Cannot do a new install

I have purchased a secondhand Imac (Intel) which was working perfectly until I used Migration Assistant and transferred al the files from my previous Emac. This has now given me some problems i.e Mail will not work, even after doing a custom install. Therefore I would like to start from scratch and do a new install deleting all files on Hard drive at the same time. When I load the Install disc and click on the Install icon it prompts a restart, which it does, but when restarting it ejects the Install disk and just restarts back to normal. I have tried restarting holding down the C key and also choosing the Install disk as the start up disk both with no avail. Any help would be very much appreciated.

G;day and welcome to the forums.

Depends on what install disc you are trying to use. Do not use a silver grey disc unless it came with that model Intel iMac, as they are model specific and anything that worked as original equipment with the eMac will not work with your newer machine.

Suggest purchasing a full retail install DVD of Leopard OS X.5 and updating from that doing a format and install.

Thanks for that, I am using the silver grey installation disk but I have been assured that it is the original disk that was supplied with my Imac. Any other suggestions would be very welcome.

Well if it won't install you need to look for a full retail install version, a black coloured disc. Sadly it has been known for sellers to retain the original install disc and pop any old thing in.