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New 27" imac wont boot from leopord dvd

S

sancho2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
0
Here is the dumb mistake i made and need help fixing. I got the new imac with the Intel i7 and ATI card. I wanted to put windows 7 on a second partition but messed up bad as i erased my mac partition when i was in the windows installer. My imac wont boot from the leopord dvd as i can choose it but it locks up right after i click on the snow leopord dvd icon. I tried to boot from an external hard drive that was formatted from another mac with snow leopord on it and the guid partition is correct. same with a usb drive as it see it but locks up after clicking on it. Anyone know why i cant reinstall? Please im kind of new with mac and really need some help. Thanks gary
p.s. I tried the option key and pressing c at start up with the dvd in and it can see the install dvd but wont boot into it.
 
S

sancho2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
0
my dumb mistake

Hellhammer said:
http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_doesn't_boot
Click to expand...

Yes i did try your guide and nothing worked. Seems like the imac wont let me reinstall from snow leopard at all. Do you know if there is a utility disk i can get that will let me format the hard drive? Thanks again for the help. If i cant do it from a utility disk I will have to just send back but at least want to try to correct my mistake.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
sancho2 said:
Yes i did try your guide and nothing worked. Seems like the imac wont let me reinstall from snow leopard at all. Do you know if there is a utility disk i can get that will let me format the hard drive? Thanks again for the help. If i cant do it from a utility disk I will have to just send back but at least want to try to correct my mistake.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, so when you press enter to select the OS X disk, it locks up? Did you run the hardware check (see my guide)? Remember that when you select the OS X disk and press enter, it takes time to boor from it so leave it for 5mins and see is it still in same spot.

If nothing helps, contact Apple as it can be a hardware failure
 
S

sancho2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
0
Hellhammer said:
Hmmm, so when you press enter to select the OS X disk, it locks up? Did you run the hardware check (see my guide)? Remember that when you select the OS X disk and press enter, it takes time to boor from it so leave it for 5mins and see is it still in same spot.

If nothing helps, contact Apple as it can be a hardware failure
Click to expand...

Did the hardware check and its ok. Also i waited over an hour for each, the usb install and external hard drive install but just hangs after i click on those icons. It is funny as it will let me start the windows intall from that disk.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
sancho2 said:
Did the hardware check and its ok. Also i waited over an hour for each, the usb install and external hard drive install but just hangs after i click on those icons. It is funny as it will let me start the windows intall from that disk.
Click to expand...

Do you CLICK with a mouse or PRESS the ENTER key? You have to PRESS the ENTER key to select where to boot from.

I would contact Apple because that sounds like a strange issue
 
R

robby818

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2007
587
6
Hey-
By leopard dvd do you mean the retail snow leopard dvd? If so, you can't boot off that retail disc only the grey disc (disc 1) that came with the imac.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
robby818 said:
Hey-
By leopard dvd do you mean the retail snow leopard dvd? If so, you can't boot off that retail disc only the grey disc (disc 1) that came with the imac.
Click to expand...

You can use retail version of Snow Leopard, but not Leopard. It's recommended to use the install disks that came with your Mac though because they are system specific.
 
S

sancho2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
0
Hellhammer said:
You can use retail version of Snow Leopard, but not Leopard. It's recommended to use the install disks that came with your Mac though because they are system specific.
Click to expand...

Yes that is what im using. the one that came with it. think i will just send back to apple at this point but i thank everyone that tried to help.
 
R

robby818

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2007
587
6
Hellhammer said:
You can use retail version of Snow Leopard, but not Leopard. It's recommended to use the install disks that came with your Mac though because they are system specific.
Click to expand...

Actually, retail disks even of snow leopard will not boot the new imacs...I tried on a 27" imac. (My retail disk is old though so perhaps a 10.6.2 retail snow leopard disk might work) IME, if the computer is newer than the OS X disk, it probably will not boot off of it.
 
R

robby818

macrumors 6502a
May 2, 2007
587
6
sancho2 said:
Yes that is what im using. the one that came with it. think i will just send back to apple at this point but i thank everyone that tried to help.
Click to expand...

That's probably the best thing. I had an issue with a MBP not booting off the CD and just did an exchange. They'll probably walk you through the PRAM reset etc before they set you up with the return.
 
S

sancho2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 3, 2010
5
0
robby818 said:
That's probably the best thing. I had an issue with a MBP not booting off the CD and just did an exchange. They'll probably walk you through the PRAM reset etc before they set you up with the return.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the help as nothing worked so will send back to apple for replacement.
 
Techhie

Techhie

macrumors 65816
Dec 7, 2008
1,160
0
The hub of stupidity
robby818 said:
Actually, retail disks even of snow leopard will not boot the new imacs...I tried on a 27" imac. (My retail disk is old though so perhaps a 10.6.2 retail snow leopard disk might work) IME, if the computer is newer than the OS X disk, it probably will not boot off of it.
Click to expand...

The issue is because the build of OS X he is trying to boot from does not support the new processor. The Snow Leopard retail disk was made before the new code necessary to drive the i7 was incorporated in 10.6.2. I had much the same issue while trying to boot an early Leopard DVD on a 2009 Mac Pro. The only restore disk in existence for that machine is the one it came with in it's retail box.
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
robby818 said:
That's probably the best thing. I had an issue with a MBP not booting off the CD and just did an exchange. They'll probably walk you through the PRAM reset etc before they set you up with the return.
Click to expand...

But OP said he is using the disk that came with the iMac so that means the install disks, not retail Snow Leo.

Yeah, they'll probably ask him to do the same steps he already did
 
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