How to get Firmware Restoration CD to work?

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prosonman

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I suspect or at least would like to rule out the possibility that a corrupt firmware is stopping my iMac from reinstalling.

I have downloaded the Firmware Restoration CD image from apple, version 1.4 and burnt it to a CD using a PC with TransMac.

I have held the power button down and get a quickly flashing sleep light followed by a long beep.

The iMac 24" 2.16ghz intel core 2 duo then just goes to a folder with a question mark.

I have removed the hard drive and formatted to a GPT scheme before trying but I still cannot get firmware to restore.

Does anyone have any experience of this?
 
You can't use the restoration CD to try to repair possibly bad firmware. That's not too likely, anyway. The restoration CD is used to try to recover from a failed or interrupted installation. That would cause the Mac to not boot, and the restoration CD would fix that issue, but no help for your issue.
What happens when you try to boot to your OS X installer DVD? Can you choose the hard drive for the install destination?
 
I can't choose a hard drive to install to, the installer hangs on the grey Apple screen.

All common issues have been checked:-
Original disks correct and alternative disks tried.
External DVD tested and still the same.
PRam and NVRam reset.
Booted up using option key and selected OSX installer.
Tried holding shift key with installer disk (Kernal Panic - unable to load driver - ACPI)

The iMac will boot into single user mode, I suspect Motherboard, graphic card or LCD screen.

Don't really know what else to try, have be trying for a week now without any joy.
 
Maybe your hard drive is bad - even a new one can fail
Pull the hard drive out completely, and try to boot to the installer.
Obviously, you won't be able to install, but you are just testing to see if it will boot to the DVD.
Be sure to also try reseating your RAM cards.
 
Yes done that, I think I have done just about everything now and only left with the possibility that the logic (motherboard) is faulty. The Apple Hardware Test says everything is fine both on standard and extended tests, I have even tried booting a windows xp disk to see what happens but the screen goes black so I can't see if it goes into the installation mode.

This picture shows where the iMac hangs, the spinning wheel stop after about 1 minutes.

Stuck.Stuck.Stuck ! ! !
 

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This sounds like a faulty Disc Drive. However do take note that you did replace the hard drive. This is not a simple task on a iMac and it is a possibility you could of dislodged a connector or broke one. I suggest you double check and make sure every connector is plugged in and firmly seated.
 
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I have tried using an external DVD drive, also I created an image on a USB stick and USB hard drive using TransMac on a PC. I didn't disconnect the internal DVD drive but used the option key to ensure I booted from the external USB source.

All did exactly the same and only booted to the Apple logo and then froze, would disconnecting the internal DVD make any difference or was this just to confirm that it was not booting from that device?
 
prosonman said:
I have tried using an external DVD drive, also I created an image on a USB stick and USB hard drive using TransMac on a PC. I didn't disconnect the internal DVD drive but used the option key to ensure I booted from the external USB source.

All did exactly the same and only booted to the Apple logo and then froze, would disconnecting the internal DVD make any difference or was this just to confirm that it was not booting from that device?
Click to expand...

Please read my updated answer above. Also note that you could have damaged a sensor on the logic board by accident and not even know you did. A broken connector (depending on how bad it is damaged) could just be plugged in and secured with tape. However if a sensor is the culprit only fix is taking it to a repair shop. Chances are slim you can replace a sensor yourself.
 
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prosonman said:
I have tried using an external DVD drive, also I created an image on a USB stick and USB hard drive using TransMac on a PC. I didn't disconnect the internal DVD drive but used the option key to ensure I booted from the external USB source.

All did exactly the same and only booted to the Apple logo and then froze, would disconnecting the internal DVD make any difference or was this just to confirm that it was not booting from that device?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that would make a difference. Some of those iMacs had issues with the optical drive cables to where a bad cable would make the machine not boot to anything. I think it has a lot to do with that being the first year they moved the optical onto the SATA bus as opposed to the old fashioned ATA bus. I don't remember it happening on the 24' iMac as most I've seen were on the 20' iMac, but still could be very possible? I just don't know how confident I'd be that the flash drive installer would boot it? I would be more comfortable with having created the flash drive installer on a Mac restoring the image from disk utility just to be confident it was done right.

EDIT: Just noticed you have the white 24' and not one of the early aluminum 24' iMacs. Highly unlikely its the optical and much more likely its the video card. Its still definitely worth a try disconnecting the optical, but I've seen at least of few of those with bad video cards. Luckily that model you can get a separate video card since its not integrated onto the board.
 
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I have tried booting up from an external USB DVD drive and still the same results with the internal DVD disconnected.

I'm going to buy another video card before I finally give up, I'm not very hopeful that this will work as there doesn't seem anything wrong with the video card other than I just can't get the iMac to go past the grey screen.

Thanks.
 
prosonman said:
I have tried booting up from an external USB DVD drive and still the same results with the internal DVD disconnected.

I'm going to buy another video card before I finally give up, I'm not very hopeful that this will work as there doesn't seem anything wrong with the video card other than I just can't get the iMac to go past the grey screen.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Did you disconnect the internal DVD Drive? Did you double check all the connectors you disconnected to replace the hard drive? The video card is possible but does not mean that it is. Video Cards can cause hang ups if they are bad and might even not show video at all. It could even be the entire logic board.
 
prosonman said:
I have tried booting up from an external USB DVD drive and still the same results with the internal DVD disconnected.

I'm going to buy another video card before I finally give up, I'm not very hopeful that this will work as there doesn't seem anything wrong with the video card other than I just can't get the iMac to go past the grey screen.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Do take note that the video card may not even be the problem. Video Cards, when bad usually tend to show no video at all. It is a possibility but it is not a guarantee fix.
 
And like THAT . . .

88129ba7.gif


. . . troll's gone!

--J.D.
 
Just a quick update:
I have plugged in an external monitor and successfully installed windows xp and used xp installer to partition the drive.

I cannot see anything on the main monitor yet it only works the external monitor.

Going to try a few more things to see if I can work out what the hell is happening and why I can't install OSX without it hanging.
 
Is this a video card problem?

I have hooked up an external monitor and disconnected the internal screen, this seems to set the primary monitor to the external screen. I have managed to install windows xp using the external monitor, if I reconnect the main screen it just goes blank during boot and doesn't show anything else.

I can't install OSX using the external monitor as it just goes blank after the apple logo disappears as I suspect my external monitor does not support the 1900x1200 resolution.

Attached is a picture showing some funny lines on the XP boot up screen, however the screen looks fine when it does eventually load XP......very strange!

any thoughts?
 

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it sounds like it is one of two things:

one you graphics cards Primary Video Controller has failed (internal screen) but the second one still works (external monitor)

or the Internal display itself has failed.

Have you tried installing OS X with the external monitor?
 
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