[CriticalPoint]

Hi all, I'm an IT professional, when it comes to windows. However, put a Mac infront of me and I havn't a clue... Took me 15 minutes and eventually google to find out how to open the disk tray! Nightmare. Anyhu, back to the issue at hand - I have this E-Mac, its not a bad one, totally standard, no modifications et cetera. I have absolutly no problem with wiping the HDD and starting afresh, infact, I'd love to do this.. If only I knew how!! Basically, I'm having a startup issue. It used to start, but not now I'm definatly thinking HDD. All I get now is like its booting into safe mode - I get the apple logo and a spining cog in the middle <Picture Here> I have taken the Cmos battery out for a couple of minutes, reseated it and plugged back in but this doesn't seem to have helped. All I want is a working MAC - I dan't care for anything on there currently. Which operating system would I need and how can I achieve a clean install? That is, of course, unless you have a better idea?

[ghporter]

It sounds like you have something going on that is preventing the computer from properly booting, and your idea to remove the CMOS battery was a good one-for a PC. There is some nonvolatile memory that may not be zeroed by removing the battery from the logic board. To reset it, you need to "reset the PRAM" according to these instructions.

Once you can get it booting again, you're all set to reload the OS. If you have the appropriate OS X install disc handy (and now that you know how to open the disc tray!), it should be easy. Put the disc into the tray, close it, and restart the computer. When you hear the chime, hold the Option key (it also says "alt" on it in most cases). The computer should boot from the disc and let you install your OS again.

I hope this helps, and WELCOME to the MacNN Forums!

[CriticalPoint]

Thank you Saviour! I had to google the 'Command Key' so I could see an image of it but I got there in the end. It did the whole 'Double Restart' thing but guess what - Its still the same! All's I need to do now is get the bloody thing to boot and get a copy of the OS. My software technician at work can get me all that jazz, he's always tapping away at Mac and Linux stuff! (I'm just the Hardware/Windows OS's guy!)

I appreciate your post ghporter, do you know of anything else I could try for this? I can't boot normally nor in 'Safe Mode' (or whatever you guys have named it! Even though, I thought that was what the grey screen/spinning cog issue was!?) Well, as you can tell, I'm confused! I really really don't know what to do. I have an abundance of massive Sata drives here but I think it's IDE! Which is a further pain else I would have swapped-out the Hdd and wiped the old one on this Pc.

Yours on my knees, Mike




(Edit - Spelling!)

[ghporter]

Well if the thing won't boot even after shutting down and trying the PRAM reset, you have a real problem. Does your eMac have a firewire port? Is there another Mac around you can get your hands on? It may take connecting the eMac in "Target Disk Mode" from the other Mac and wiping the drive to get past whatever is going on. If you can get the other Mac and a firewire cable, post and we'll walk you through it. Or if you have access to an IDE interface (whether internal or an external "IDE-USB" adapter), you can wipe the drive by pulling it and connecting it to something else.

As for the gray spinny-thing, that's often called the "pinwheel" or "spinner," and it simply indicates that something is happening-the machine isn't locked up. It's normal to see it during a boot up. Not for a long time, mind you, just for a bit. And yes, the eMac has IDE controllers, not SATA controllers, so swapping out the drive with one of your "abundant" collection of SATA drives won't work.