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Reinstall mac os x on a windows 8 imac (2006)

L

lewisweekly

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2013
104
0
Cambridge area
Hello, I just won myself an Intel iMac (2006) running windows 8; some general features don't appear to be working though... screen brightness, camera, speakers etc... So I would like to reinstall mac os x on it. Either that or fix any problems that I already have. I don't have any disk files but can easily obtain some offline if needed. I would be very grateful if anyone could help me out.

P.S. this version of windows 8 is currently un-activated for some reason, therefore its kind of useless anyway.

Regards, Lewis W
 
You may not be able to install anything newer than OSX Lion due to the age of the hardware. More likely Snow Leopard, though it's still a decent OS. I have seen Snow Leopard on ebay. Still A LOT cheaper than Windows :cool:
 
Depending on whether this imac is a Early 2006 or Late 2006 determines what Operating system will work. The Early 2006 had a Core Duo processor with the latest OS being Snow Leopard (10.6) for that iMac. The later 2006 iMac had a Core 2 Duo processor that would allow it to run Lion or Mountain Lion. It may even run Maverics, but am sot so sure how well it would run it with a maximum of 3GB RAM in that model.

You should be able to determine the exact model of this imac by looking at the model number and comparing it to the model numbers on Apple's site here.
 
So, if I was to get a copy off of Ebay etc... I could simply use that disk to reinstall mac os x (lion etc...) onto my iMac?

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macthefork said:
Depending on whether this imac is a Early 2006 or Late 2006 determines what Operating system will work. The Early 2006 had a Core Duo processor with the latest OS being Snow Leopard (10.6) for that iMac. The later 2006 iMac had a Core 2 Duo processor that would allow it to run Lion or Mountain Lion. It may even run Maverics, but am sot so sure how well it would run it with a maximum of 3GB RAM in that model.

You should be able to determine the exact model of this imac by looking at the model number and comparing it to the model numbers on Apple's site here.
Click to expand...

At this moment in time im really not bothered what OS version is installed. I just want to be able to use my iMac normally... So all you have to do is place the disk in the iMac and go through the setup process? Will this not be any different on windows 8?
 
Sounds like you didn't get much of a "prize"!
Windows 8 - not activated - would mean that you have to go through the Microsoft web site to purchase a license. Other vendors also sell individual licenses. Should be around $100 or more, as it wouldn't be an upgrade, but would be a full license.

A 2006 iMac may be limited to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x), and that would be a good match, assuming there's 1GB of RAM or more already installed.
Snow Leopard - only $20, new from Apple:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
 
DeltaMac said:
Sounds like you didn't get much of a "prize"!
Windows 8 - not activated - would mean that you have to go through the Microsoft web site to purchase a license. Other vendors also sell individual licenses. Should be around $100 or more, as it wouldn't be an upgrade, but would be a full license.

A 2006 iMac may be limited to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x), and that would be a good match, assuming there's 1GB of RAM or more already installed.
Snow Leopard - only $20, new from Apple:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
Click to expand...

Well it wasn't a 'prize' I won it on Ebay; I had no clue that windows 8 would not function properly though... Yes I know, that was stupid... Yes my iMac has 1GB or RAM exactly, in fact I was planning on upgrading it but this is my priority now...
 
Right... I have another problem now; I've tried to reinstall windows with the disk provided and now cannot get the disk back out! Is there anyway to eject the disk from the iMac while its booting up? Or maybe a way to even remove the disk by accessing the internals? I cant believe I have just done this...

PLEASE HELP

----------

Right, ive managed to get onto the refresh screen and it says I am missing a boot partition? Is there any way to do this from CMD or unlock the partition?
 
This worked for me a few weeks ago
--------
Shut down your Mac.

Power on your Mac while holding down the mouse or track pad's primary button. Keep pressing the button until the media ejects from your Mac.
Please note: You will need a wired USB mouse to perform this little trick; a wireless mouse may not work correctly.
--------
 
Tumbleweed666 said:
This worked for me a few weeks ago
--------
Shut down your Mac.

Power on your Mac while holding down the mouse or track pad's primary button. Keep pressing the button until the media ejects from your Mac.
Please note: You will need a wired USB mouse to perform this little trick; a wireless mouse may not work correctly.
--------
Click to expand...
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Ejected the disk a simply as that... My iMac is now saying it needs to be recovered; im guessing il just insert the new mac os x disk and then go through the setup procedure?
 
Yes, insert the OS X installer disk, and restart.
Hold the C key until you see the spinning gear under the grey Apple, and that will allow your iMac to boot from that DVD.
 
DeltaMac said:
Yes, insert the OS X installer disk, and restart.
Hold the C key until you see the spinning gear under the grey Apple, and that will allow your iMac to boot from that DVD.
Click to expand...

And this will work on windows yes? It currently starts up and says that my PC need to be repaired due to missing boot information (this appears after the normal mac boot screen/sound) inserting the mac os disk and holding c will bypass this and run then will it?

When I insert the windows disk it states that I can bot off this disk... Can I not do this with the mac os disk?
 
Yes, if the DVD disk is bootable, then your Mac can boot from a Windows installer, or a Mac OS X installer, with the same "hold the C key" during boot.
That WILL NOT work, if you simply insert the disk after the power is on - and hope that something will happen (it won't).
Insert either the Windows installer or the Mac OS X installer disk, then restart while holding the letter C on the keyboard.
That's assuming the disks are un-damaged, and are properly created as a bootable disk.
Do you have "real" installer disks - or are those disks copies that you burned?
If you burned the disk yourself, then that could be an issue.
Try booting another Mac, or boot a Windows PC to the disk as another test. You should be able to boot to the Windows installer on any intel Mac. You WON'T likely be able to test the Mac OS X installer booting anything other than a Mac.
 
DeltaMac said:
Yes, if the DVD disk is bootable, then your Mac can boot from a Windows installer, or a Mac OS X installer, with the same "hold the C key" during boot.
That WILL NOT work, if you simply insert the disk after the power is on - and hope that something will happen (it won't).
Insert either the Windows installer or the Mac OS X installer disk, then restart while holding the letter C on the keyboard.
That's assuming the disks are un-damaged, and are properly created as a bootable disk.
Do you have "real" installer disks - or are those disks copies that you burned?
If you burned the disk yourself, then that could be an issue.
Try booting another Mac, or boot a Windows PC to the disk as another test. You should be able to boot to the Windows installer on any intel Mac. You WON'T likely be able to test the Mac OS X installer booting anything other than a Mac.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am ordering an OS X snow leopard disk from apple tonight... Thank you for your help; I cant actually restart the pc due to it needing 'repair' but am guessing that I can just power it off via the button and then turn it back on again?
 
Yes, you can always force a shut down by holding the power button for 5 seconds or so.
If the Windows boot tells you that the hard drive needs repair, then boot to the Windows 8 installer, and follow the links for a repair. I think the repair link is near the left bottom corner of the screen, after you get to the beginning screen. The link that I offered shows screen shots about how to get there in the Win8 installer.
http://www.techspot.com/guides/630-windows-8-boot-fix/
 
DeltaMac said:
Yes, you can always force a shut down by holding the power button for 5 seconds or so.
If the Windows boot tells you that the hard drive needs repair, then boot to the Windows 8 installer, and follow the links for a repair. I think the repair link is near the left bottom corner of the screen, after you get to the beginning screen. The link that I offered shows screen shots about how to get there in the Win8 installer.
http://www.techspot.com/guides/630-windows-8-boot-fix/
Click to expand...

Do I need to re-install windows 8 to install mac os then? It comes up with an error but not about the hard drive. It states that I need to re-install windows 8. Can I not just boot straight into mac os from the boot screen holding the 'c' button then install it?
 
One last question, I have just found out that my iMac is a G5 PowerPC, this should still be the same to upgrade right? And this wont affect whether snow leopard will work with it either will it?

Is there anyway to determine whether or not it is a PowerPC G5? I get confused with all these Intel iMac's etc...

UPDATE:

ok, looking further into this matter I have determined that my iMac is in fact an Intel powered one... Or so the stand of it says. Maybe the box was from another mac or did all the Intel iMac's come in a G5 labelled box?
 
Last edited:
lewisweekly said:
Do I need to re-install windows 8 to install mac os then? It comes up with an error but not about the hard drive. It states that I need to re-install windows 8. Can I not just boot straight into mac os from the boot screen holding the 'c' button then install it?
Click to expand...

No you don't. The hard drive could be completely blank and you could install whatever you want. The operating systems don't have any influence on the Mac's boot procedure or EFI firmware.

One thing you might want to do is hold down the ALT key when booting at which point you'll be given a list of OS you can boot from, OS X might still be installed because Windows generally takes priority when both operating systems are installed and so it may just be loading by default...worth a look as it's not often people install Windows via bootcamp and then delete the OS X partition.

If that's not the case then when you get the disk then...

The full procedure you need to follow is this:

1. Fire up the Mac and insert the SL disc.

2. Switch the system off again by holding the power button,

3. Start up the machine again holding the C key.

4. Before you install, open disk utility from the menu bar and erase the disk and create 1 partition formatted to whatever you want to call it (Macintosh HD is the standard) make sure the partition type is Mac OS Extended Journaled. And choose options under the partition and select GUID Partition Table.

5. Quit disk utility and then install as normal.

6 Party like it's 2009.

7. Run Software update as many times as you can until there's nothing left to do.
 
Twimfy said:
No you don't. The hard drive could be completely blank and you could install whatever you want. The operating systems don't have any influence on the Mac's boot procedure or EFI firmware.

One thing you might want to do is hold down the ALT key when booting at which point you'll be given a list of OS you can boot from, OS X might still be installed because Windows generally takes priority when both operating systems are installed and so it may just be loading by default...worth a look as it's not often people install Windows via bootcamp and then delete the OS X partition.

If that's not the case then when you get the disk then...

The full procedure you need to follow is this:

1. Fire up the Mac and insert the SL disc.

2. Switch the system off again by holding the power button,

3. Start up the machine again holding the C key.

4. Before you install, open disk utility from the menu bar and erase the disk and create 1 partition formatted to whatever you want to call it (Macintosh HD is the standard) make sure the partition type is Mac OS Extended Journaled. And choose options under the partition and select GUID Partition Table.

5. Quit disk utility and then install as normal.

6 Party like it's 2009.

7. Run Software update as many times as you can until there's nothing left to do.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much you've been a great help! I just tried the ALT boot and it shows only windows... I will get back to you when the disk arrives next week. Thank you again
 
lewisweekly said:
Thank you so much you've been a great help! I just tried the ALT boot and it shows only windows... I will get back to you when the disk arrives next week. Thank you again
Click to expand...

All done and dusted! Installing OS X right this second... Just out of question in case im being stupid, how do you update the software? Will there be an 'update' button when the install is finished or do I need to navigate somewhere? Thank you.
 
By default, assuming a new install, you should see the software update appear automatically after a fresh update, assuming you are connected to the internet, and there are actually updates available. The system may take a couple of minutes to check in the background, so don't expect to see that automatic update happen instantly. If not (or you just don't want to wait), go to the Apple menu, and click Software Update... Your system will then manually check for any available updates, and give you the opportunity to select the ones that you want. (I would let the system install everything that is offered)
 
DeltaMac said:
By default, assuming a new install, you should see the software update appear automatically after a fresh update, assuming you are connected to the internet, and there are actually updates available. The system may take a couple of minutes to check in the background, so don't expect to see that automatic update happen instantly. If not (or you just don't want to wait), go to the Apple menu, and click Software Update... Your system will then manually check for any available updates, and give you the opportunity to select the ones that you want. (I would let the system install everything that is offered)
Click to expand...

Ok, cheers.
 
lewisweekly said:
Ok, cheers.
Click to expand...

Once the system is fully updated, updates will then move to the Mac App Store which will only appear once you're updated to 10.6.8.

You can still get them to check and appear by using the Apple menu in the top right though.

Nice one on getting it up and running though. Welcome to the world of iMac!

For the record, should you want to put Windows back on in parallel with OS X, you can do so by going into Applications>Utilities and selecting bootcamp which will let you partition the drive and install windows. Then it's just a case of using ALT at boot to choose which one you want to boot into.

Have fun.
 
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