iMac Will Not boot to OS Installer

Greets to all,
Yes it is me again, the Tenacious WebDevii, I have an issue here that has totally bamboozled me. I have 2 iMac 2010 27" units. Serial Numbers as follows:
YD04509YDB6
YD0426U1DB6

Just so whoever may want to try and tackle this issue you can know all the info about the machines I am working on.

Now to the problem, I acquired these from the owner of a computer recycling company, he wanted me to get them running with OS-X Leopard or Snow Leopard. I chose Snow Leopard because that is the only version I have.

Before I start working on any machine I give it a once over to see whats up. Here goes, I turn machine #1 on and it boots directly to Windows 7, I then try and boot with the option key down and notice there is only one (1) partition, there is no bootcamp partition, no OS-X partition, just one partition that says untitled 1 which is the windows 7 install I am assuming. Now I insert a SL install DVD into the super drive, hold down option, find the Install DVD double click on it, the screen goes white with the grey apple in the center, nothing else, no spinning gear you know the wait symbol, that is not there. Ok I am assuming at this point that the optical drive could have gone sideways, I go to my Mac Pro which has SL installed running fine, I make an install image and put it on a 16GB Flash Drive, insert it into the iMac USB port, once again holding down the Option Key till the boot screen appears, I see the USB Thumb Drive, I double click on it, same thing, white screen with grey apple and no "I am Busy" notifier the spinner thingy.

Now I am getting ******, So I take and start the iMac (broken machine) in Target Drive Mode, holding down the 'T' key to invoke this mode, I plug in my Firewire 800 cable between the iMac (broken machine) to my MacPro (working Machine), and fire up the working Mac Pro, I see the iMac's system drive mounted on the desktop, I open the Disk utility and select the iMac's boot drive not the partition but the drive itself, I erase it as Mac Journaled and Partition it as GUID. I insert the OS-X 10.6 SL install DVD into the Mac Pro (good working machine) and proceed with installing SL on the Target iMac. It does the normal stuff I let it restart now I am running SL from the iMac drive via Target Drive Mode just fine. I shut down both machines, disconnect the Firewire cable go to fire up the iMac I hold down the option key because now I am thinking I have a good install on the iMac hard drive, I select it by double clicking it, and same crap, I get a white screen with a grey apple and no spinner of waiting. I let it sit for a good hour, just to be sure I am being patient enough. but same thing no bootie. I have been hearing thru the grapevine that the iMac drive being it had only windows on it the old owner jacked it up in such a way it needs to be hard formatted.

If anyone can shed a bit of light on this problem I would greatly appreciate it, Oh incidently remember back in the beginning of this post where I mentioned 2 of these iMacs, same exact problem with the other one, it had windows 7 only no bootcamp partition no osx partition nothing, it was like this one boot right up into windows no problem, but when I attempt to install from any install medium inserted directly into the iMac's it goes no where, the only way I have a chance of attacking the drive in either machine is by invoking Target Drive Mode by Firewire 800.

Thank You all in advance, These are in full warranty but since the Mac shop in my area is closed on the weekends I wanted to try and solve this myself.

So H E L P !!!! Anyone Please

Thank you in advance

ps my email is [email protected] if you want to privately communicate with me.

Dev

Reset the PRAM - NVRAM on both machines. Erase the hard drives, and start over. Unless both drives are dead or there's other serious problems, it should work.

And don't forget... you need a legal copy of Snow Leopard for each machine unless your copy is the 5 install family version.

Update

Hows this for weird, just for kicks I inserted a Windows 7 Install disc in and it fired right up to the windows installer screen and as I speak windows 7 is being installed on this iMac.

chscag said:

Reset the PRAM - NVRAM on both machines. Erase the hard drives, and start over. Unless both drives are dead or there's other serious problems, it should work.

And don't forget... you need a legal copy of Snow Leopard for each machine unless your copy is the 5 install family version.

Click to expand...

Regarding OS-x I can install from that particular disk on my good working Mac Pro no problem. These machines are no more than 6-8 months old, literly new.

I am thinking that there is still some traces of windows on there preventing it from seeing itself as a Mac.
Any ideas how to hard format the drive?

Oh and also I reset PRam, holding down Option Shift PR or what ever that key combination is, I verified it when I did it so I know I did it rite, so if I am mistaken here no worrries.

dev

chscag said:

Reset the PRAM - NVRAM on both machines. Erase the hard drives, and start over. Unless both drives are dead or there's other serious problems, it should work.

And don't forget... you need a legal copy of Snow Leopard for each machine unless your copy is the 5 install family version.

Click to expand...

In regards to the disc's I do not know the history of them, being legal or not, they were handed to me as the disc to use to install with. If they are bootleg for some reason, does apple prevent the install from even taking place, or is this on the honor system.. I was thinking that could also be an issue. If that is the case I will go out and buy a legal copy to be sure it is correct. So now that you mention it, Does Apple check the install disc for being legal or not and does apple deny the install if it is found to be a bootleg? The reason I dont think it is a bootleg as it installs on my mac pro just fine.

Thank you
Dev

It really does not matter whether or not a disc "can" be installed on more than one machine by "some" method. You need a licensed copy for each machine. Compared to Windows pricing of $200-$400 and the OS X price of $30, just how cheap do they have to go to discourage piracy? You need one disc per one machine, unless you have a Family pack license, in which case you are allowed up to 5 installs to Macs in your household.

Moreover, the original discs that ship with Macs will only install on like machines. Even if you can get it to boot on the iMac, a disc that shipped with a Mac Pro is not going to install on an iMac. Yes, it will verify the hardware you're attempting to install to.

Leopard is not going to install on any machine that shipped with SL. The drivers required would not exist on a 10.5 disc..

You need to get the original discs that shipped with those 2 iMacs to install SL on them. Either get them from the individual or call Apple and ask for a set of replacement discs.

bobtomay said:

It really does not matter whether or not a disc "can" be installed on more than one machine by "some" method. You need a licensed copy for each machine. Compared to Windows pricing of $200-$400 and the OS X price of $30, just how cheap do they have to go to discourage piracy? You need one disc per one machine, unless you have a Family pack license, in which case you are allowed up to 5 installs to Macs in your household.

Moreover, the original discs that ship with Macs will only install on like machines. Even if you can get it to boot on the iMac, a disc that shipped with a Mac Pro is not going to install on an iMac. Yes, it will verify the hardware you're attempting to install to.

Leopard is not going to install on any machine that shipped with SL. The drivers required would not exist on a 10.5 disc..

You need to get the original discs that shipped with those 2 iMacs to install SL on them. Either get them from the individual or call Apple and ask for a set of replacement discs.

Click to expand...

ps I dont really like being accused of being a pirate and not wanting to assist me until I have legal discs,

Greets Bobtoma
I am not in the least out there trying to pirate os discs, this is at a trouble shooting point right now. That is one thing I love about the Apple platform, is it is reasonable, So you say I can get a full (not upgrade) version of SL for $29.00. I am heading to the Mac store tomorrow anyways unless I can resolve this today. Now back to my problem, Even if it was not the disc that shipped with the iMac it should go past the white screen with the apple on it correct. one other thing I noticed that my be pointing more towards what you said earlier, Once it begins to try and launch from the installer I loose all USB devices, in otherwords the Mouse light goes out, the Thumb drive light goes out, which to me dioes look like a driver issue. am I correct in assuming this.

Anyways thank you for your input, in regards to OS discs, I see them everywhere for 29 bucks, but are these just upgrades to where you have to have a working os on the machine first or are these full installs, **** I will buy 10 of them I dont really care. When it comes to microsoft, that is a whole another issue. dont get me started with them.