[Tmanflys]

ok, so here i am, and i've got a mac problem. you have probably had a million questions about this before, but nothing seems to work. I am 17 and have an original imac. i bought it a few years ago used, and it has always worked well since. it has never been connected to the internet and is just used to type school papers. now, when i try to start it, it just flashes between a question mark and a weird looking mac face. it repetitivly makes a sound like it keeps trying to reload something or keep trying to start up over and over agian. i have waited for every for many days and it just keeps flashing that q mark. i am not too sure what the start up disk it, i think it is the orange one. i have tried some different button pressing sequences and nothing works.

why has this decided to poop out on me and how can i fix it.

please help me,

thank you, aaron

[ghporter]

Aaron, first let me welcome you to the MacNN Forums. While there may be a dozen stupid (and intentionally so) answers to any question, there are not stupid questions here-particularly for newbies like yourself.

Now, let's talk about your subject line. It stinks. This is really a problem because a) we have a rule about posting with meaningful and informative subjects, and b) because nobody is going to give you much help if they are turned off by your subject (or at least haven't had their interest piqued).

Now, I'm going to edit your subject to something meaningful. You're getting a "sad Mac" picture and a question mark. That's meaningful to the Mac cognizenti, and someone will post soon with some sort of help. I'm still pretty new to Macs in general, and haven't encountered problems like yours, so I can't help-except to fix your subject to make it work better.

Again, welcome and I wish you luck with your problem.

[Tmanflys]

so here is an update.

when i put in the apple orange disk, i think it is a start up disk, it says mac applications on it, i goes to a completely grey screen. the whole screen is grey except for up in the left corrner, it has white text. the text is as follows:

Apple iMac Firmware 3.0.f2 built on 04/23/99 at 14:31.03
Copyright 1994-1999 Apple computer, Inc.
All rights Reserved
ok
0>_



what is above is all that it shows. i am able to type at the 0>_ symbol and then press enter, then it says ok, and goes to another line, but nothing ever happens.

what does this all mean

[Big Mac]

That's the Open Firmware interface. You need to startup with a System CD and reinstall OS 9, or you can get a hold of Disk Warrior and see if that will do the trick.

[Tmanflys]

I am not really sure what you mean. I just need some definitions, what is Open Firmware Interfearance?

[bgordon]

Check this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=16473

and go down the list.

I think (not sure, but strongly believe) you're using the wrong orange disk - if it says "Applications" on it, it's probably not the right one. Look for another one that says "system disk" or "disk tools," and start up from there.

To start up FROM a cd, you get the CD in the machine, power down, and power the machine back up while holding the "C" button down.

Hope this helps.

- bgordon