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Sudden problems with G4 iMac...

Hi, this is my first forum post on here!


I purchased a stunning 17" 1.25GHz G4 iMac a few days ago that is unfortunately and suddenly refusing to boot past the loading bar just before the desktop shows up :/.

I just get stuck with a movable cursor and a blue screen and although the media buttons still work (volume buttons turn the speakers up or down, disc drive ejects etc. with the graphic for each), the desktop will never load (I waited for a while just to make sure)

It will also not boot from disc, CD or DVD, they don't show up in the boot menu after holding OPTION on boot either despite spinning up and seeming to be at least attempted to be read, it gives up after a while.

I have also tried to delete the .applesetupdone file from single-user mode as per many answers I saw both on here and from other sites to see if there was an issue with the user accounts, as well as reset the PRAM and attempting to boot anything from from open firmware (I just get the circle with a line through it doing that).

I'm really at a loss, I'm thinking maybe deleting that file may have disrupted the boot cycle but that's just a guess.


Apologies for the long post, I just wanted to try and cover as many bases as possible, I am new to Mac computers so any suggestions would be very appreciated!

Posted on May 4, 2021 10:02 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 11, 2021 2:27 PM

Are you using the correct CD/DVD for booting this iMac? The CD/DVD which originally shipped with the iMac would be a set of gray discs with the exact model listed on the lower left area. A later OSX install disc needs to be a full retail copy of an OS supports your particular iMac.


My first guess would be a bad hard drive. Disconnect the hard drive cable and try booting your installer CD/DVD since some drive failures can prevent booting from other media. Just make sure your CD/DVDs are the correct ones for this particular iMac.


Do you have an external OSX FireWire boot drive you can use for testing?


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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 11, 2021 2:27 PM in response to froob14

Are you using the correct CD/DVD for booting this iMac? The CD/DVD which originally shipped with the iMac would be a set of gray discs with the exact model listed on the lower left area. A later OSX install disc needs to be a full retail copy of an OS supports your particular iMac.


My first guess would be a bad hard drive. Disconnect the hard drive cable and try booting your installer CD/DVD since some drive failures can prevent booting from other media. Just make sure your CD/DVDs are the correct ones for this particular iMac.


Do you have an external OSX FireWire boot drive you can use for testing?


Sudden problems with G4 iMac...

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