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Old Dead iMac....use MBP to erase and reinstall Yosemite??

M

mrsollars

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2006
115
0
i have a mid 2007 iMac that i am wanting to erase and restore...and then give to my 95 year old grandpa.

I have a current backup through time machine to an external (i assume...it says it's current but the iMacs current behavior has me doubting i can trust it)

This person basically outlined the situation i'm having with not making it through startup. apple logo screen with the bar inching forward. it gets about halfway in 10 minutes...then the computer shuts down.

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View...c+shutdown+halfway+through+loading+on+startup

I need help accessing the unusable iMac ...by way of my mid 2014 MBP running high sierra.....so that i can do three things:

Wipe it clean, reinstall Yosemite, and give it to grandpa.

can anyone help?

thank you all,
Matt
 
You will likely need a bootable external drive, say USB or Firewire, loaded with a compatible operating system, OR installation media from a compatible OS (since the latest OS won't run on it). If you can boot from external media (installation disks OR from a bootable external drive that has a full OS install on it), then you can run the install against it.

Best of luck! I'm so dependent on Internet Recovery now, not sure I could recover any of my old gear via DVD anymore!
 
new issue.

i erased and reinstalled (found my original disks) with no issues. got it set up for grandpa, big fonts, clutter free email, solitaire, etc.

had the bouncing, software update at the bottom. this was expected, i was now on the original leopard as it were.

ran the software update and it stuck on updating. it stuck on updating screen overnight. this morning i turned the computer off and am currently in a 'boot loop' from what i read. (apple logo, but never a loading bar).

i've tried command+r.....i've reset the pram or vram or whatever it is......i've tried shift to get to safe mode, nothing.

I'm ready to try to reinstall the os from dvd again but i can't even get to the disk utility screen to do it.

tips?

Matt

ps. was able to get to the apple hardware test on the install disc 1. running the 'extended test' now. i'll let you know what i find out.
thanks again.
 
OP wrote:
"ran the software update and it stuck on updating. it stuck on updating screen overnight. this morning i turned the computer off and am currently in a 'boot loop' from what i read. (apple logo, but never a loading bar)."

If you got it running from the original DVD, BUT.... "upgrading" makes it hang.... the solution is...
.... DON'T try to "upgrade" it.

Get it running with "whatever works", and LEAVE IT that way.
In fact, go into software update if you can, and TURN IT OFF.

Get a working version of the OS onto it, doesn't matter whether it can be upgraded or not.
The object is to "get something that runs" onto it, and not worry beyond that...
 
Do you have a spare USB hard drive around? Install from DVD to that hard drive. See how it runs. Then allow for an upgrade, and see again.

Also, I would upgrade (via DVD or whatever) to the latest OS that is supported by the hardware. Avoiding updates is also avoiding security fixes.
 
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