iM 4,1-14,4 Please help: Core 2 Duo upgrade having issues in 4,1 iMac

[jrm0522]

Hi all. Recently I bought a Core Duo 2006 iMac 4,1 and read you can upgrade it to a T7400 C2D, and you have to upgrade the firmware after you install the CPU to get more ram and Lion support.

But after installing a T7400, SSD, and replacement dvd drive, I get a chime and about a second of screen on time until it goes black and the system just continues to run (I can hear the Snow Leopard disc spin)

The SSD was from a Windows XP machine and I saw a very brief text line of "the hardware has changed" until it went black. My intention was to boot holding option and format it. But I don't know now. Resetting PRAM registered because the second chime was louder. Should I put the Core Duo back in? I may be more over my head than I thought.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. It ran fine stock

 

[AeroSatan]

Is the AppleCare still good? 🤔

 

[TheShortTimer]

Is the AppleCare still good? 🤔

This is a 2006 machine. It's considered obsolete by Apple and wouldn't be covered by Apple Care.

The SSD was from a Windows XP machine and I saw a very brief text line of "the hardware has changed" until it went black. My intention was to boot holding option and format it. But I don't know now.

The Snow Leopard installer when it boots is supposed to give you the option to enter Disk Utility and reformat the drive. This can also be done using a 2nd Mac, a macOS disc and FireWire cables which would enable you to reinstall macOS via Target Disk Mode. If you want Lion, it can be downloaded from here and then burned to a DVD or USB stick, depending upon your preference.

Resetting PRAM registered because the second chime was louder. Should I put the Core Duo back in? I may be more over my head than I thought.

I think it's worth resetting the SMC in case that helps. Does the Snow Leopard disc boot ok on any other compatible Macs, if you have them?

 

[jrm0522]

This is a 2006 machine. It's considered obsolete by Apple and wouldn't be covered by Apple Care.



The Snow Leopard installer when it boots is supposed to give you the option to enter Disk Utility and reformat the drive. This can also be done using a 2nd Mac, a macOS disc and FireWire cables which would enable you to reinstall macOS via Target Disk Mode. If you want Lion, it can be downloaded from here and then burned to a DVD or USB stick, depending upon your preference.



I think it's worth resetting the SMC in case that helps. Does the Snow Leopard disc boot ok on any other compatible Macs, if you have them?

Ressetting SMC does nothing. The Snow Leopard disc works in other Macs, but it won't let me do anything. It just goes black after a second of being on. I tried target disc mode and "option key" booting
Today I put the Core Duo back in, and cloned the original drive to the SSD, erasing the previous image. But it still does the same thing. I read it could be graphics related. Maybe I screwed up the GPU while replacing the thermal paste?

 

[TheShortTimer]

Ressetting SMC does nothing. The Snow Leopard disc works in other Macs, but it won't let me do anything. It just goes black after a second of being on. I tried target disc mode and "option key" booting

With Target Disk Mode, does the display remain on and show the FireWire logo? Is anything shown when you try to boot with Option held down?