Wow that seems like quite the dilemma... You can get it apart fairly
easy, you just have to pop out the video port cover (whether it has
video or not, just slip a flathead screwdriver into the slot of the
panel near the back) then undo two screws under that panel, and two
near the sockets of the folding bar. The bottom part should lift off,
giving you access to the metal shield. There are I believe, about 6
screws holding this down, two near the front, around the HD and
optical drive, two near the middle, and two at the back. Be careful
with these, they are VERY easy to drop down inside the computer. The
best way to take these out is with a slightly magnetized screwdriver.
Next, unplug the HD and CD drive cables, then unscrew the 4 screws
holding down the bracket that has the HD and CD drive in it. Next,
unscrew the screws in the sides, that hold the HD and CD in the bracket.
You now have the HD and CD drive out.
I had this problem once with an iBook; the one sure way to get the CD
out is to pop the top off the CD drive itself. Just get a small
screwdriver, and unscrew the screws in the top of the drive. Just look
at how it's put together, since every CD drive is different. It may
have clips holding it down on one side, or something like that. Once
you have the top off, just take the CD off the spindle. There you go.
Also, you can install OSX with the HD in another Mac, then put it back
in the iMac. Just make sure it's a compatible system; most slot-
loading iMacs will run anything from OS 9.1 to 10.4. However there
were a couple that could only run 10.3.
I've seen that happen before with older macs that have OS9 and OSX on
the same HD, sometimes it can be a pain to start in OS9 because it
restarts and boots into OSX.
Another possibility, is to insert a system disk (If you get the CD
drive working, or you could use an external FireWire device) and reset
the password. I think (A very big think) you don't have to have the
matching OS disk to do this, for example, if it's running 10.2 you can
reset the password with a 10.4 disk. If you have the matching system
disk, though, try that first.
Anyways, hope this was helpful, hope you get it working!
-Elliott
On Aug 22, 2009, at 7:56 AM, Jasiu wrote:
>
> Ok, I tried the paper clip thingy without success. I went into open
> firmware and typed "eject cd" but it said it couldn't do it. I tried
> holding down the mouse button and rebooting, also without success.
> Another strange thing is when you start up the little OS9 happy mac
> shows up and then it eventually goes into OS X. Once it goes to OS X
> it asks me for a password which I don't know. So it never goes any
> further. How hard are these computers to get apart? Can I replace
> this hard drive with another? But then I can't load another OS
> because the CD/DVD won't eject what is in it. Catch 22. Any ideas??
>
> On Aug 20, 11:25 am, Bruce Johnson <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>> On Aug 19, 2009, at 8:42 PM, Cyrus Griffin wrote:
>>
>>> This doesn't work with slot-loading iMacs. Or with any slot-loading
>>> macs, for that matter...
>>
>> Yes it does. It's hard to find but all slot-loaders have a manual
>> eject on the far right hand lower side of the drive slot. You may
>> have
>> to look for it by shining a flashlight at the slot and pressing down
>> the 'fur'. I've gotten disks out of defunct slotloaders in Powerbooks
>> this way.
>> --
>> Bruce Johnson
>> University of Arizona
>> College of Pharmacy
>> Information Technology Group
>>
>> Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs
> >
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