i have a slot-loading Imac (6 months from new purchase date and broken already!). my firmware is working fine, it sees all the drives and such but will not load the finder by anymeans (ive tried everything), it wont even give me anything except the firmware env and i dont even really know that much about firmware. original RAM, original HD and CDrom, everything is original so it cant be a harware issue. the computer was working fine before i shut it down, then the next time i started it up it give me a flat grey screen with nothing else. i noticed that if you leave it on the grey screen for about 5-10 minutes a little folder will come up and flashes between a finder face and a bold question mark but it STILL wont load the Hard Drive or the CDrom.

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE? i think i got a lemon. this seems to be an increasing problem with many IMAC owners, i didnt think I would be affected though. CAN SOMEone PLEASE help me with this broken iMAC? why dosen`t anyone know whats going on here? does anyone from APPLE know what is happening to the iMacs
i cant afford to spend $200-300 on some mac repair store

oh ya i`m running MacOS 9.2.2
the MacOS 9.0 CD came with my iMac

ps can you remotely edit someones firmware?
i know that you can use telnet to remotely edit firmware. what if there was no password set for the firmware? can you remotely distroy someones firmware? I HOPE THIS ISNT whats happening to peoples imacs, ive noticed that almost all the MAJOR problems occuring in iMacs is the grey/black screen startup issue that will leaves your mac as about as useful as a paper weight.. alittle help please apple

Have you taken it to a service provider, since it's still under warranty?

p

Thanks TP, but i got it from a small Macintosh resaler for $500, i guess whoever they bought it from used it for a demo model.
but the sales warrenty was only good for a few months. i`m somewhat supprised, in surfing for info on this issue i came over alot of information addressing the grey/black screens problems that the imacs seem to be troubleld by but NO one will tell me how to fix it?

OK, get ready for technical information...

boot holding command-option-O-F
at the prompt, type the following exactly as shown:

reset-nvram [press return]
reset-all [press return; the Mac will restart]

Let us know if that doesn't work.

p

nope, also tried "set-defaults"

i`m still having a little trouble trying to figure out where this problem came from so i can prevent future occurances. no new software or hardware was installed but i was surfing the net rather aggressively. i believe whatever happend to my computer was done through something webbased (if that helps)
im also on a TCP/IP

There's no way any remote application could have edited your firmware.

See if a service provider has any ideas on it.

p

Hey, this wouldn't happen to apply, would it?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106882

p

i read somewhere on apples web site that you can access open firmware though telnet.

"Hey, this wouldn't happen to apply, would it?" no.. thats not it, i know a few basic firmware commands, i also know firmware has alot of different commands that differ depending on version. forget it, my computer is trash

No, did you read the link I posted?

You *cannot* access OF thru telnet.

p

Have you tried booting up from the start
up discs and reinstalling the system
software?
Or tried booting up with a repair
programme utility such as Norton?

Im having a similar problem and need
someone to shed some light on this. My
iMac 350 slot loading edition gives me
the startup chime, monitor comes on
(seems really bright) for about 3 seconds
then turns itself off and no further activity,
power light stays on until I hold it in for 5
seconds then turns off. Ive reset the
Powermanagement switch, reset the
PRAM, and used opt-apple-o-f - I barely
make out the writing, its blurry and very
bright white with writing also almost white
for 2-3 seconds then powers down
monitor and im no longer able for force
restart or reset button. Ive also reset the
ram. Please help. I think it might be more
serious such as analog vid board but I'd
like to cover all the bases first. Anything
that I may have overlooked?
Heeeeeeellllllllp!

Me too! I'm having the same problem
with my new Flat panel iMac 800mhz. I
did read the link you provided (thanks!)
and I'm pretty sure that the problem is a
disk stuck in the drive by my 4 year old.
The CD drive makes kind of a funny
clicking noise when I try to start up.
However, I tried all of the
recommendations for ejecting the disk
and none worked. :(

Anyone have any other ideas how to open
to slot-drive? I know I could eject a disk
through iTunes but I can't get the system
to start up so that won't work. I sure miss
that little paperclip hole! Any suggestions
would be greatly appreciated!

Steph

I'd try taking to an Apple service provider. And keep kids away from that drive ;)

p

Hello, I have an IMAC, Im assuming it's around 350Mhz, anyways it WON'T BOOT, I've tried clearing the CMOS (NVRAM) through a hardware reset button, still same thing, wont boot, tried image CD tried MAC Os 8.0.... cd that didnt work, it sometimes shows the mouse arrow in the right hand top corner, but then its like it has frozen! HELP HELP, Im not a MAC dude, I'm more for that crappy windows stuff!
THANKS A LOT,
wannabeemaccer~!
com_166@hotmail.com

8.0 won't boot any iMac. You need a later OS, like OS 9.2.2 (which I recommend, though you can use any retail version of OS 9).

p