hi, i have been having really big problems with my imac, firstly it booted into open firmware, but i managed to stop it doing that by resetting the PRAM, or whatever its called, and now it just boots to a grey screen with the folder in the middle of it with the ? and face flashing alternate. Now usually i would just boot of the software install CD and reinstall Mac OS 9, but the fundamental problem is that the imac wont accept CD's. It has a 'feed' CD drive rather than a slot one, so i try to push it in but it just wont take it!!! any ideas on what i can do??? thanks in advance, matt

The ? mark is that it does not see a System folder.
The CD will be ejected if it is not readable/
bootable. A scratch or fingerprint on the CD may
be the culprit. Clean the CD with a CD cleaning
cloth and try again. If the Harddrive does not have
valid system folder in it you will have to restore
your system.

yeah i thought that at first, but the problem is that i can actually get the CD into the drive in the 1st place, so obviously they imac cant even tell what CD i am trying to put in, or if it is scratched or not!!! so i am trying to work out a way to get the CD into the drive in the 1st place, any ideas???

i mean i reset the PRAM, is there anyway that i could have somehow deleted the CD 'drivers' for want of a better word, can i reset the CD drive???

I know exactly what you are talking about as had
this problem on a 233 iMac. That was a few years
ago but I do remember that I had to get the Tray to
stay in while it had no CD in it. Power on or off I
kept working with it. I think, (poor memory) I held
the eject button in while powering it up.
Once I did that I turned it off and I did a manual
eject with the paper clip in the hole on the front of
the tray. Then I put the CD in while the machine
was off and did the "C" option while booting.
Worked but it was very frustrating. Sorry to give
you such vague info but it only happened once
and I was not taking notes. i am sure someone
here has the experience to help better than I have
been able to do. You may want to repost the
question but make the subject "CD Tray will not
stay in, keeps popping out" or something like that.

thanks for the help mate, i've tried doing that but no luck, the problem is that the imac doesnt have a CD tray, it has a slot that u put the CD into and then it sort of feeds it in, so its sort of the same porblem as you, but not quite.
I was thinking that it had somthing to do with the security settings of open firmware, i have tried to reset the settings so that the secuirty-mode is none, but it doesnt seem to work, and also when i type 'password' as i was told to do by the guides, it doesnt work, sorry to drag this out, but i dont really know much about imacs, any more ideas???

Ouch. It does not automatically suck it in?
Does the feed mechanism work at all?
Do you have kids?
You either have a bad drive or someone may
have put a coin, paper, credit card or what ever in
the drive. I had to take my drive out and get the
coins out of mine.

Don't worry about dragging it out as we all help
each other. Tech support at apple is way too
expensive and someone here will always be able
to help.