iMac 27" can't boot from installer disk

I have a new 27" iMac (quad core, 8 gig of RAM) that is running snow leopard 10.6.1

I need to carry out a Disk Repair and the only way to do this is booting from the installer DVD and running disk utility.

When i put the Snow Leopard installer disk into the DVD drive, reboot and hold down the C key, it loads to a grey screen with the apple logo and then stops.

I was expecting this to load from the dvd into the installer tool but no, nothing at all except a grey screen with Apple Logo.

This disk works on my MacBook pro as I carried out the same task only this morning.

Any help would be massively appreciated

Is this a retail version of Snow Leopard or is it the one that came with your MBP? If it's the installer recovery DVD for your MBP, it will not work in the iMac.

If it's a retail version of Snow Leopard, try rebooting the iMac again with it only this time hold down the "option" key after you hear the chime. Let us know.

Regards.

Hi there

The DVD is a retail version of Snow Leopard and as I said, this has worked on my MacBook Pro so I know the disk is good.

When I boot holding down the option key, I am presented with a choice of bootable devices, the HDD and the OS X Installer DVD.

When I select the DVD, the same symptoms are presented, a grey screen with the apple logo.

This is very irritation as Verify Disk in OS X tells me that the disk is corrupt and needs to be repaired but I can't repair it as I need to boot of the DVD. Catch 22!

Regards

Duncan

OK. Thanks for posting back and clarifying. Here's what you can do:

Attach your MBP to your iMac 27" via Firewire. You can then use Target Disk Mode to repair your iMac 27" hard drive from the MBP. The instructions for using Target Disk Mode are given here by Apple.

I'm not sure why the Snow Leopard DVD works with your MBP but not your iMac 27"? That's why I asked if it was a retail disk. The DVD must be OK and it seems the DVD drive in you iMac is likewise OK since you can boot to the Apple gray screen.

Do you have another disk you can try? Perhaps a Leopard disk?

Let us know.

Regards.

Magic

Worked like a charm. Thanks for that. Disk Repair now run on my iMac HDD and all is good.

Still very odd why I can't boot from the DVD but I shall obtain another copy and see if the DVD drive has difficulty with other disks.

Great tip about the firewire btw.



Duncs

Glad to hear you got it working again. And yes, by all means follow up on that problem with the Snow Leopard DVD. If the optical drive on the iMac 27" is acting up in some way, you want to get it looked at by Apple. I know it's not exactly easy to haul a large machine like that in to get it serviced, but there's not much else you can do.

Keep us posted.

Regards.