Cant boot to cd

[mcc29]

I bought a imac g4 from my university with no OS (the flower pot one). I tried putting tiger on it but I cant get it to boot from cd. I have tried holding the c button but it doesnt work. All it does is flash the folder and ? and nothing else. Any ideas?

thank you!

[Satcomer]

Put the CD (in doesn't have a DVD drive) in while and force the Mac to shut off (e=while the CD is still in). Then boot back up while holding down the (alt, sometimes called the key). It will take a minute but the CD should come up as a bootable device.

Good Luck.

[DeltaMac]

mcc29 - are you using an Apple keyboard?
The key that Satcomer mentioned is called the 'Option' key.

Satcomer - did you proof your post? it's a little rough around the edges

[Giaguara]

Are your tiger install discs CDs or DVDs?
How much RAM does it have? Unless it has at least 256 MB there's no chance in getting it to acknowledge the 10.4 install CDs.

[mcc29]

i am currently using a non-mac keyboard, but had tried a mac one too.

i believe it is a cd, and i have no idea the RAM. it was a 35 dollar computer that my school was selling and gave me to me for 20. i dont even know which operating system to try, just figured tiger would work and dont know the specs whatsoever. any way to find out?

i did as you said, held e and alt and got it to show a refresh sign and an arrow sign. nothing else on the screen but thats it.

any other ideas let me know. thank you so much for ur responses.

[djackmac]

Those things were famous for flaky optical drives. I would bet thats part of the issue. Otherwise I wonder about the installers being used such as it being a retail version.