i got 1 very old imac cannot use ..
after i press the on/off button,
it show this..

any1 know how to solve my problem?

you'll get this icon when the iMac can't find your system folder. if you have another mac, you can try starting this one using the other ones hard disk.

if you don't have another mac, you'll have to either find someone to lend one to you, or take this one to a service center.

call me if you can, tomorrow morning, after 10 am, and I'll give you some more options, k?
03 7724 1334

still have the old o.s installation cd?

try to fix it from there.

Reformat from there. My friends laptop also got this problem.

..i just wake up..

i dont have other harddisk..
& my original installation cd lost already, so now how?

bryanz the only options you have is to install from the original OS CD or to have someone do it for you on the hard drive and do some physical install of the drive into the iMac.

For this particular iMac, you can't boot from an external drive since it only has USB, not firewire. Due to firmware limitations, you can only install the OS on the first 8GB of any drive you put in, although the iMac can see the rest of the drive up to 137GB I think. I've only put an 80GB in there.

Memory and CPU are limited, but contact me if you need either, I have upgrades from my old lime iMac that I may just throw out otherwise.

Get in touch with xaw5126, he can help you with most of the stuff above.

aiya... this is tray-loading iMac. can't help you personally... please take it to
MacAsia service center
F-115, First Floor, West Wing
Bangsar Shopping Centre,
285 Jalan Maarof,
59000 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel : 03 - 2094 1918
Fax : 03 - 2092 1913

Business Hours : 9am - 6pm (Mon to Fri)
Servicing Hours : 10am - 7pm (Mon to Fri)

Simple

Just acquire a copy of MacOS X 10.x or MacOS 9 and install it

The question mark shows that the OpenFirmware isn't able to find any Startup folders.
There are few ways you can overcome this (errr only 1 way)

1. Get another PPC Mac and use it as a FireWire Drive (they call it FireWire bootup) and then clone the HDD

prasys this iMac doesn't have a firewire port
so we're back to option 1. acquire a copy of Mac OS X and install...

Wait, maybe I can help him but if I lend him my Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.10 Disc 1 and 2 that came with my Apple MacBook can he install?

don't think so. IINM, the bundled mac osX dvd only for your macbook, unless your mac osX DVD is the retail 1

correcto-mundo. even retail 10.4 is not recommended, cos its a really old iMac. preferably 10.2 or older

Correction, 10.4 will not even run on this iMac, it's only officially supported until 10.3 only. You need built-in firewire for 10.4.

However, 10.4 can be made to work. I have done so, google for more info. The big problem with this iMac is memory, you need to replace both SO-DIMMs with 256MB and you only get 512MB RAM total which is far too small for 10.4 today.

actually i got the original installation cd of imac g5 & macbookpro..
but i dont think it can be used..
because this imac dont have dvd rom..
so now the only way to solve my problem is send to apple center?
or who know where can i get the installation cd for this imac?
or who wiling to burn 1 for me??
please help.. i dont wish to waste my mac..

Where you stay?
I don't mind helping.

But what would happen if I install Mac OS X 10.2? Wouldn't it update to 10.4.10?

nope.
it will only update (for free, via Apple's Software Update) the last number is the sequence
10.*.*

so if you have 10.2.2, then you can update for free all the way up to 10.2.8.
to get 10.3, which is a new version, more features, you need to buy it

You just compare 10.4(Tiger) and 10.5(Leopard) It is totally different thing. 10.4.x is just sth like windows xp service pack or sth like that.

i stay at sunway, but my old imac is at jb o..
can u help?

Wah, maybe when my school holidays I go to SG I help you. LoL, JK oni.