iMac isnt booting up right --

[nutunes]

so i have the big iMac computer. The one that has everything inside the monitor, you know? I tried to look all over this thing for a model number or something, but couldn't find Anything so I hope that you guys know which one I am talking about..

Note: I measured the screen and it's the 27". I am also going to upload some pictures of the screen


anyway.....

SOI go to power it up like usual, pressing the power button that is on the back on the left...

except this time the white screen comes up, then the apple, then the scrolly circle thing...everything seems to be hunky dory right?

WRONG because a few seconds of the scrolly ball then it's like a somebody is pulling down a GRAY SHADE over the whole screen and this BOX pops up that says (in 5 different languages)

"You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again."

And this keeps happening.

SO -- I have an install disk (Snow Leopard) and I thought this might be as easy as my little brother's white mac book that i fixed a couple months ago. So I inserted the disk, restarted. Nothing.

Restarted holding C (on the wireless apple keyboard)

Nothing

Restarted holding command R

nothing.

Is it because the wireless keyboard isn't connecting because the computer seems to be in some kind of coma?

So I took the usb keyboard from the windows e-machines and plugged it in and tried the same things over again.

Nothing

So now I am stuck.

Anybody have any ideas??

 

[chscag]

Your iMac is going into constant kernel panics. You can not use a disk to boot it if that disk is not the specific disk that came with your iMac. Did your iMac come with disks or was the operating system pre-loaded? Also, can you give us some idea of when you purchased it and was it new at the time?

Try this: Restart your iMac and hold down the Shift key during the boot up. If it works, that will get your iMac into safe boot mode. Kernel panics are usually indicative of hardware failure. Your hard drive may be the culprit but we don't know for sure. Try what I suggested and post back the result.

 

[nutunes]

uh oh

uh oh

so, no...that disk didn't come with this mac. I got it from ebay. And the mac? My dad bought it from my older brother who got it from.....who knows? When WE got it the operating system was on it already so...

Now I want to do the shift key restart thing but .... does the wireless bluetooth keyboard work during this kind of panic frenzy or whatever it's doing? or should i plug in the windows PC keyboard in the USB port? I will try both and post here ...

 

[Slydude]

I usually use a USB keyboard for this. Some Bluetooth keyboards work but it can be iffy. I think it depends on the age of the Mac and whether a firmware update has been added. Rather than worry about all that I use a wired keyboard.

Once we know the Mac is up and running well again you can test the Bluetooth keyboard to see how well it behaves.

 

[harryb2448]

Wired kb and mouse for software installs. What iMac precisely any idea? 27" models were first released in 2009. Best option may be to go to Apple Online and purchase a copy of the Snow Leopard OS X.6 DVD and start from there.

 

[nutunes]

OK I am going to plug in the keyboard and give it a shot....holding down SHIFT while restarting.

 

[harryb2448]

Hold down Option whilst booting to show hard drives available.