08-04-2011, 10:39 AM

Hey all,

My 2006 iMac recently died on me - I believe the HD was damaged due to being left on all day on what became the warmest day of the year. It had been crawling at a snails pace for weeks before that, freezing regularly and having to be restarted via the power button, but it was at least working until then. Bad times.

So after a bit of panicing, followed by a bit of reading, I discovered that I could use my Firewire external hard drive to install OSX on, which was great news. I didn't mind losing everything on the computer as long as I can get it running again. I correctly formatted the hard drive and began the installation process using the OSX disks that came with the computer, and Disk 1 worked perfectly.

Now, I'm stuck. Every time I enter Disk 2 it is ejected about a minute later with no message or explanation why. I've been persistent with it, trying for about two days to get the machine to accept it but it keeps getting spat out, meaning that I'm trapped halfway-through the installation process. The disk itself is in perfect condition (I don't think it's even been used before) and it is definitely the disk that came with the product.

Is there any way to abort the installation and start again? Does anyone know why the iMac isn't accepting Disk 2, or what I can do to change that? Is there any way to bypass installation at this point without the second disk?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated - I really need to get this sorted, and going to the shop is my very last resort as money is tight lately!

08-04-2011, 12:23 PM

Welcome to the Mac Forums.

A 2006 model iMac has probably seen many hours of use on that optical drive. It may be that the lens is dirty or the drive is just failing. Buy a can of compressed air at your local Office Depot, Best Buy, Staples, etc. and blow a couple of blasts into the drive and try again. If it still doesn't work, buy an inexpensive external USB DVD drive to install OS X.

But in reality you're placing band aids on a major wound. Your iMac needs a new internal hard drive and maybe a new optical drive. Might be time to decide whether you want to repair it or replace it.

08-04-2011, 06:16 PM

It does happen sometimes disc one will be the complete install and Disc applications, Apple Hardware Test etc. Boot up and see if the operating system loads, and if any joy use Software Update.