20" G5 bad HDD?

[overlord20]

I received a 20" G5 2ghz. The problem when booting is that I get the flashing questions mark on the folder. From there I hit option and it takes me to a screen with two buttons. One with a circlular arrow and one with a straight arrow. I click on the straight arrow and nothing happens. I click on the circular one and it thinks for a few minutes then nothing.

I have attempted to login into the utility by holding "C" and I just get the flashing question mark on the folder. I boot up and hit command and I get the folder but this time it isn't flashing. It just sits there with a mac face.

Pictures included, any idea on what I should do? (There is also a disk stuck in the drive that I cannot get out and it is not an OS disk).

Thanks for the help!

 

[Nameci]

Three scenarios;

1. No OS on the hard disk
2. Bad hard disk
3. No hard disk

 

[mike457]

The flashing question mark means that it can't find an operating system. It's possible that the hard drive is all right, but there is no OS. Since there's a disk stuck in it, I would connect an external DVD player to the computer, put an OS disk in it (Leopard or earlier), and try to boot from it, using disk utility to check the hard drive in the iMac. If the hard drive is all right, you should then be able to install an operating system.

If your iMac is the model without the isight, replacing the hard drive (should that be necessary) is easy; if it is the isight model, you should get a tech to do the repair.

 

[overlord20]

It is the regular version not the isight. But that wouldnt deter me, I am capable.

I don't have an external drive but is it possible to boot from a usb drive with a mac.

I am really new to the computer world on this end. Being an iPod and iPhone tech I am familiar with the products but I have never touched an apple computer until now and its different to say the least (working on them). Have a whole new list of shortcut keys to learn.

 

[overlord20]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

I ment the apple computer end. Coming over from building PCs.

 

[666sheep]

HDD:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacG5_20inch_harddrive.pdf

To eject CD/DVD while startup, just press LMB immediately after pressing power btn and hold it until disc will come out.

 

[fullojellybeans]

G5 pre iSight repairs are easy

Three screws on the bottom then the whole back pops off. If my mom can do it I have a lot of faith that you can as well.

You should be able to boot off USB with that model. If there's a store in town take it there. They love seeing old stuff plus they could probably install the os if needed but not a new drive.

 

[overlord20]

I am going to throw a new drive in it to test it out and then they said bring it back if thats the issue and they will put leopard on it for me. If not I am looking at a logic board which if I can find cheap I will go ahead and replace.