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I have an iMac and I fear it is corrupted. When I try to open it, it shows a question mark alternating with a smiley.

  • Model Family: iMac G5
  • Processor: 1.8GHz G5 (PowerPC 970fx)
  • Manufacturer: Motorola
  • # of CPUs: 1
  • Resolution: 1440x900
  • Backlight: CCFL
  • Base Memory: 256MB PC3200 DIMM
  • Max Memory: 2GB
  • # of Memory Slots: 2
  • Brand: Apple
  • Original OS: Mac OS X 10.3.5

I think it's vintage , but I still want to fix it. First, I think the hard drive is broken (pretty much corrupted), but I tried to install a Xubuntu OS on it because I don't have any other disc. Alas, I think Xubuntu is not compatible because I can't seem to get passed the partitioning step.

mickmackusa
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leviathan
  • 1
  • Well if you can't get through the partitioning correctly that seems to support your theory that the Hard Drive is damaged. Make sure you have the correct PowerPc image downloaded and start xubuntu from CD. From there open a terminal and do an 'fsck' (filesystem check) on your hard drive. Please post the output. – Daniel W. Jul 11 '12 at 09:25
  • Possible duplicate http://askubuntu.com/questions/109797/ubuntu-installation-on-imac – dlin Jul 11 '12 at 12:25

1 Answers1

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The page is hard to find but Ubuntu has versions specially for MACs. I have included the link, the second one down is listed as

Mac (PowerPC) and IBM-PPC (POWER5) desktop CD

For Apple Macintosh G3, G4, and G5 computers, including iBooks and PowerBooks as well as IBM OpenPower machines.

There are others listed just for MACs. I honestly have no personal experience with these so I don't know if they will work, I was just able to dig into Ubuntu's website deep enough to find the link for you. Hope it helps

HERE IS THE LINK

Note: As I don't know your location I gave you the United States mirrors in the above link I also included 12.04 as it is the newest, let me know it you want another...

TrailRider
  • 7,087
  • hey. thanks. i'll try that. but i did download a 10.10 version and i still can't get through the partitioning part. maybe my hard drive was fried? i will try it. thankyou :) – leviathan Jul 31 '12 at 14:12
  • i'll try to find those thread. i'm new to this. and thanks for your help. i really do appreciate it. i've been trying to fix this for months now.

    i really hope i could fix this. i really liked ubuntu though can't get through partitioning part.

     – leviathan Aug 01 '12 at 06:37
  • is it a bad hard drive or disk? – leviathan Aug 01 '12 at 07:08
  • you can use the liveCD to check your hard disk, boot into the liveCd and Try Ubuntu then open the disk utility, if it cannot find the drive it is failing, more info about the disk utility is in this answer I would suspect that if you still cannot partition during the install on the new CD you downloaded that the drive is bad. some of the comments to your question also say that. – TrailRider Aug 01 '12 at 21:19
  • i have another question..

    as i have said before, the imac was corrupted due to carelessness of the old owner. he gave it to me without any disc but then back to the installation.. the ubuntu was able to boot but the problem is that i can't get through the partitioning part. and i have noticed that it was also asking me to install the drivers (maybe it detected any hardware) my question is that, do i need to install it or should i download another version of ubuntu?

     – leviathan Aug 02 '12 at 13:19
  • Umm, he gave it to you without any disk...you then installed a new disk correct(i assume so) are you sure the disk is plugged in correctly and that the jumpers on the disk are set up for master mot slave? Was the Disk Utility I referenced in my prior comment able to see the disk? If so it should be able to install onto the disk...enter this in a terminal and see if you get any feedback telling you the brand of the disk, if so It is connected to the motherboard correctly sudo hdparm -i /dev/sda – TrailRider Aug 02 '12 at 21:31
  • BTW the drivers you are being asked to install should not have any affect on the installation, I don't know of any that are needed prior to installation. Installing then in the liveCd before installing the system will only install them in your liveCD environment(which only run in your RAM) and will be wiped upon reboot. – TrailRider Aug 02 '12 at 21:34