jake123 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Basically the title says it all. I have a C2D 2.0GHz iMac, I just removed the 250GB hard drive that came in the system and put in a 1TB drive. The screen turns on fine, and shows a blinking folder (after about 12 seconds), with a question mark in it. Clearly the hard drive has no data on it, so I need to install Mac OS X on it. I've tried my Leopard Upgrade retail disk, and it doesn't boot off it, nor does it boot off the original dvd's that came with it. I've tried booting while holding down "C" any ideas? Thanks Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWaffle Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 That seems very odd. See if the machine will boot from the DVD with no HDD connected at all. If not, try booting from the DVD with the original HDD to rule out the possibility of the HDD being the problem. Take it one step at a time. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1186052 Share on other sites More sharing options...
failo Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 It's your settings in the bios or jumpers! Don't do cable select, osx won't recognize which drive is master or slave. You need to set it with jumpers, when this won't work it will be your bios Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1186348 Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWaffle Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 Umm... an iMac is going to use SATA HDD, not IDE, so there are not going to be jumpers on the back of the drive. Also, real Macs don't have a bios, they have an EFI and there is no 'setup utility' like there is on a bios unless I'm missing something. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1186358 Share on other sites More sharing options...
U.C. Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 Try erasing the drive with a GUID Partition Table and a HFS+ Partition. That should sort it out. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1186443 Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoneWaffle Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 He can't do that if he can't boot from the installation DVD. Unless he has another computer to attach the drive to. I don't see how any of that matters, considering you should be able to boot from the DVD even if you have no hard drive at all attached to the machine. It sounds like you may have a hardware error of some sort. That's why I suggested booting from the DVD with the drive disconnected. If the machine boots from the DVD with the drive disconnected but doesn't when it IS connected, then you probably have a bum drive or a compatibility problem. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1186542 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callysto Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 Try that firmware reset thing where you press the Power button and immediately press and hold the Command, Option, P, and R keys until you hear the startup sound a second time . . . Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/172371-upgraded-hd-in-imac-wont-boot-off-install-dvd/#findComment-1188639 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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