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Original poster

Trying to wipe iMac

12 replies

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 13:40

Bought My iMac 6 years ago second hand and now I have real problems with it, it doesn't hold the internet connection (on& off) even though airport is connected. I tried to solve this using YouTube & switching from wpa2 to wep but that didn't work at all. Now it won't connect at all I want to erase it.

Following YouTube vids again it seems I have to go into Recovery HD by holding down command & R but this does not work for me.

Any ideas? Going into disk utility from applications- I cannot erase because the erase button is shaded grey
OS Lion btw and no disks, no internet

OP posts:

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 13:40

Sorry snow leopard

OP posts:

tribpot · 14/09/2015 13:47

Wiping it is a good idea - I wiped my Macbook a couple of years ago and it made a big difference.

I think you're trying to use the Recovery tool in OSX but I don't fancy your chances with no working internet connection.

What I did for mine was to download a copy of OS X to a memory stick and reinstall from that, let me see if I can find the instructions I used.

tribpot · 14/09/2015 14:04

Hmm, I think the Snow Leopard thing may make this quite hard. This thread looks very similar - the solution in the end was to buy another copy of Snow Leopard in order to be able to boot from disk.

Tartanbeachhut · 14/09/2015 14:37

Turn off your iMac, then turn it back on again and as soon as you hear the start up noise press the shift button till you see the grey apple come up then let go. This worked for me.

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 14:40

Oh great thank you for the replies I'm getting desperate! I will have a look at those things and try

OP posts:

Micah · 14/09/2015 14:44

What I did with mine was turn on find my mac.

Then log in to iCloud, and use the "erase" function (you can do this from an iPhone/ipad/any laptop. When your mac connects to the internet it will erase- then it should restore from the internet when it re-connects.

I think you can also start up holding down cntrl (might be cmd or alt, sorry, one of those three)- which gives you the choice of booting into your recovery mode.

Have you checked your router/internet connection is ok? Can you log onto wifi elsewhere?

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 14:49

tartan I just tried that, it's now in 'safe mode' what do I do now?

Yes please tribpot I've got a stick somewhere

OP posts:

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 14:52

Hi Micah yes wifi working on all other devices fine.
I've never seen find my Mac is that in the AppStore? I have no AppStore that sounds very simple though if I could do that. I have an iPad. I've never been able to connect them though bc the Mac is too old

OP posts:

Tartanbeachhut · 14/09/2015 14:57

Just restart as normal

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 14:59

I found a tutorial though YouTube which goes to disk utility but the erase button is shaded I can't click it

OP posts:

Original poster

jessiepinkman · 14/09/2015 15:03

Just restart as normal
Gah nothing's changed its exactly the same not wiped, no internet

I have no iCloud on it micah

OP posts:

tribpot · 14/09/2015 15:49

Yeah I think you can't erase because there's no other recovery disk - if you had the DVD that came with the iMac originally you would be able to boot to that and then erase the hard disk.

As per the thread I linked to, it doesn't look like there's an option for Snow Leopard short of acquiring a new DVD. You can buy one for 15 quid.

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