(IMac issues) I don't own it

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1

hi

My friend gave me his imac though it doesn't boot up and i cant boot into safe mood using the shift key. I was thinking of making a bootable usb with the the latest ios to replace/update the old os;  plus i already have the software. How should i go about forcing the mac to boot from the usb and not its internal HHD.

 

PS

Its out of warranty willing to fiddle with the internal structure if needed, maybe to reset the cmos chip but idk what do you people think?   

 

2

Hard to say what's wrong with it.

If it's just a matter of your USB not being recognized, you can boot it up with the Knoppix universal boot thing, then boot from your USB into the OSX installer.

A CMOS clear would be a good way to start though, maybe it's just a BIOS thing.

3

option key not shift, also try the c key