iMac (2005 I think) hanging at boot screen.

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I was recently given a 2nd-hand iMac, which I believe is from 2005. When I boot it up it freezes at the "Apple" screen and just shows the "thinking" wheel spinning. I tried to reboot at hold the Option key to boot from the disk, but that just results in the same issue.

Also tried a PRAM restart but no luck. Any suggestions?

Trying to boot direct from the disk (holding down C) gets me this:

936771_10152053841571037_286376393_n.jpg
 

chscag

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2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
It appears from the Panic attack that you're using the wrong disk to try to boot the machine. I'm not that familiar with older Macs but Macs are very particular about the original disk to boot with. Of course like Harry stated, it may have other problems like a bad hard drive, but it should boot from the correct disk unless something else is very wrong.

Let me see if I can look up your machine, it's a PowerMac 8.2: Well, it appears it's a PowerMac G5, but I was unable to get any detailed info on it. But a PowerMac G5 should be able to be booted with a retail version of Tiger or Leopard which will be difficult to find.

Anyway, the first thing is to try to boot with a disk which may be difficult because an original install disk may no longer be available and a retail version of Tiger or Leopard may be expensive after finding a copy. eBay and Craig's list are the best places to find a retail version of Tiger or Leopard.
 

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