recently my Macs been acting really weird. When ever i open the System prefrences it locks up for about 3 min then starts runing again. A freind at the News & Observer said to reinstall OsX and format the disk.. well i couldnt even boot off the CD no matter wut key combanation i tryed.. not evne the one in the instructon worked.. i went back to the guy the next day and told him that. So he gave me a new cd rom... it worked to boot off of so i reinstalled it... so now when i turn on my computer the screen is really big and blocky looking and the grey apple is in the middle like usaul but it doesnt start up... the boot sequence starts scrolling down the screen and the computer doesnt boot up... wut is the problem... cuz i really have no idea wut the problem is... to get it running i have to restart and hold down the prgramers key to boot manually... and sumtimes that doesnt work

Im afraid to say it, but it sounds like an bad ROM. My old imac DV made something similar, before it went total dead.

I would start some resetting. It could be bad RAM. Reset the logic board, pull the battery.

Try Drive 10. Solves many problems without reinstallation.

Mac Lover 1986

Or try TechTool Pro.

Mac Lover 1986

Or find a G3 to salvage parts from.

Mac Lover 1986

Wait a sec, what revision iMac is it, and did you upgrade the firmware (depends on rev.) before installing OS X?

PEBCAK. I dunno why, but the first time I read this I thought it was an iMac. I'll just wander away now...

Post edited by: whitlock, at: 2005/08/23 08:19

These machines (I assume you mean your B&W) are picky about RAM. Strip it down to just one stick, then try a clean install. Chances are you can put the rest back afterwards.
I posted a hefty guide on troublesome B&Ws somewhere on the forum a little while back. Can't seem to find it now...