Kristina260
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I wanted to reboot my imac to factory settings now its stuck on the OS X utility screen

I brought my IMac from cash converters yesterday and when i got it home i found a video on youtube on how to reboot it to factory settings. Now my Imac is stuck on the OS X Utility screen. It allows me to select my disc but then asks for Apple ID login details. I have one that i use on my iphone 5 and ipad but the i mac will not accept these login details. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Mar 7, 2014 2:54 AM

Close
Kristina260

Q: I wanted to reboot my imac to factory settings now its stuck on the OS X utility screen

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next

  • by Paul_31,

    Paul_31 Paul_31 Mar 7, 2014 3:06 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 6 (13,925 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:06 AM in response to Kristina260

    What model iMac is it? If it was manufactured pre-OS X Lion (10.7) there should be two grey disks supplied with the Mac. If you have disk 1 you will need to boot from it and need to erase and re-install the OS from that disk.

    The previous owner of the Mac should have passed the Mac on with the OS that was installed on it when new (together with any disks). As you've discovered, it looks like the OS has been updated using the previous owners AppleID.

    You may be able to get round this situation by resorting to Internet Recovery (if the Mac had OS X Lion or later on it when new). This should install the OS on the Mac that was on it when new, assuming it was Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks. The original OS is tied to the machine itself not an AppleID.

    Rebooting holding down Comand + Alt + r should boot you into Internet Recovery. You'll need to have a good connection to the Internet - wired would be better than wifi - as the download is several gb in size.

    More info here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • by Kristina260,

    Kristina260 Kristina260 Mar 7, 2014 3:13 AM in response to Paul_31
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:13 AM in response to Paul_31

    what would be the beast way for one to find out what the model is because computer wasnt purchased with a box

  • by Paul_31,

    Paul_31 Paul_31 Mar 7, 2014 3:14 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 6 (13,925 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:14 AM in response to Kristina260

    From the Apple Menu (top left of the screen) Select 'About this Mac...>More info' - it should tell you there.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 7, 2014 3:15 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 9 (51,412 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 7, 2014 3:15 AM in response to Kristina260

    Just reboot and hold command+option+R (per Paul31's instructions)

     

    If your machine is too old to have Internet Recovery, nothing will happen.

     

    Post back.

  • by Kristina260,

    Kristina260 Kristina260 Mar 7, 2014 3:15 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:15 AM in response to Kristina260

    and also where can purchase a refomating disc

  • by Paul_31,

    Paul_31 Paul_31 Mar 7, 2014 3:18 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 6 (13,925 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:18 AM in response to Kristina260

    Kristina260 wrote:

     

    and also where can purchase a refomating disc

    You don't need to. However, if the Mac is pre-Lion and you didn't receive any disks with it you will need to phone Apple to order replacement disks that are specific to your machine in order to erase and start with a clean slate.

  • by Kristina260,

    Kristina260 Kristina260 Mar 7, 2014 3:19 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:19 AM in response to Kristina260

    its not giving me an option to check only offering info about disc utility

  • by Kristina260,

    Kristina260 Kristina260 Mar 7, 2014 3:21 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:21 AM in response to Kristina260

    before i tried to restore to factory settings it was on a setting  called maverick OS X

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 7, 2014 3:21 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 9 (51,412 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 7, 2014 3:21 AM in response to Kristina260

    Tell us exactly what happened when you tried to boot to Internet Recovery, what did you see? was there a rotating globe?

  • by Paul_31,

    Paul_31 Paul_31 Mar 7, 2014 3:22 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 6 (13,925 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:22 AM in response to Kristina260

    Can we start over? Restart the Mac with it's current OS installed and go to the Apple Menu 'About this Mac' as posted above and tell us what Mac you have.

  • by Kristina260,

    Kristina260 Kristina260 Mar 7, 2014 3:38 AM in response to Paul_31
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 3:38 AM in response to Paul_31

    i am still clicking on the apple sign but is only giving me options to start up disk, restart or shut down when i click on OS X utilities it states about OS X  version 1.0 (116)

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Mar 7, 2014 3:40 AM in response to Kristina260
    Level 9 (51,412 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 7, 2014 3:40 AM in response to Kristina260

    Do you get this menu when you click the Apple (top left corner of screen)

     

    Screen Shot 2014-03-07 at 11.39.07.png

     

    Yes or no please.

  • by jimkessler,

    jimkessler jimkessler Mar 7, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Paul_31
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 6:35 AM in response to Paul_31

    I'll respectuflly disagree with Paul_31's advice about ordering replacement disks. We know that whatever your model is, it's capable of running Mavericks. But there are some models of Macintosh that shipped with OS X 10.5.x that can be upgraded to Mavericks, and if you order exact replacement disks for that model from Apple, you will wind up with the 10.5 operating system, which can't be upgraded to Mavericks by itself, since the computer needs to be at 10.6 to upgrade to Mavericks. You can purchase OS X 10.6 installation disks from Apple for $19.99, but that, too, may be useless, because your model may be too new to support 10.6.

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

     

    CSound1 is on the right track, because he's probably trying to get you to a screen that can display information about your Mac - such as the serial number, and perhaps the amount of installed memory.

     

    If you can't get to a screen to show your serial number, see this link:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1349

     

    Once you get your serial number, you can get general (and more specific) information about your Mac from one or both of these links. (The second link is not an Apple site, but has reliable information):

    https://getsupport.apple.com/ProductSelector.action

    http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

     

    Once we know more about your model, then we can advise you how to proceed. Here's another question. Is it your intention to completely erase the internal hard drive of the computer (which will also erase all of the installed programs on the computer)?

  • by Paul_31,

    Paul_31 Paul_31 Mar 7, 2014 7:07 AM in response to jimkessler
    Level 6 (13,925 points)
    Mar 7, 2014 7:07 AM in response to jimkessler

    jimkessler wrote:

     

    I'll respectuflly disagree with Paul_31's advice about ordering replacement disks.

    We've been trying to get Kristina260 to tell us exactly what Mac it is. I suggested that replacement disks would be required if the Mac was of pre-Lion vintage (see my third post).

    If the Mac is pre-Lion the disks will be required, and it they haven't been provided with the Mac, replacements will need to be ordered from Apple.

Page 1 Next