Imac G4 "option Key"

[moneyaffiliated]

Hey everyone : ) I am new to this forum I just purchased my first ever Imac it's a G4 Model. 800mhz with a 80 gig hard drive I think it's the 17"inch for $30.

Well I am all excited to turn it on and use it then I get a grey screen with a folder with icons blinking in the inside. : (

The CD drive keeps on popping out also I push it in then 3 seconds later it pops right out.

I then restarted the Imac and pushed down the "option" key and it took me to another screen with a refresh icon and a right arrow icon.

Any ideas on how to get this bad boy up and running? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

 

[TEG]

You are going to need a System Disc to put into the CD/DVD Drive. You will likely be able to run 10.4 or 10.5. Once inserted, hold the C key while it is booting, then go through the installation process, then you should be all set. Then again, it may not even have a hard drive, which you will need to have installed to be able to install the OS.

TEG

 

[tersono]

Your computer can't find an operating system installed. Either the drive has been wiped and you need to re-install OS X or you may have a problem with the drive itself.

Try booting from a sytem disk. OS X 10.4 is the latest that system will run (at least without hacking it around a bit).

 

[Winni]

Your computer can't find an operating system installed. Either the drive has been wiped and you need to re-install OS X or you may have a problem with the drive itself.

Try booting from a sytem disk. OS X 10.4 is the latest that system will run (at least without hacking it around a bit).

Technically, 10.5 Leopard will also work on this machine, but it will be crawling instead of running. I had to remove it from my wife's 17" iMac G4 1 GHz 1 GB RAM because it was unbearably slow (even as a fresh installation). 10.5 Leopard really was Apple's "Vista".