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Imac 7.1 no OS

B

Boatdude

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 17, 2023
20
1
My friend has an imac that has no os. I have tried to boot from usb and install mountain lion but no matter what I have tried I can't get it to boot from usb. Someone had tried to burn x to install it and I think it's stuck in a loop. It keeps going to the same os x install and says "this software cannot be installed." I have a feeling that it's something so simple I've overlooked. Can anyone help?

Inter core 2 Duo 2.4ghz
4gb memory
ATI Radeon hd2600
I just want to get my friends pc running.
 
DeltaMac said:
Is there a DVD stuck in the optical drive?
Maybe there is an installer DVD that someone else tried, and never ejected it.
Click to expand...
There was but that was the first thing I did was remove it. I'm literally sitting here in front of my buddy's pc prepared to spend the afternoon hoping to solve this. Anyone wanna call me and walk me through it? 😁
 
Hold up. Have you used Disk Utility to reformat the drive?

You didn’t mention the history of the machine but it may have a damaged OS install and thus give the 🚫 but the installer application can still detect the system folder.

The message that it “can’t be installed” is usually because you have a later system installed or it’s otherwise not supposed to be compatible.

So with the limited info we have, I would suggest you boot into the installer you have booted into previously, open Disk Utility and format the whole hard drive so it is blank.

Also check that you have as much RAM as is required for the install. IDK, bit random.
 
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chabig said:
The last supported operating system on that machine was El Capitan. You can download it from Apple. Then maybe find another computer to burn it to DVD?

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
I made a bootable flash drive with transmac on windows pc but no matter what I do I can't get the Mac to boot from flash drive
 
Boatdude said:
I made a bootable flash drive with transmac on windows pc but no matter what I do I can't get the Mac to boot from flash drive
Click to expand...

MrCheeto said:
Hold up. Have you used Disk Utility to reformat the drive?

You didn’t mention the history of the machine but it may have a damaged OS install and thus give the 🚫 but the installer application can still detect the system folder.

The message that it “can’t be installed” is usually because you have a later system installed or it’s otherwise not supposed to be compatible.

So with the limited info we have, I would suggest you boot into the installer you have booted into previously, open Disk Utility and format the whole hard drive so it is blank.

Also check that you have as much RAM as is required for the install. IDK, bit random.
Click to expand...
I am not 100% on macs so from disk utility I tried erasing the drive but it won't let me. The option on diskv1 just ain't there.
 
To be clear, I’m referring to Disk Utility within the Installation App (booting from the installer) for the purpose of clearing the internal drive.

You said you booted from a disc and it says it “can’t be installed”, correct? Try to boot from that disc again but this time look at the top menu bar. I believe there is a menu called Utilities where you will find Disk Utility and that should allow you to format the internet drive.

Once you finish, quit Disk Utility and see if you can proceed.
 
Boatdude said:
I made a bootable flash drive with transmac on windows pc but no matter what I do I can't get the Mac to boot from flash drive
Click to expand...
TransMac is known to have issues with this. You need a Mac (i.e. run OS X/macOS) to create a bootable USB flash drive for a modern version of OS X/macOS using the createinstallmedia command.

But what version of OS X/macOS were you using for the TransMac attempt, and where did you get the image from?
 
Last edited:
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Amethyst1 said:
TransMac is known to have issues with this. You need a Mac (i.e. run OS X/macOS) to create a bootable USB flash drive for a modern version of OS X/macOS using the createinstallmedia command.

But what version of OS X/macOS were you using for the TransMac attempt, and where did you get the image from?
Click to expand...
I was using mountain lion (10.5.2) I believe. I got it from apples website if I remember correctly. I have no access whatsoever to any other macs. Is there any reliable way to do this from my laptop? Maybe I could link the 2 with usb? My friend said if I can install windows he would be happy with that. I'm in over my head with apple so any advice or instructions would be great
 
My suggestion was to use whatever method previously got so far as the "cannot be installed" message. That seems to be the most successful route so far.
 
Your iMac probably came originally with the 10.5.2, which is Leopard.
Mountain Lion is OS X version 10.8.5, which is what you would have if you downloaded the available installer from Apple.
What I suspect that you have now, is an iMac that still has an OS installed, newer than Mountain Lion.
The installer won't allow you to install a system that is older than what is installed already, and that may be why you get the "cannot be installed" message. You have to open Disk Utility, and erase the internal drive.
That should then enable you to run the Mountain Lion installer, and choose the drive that you erased, as the destination for the install.
 
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It's worth noting that with some Mac OS versions after 10.7, you will need to set the internal clock of the Mac's date to just after it was released, so the certificates will work and won't be out of date. If it was 10.8 Mountain Lion you were trying, and the drive was already erased, like @DeltaMac said, try setting the date to early 2013 by typing "date -u 020101012013" into the Terminal app from the menus in the installer.
 
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Slix said:
It's worth noting that with some Mac OS versions after 10.7, you will need to set the internal clock of the Mac's date to just after it was released, so the certificates will work and won't be out of date. If it was 10.8 Mountain Lion you were trying, and the drive was already erased, like @DeltaMac said, try setting the date to early 2013 by typing "date -u 020101012013" into the Terminal app from the menus in the installer.
Click to expand...

Very good point. I encountered this not too long ago whilst installing Mavericks on my Mac Pro.

MavericksVerifyErrorThumb.png


Exactly as you've advised, the solution was to alter the date to the past: in my case 2015 allowed the installer to proceed. It had been such a while since I'd needed to install an older release that I clean forgot about this issue and initially assumed that the DMG was corrupted.
 
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TheShortTimer said:
Very good point. I encountered this not too long ago whilst installing Mavericks on my Mac Pro.

MavericksVerifyErrorThumb.png


Exactly as you've advised, the solution was to alter the date to the past: in my case 2015 allowed the installer to proceed. It had been such a while since I'd needed to install an older release that I clean forgot about this issue and initially assumed that the DMG was corrupted.
Click to expand...
I will attempt this and keep you posted.
 
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I think we should try to clarify what is happening here.

You say you can’t get it to boot from USB? So the installer simply doesn’t offer any options, correct?

If that is the case, there would be something else going on.

As I mentioned previously, if you re-attempt to use the installer that got you so far as the “cannot be installed” message, then you can proceed as I described. That was the route that got you the farthest into the install process and so it makes sense to fall back on it. Was that a DVD?
 
MrCheeto said:
To be clear, I’m referring to Disk Utility within the Installation App (booting from the installer) for the purpose of clearing the internal drive.

You said you booted from a disc and it says it “can’t be installed”, correct? Try to boot from that disc again but this time look at the top menu bar. I believe there is a menu called Utilities where you will find Disk Utility and that should allow you to format the internet drive.

Once you finish, quit Disk Utility and see if you can proceed.
Click to expand...
I'm actually in front of the computer trying your suggestions. If anyone would care to call me and give me a hand my name is Wayne 504-422-2022.
 
The Disk says 10.5.2. I posted my number if anyone would care to call and help me out. 504-422-2022
 
I would just about bet that you have the Gray Restore disk. It would look like this.

MacbookProInstallDvd.jpg

If that is the case, there are two things to consider:

1. It is hardware specific. It will only load properly on the exact hardware the disk is intended for. Hopefully this disk is from the iMac originally. The later 2007 units and 2008 models shipped with 10.5.2. That's a good sign.

2. There is almost no way that the last OS that the iMac had was 10.5.2. It was quickly updated after release and I would bet it isn't running anything less than 10.6 something.

This would mean you should use the disk, select Utilities from the top menu, and open Disk Utility. Use the app to select the internal hard drive (usually called Macintosh HD by default) and format it to completely erase it. You want to choose Mac OS Extended Journaled and make sure to select "Options" and choose GUID Partition Map.
 
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Ok so I formated then booted from that disk and it says this software cannot be installed on this computer.
 
Are you able to take pictures of what you're seeing and showing us so we can follow along? I'd be curious what Disk Utility sees your hard drive as.

Can I ask what part of the world you live in? I'm in D/FW.
 
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