Trouble Reimaging a new iMac.....

[MunnyGuy]

I am a complete Mac newbie (other than my iPod Touch). I just bought a new iMac from Best Buy and got a great deal on a floor model. Problem is their MAC specialist on the Geek Squad was not there. They tried to reimage the unit but could not. I took it anyway to play with.

After installing the OS disc I get a message "Cannot install OSX on this Machine". I did notice that the discs given to me are 10.5.2 OSx and the machine already has 10.5.4. Could this be the issue? Please help me out. I just want to revert it to out of the box status.

 

[me_94501]

I am a complete Mac newbie (other than my iPod Touch). I just bought a new iMac from Best Buy and got a great deal on a floor model. Problem is their MAC specialist on the Geek Squad was not there. They tried to reimage the unit but could not. I took it anyway to play with.

After installing the OS disc I get a message "Cannot install OSX on this Machine". I did notice that the discs given to me are 10.5.2 OSx and the machine already has 10.5.4. Could this be the issue? Please help me out. I just want to revert it to out of the box status.

Mac OS X has three install options: Upgrade (which installs the new OS X version on top of the old one), Archive and Install (which mooves your old system into a "previous systems" folder and installs a clean OS), and Erase and Install (erases the drive and installs a fresh OS). By default, OS X uses the Upgrade option, and you can't install an older Mac OS X version over a newer version this way. You'll want to do an Erase and Install again. At some point in the install process, you'll be asked which hard drive to install OS X on. At this point, you should see an "Options" button appear. Click this button, select "Erase and Install," and it should let you install.