I get a Cannot Initialize HD on my iMac 350 DV

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
A very nice friend of ours gave to us his mom's iMac who past away, and i need to update it, and would like to install OS-X, but i need to put in it OS 9.2.2, so that my son can use it for educational stuff.



I went to erase all of the info on the HD, but i get a msg, in disk-utilities of the OS 9-Install Disk that "Cannot intialize a read-only disk"



How can I correct this, so that I can "initialize" / erase this HD.



I am sure that it is simple, but I was a NeXTSTEP user for a long time, so i jumped from one to another without a hitch. Plus this will be our son's computer and most of his education stuff is on OS 9, but as i said before, I also want to install X, but i need to do a bunch of updates on this machine before I can do that.



Thanks for all suggestions and help

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    insert 10.3 install disk

    boot from CD

    choose "erase and install" option (MAKE SURE TO INSTALL OS 9 DRIVERS FOR THE HD)

    customize the installation (get rid of any fonts/printer drivers that you don't need)

    install

    update with software update to latest OS

    repair permissions, etc (follow the GB FAQ thread)

    insert os 9 install cd

    boot from CD

    customize 9 to your liking

    install

    boot from new os 9 folder

    update from software update to 9.2.2 (if that doesn't work download the standalone updater from apple)

    choose 10.3 folder from startup disc control panel

    boot into 10.3.2

    start classic, let it do it's thing

    sw update

    repair permissions and other "quick fixes" (see above)

    that should do it (oh, and could a mod move this to the GB?)
  • Reply 2 of 3
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Genius Bar material.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    ...



    paul, i thought you are mod - from the state of your well prepaired answers.



    best
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