my imac won't startup

[blooskittles]

my imac g3 gets stuck during startup, on a flashing folder icon, with a picture of the mac os logo and a question mark inside. i've tried putting in restore software (although the disc was labelled for an ibook g3 - does that matter?), i've tried holding option when booting, or holding shift when booting, all to no avail. i've checked to see if its possible that its mouse or keyboard interfering, biut its not these either. i've also tried the PRAM thing too, but with no luck.

please, if anybody ca help me, i would be endlessly grateful!

thank you,

tarik

[just4funuk]

Try holding c down after you have turned machine on Should then boot from Cdrom.

You then could try the utils on disk to try to repair your original OS on the drive.

[kshadlen]

I have the same problem, when I start the iMac i get a white screen with a flashing image of a folder with a question mark inside the folder. I've tried two things, with no success.

First, following the little white book that came with the iMac, I restarted while holding down the Option key. I get the white screen, again, but instead of the flashing folder I get a picture of a hard drive, below it the words Macintosh HD and a white arrow pointing up. The white book says to click on the drive and then click on the right arrow, but when I click on the drive I get a blank white screen and there' s no response at all to the arrow key.

Second, following instructions above, I put in the installation disk and turned the machine off, then turn it back on while holding down the C key. But instead of booting from the CD and giving me a chance to run utilities, the computer just ejects the disk and leaves me with the flashing folder with question mark.

I'm stuck. Help most welcome/appreciated.

Tks,
Ken

[Soulwar]

Which iMac G3 are you using and what OS are/were you using?

[necrolyte6]

I believe the question mark indicates that the computer is not finding an OS on the drive. This is probably due to either a bad drive which has corrupted the OS files, or a failing motherboard which cannot read the drive. If you see a drive under the option start menu, it would appear that its not the motherboard, but system restore and boot do not work so its probably the drive. can you start up in target boot mode and check the drive from another computer, or in single user mode and use fsck to evaluate the condition of the drive?

[Soulwar]

kshadlen, if you are having problems as well, could you please start a post for yourself? Jumping on someone else's thread, gets very confusing, as you may have similiar problems but different machines, OS, etc...
Thanks!

[kshadlen]

thanks for your responses. The situation has evolved, but the problem is still unresolved.... As requested I've begun a new thread: http://macosx.com/forums/mac-os-x-sy...ml#post1428598

Thanks,
Ken