2008 imac stuck during disc 2 install

[Teegz]

HI everyone,

I recently turned on my old 2008 imac as i wanted to wipe it and sell it because i haven't used it in years. I wanted to restore it to how it was when i originally bought it. i was a quarter of the way through the second disc install (OS version 10.5.2) when the computer froze with that continuous spinning wheel.

i cant get it to continue or stop (i have been stuck on this for 2 weeks now) any help would be much appreciated!!

btw i dont live anywhere near an apple store to take it to them.

Thanks!

 

[Rod]

Hi Teegz, welcome to these forums.
First question, are the discs you are using the original discs that came with the iMac?

 

[Teegz]

hi, yes they are

 

[pm-r]

On one of those disks should be the Disk Utility.app that should allow you to verify or even partition/format the drive and I'd suggest using it and its zero-out option, and then try the full OS X and Apps install.

The HDD could be failing and/or have bad blocks which the zero-out option should fix or at least map out so you can use it.

 

[Teegz]

the disk utility is one the first disc but unfortunately the computer just keeps ejecting it with a message to insert disc 2 to to continue install but every time i do it just ends up freezing again

 

[Rod]

Try shutting it down first, then try inserting disk one. You need a bootable source to enable you to repair or erase the HD prior to the installation. Restarting while holding Option/Alt key and select the install disk.

 

[pm-r]

Try as Rod says, and maybe also try holding the "C" key I believe it was to force booting from the CD/DVD with those Macs from a cold boot.

PS: Just press and hold the "C" when you hear the boot sound/chime, not before or after.


- Patrick
======

 

[harryb2448]

For mine I would suggest you spend $20.00 and purchase Snow Leopard OS X.6 from Apple Online, back up, erase and format the drive, do a clean install and update to OS X.6.8.

 

[pigoo3]

Here's the link:

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/M...52c4cfabae078ef65b1f4a0456ea0a29a59c62a533245

- Nick

 

[Teegz]

hi guys,
thanks for all your suggestions, unfortunately nothing so far has worked so I thought i'd post a pic of the screen I'm stuck on to see if that will help. the pic shows the screen I'm stuck on and the only thing that changes whenever I have restarted the computer is the time remaining but it never loads past where you see in the pic. although I can click on the menu at the top, none of the options in them will do anything when I click on them

 

[MacMicky]

You could try holding down simultaneously both the control, command and the esc key (very top left of keyboard). This should bring up the force quit box and then force quit the Installer. Good Luck
PS. You will then need to start the process all over again.

 

[ferrarr]

Do you have another mac available to you? If you can hold T down when you start your iMac, it will go into Target Disk Mode. Then you can connect your iMac to the other mac with a Firewire cable. It will show up as an external drive and then you can reformat it or run repairs on it.