stuck on snow leopard, no buttons on startup

[TIGER SUS]

My imac 4,1 is stuck on snow leopard (can't boot into any of the menus on startup)

how can i fix that?

btw the usb i am trying to boot is windows 10 32 bit

[BondiBlue]

You'll need to use a DVD to install Windows on that iMac. I definitely wouldn't recommend using Windows 10 though. Windows 7 already performs pretty poorly on those machines. If you want a newer operating system you'll want to use a Linux distro of some kind. 

[TIGER SUS]

52 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

You'll need to use a DVD to install Windows on that iMac. I definitely wouldn't recommend using Windows 10 though. Windows 7 already performs pretty poorly on those machines. If you want a newer operating system you'll want to use a Linux distro of some kind. 

i tough it supported usb booting

[HeroRareheart]

7 minutes ago, TIGER SUS said:

i tough it supported usb booting

On a iMac that old, no. It also can't boot off media in the fat32 format. You CAN however USB boot if you first boot off of a Plop DVD/CD as this stackexchange thread mentions.

1 hour ago, BondiBlue said:

I definitely wouldn't recommend using Windows 10 though.

I also do not advise using Windows 10 due to it losing support in about 2 years and being a VERY heavy OS for such old hardware. You are of course free to do whatever you want to do, it's your stuff after all, but I personally would advise taking a dip into the Linux world.

Hope this helps, and if you do decide to look into Linux do not be afraid to ask questions.

[HeroRareheart]

Just now, htimsenyawed said:

It's now one of my homelab servers running Ubuntu Server with Docker containers deployed on it sitting at 22C vs. 90C idle with a modern GUI based operating system.

YOu just gave me an idea on what to do with my army of old iMacs in my attic, Linux computing cluster XD

[HeroRareheart]

4 minutes ago, htimsenyawed said:

 

Do it. I have 2 x 2012 Mac Minis and 1 x 2012 MacBook Pro all with SSDs and 16GB of RAM in my cluster of old Applinux experiments.

 

I have a couple of Lenovo PCs as well.

I have 6 in various condition from the 2008-2012 era. TBH I kinda wanna take the money to fix them all up and max them out.

[HeroRareheart]

3 minutes ago, htimsenyawed said:

 

It's not a lot of money if you do it over time. 16GB of RAM is about $30 now, and then whatever 2.5 SATA SSD you want to throw in them. So let's say $180 for RAM and then $300 for SSDs, you're at $500. Spread that out over a few paychecks and then you'll be like me.

Well some of the 2012 models can go up to 32GB. Ther's a few other issues with them though. Bad temp sensors, missing glass pannels, ect that need taking care of. I'm looking at closer to 600-700.

[BondiBlue]

2 hours ago, TIGER SUS said:

i tough it supported usb booting

Yes and no. Technically it can boot from USB, but those iMacs tend to be very picky about doing so, especially when trying to install Windows. A DVD is a much better option.