Installing OS X

[mouch9]

I just bought a broken iMac A1224. The seller stated that the motherboard was bad and it no longer had ram or a HDD. I purchased the ram (2gb kit 667mhz ddr2) and 1-TB Toshiba HDD from OWC. I also purchased a certified motherboard from DVwarehouse. The swap went great. I started it up formatted/partitioned the HDD and started installing the OS.
That's where I got sideways. I started with OS X 10.10 from. USB. It hang at about 30%. Tried again and some thing. So, I erased the HDD and tried to install 10.7 from a bootable DVD. It installed but would not start up without using Safe Mode. I ran the disc utility and repaired disc permissions but still would not start. It hangs after the chime, screen flashes and stops at a white screen. Just for giggles, I tried 10.10 again after erasing the HDD. It installed this time (and is currently on the system) but again will only start in Safe Mode. Still cannot run AHT from USB or the Internet.

I'm very new to this side of the Mac community. I searched for some insight but didn't find any solutions to the white screen issues. I have tried to reset the PRAM also. The iMac didn't seem to respond. Thanks for any ideas as I'm not sure if this is hardware or software related. When in safe mode it seems to operate fine...in its limited capacity anyway...

 

[chscag]

An iMac 1224 doesn't tell us much. There are numerous iMac 1224s, starting from early 2007 through mid 2009. All 20" iMac machines. We really need to pinpoint the exact year and model.

Where did you get the copy of Yosemite and Lion from? You stated that you installed Yosemite from USB and Lion from DVD.

 

[mouch9]

Absolutely! Model A1224, EMC No. 2133, and it was released mid-2007.

I created the Lion boot disk DVD off of an older iMac over 2 years ago. I cannot tell you anything about that process...too long ago! But I'm sure I just used the Disc Utility within the iMac. I created the Yosemite bootable USB last week after downloading Yosemite from the App Store and using DiscMaker X 4b4 to create it.

I am using a non-Mac keyboard. I think that is causing me problems maybe with the keyboard boot commands. Shift works to boot in safe mode but nothing else does. Once it boots to safe mode it says it doesn't recognize the keyboard and asks me to help identify the keyboard. Then it works fine. I'll have to order a Mac keyboard as I only have laptops here.

Thanks for the help and any insight!

Joe

 

[johnodd4]

sounds like a hardware problem with the main board again the iMac shouldn't boot in safe boot mode i would try a pmr but you need a apple computer unless someone knows the key commands on a non mac keyboard

 

[mouch9]

I'm sorry, a pmr? I'm not familiar with that and Google didn't help me.

I just ordered an Apple keyboard. Should be here Monday. Hopefully that'll help with the boot command issues. Does PMR have anything to do with resetting the PRAM?

Thanks!

 

[chscag]

He meant a PRAM reset which you already tried. When the Apple keyboard arrives and you hook it up, let us know if everything is working OK. Most any USB keyboard will work when hooked to a Mac but it's the special key combos that can create a problem, such as a PRAM reset or Option Boot.

 

[chas_m]

I wish johnodd4 would learn more about what periods are, and how sentences help with communication so that people would understand him.

 

[toMACsh]

...could benefit from getting familiar with capitols too. I'll get it started: the capitol of Alabama is Montgomery...

 

[johnodd4]

prm gets reset when you reset pram its short for power relay manager it's built into all iMacs including the 2006 models once you reset pram it should reset the power relay manager as well and stop all of those lousy crashes remember autocorrect doesn't like initials

 

[pine man]

remember autocorrect doesn't like initials

.....but loves punctuation;-)

 

[harryb2448]

OP suggest you give it up. You got a lemon that will cost too much to fix for an old machine.

 

[rubaiyat]

I just bought a broken iMac A1224. The seller stated that the motherboard was bad and it no longer had ram or a HDD. I purchased the ram (2gb kit 667mhz ddr2) and 1-TB Toshiba HDD from OWC. I also purchased a certified motherboard from DVwarehouse. The swap went great. I started it up formatted/partitioned the HDD and started installing the OS.
That's where I got sideways. I started with OS X 10.10 from. USB. It hang at about 30%. Tried again and some thing. So, I erased the HDD and tried to install 10.7 from a bootable DVD. It installed but would not start up without using Safe Mode. I ran the disc utility and repaired disc permissions but still would not start. It hangs after the chime, screen flashes and stops at a white screen. Just for giggles, I tried 10.10 again after erasing the HDD. It installed this time (and is currently on the system) but again will only start in Safe Mode. Still cannot run AHT from USB or the Internet.

I'm very new to this side of the Mac community. I searched for some insight but didn't find any solutions to the white screen issues. I have tried to reset the PRAM also. The iMac didn't seem to respond. Thanks for any ideas as I'm not sure if this is hardware or software related. When in safe mode it seems to operate fine...in its limited capacity anyway...

These are the requirements for OSX 10.7 (Lion):

System requirements for OS X Lion and Mac OS X v10.6 - Apple Support.

I am not sure if you have met them.

To find the actual Mac model version:

Menu > Apple > About this Mac > More Info… > Hardware > Model Identifier

That is if you can get that far. 2Gb of RAM is very minimal and if the Mac had problems they may extend beyond what you fixed. Are the fans working?

The model you seem to be on originally would have come with OSX 10.5 Leopard or OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. Maybe you could try those.

 

[dtravis7]

A 2007 iMac will run Lion or for that matter Yosemite just fine as I have one here! 2GB Ram though for Yosemite would be very lean. The very fact Yosemite installed is proof it will run. Yosemite will not even let you install on a non supported Mac.

If the OP sees this before his keyboard arrives, to do a PRAM (parameter RAM BTW) using a Windows keyboard, Here are the keys.

(As you know to do it on a Mac keyboard you hold Command+Option+P+R down all at the same time and keep them down till you hear 2-3 apple chimes.)

On a Windows keyboard the LEFT Windows key is Command and the ALT key is OPTION. So you would press Windows+ALT+P+R and keep all 4 down and listen for at least 2 start up chimes.

Or you can wait for your Apple Keyboard! Grin

 

[mouch9]

Thanks for the input. And yes, I realize that this computer isn't worth upgrading...not my point. I am tinkering and trying to figure out the system. I'd rather do that on a $100 machine that I can break, rather than something actually worth money. I suspect my kids will play Disney Junior on it when/if I get it running.

I got my Apple keyboard. The commands all worked flawlessly. I'm still booting fine into Safe Mode but hanging on open grey screen with apple before it flashes and goes solid white/grey. I'll post my error messages from Verbose shortly. I put in the original hard drive and am reinstalling the OS now. Thanks for following and the help!

Joe