imac boot from DVD

[davestates]

I have a previously OK iMac with a corrupted System file... can't boot. Tried to boot from a retail Snow Leopard DVD that I own. I can boot my Mac Mini with this disk by what I thought was the normal way for Macs in general, holding down the "C" key while booting up. This just won't work on the iMac... should it work this way? Is there another way to do this.
Thanks, Dave

 

[pigoo3]

We need to know what model iMac you have. If it's a pretty old iMac…Snow Leopard may not be compatible with it.

- Nick

 

[nscsdtech]

I have a previously OK iMac with a corrupted System file... can't boot. Tried to boot from a retail Snow Leopard DVD that I own. I can boot my Mac Mini with this disk by what I thought was the normal way for Macs in general, holding down the "C" key while booting up. This just won't work on the iMac... should it work this way? Is there another way to do this.
Thanks, Dave

hold down the option key as soon as you turn on the imac you should see an option to click on the disc for boot up

 

[davestates]

did not help. After the "start-up gong", I see two small white boxes on the screen, one has a 270° arrow and the other a right pointing arrow also on the screen is a teeny "watch" icon with rotating hand. After a minute or so, that watch icon turns into the normal looking arrow moveable cursor. Nothing more unless I click on the circular arrow box. Then, I again get the teeny "watch" icon with rotating hand. No more action.

 

[davestates]

Nick, could well be the problem. As I read the bottom data, looks like:
SN W84350AFPP7
17FP/1.8GHZ/256/80/SD/N PFC
EMC No. 1989
Beyond those data, I've no clue and at the moment, with no boot-up, I can't get more info.
Dave

 

[nscsdtech]

you try holding down the "D" key on boot up?

 

[pigoo3]

Nick, could well be the problem. As I read the bottom data, looks like:
SN W84350AFPP7
17FP/1.8GHZ/256/80/SD/N PFC
EMC No. 1989
Beyond those data, I've no clue and at the moment, with no boot-up, I can't get more info.
Dave

Thanks for the info. It appears that this is a "PPC" G5 iMac…not an "Intel" based iMac. It needs to be an Intel iMac in order to use a Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) install disk.

You need an install disk BEFORE OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard)…something like OS 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.4 (Tiger). These are old OS versions…and have not been sold by Apple directly for a long time. You can usually find these on e-Bay…but they are not cheap.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[davestates]

Nick, thank you! Sounds right to me... I'll go that way. I do have an OS X 5 Leopard "update from OS X 4"... I'll see what I can do from here.
Dave