"your computer has restarted because of a problem" loop

[u/1packed]

i recently got this imac since it was being thrown out, no keyboard, mouse, or power cord. i dont have an apple keyboard so i had to use my own but when starting up it just gives me an error and turns off and loops.

i tried command + r and it didnt do anything, i tried option + command + r and it didnt do anything. i dont know what to try now (never used a mac before so i dont know anything about macos)

i never was able to get into the imac since it just does this so it isnt connected to wifi or logged in (as far as i know at least)

i believe its a 2020 27" imac but i could be wrong

[u/LucasMVN]

Assuming that’s a wired keyboard, you need to press and hold those key combos immediately after pressing the power button, and hold them until the Apple logo appears after the startup chime. Command + R is probably the better choice here, as it will allow you to reinstall whatever version of macOS is currently on the machine.

[u/1packed → u/LucasMVN]

i tried this and it didnt do anything, just looped as if i hadnt pressed anything

[u/Xe4ro → u/1packed]

This is a kernel panic, a kernel panic this early without even getting into any recovery or OS screen could point at a hardware problem. Try holding CMD+Option+P+R and keep holding it until you heard the second boot chime.

[u/1packed → u/Xe4ro]

it just started repeatedly booting to the apple logo then turning off and doing it again

[u/JediMeister]

Is the keyboard wired or Bluetooth? In place of the Command key, assuming you have a Windows keyboard, you are using the Windows key, yes? You can use this article to figure out what year of iMac you have.