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A1145 iMac 20" Startup issue

This 20" iSight iMac (model A1145) was left by a neighbor who moved. It seems to be functional to a degree, and shows no signs of abuse. However, on startup, all that happens is the chime, followed by the screen lighting up, but no grey apple or gear image or the blue startup screen leading to the desktop.


I have tried inserting a Tiger install disc and restarting with the C key depressed. For a second, the normal grey apple appears, and then it seems to freeze for a long time. Finally, probably 15 or 20 minutes later, there's the folder image with a Mac face on it - not a question mark. On other attempts, only a blank lit screen is present.


To shut down, I have to push the power button. The disc can only be ejected with the left mouse button down on startup.


There seems to be some functionality here. What could be the problem? Are there any steps/procedure one could try to revive this iMac?


Or what repair would be necessary? Anything I could do myself? What sort of shop repair are we looking at?


Thanks

Posted on Jan 23, 2014 11:35 AM

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Posted on Jan 23, 2014 11:58 AM

Have you got the correct install dvd? The disc either has to come with the machine or be the full install "black" disc.


Do you get this screen?

The startup manager will list all of your bootable partitions then give you a choice of which to boot. Hold down the option key then power on. Continue holding down the option key until you see the startup manager. This brings up the startup manager. Click on your hd or disc. Click on right arrow key.


Restore Tiger 10.4 & Leopard 10.5 DVDs are available from Apple by calling 1(800) 275-2273. Have your serial number ready. Have your credit card ready too. There may be a small fee.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0 -- January 20,2013

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5772721?answerId=24588313022#24588313022 -- January 22,2014

13 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Jan 23, 2014 11:58 AM in response to keithgvp

Have you got the correct install dvd? The disc either has to come with the machine or be the full install "black" disc.


Do you get this screen?

The startup manager will list all of your bootable partitions then give you a choice of which to boot. Hold down the option key then power on. Continue holding down the option key until you see the startup manager. This brings up the startup manager. Click on your hd or disc. Click on right arrow key.


Restore Tiger 10.4 & Leopard 10.5 DVDs are available from Apple by calling 1(800) 275-2273. Have your serial number ready. Have your credit card ready too. There may be a small fee.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0 -- January 20,2013

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5772721?answerId=24588313022#24588313022 -- January 22,2014

Jan 23, 2014 12:45 PM in response to rccharles

Yes, we're talking about the retail Tiger 10.4 install disc, which is black, with a silver X. No, unfortunately no screen, startup manager or otherwise, appears, save the lighted LCD screen. But I can try holding the option key on startup and see if that helps.


As indeed it does: with option key held and released, I've now got a solid purple screen with a circular arrow on the left and a right-pointing arrow on the right..no text or otherwise I clicked the right arrow...and now there's a watch icon replacing the cursor. I'm guessing it's doing some thinking and searching here. Will have to see what happens. At least the logic board and general operation seems to be working (?)


Update: The mouse can't move the cursor - though it could at first. The hands on the watch are no longer turning...looks like a freeze.

Jan 23, 2014 1:00 PM in response to keithgvp

Trying again, I am now getting what seems to be Darwin, or open firmware text typed at the upper left part of the screen.

It says, in part:


Invalid Memory Access at ---------------#s,

Apple Power Mac (data plus date unit was built)

Welcome to Open Firmware

Todays date (correct date and time)

To continue booting, type mac-boot and press return (I tried this, but can't type out with keyboard nothing is typed on screen. return key not responsive)

to shut down type shut-down (same as above)

Reducing power system

ok

Invalid memory access at_



So that's where we are now....looks like it could be a memory issue. Could it be the former owner removed the memory stick? Doubtful, but I see from the bottom of the stand there's a diagram for accessing the memory...is that worth a try?

Jan 23, 2014 3:51 PM in response to keithgvp

As indeed it does: with option key held and released, I've now got a solid purple screen with a circular arrow on the left and a right-pointing arrow on the right..no text or otherwise


This is good. You should see icons of the bootable partitions and dics. You do not. Perhaps you machine came out after the dvd.


I clicked the right arrow...and now there's a watch icon replacing the cursor.


Nothing to boot. Not sure what happens.


Sometimes if volumes don't appear in Startup Manager (what you get when you hold down the Option key at startup), you need to reset the Mac's PRAM, NVRAM, and Open Firmware. Shut down the Mac, then power it up, and before the screen lights up, quickly hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys, until the Mac has chimed twice more after the powerup chime.


Then, before the screen lights up, hold down Command-Option-O-F until the Open Firmware screen appears. Then enter these lines, pressing Return after each one:


reset-nvram

set-defaults

reset-all


"The reset-all command should restart your Mac. If so, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings."

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1812?viewlocale=en_US


Should the fail...

Try taking the battery out for 10 minutes. Put battery back in. Cross fingers. Power the machine back on.


How to eject a cd from the internal cd drive:

eject cd


List of devices:

devalias


List of variables:

printenv


More than you ever wanted to know about open firmware

http://www.firmworks.com/QuickRef.html



Restore Tiger 10.4 & Leopard 10.5 DVDs are available from Apple by calling 1(800) 275-2273. Have your serial number ready. Have your credit card ready too. There may be a small fee.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0 -- January 20,2013

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5772721?answerId=24588313022#24588313022 -- January 22,2014




Jan 23, 2014 8:07 PM in response to rccharles

I reset the PRAM and at least got an arrow cursor out of it, but not able to access any drives or OS


The Open Firmware (command/option/O/F keys) didn't seem to work...black screen only


the 42 steps iFixit describes to access the battery would make a grown man cry. This would be especially so if the next step is to "cross fingers" after removing it and replacing (and at least testing it) to see what happens.


At one point when starting up with the install disc again, I actually got the grey apple and the spinning gear (hooray) but after awhile the apple turned into a circle with a bar diagonally through it...although the gear kept spinning. Not sure what that meant.


Any other tricks? with the Tiger install disc inserted in the iMac, I had some success with Target Disk mode using my G4 laptop as a host with FW connection. The iMac's screen happily turned to blue, with the target disk icon moving around it, but the laptop host only shows a blank install screen and a spinning beach ball.


Doesn't this show that there's connectivity, and that the iMac is alive and trying to wake up? I could try target mode without the install disc to see what happens. I'm also thinking this would bypass a possibly faulty battery (and HD?) in the target computer.


And I just did, but now the laptop doesn't show any indication of the target, which is supposed to show up on its desktop.


Any thoughts/suggestions?

Jan 24, 2014 3:51 PM in response to keithgvp

This is disc # 2Z691-5305-A


This is the orginal Tiger DVD. How do I know. Cause I have the orginal Tiger DVD. Just looked at dvd.


This is 10.4. ( you may think of it as 10.4.0 ) Since your machine shipped with 10.4.2+ or so, this dvd is older than your machine. This dvd will not boot on your machine. As you have experience, you machine ignore the DVD.


😟


Robert

Jan 24, 2014 9:26 PM in response to rccharles

😀 That could be good news, Robert, if it turns out the machine will boot at all with a higher version...so no wonder my 10.4.0 disc doesn't work. As mentioned, I didn't buy it, it was left to me by a neighbor who moved. He probably lost the original disc anyway.





I called Apple, and even though they don't have 10.4.2 or 10.5 to sell me, they gave me an appointment at my local Apple store to see if they can install 10.6 on the iMac (for free). That's as high as this non-intel can handle - or maybe OS 10.7 I haven't checked.




Thanks again for sticking with me on this issue...much appreciated....green star!





Keith

Jan 25, 2014 3:55 AM in response to keithgvp

The 'restore DVD' for Tiger 10.4 and Leopard 10.5 were available in this past year, from Applecare or Apple support, for a fee and usually they'd want to know the serial number of the computer in question to see if these discs would be a match, and were white label replacements that would work on a specific series of Macs. Those linked threads (ASC discussions) had some information that escaped notice in several conversations with people who called Apple. So perhaps now they are no longer available. Or maybe they were only for the early intel-based Macs, that had an odd early version not shared with the retail DVD, which was more universal. One of the ASC thread shows pictures of the white discs, and these were not specific to one model Mac.


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?answerId=21422740022#21422740022


An iMac G5 will not be able to run OS X 10.6 (snow leopard) so that is not a path to restore or upgrade a working OS X to the powerPC hardware; however a retail Mac OS X 10.5 DVD could. Or even if you were to locate a "Mac OS X Leopard Cpu Drop-In DVD version 10.5 2Z691-6040-A" that would likely give you a boot-install disc, as I have found it to be not only an upgrade disc for a Tiger system but also a full install for Leopard in both PPC and Intel based Mac.


Hopefully this helps.

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Jan 25, 2014 3:38 PM in response to K Shaffer

I think you're right. Since we also have a 17" iMac, which has a later OS, I assumed this 20" in question could boot with similar...However, having just checked, the 17" is a later machine - 2006, and is a 1.83 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 10.7.5 installed. Good to learn, since that should sync with an iPad Mini, I'm thinking of buying soon.


But as much as I've loved Apple products over the years, I have to say it's irritating the way their later devices make earlier ones obsolete and incompatible with later software apps. Case in point: the iPad Mini does "AirPrint", meaning you have to buy one of those printers, but it won't connect with older USB printers - as far as I know. I guess there are still workarounds.


Even though the 20" iMac in this thread will only accept up to 10.5 Leopard, I'm sure I'll be grateful enough to have that as a computer for 'other' tasks - which is still considerable, given the Mac's capabilities in general.



We'll see if the Apple store 'genius' can be of help reinstalling the OS this Monday..





K

A1145 iMac 20" Startup issue

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