iMac Core 2 duo 24inch problem

Hello all, i work in a lab and there is a mac here that wont start up. When i press the shift button, a blinking grey file with question mark appears. Should i download 10.5 leopard and with a dvd? or usb? should i try to reinstall a fresh OS? how do i do that? which keys i press to start this operation ?

polaxgr said:

When i press the shift button, a blinking grey file with question mark appears.

Click to expand...

This means the computer can't find an OS to boot from. Which means the computer may not have an OS installed...or the hard drive is kaput.

polaxgr said:

Should i download 10.5 leopard and with a dvd?

Click to expand...

OS 10.5 is not a downloadable OS version. OS 10.5 is was released 11 years ago (2007)...very old OS version. No Mac OS versions were downloadable then.

Unless this computer absolutely needs OS 10.5...probably better off installing something newer. But this also assumes the hard drive is ok.

- Nick

More information about the iMac would help - like the model year - that would give us a better idea what version of OS X you need. Or I can assume it is a 2007 or 2008?

To get into the recovery mode take a look at these links:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

With there being a blinking grey file, as Nick said, the HD might be dead.

To see if there is a boot drive hold down the Option key as the iMac starts up.

Replacing the boot drive is not an easy task. How to do that can be found at www.ifixit.com

Lisa