So, I took apart my iMac G4 and now....

[l3lue]

The hard drive in my 17" iMac G4 (the one with the dome base) needed replacing so I took it apart and put a new one in with instructions off the internet. I put it all back together and booted up. It just sits there with the blinking question mark. This means the system software needs to be installed on the new hard drive?

Assuming this, I plugged in the USB keyboard and hit eject. Restart, hold eject. Just trying to put the install CD in. Nothing. Could I have accidentally disconnected the buses or is there some other way to go about installing the OS on the new hard drive?

 

[FullmetalZ26]

Did you remember to plug the CD-ROM drive back in (power and data cables) during reassembly? I'd imagine that the eject key should eject an empty tray, considering the necessity of being able to do that in this kind of situation. If all else fails, you could do it in Open Firmware.

 

[Makosuke]

Two easy ways to check if you plugged the optical drive back in correctly:

1) Boot with the option key held down. You should get an OS select screen with nothing on it. The eject key works there, and if you put in an install disc and high the refresh arrow, it should show booting from that disc as an option.

2) Hold down the mouse button when you power up the computer. That should ALWAYS open the optical drive tray.

 

[madog]

Yeah, check your connections. You might have forgotten to plug something in or just didn't connect them properly.

 

[Max on Macs]

From what I remember you can't hold the eject key before booting, you have to press the mouse button. But I haven't used a tray loading Mac since Feb 17 2004 so I might be wrong.

 

[Chundles]

If the install disk is already in there, reboot holding down "c" and then once it boots from the CD use Disk Utility to format the disk - then you can install OSX.

If you want to get the CD out of the drive, reboot holding the mouse buttoon down.