Flashing grey question mark on new iMac.

[naasrd]

I went to buy a 4 month old iMac this evening, when the seller turned it on all we got was a flashing grey question mark. The seller seems legit, the store receipt was included in the deal. He managed to get the option to reinstall OS X but I left saying I'd call again tomorrow. Should I leave this sale or is it just something simple?

 

[voicebox]

Hi naasrd,
Flashing grey question mark means that on starting up the iMac, the operating system cannot be found. I would go back and check that the seller has now reinstalled the iMac's operating system. He might have become confused when he was wiping all his stuff prior to selling the iMac! If the price is right, a 4 month old iMac is too good to miss!

 

[naasrd]

Yes

Hi naasrd,
Flashing grey question mark means that on starting up the iMac, the operating system cannot be found. I would go back and check that the seller has now reinstalled the iMac's operating system. He might have become confused when he was wiping all his stuff prior to selling the iMac! If the price is right, a 4 month old iMac is too good to miss!

Thanks. yes, he wiped everything.

 

[Weaselboy]

Yes


Thanks. yes, he wiped everything.

Yeah... sounds like he just goofed when trying to erase the drive before selling. On a new machine like that, you can just use Internet recovery to reinstall the OS. If you go back and he has now downloaded and installed the OS and it is working, I would not worry about it.