iMac G5 not booting after installing 10.4

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DarrenMcCann

Registered
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iMac G5 1.9GHz, iSight, 160Gb HD, 512Mb RAM, Superdrive...
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Hello all.

I have searched for this, so apologise if it's already been discussed...

A friend of mine bought a second hand iMac (as above) from eBay, which didn't come with any discs.

I have a copy of 10.4 on DVD, which I've never used, so thought I would install it on the iMac as the previous owner had all these P2P and torrent software installed, and so wanted a fresh system.

Anyway...

I tried booting the iMac from the DVD (I selected it through the system prefs as a startup disc), but nothing happened - just the Apple logo and the spinning icon. To make sure it wasn't a faulty DVD, I also have a 10.3 DVD and tried the same with this - the same thing happened!!!

So what I did (in hindsight, not a very good idea), was boot the iMac up as a target disc, and used an eMac (via Firewire) to install 10.4 onto the iMac. It installed with no problems (custom install with no extra, printers, fonts, etc - just the base).

But now a square icon appears, with a coloured picture of earth that flashed! After this it goes to the usual startup screen, then after a few moments, the Apple logo turns into a 'No Entry' sign (the circle with a diagonal line through it)!!!

What the hell have I done to my friend's new 'Pride and Joy'???!

Again, I apologise if this has already been discussed.

Many thanks.
Darren.
 
Originally, did this computer boot with the Operating System it came with?
In other words, any chance this unit was DOA?

jb.
 
It did work originally. It actually had 10.4.6 installed, but like I said, it had P2P and torrent software installed, plus all of the previous owner's files and software, so just wanted to have a fresh system.

So it used to boot, but not since reinstalling 10.4 - very strange indeed!

Installing 10.4 to a target disc worked on my old iMac G3 (DV - slot loading), after updating the firmware through OS9, from my G4 (QuickSilver).

Any other ideas?

Many thanks.
Darren.
 
You need to get the original install discs for this machine. It came with 10.4.2, so may not install from a 10.4 disc. Try calling Apple, or go to an Apple store.
 
bobw said:
You need to get the original install discs for this machine. It came with 10.4.2, so may not install from a 10.4 disc. Try calling Apple, or go to an Apple store.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right!!!

Solution: I restarted the iMac as a Target Disk, then restarted the eMac but with the iMac as the startup disk (again, via Firewire), updated OSX over the net from 10.4.0 to 10.4.6 - and there you go - the iMac now boots!

And more importantly, I've retained a friend - woo hoo!

Thanks for your help people!
 
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