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User profile for user: spiralgirl
spiralgirl Author
User level: Level 2
187 points

How do fix the flashing question mark after restart?

Hello,

I want to bring in my old 17" iMac to see if it's worth anything. So I erased the main drive and did the 7 pass. Then ejected the install disc and now when I restart I get a flashing question mark. Do I need to restall the software with Disk 1 to get it going again. The install disk contains Tiger. I don't care about losing stuff as it's all on my new Mac and I've got a backup. I just want to get this machine back to normal so I can bring it in for a trade to the Mac store.

Message was edited by: spiralgirl

iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 17" & 1.67GHz with Leo, PowerbookPC G4 512 MB DDR SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.4.9), latest itunes

Posted on Jul 11, 2010 10:05 PM

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User profile for user: rkaufmann87
rkaufmann87
User level: Level 10
140,862 points

Posted on Jul 11, 2010 10:56 PM

It sounds like you wiped your HD clean so now the flashing question mark is letting you know the system is looking for an operating system. So yes perform an install with the disc that came with the computer and that will get it back to the state it was in when you bought it.

If you need help doing the install look on page 48 of the manual. Just in case you don't have it any longer here is the link:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iMac_Intel-basedLate2006.pdf

When you refer to the Mac store I'm assuming you are referring to an Apple reseller. The reason I bring that up is Apple Stores do not accept trade in's nor will they buy back used machines and I doubt they would tell you what yours is worth. You can check on Ebay and Craigslist to get a general idea though.

Regards,

Roger
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User profile for user: rkaufmann87
rkaufmann87
User level: Level 10
140,862 points

Jul 11, 2010 10:56 PM in response to spiralgirl

It sounds like you wiped your HD clean so now the flashing question mark is letting you know the system is looking for an operating system. So yes perform an install with the disc that came with the computer and that will get it back to the state it was in when you bought it.

If you need help doing the install look on page 48 of the manual. Just in case you don't have it any longer here is the link:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iMac_Intel-basedLate2006.pdf

When you refer to the Mac store I'm assuming you are referring to an Apple reseller. The reason I bring that up is Apple Stores do not accept trade in's nor will they buy back used machines and I doubt they would tell you what yours is worth. You can check on Ebay and Craigslist to get a general idea though.

Regards,

Roger
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How do fix the flashing question mark after restart?

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