[X4U] Problem with iMac

[Michel Treisman]

I was trying to help  a friend who, at the age of about 80, a couple of 
months ago bought himself an iMac and is trying to find his way around 
it.  He has computed before but not for the last ten years. His last 
experience was with a IIxc.

I tried to show him how to trouble shoot, and tried to start it up in 
Single User mode - pressing Command-S while rebooting.  But the iMac 
wouldn't produce the Unix display.  What I got was a little square box 
in the center of the screen with a mixture of queries and a picture of 
the globe showing America - and after a while the iMac booted up on the 
hard disk as usual.  It came with Mac OS X 10.3.5 from the Apple Store, 
with a promise of a free upgrade to Tiger, which hasn't yet happened.

So then I tried to check the hard disk by booting up on a CD with 
DiskWarrior 3.0.2. on it.  I pressed "C" during startup, but that 
wouldn't work either -  more Queries, and pictures of the globe, and it 
started up on the hard disk.

Is there any  reason I don't know about  why an iMac, or Mac OS X 
10.3.5 should not allow Single User Mode, and not boot up on a CD? What 
is the next step?

Mike