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I overwrote mac OSX with linux and I can't change it back to OSX because I cannot boot to the apple recovery mode it only boots to linux so I am not able to reinstall Mac OSX or windows.

Owen Smith
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  • Which Mac do you have? (model, year, etc.) – jksoegaard Apr 20 '19 at 23:28
  • iMac from 2001 I think but I can't be sure because I cant get to OSX to check. – Owen Smith Apr 20 '19 at 23:28
  • Try comparing it to pictures found online of the various iMac model years. – jksoegaard Apr 20 '19 at 23:50
  • Note, serial number is sent in the clear. "A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software." http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php – historystamp Apr 21 '19 at 00:16
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    If it is from 2001 it definitely won’t boot Windows. It also probably shipped with OS 9 on a CD. – dwightk Apr 21 '19 at 00:16
  • Welcome to Ask Different, Owen. I’ve down voted this since Apple documents how to boot to internet recovery (see this answer on how to do that) - What steps are you following to try recovery mode boot? What error message or what image is on the screen when you “cannot boot to recovery”. You’ll need to help us with some details so we can help you. – bmike Apr 21 '19 at 14:12

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Since your Mac is from 2001, It most certainly won't run anything past Leopard (10.5) and may not even run Leopard (If it doesn't, then it would run Tiger (10.4). Regardless, you will need an installation disc for this appropriate version. Follow the instructions that come with the installer to install from the disc.

Recovery mode is persistent on newer Macs, but can be erased on older ones.

Ezekiel
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  • It's worth noting that a circa-2001 iMac will not have a Recovery Mode on the HDD at all. The Cmd-R Recovery Mode feature did not come along until Mid 2010 iMac hardware. – Trane Francks Jun 02 '19 at 21:05
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A circa 2001 iMac can run OS X Tiger 10.4.11 at the latest. You'll need installation media to boot the system. As well, the Linux installation will have partitioned and formatted the HDD in a fashion that OS X will not be able to use. As such, the very first step after booting to the installation media will be to run Disk Utility to remove and re-create the partition on the HDD. Once that is done, format the HDD as HFS+. After the HDD is successfully partitioned and formatted, the OS X installer will find a suitable installation target and your installation should proceed as normal.

Trane Francks
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