No Hard drive in Startup Manager?

(First off... I am not sure what OS this is running. My guess is an early 10 or maybe 9)
Hello. My friend just got an iMac from a garage sale. I haven't checked their imac out yet, but she says it does not boot. It goes right to a blue screen. She researched some topics and is now holding down option when it boots to see if we can boot OS X..... only problem is that there is no Hard Drive icon at all on the Startup Manager.

My guess is that it needs a new Hard Drive and a new install of OS X.
Do you think I am right at all?

Is there any way to check if there is a HD at all? I think Startup Manager just checks for HD's with the boot files.


(we also don't have an install CD... sucks... But if we know the imac works, we'll be buying Tiger. Does Tiger work with the G3 imac?)

any ideas?

I found this. It may help. Unfortunately my answer would be that you hard drive is dead or the O/S is corrupted.

Do you remember the first Mac, the one that didn't even have a model number? The amazing 8 MHz 68000 CPU, crystal clear 9" b&w screen, huge 400 KB floppy drive, and radical mouse?
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Fast forward from 1984 to 1998. Using up-to-date technology, Apple has created a worthy successor to the original Macintosh as a fully integrated computer. No separate monitor, no rat's nest of power cords, and no external drives necessary. With a 233 MHz PowerPC 750 (the same G3 CPU used in the beige Power Mac G3), 32 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive, a 24x CD-ROM, ethernet, stereo speakers, and an integral 15" multiscan monitor, there's not much you'll need to add.
Beyond recapturing a vision and providing the same usability other Macs do, the iMac breaks new ground for an Apple desktop with its Bondi (pronounced bond-I) blue color, two USB (universal serial bus) ports and an infrared port - and no floppy drive, SCSI connector, serial ports, or plugs for ADB devices.

• iMac speed tip: if you have Virtual Memory on and only 32 MB RAM, set VM to 64 MB for faster performance
• If you are using Mac OS 8.1, be sure to download iMac Update 1.1 (Update 1.0 no longer seems to be available) or later from Apple if you use any non-Apple USB devices. This update is only for Mac OS 8.1; 8.5 and later eliminate the need for this update.
• Apple recommends iMac Update 1.1 for use with Mac OS 8.5 and 8.5.1. Note that OS 8.5.x and Update 1.0 must be installed before the 1.1 update is installed.
• According to Apple, iMac Update 1.2 should be installed on all iMac computers used in NetBoot client environments.
• If you are running Mac OS 8.6, Mac OS ROM Update 1.0 should be installed. You must have 8.6 installed before running this update.
• For more information on firmware updates, see iMac: When to Install Available Updaters.

Mac OS X

If you have a hard drive over 8 GB in size, you must partition it, and the partition containing OS X must be completely within the first 8 GB of space or you will not be able to run OS X. (If you are creating the partition within OS X, it must be 7.45 GB or smaller as reported by Disk Utility, because sometimes a GB is billion bytes and sometimes it's 1,073,741,824 bytes.)
Non-Apple upgrades and peripherals (such as unsupported USB devices, replacement drives, and third-party memory) may cause problems when installing or booting into Mac OS X.
Be sure to read and follow Apple's "Read Before You Install" install instructions to increase the likelihood of getting OS X installed and running on the first try.
Details

• announced 1998.05.06; North American release on 1998.08.15 at $1,299; replaced by Revision B 1998.10.17
• requires Mac OS 8.1 with MIB 1.0 enabler or later, 10.3.x officially supported, 10.4.x can generally be installed using XpostFacto 4
• CPU: 233 MHz PPC 750
• bus: 66 MHz
• performance: 4.5 (estimated, relative to 7500/100); 7.8, BYTEmark; 109.5 Speedometer; 696, MacBench 5.0
• RAM: 32 MB, expandable to 384 MB* using two DIMM sockets (256 MB on top, 128 MB on the bottom), uses same SDRAM SO-DIMM as PowerBook G3, top DIMM socket accepts 2" DIMM, bottom socket takes 1.5" DIMM.
  * The exact amount a Rev. A-D iMac can be upgraded varies from unit to unit. We have field reports of some models accepting 256 MB modules in both memory socket and reaching 512 MB - and other reports of early iMacs that won't work at all with 256 MB modules. There appears to be no way to know in advance whether a particular iMac will work with a certain sized memory module.
• VRAM: 2 MB SGRAM, expandable to 4 MB or 6 MB using SGRAM SO-DIMMs
• Video: supports resolutions of 640 x 480, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768 using ATI Rage IIc chip set, 2 MB provides 16-bits at maximum resolution, 24-bits at other settings, will support resolutions to 1600 x 1200 on an external monitor
• monitor: 15" (13.8" viewable) multiscan to 1024 x 768
• L2 cache: 512 KB 2:1 backside cache
• hard drive: 4 GB EIDE drive. Maximum IDE drive size is 128 GB without third-party support. See How big a hard drive can I put in my iMac, eMac, or Power Mac? for your options.
• CD-ROM: 24x maximum throughput
• SCSI: none
• PCI slots: none
• PMC (mezzanine/Perch) slots: one
• mic: built in (above monitor), standard 3.5mm minijack compatible with line-level input including Apple's PlainTalk microphone
• USB ports: 2 USB 1.1 ports on a single controller, require OCHI compatible devices (some early USB peripherals may not be compliant)
• integrated 56 kbps modem supports v.90 standard
• 10/100Base-T ethernet connector
• IR port: 4 Mbps IrDA
• AirPort: no
• power: 200W
• height: 15.8 in/39.5 cm
• width: 15.2 in/38.0 cm
• depth: 17.6 in/44.0 cm
• weight: 38.1 lb/17.3 kg
• part number: M6709
• family number: M4984A

Ah. Thank you.
Now here is my next question. I have a 40GB to replace the one in the imac. If I am installing OS 9.0 can I format the drive in windows as a FAT32?
(My work around for that would be to put it in my external enclosure and then format it on my macbook)
what are OS 9.0 hard drives formatted in?

Then my last question would be, If I go out and buy OS 9.0, can I format the drive before I install it. Like if i have the install CD in it, will it format my hard drive?

thank you in advance!

Wikipedia said:

File Allocation Table (FAT) is a partially patented file system developed by Microsoft for MS-DOS and was the primary file system for consumer versions of Microsoft Windows up to and including Windows Me.

Click to expand...

Hopefully that is enough to answer your last question.

If you buy the OS then when you boot hold down C while booting. Choose disk utility and that will take you to a whole range of options....partitioning.....raid....restore....first aid. In here you can format the drive.
I'm not sure why you wany fat 32 but you can do this from within disk utility. Personally I have an external drive that has a partition...one fat 32 and the other as Mac HFS. I leave the drive in the Mac as Mac only.

If you were to run bootcamp (free download) so you could run windows from within Mac environment, one of the options in the installation is that you partition aand format the drive. You will of course need a registered copy of Win XP SP2 to do this. Does it install on OS 9....don't know. Do a search of the forum and you will find many things.

Remember search first and then ask as some members have answered the same questions so many times that they can get a bit snappy if you don't search first. Most however are extremely helpful and there is a huge knowledge base on this forum.

enjoy

MaDDoG

Oh I have searched first.
What I needed to know was if I could format on my PC a hard drive as FAT32. Of course it does work with OS X, but I couldn't find any info about OS 9.0.

I'm going to be able to take apart the imac on Sunday. I'm hoping it is just a lose cable or something. But If not I have a 40gb HD that needs to be formatted, and I will just have to wait for my OS 9.0 to get here. I am hoping that will be everything to get it up and running.

Of coure you can format it on a PC....but will it work with OS 9.......not sure but I would guess yes as Fat 32 has been around for a long time.

Alright, thank you for your help.
I hope it all goes well. If I do need a new logic board or something.... it is not like they are that expensive.

update

Here is an update and my solution.
I couldn't boot from the OS 9.0 cd. I ended up hitting the reset button and it finally loaded the OS, which was OS X 10.3. I have shut it down and powered it back on numerous times to see if it would still work... and it does.
why would the restart button fix it??