I'm lost all the support will be welcome

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

Dear all

I have a 8,1 iMac which I just update with 8GB ram and a SSD CRUCIAL MX500 (1 TB - SATA - 560 MB/s).
I create a bootable El Capitan usb with transmac and GPT partition.
I thought I had all I need but I the true is I can't make the iMac boot by the USB.

I tried different. dmg (old versions) taken from apple site, different usb disks, I tried to start with Option-Command-P-R and then try to boot again but nothing work.

I have the Snow Leopard DVD so I boot from the DVD. I used disk utility and I can see the MAIN SSD and also the usb drives from which I tried to boot.

As last option I tried to install snow leopard from dvd but the inslation stuck after a few hours running. I dont know if there is the DVD issue or something else.

Im desperate cause I dont what else I can do to make the iMac live again.

Any sugestion will be very welcome.
Thank you all in advance for the support

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Transmac does not work alas. If you have no other Mac to make a bootable thumb drive using DiskmakerX, suggest looking at eBay for an El Capitan installer on a thumb drtive.

OS X El Capitan macOS High Sierra Mojave Catalina Big Sur & Others Installer USB | eBay

MacOS 10.12 Sierra, MacOS 10.13 High Sierra, MacOS 10.14 Mojave, MacOS 10.15 Catalina, MacOS 11.0 Big Sur. OS X 10.7 Lion, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

www.ebay.com

 

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

Transmac does not work alas. If you have no other Mac to make a bootable thumb drive using DiskmakerX, suggest looking at eBay for an El Capitan installer on a thumb drtive.

OS X El Capitan macOS High Sierra Mojave Catalina Big Sur & Others Installer USB | eBay

MacOS 10.12 Sierra, MacOS 10.13 High Sierra, MacOS 10.14 Mojave, MacOS 10.15 Catalina, MacOS 11.0 Big Sur. OS X 10.7 Lion, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

www.ebay.com

Thank you for your reply.

 

[The_Croupier]

Dear all

I have a 8,1 iMac which I just update with 8GB ram and a SSD CRUCIAL MX500 (1 TB - SATA - 560 MB/s).
I create a bootable El Capitan usb with transmac and GPT partition.
I thought I had all I need but I the true is I can't make the iMac boot by the USB.

I tried different. dmg (old versions) taken from apple site, different usb disks, I tried to start with Option-Command-P-R and then try to boot again but nothing work.

I have the Snow Leopard DVD so I boot from the DVD. I used disk utility and I can see the MAIN SSD and also the usb drives from which I tried to boot.

As last option I tried to install snow leopard from dvd but the inslation stuck after a few hours running. I dont know if there is the DVD issue or something else.

Im desperate cause I dont what else I can do to make the iMac live again.

Any sugestion will be very welcome.
Thank you all in advance for the support

You could try following this guide that uses a different program than transmac.

How to Create macOS Bootable USB on a Windows PC

You have to create a bootable USB installer if your Mac crashed and not able to get into the desktop. Actually, creating a macOS USB…

williamhartz.medium.com

I've never done this so can't comment on if it works.

You should use the usual cautions when downloading software from the internet.

Good luck.

 

[DeltaMac]

Also - for the iMac8,1 (20 or 24-inch, Early 2008) max RAM is 6GB. You can install 2 x 4GB, but only 6GB will be used, and it can often be unstable. Remove one 4GB stick for now. Your iMac will run fine on that one 4GB stick. When you get a working USB installer, that may give you better results, and let you use your iMac. You can decide to add 1 x 2GB plus your existing 1 x 4GB.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Dear all

I have a 8,1 iMac which I just update with 8GB ram and a SSD CRUCIAL MX500 (1 TB - SATA - 560 MB/s).
I create a bootable El Capitan usb with transmac and GPT partition.
I thought I had all I need but I the true is I can't make the iMac boot by the USB.

4GB DDR2 SO-DIMM is very rare in my country.
How much did you pay for your pair?

 

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

4GB DDR2 SO-DIMM is very rare in my country.
How much did you pay for your pair?

Are rare everywere but I found it here

AliExpress

 

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

Also - for the iMac8,1 (20 or 24-inch, Early 2008) max RAM is 6GB. You can install 2 x 4GB, but only 6GB will be used, and it can often be unstable. Remove one 4GB stick for now. Your iMac will run fine on that one 4GB stick. When you get a working USB installer, that may give you better results, and let you use your iMac. You can decide to add 1 x 2GB plus your existing 1 x 4GB.

Thank you DeltaMac. I will try this. I knew the maximum is 6Gb but I. Never thought thay could be causing the issue. I will try it. Thank you

 

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

You could try following this guide that uses a different program than transmac.

How to Create macOS Bootable USB on a Windows PC

You have to create a bootable USB installer if your Mac crashed and not able to get into the desktop. Actually, creating a macOS USB…

williamhartz.medium.com

I've never done this so can't comment on if it works.

You should use the usual cautions when downloading software from the internet.

Good luck.

Thank you The_Croupier. I tried it but UUByte DMG trial version do not allow to burn bootable USB. I tried also Etcher that is a free software that allow to create the bootable usb. Unfortunately didnt work when I tried to boot. Thank you anyway for the sugestion

 

[PG_iMAC8. 1]

Thank you DeltaMac. I will try this. I knew the maximum is 6Gb but I. Never thought thay could be causing the issue. I will try it. Thank you

THANK YOU DeltaMac for your precious support.
After several days trying everything and after dozens of restarts, the iMac is live again and running superfast with only 4GB Ram.
I follow your sugestion and I toke one of 4GB DIMM and force the instalation of Snow leopard DVD which take 15 minuts to install. Then I get the El Capitan from apple direct link and install it and after a while the OS was installed and running perfectly.

Thank you all for the feedback and a special THANK YOU to DeltaMac for the sugestion.