IMac (summer 2001) - hard disk or controller problem

[m0gely]

I recieved a dead iMac from a relative who was told the hard drive has failed. I researched (I'm a PC guy) and found out this is a Summer of '01 special addition iMac. Original specs are with a 60GB hard drive, slot load CD (/DVD?) and 256M of mem, etc. I put in a known working 80G Western Digital set as a master, but when OSX asked for me to select an install destination, there was nothing there to select. I tried an old 6.4GB IDE drive, another 80GB, CS and Slave jumper settings, everything. I'm at the point now where I think the controller is shot.

Am I missing anything? Thanks!

[gwoodpecker]

Did you format the disks you tried for OS X?

To do this, start up the iMac with the OS X Installer CD, select your language and then look for a menu entry called Disk Utility in the menu bar. There you have to format the disk for OS X, otherwise your PC-formatted disks will not be recognized by the OS X installer.

[m0gely]

Whoa! I see it now. My excuse is the mac was upside down the whole time while I had it torn apart. Does that count? Thanks for helping a Mac rookie out.

[gwoodpecker]

You're welcome!