10.4.9 Startup Prb. No blue or login screen - gray screen 4 black rectangle

Question

Hi -
I originally posted this in the Tiger forum but
other than buying a new computer and updating
Tiger to 10.4.11, which is not a current option,
there were no suggestions.
Hi everyone,
Machine Name: PowerMacG3series
Machine Model: PowerMac1,1
CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 450 MHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 1 MB
Memory: 704 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 1.1.1f4
A few weeks ago I updated my OS to 10.4 and last week to 10.4.9.
Has been running OK until today. When I start up, I get the
light gray screen with the gray Apple logo and dial-thing. Then
instead of refreshing into the blue screen with the startup progress
bar (the one before the login screen), the computer refreshes
into a light gray screen with four black rectangles (bricks) across
the top of the screen.
Startup Items:
Apache:
AppleShare:
AppServices:
AuthServer:
CrashReporter:
Disks:
FibreChannel:
IFCStart:
IPServices:
Metadata:
NetworkTime:
NFS:
NIS:
PrintingServices:
RemoteDesktopAgent:
SNMP:
A few days prior, I had installed a Flash Player update.
Permissions were fixed following update and restart was
fine. Restarts on subsequent days were also OK. All
peripherals were disconnected one-by-one
(USB CD-burner and Firewire external HD) but computer
restart failed as already described.
I did experience a Kernel panic a few days ago - but
restart was OK as were at least 4 subsequent start-ups:
Kernel Panic details:
Fri Dec 14 23:36:40 2007
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001032B4): jnl: bp @ 0x2152b640 changed size on me! (4096 vs. 4108, jnl 0x174de60)
Latest stack backtrace for cpu 0:
Backtrace:
0x000952D8 0x000957F0 0x00026898 0x001032B4 0x00248FEC 0x002496A0 0x002490D4 0x00248BBC
0x00247AF0 0x0022BFC0 0x000FE64C 0x000DB9F4 0x000E00D8 0x000DFD18 0x000DF96C 0x0023A574
0x0023DE68 0x000FC864 0x000F0584 0x002AB7F8 0x000ABB30 0xFF7FBAFF
Proceeding back via exception chain:
Exception state (sv=0x24762780)
PC=0x9004E84C; MSR=0x0000F030; DAR=0x07B66000; DSISR=0x42000000; LR=0x92C1A83C; R1=0xF007F330; XCP=0x00000030 (0xC00 - System call)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.9.0: Thu Feb 22 20:54:07 PST 2007; root:xnu-792.17.14~1/RELEASE_PPC
Restarted from installation CD - checked disks and permissions -
all OK. Changed startup disk to 10.4.0 on a second partition, computer
boots fine. Also boots from 9.2.2 on a second internal hard drive.
The only info I see in Console is for the successful startup, but
there may be a record of the failed startups somewhere else?
Where would one look??
Planning to reinstall 10.4.9 combo from this 10.4.0 partition. Not
planning to go to 10.4.11 until 10.4.9 is working again.
Any ideas on what might be the problem?
Thanks!
bdennehey
G3 B&W, 450 Mhz, 704Mb RAM, DVD-ROM Mac OS X (10.4.9) two internal HDs - one running 9.2.2 - other with 10.4.9 and 10.4.0 partitions

Answer 1

Grant:
The four bricks on gray background is a Display/Driver problem of some kind.
What display card are you running?
My first thought was a display problem - but the card seems OK (info below)
because tartups from any disk other than the one running 10.4.9 are OK.
If the driver were bad would one expect to see the
Gray Apple start-up? Do you think reinstalling the 10.4.9 Combo
is the best first approach to resolve the problem?
Thanks so much!
bdennehey
ATY,Rage128:
Chipset Model: ATY,Rage128
Type: Display
Bus: PCI
Slot: J12
VRAM (Total): 16 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x5245
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-57407-204
Display:
Resolution: 1024 x 768 @ 85 Hz
Depth: 32-bit Color
Core Image: Not Supported
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Quartz Extreme: Not Supported