gray screen, see > Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

I Baught A iMac 2010 From Someone it came with lion but for the programs i use i need snow leopard but when trying to install it won't boot from usb or cd what can be the problem i've been at this for over 24 hours if anyone ca help it'd be greatly apprec

I Baught A iMac 2010 From Someone it came with lion but for the programs i use i need snow leopard but when trying to install it won't boot from usb or cd what can be the problem i've been at this for over 24 hours if anyone ca help it'd be greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

Downgrade OS X Lion To Snow Leopard [Video How-To]
http://www.cultofmac.com/110614/downgrade-os-x-lion-to-snow-leopard-video-how-to /
How To Downgrade OS X Lion To Snow Leopard: The Complete Tutorial
http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-downgrade-os-x-lion-to-snow-leopard-the-complet e-tutorial/
How To Downgrade from Apple OS X Lion to Snow Leopard
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389334,00.asp

IMac G5 iSight, flashing question mark, won't boot from CD

iMac G5 iSight, flashing question mark, won't boot from CD

Your hard drive has probably died. The ? means that the machine can't find any drive to boot to.

Hi guys I'm really in need of some help. I have an IMac I3 for a while now I've been having a problem of my machine refusing it shut down , it goes to a blue screen with a spinning wheel but doesn't shut down. And now won't boot from install DvD

Please some one help me ...
A) my mac won't shut down with external HD connected (if it's been used)
B) there are disk permissions that can't be fixed SUID stuff ..
C) I have now verified the Mac HD and it tells me it's corrupt in bold red writing and to start up from install DVD
D) it won't boot from DVD so I cannot run the repair , initially the machine was spitting it out on start up , now it appears to be attempting to boot off DVD , well it sounds like it is .... BUT it's hanging with the Mac Logo and a wheel ... For um .... 30min now...
E) weirdly when OSX is booted off the hard drive , it won't recognise the Install DvD or the applications one... It just spits them out....
I had an old PPC 17" and it was a beaut .... Never had a single problem with it ...
I bought this one December 2010 and it's been nothing but issues for a computer in excess of £1000 I'm extremely disappointed ... And weirdly the shutting down issue started when it was a week out of warrantee ... I feel conned and am almost at the point of throwing it at a wall and buying a PC

Ok so I've done what you said and this is what it's come back ....
I don't know that these are the errors , but they're the things which don't look right ...
Throughout the shut down there is a recurring line ;
It says ;
Com.apple.launchd 1 0x100600e70.anonymous.unmount 301 PID still valid
Then there are 2 more which I think are related ;
Com.apple.securityd 29 PID job has I overstayed its welcome , forcing removal.
Then the same with fseventd 48 and diskarbitrationd 13
Oh and on Launchd1 : System : stray anonymous job at shut down : PID 301 PPID13 PGID 13 unmount...
Then the last process says "about to call: reboot (RB_AUTOBOOT).
Continuing...
And stops ...
Hope this means something to you ... Thanks again for your help so far :-)

IMac won't boot from OS X install disc!

I'm needing to do some internal hard drive repairs but the system won't boot from the install disc! I've restarted it tons of times while holding down "C" and it just bypasses it and boots right into OS X. It restarts as normal with the chime (I am holding down "C") then the Apple logo comes up, then the spinning circle thing, but it just goes right into OS X. Help!

Let's be sure you are doing it properly.
First, you must use the OS X Installer Disc One that came with your computer. Carefully check both surfaces for scratches, dirt, fingerprints and if so clean it carefully with a very soft cleaning cloth that won't scratch the disc.
Second, insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer. After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when the spinning gear appears below the dark gray Apple logo.

Imac (slot loading) won't boot from CD

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