Black "Restart" Screen - In 5 Languages

My nephew's iMac 4,1 had slowed to a crawl and was freezing. We bumped the machine up to 2GB and upgraded to 10.6.3. All appeared to go well, but he is now experiencing the screen greying out (like just before the screen goes black for inactivity) and a black box slowly descends with the words, "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button until it turns off, then press the Power button again." Message is repeated 4 more times in French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. Anybody ever see this? It has happened at least 4 times in the 5 days since we did the upgrade. Is this the Mac equivalent of the PC Blue-Screen-Of-Death? Is this symptomatic of a dying MotherBoard? Did my $50 fix NOT forestall the purchase of a new Mac?
Thanks in advance.
Alex

Do not attempt to update a Mac until it is running perfectly.
Kernel panics are generally hardweare related, often due to faulty of badly seated RAM modules.
What is a Kernel Panic?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742
and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1892?viewlocale=en_US
http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2002/tn2063.html
More details here:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
Useful articles on how to avoid and eliminate kernel panics here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10344626-263.html?tag=mfiredir
http://www.macworld.com/article/2027201/how-to-troubleshoot-a-kernel-panic.html# tk.nl_mwhelp

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Trying to install and get black restart screen

I've been trying to install an extra version of Tiger on a back up drive I have. I'm finding it very hard to do however and I was wondering if it might have anything to do with having a TT Pro edrive also on the back up drive? I've tried installing Tiger several times and once I did get it installed but upon trying to start it up I just got the black restart screen again. I've never had any trouble using this drive for random storage and back up before.
As a last ditch effort I have removed the edrive and I am erasing and zeroing the drive completely. I guess I'll then reformat it and give it a try again and see what happens then, unless someone else has any suggestions.

Try the following user tip:
Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates

Restart screen in four languages?

Please help. Every single time I turn on my iBook G4 it boots up just fine and my wallpaper comes up and everything seems to load just fine. Then all of a sudden the whole screen dims gray and in the center a box appears telling me to restart my computer in four different languages. So, I do...and it happens again and again. This has been going on for a day or so now... Whats wrong?
Steve

Hi Steve,
welcome to Apple Discussions!
This is a kernel panic. First idea that comes to mind is "did this start to happen right after upgrading RAM?"
but you'd better have a good read of this article for methodical troubleshooting:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388?viewlocale=en_US
(isolating issues in Mac OS X)
see also:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1392
(what is a kernel panic?)

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Big trouble with the upgrade to 10.4.6. Went through software update and it appeared to be goig fine until the error that the pkg had to be reinstalled because of an error. Then clicked off that and computer hung. Waited 20 minutes with no results (and could not do anything) so tried to relaunch the Finder to get unstuck. Then nothing worked, Held power button to restart, and siince then, cannot get past the black screen at start up.
Have restarted ok from the tiger disc and did a first aid disk repair with one fix to the hard drive, but then no change in the results. Looked at start up disks from the drop downs and saw that the HD says 10.4.6.
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I have no other Mac w/firewire.
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Hi thetomkat4,
if you can follow Gullivers advice redarding booting in save mode and after repairing the permissions on your startup disk,
I'ld recommend you to install Tiger on your ext HDD, too. Or an a partition on your startup disk, in case you've made partitions.
My system is running in this manner, with the external always one system version "behind", so I can be sure that it will work. And if my normal startup disk will not work I can start my iMac from the external disk, pressing "option" on startup.
For updating your system always walk through a recommended and long tested method, which you can read here: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060403142321217
under the headline: Update process recommendation
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If you don't own the "killer-app" for system-troubles, DiskWarrior from Alsoft, think about to buy it. It's worth the price and if you do a search here on "discussions" you will only hear positive comments about this masterpiece of software. Running it before and after an update (it's on a bootable cd-rom) will eleminate all possible bugs in your system. I highly recommend it.
I hope that helps
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10.5.3 update and the black- restart screen results

Yesterday i loaded the new update and on restart got the black screen on my new 24 inch Imac. Called it a day. Today I did a restore from my time machine g-drive and am back to running without the new update but with all files intact. The restore works great.
I do run vmware fusion on this machine and am wondering if I should delete the enhanced app. bundle in library before trying again or am I just barking up the wrong tree?

I have finally got the upgrade loaded but not without a few problems. I did work all the suggestions and still was stuck with the kernal panic. This time it took a while to develope and was not immediate as it was the first time i loaded 10.5.3. I was able to restart and open disk utility and run permission repair. So far the system is working fine. My guess is that Apple has a problem between the update software and some configuration on the imac. Next I will try my laptop. hmmmmm. Thanks for the help it gave me just enough so i could get on the road again.

Restart screen in 4 languages?

wihle online using Firefox 2.0 every once in a while I get a shaded screen that drops down over my desktop and has a" restart by pressing the power button" message in 4 different languages? I can do nothing except press the power button to turn it off, or unplug it? what is this all about?
anybody get the same thing? It seems to happen when on my encrypted company web site, of course the IT guys there say it is not from them?
iMAC Intel 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)
iMAC Intel 20" Mac OS X (10.4.9)

What you are seeing is called a kernel panic. Usually it is caused by a hardware problem. Bad RAM is often the culprit.
Clues as to what is causing it can be found in the /Library/Logs/panic.log file.
Have a look at this article for some more troubleshooting tips:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html

Black restart screen? Did my computer just crash?

I was working with my computer last night when my computer displayed a translucent black screen, and infromed me that I needed to restart the computer. Is this a system crash? I have had occasional software freezes when working with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 but....this is the first time I have ever seen this. My Powerbook is less than a year old. Any ideas or does this happen occasionally?
Thanks Ed

You did indeed have a kernel panic, and to answer another question, these are not an occasional part of the joy of computing. If you simply restart and carry on, you may compound problems, so it is a good idea to do some maintenance. Use the install disk to start up and then run First Aid -- running it from the DVD disk means the hard disk is not mounted so repairs are more effective.
It is a good idea to get to the bottom of a KP, so I would suggest looking at the FAQs on Dr Smoke's site before you go too much further.
A fresh install is one way to deal with a problem that has its root in software, but it is somewhat of an extreme step and not usually necessary.

I keep getting the iTunes help screen in German Language on restart, how do I stop this?

Ugraded to iTunes 10.5 and now on restart I keep getting the iTunes help screen in German Language how do I stop this?

Hi Thanks,
I could only see posts from some months ago and thought I had something different.
Looks like I have not been using the correct search terms.
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Desktop restart shows flickering black/white screen, then black. Could not restart. Anyone else with this issue?

Desktop restart shows flickering black/white screen, then black. Could not restart. Anyone else with this issue?

Have the PRAM battery looked at. It may be all that is needed.

Grey screen restart in several different languages

My ibook G4 (2005/6) greys out. My friend's computer did the same thing and replaced the airport card and sorted the problem. My apple dealer told me it was logic board? My airport card isn't easily found as the puter is older.
what do I do.

Hi wickovski, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Grey screen restart in several different languages
That is a Kernal Panic, your dealer may be right. See if it does it trying below.
Could be many things, but it's best to start with these two steps, which may fix it also...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Tiger Mac OS X Install disc , then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, *you must select your language first.)*
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.
Safe Boot... holding Shift key down at bootup. Safe Boot is a special way to start Mac OS X 10.2 or later when troubleshooting.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392
Have you booted off the Install Disk by holding the *d key* down at boot-up, (not the c key), and run the extended Apple HW Test? Some Install disks require holding the Option key at bootup to select the AHT. Some Macs came with separate AHT CDs.
Here's the list and downloads for AHT...
http://www.info.apple.com/support/aht.html

Out of nowhere i get a black & gray screen saying to restart

this has happened 3 times since ive gotten my 12" powerbook less than 3 weeks ago. just out of nowhere, doing normal tasks, i get a black & gray screen that takes up most of the screen. it says to press and hold the power button to restart the computer. why is it doing that? the only thing i can think of is my ram, cuz i upgraded it. but i ran the hardware checker from the installation dvds and it said everything was fine. nothing wrong with the ram or any hardware. so how do i fix this and why is it doing this? im not sure whether i had these peripherials connected the other times, but i use a 250gb firewire hard drive most of the time. and i had a 160gb usb hard drive connected this last time (dont use a whole lot). this time i had both connected though.

Steve,,
I've got an iMac G5 and have exactly the same problem. Mine started after I installed Tech Tool Pro. 4.5 update and eDrive. I took the eDrive off but it didn't help and start-ups were only occasionally successful (the computer was getting confused between my system and the eDrive's system).
I ran Tech Tools, Disc Warrior and Disk Utility - all from disc, but to no avail. I will always get the black and grey "crash" screen when the computer is cold, and may have to restart 3 or 4 times before the computer runs. Then it is unstable for 5 or 10 more minutes and may crash in the middle of any activity. Nothing seems to be lost in the crashes and I run Disk Utility every time I get the system up and running. It always gives me this message:
Determining correct file permissions.
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/Widgets. New permissions are 16877
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./usr/lib/php/build/acinclude.m4. New permissions are 33060
I'll check my hardware as was suggested by another user. Thanks for sharing your "challenge".
MH

Multi-language Restart Screen at Startup???

Hello,
My MBP has started showing me the multilanguage 'You must restart your machine' screen every time I attempt to start it up. In the last week or so it has been taking much longer to start up and some weird things have been happening like it take a long time for the icons to load up when I open my Applications folder.
I am on a 13" MBP, the 2.4 dual core model and have 8 gigs of third party ram installed. The ram has been in the machine since September and has worked just fine (both the ram and machine were bought brand new).
Just a few other points, I can not boot off of the Leopard install disk, it just hangs then I get the same restart screen however I can load up my windows partition (bootcamp) and it works just fine.
I'm not sure if its a kernel thing and my ram has gone bad or what but I can't get into the OSX side of my computer no matter what I do. I have everything backed up so reformatting won't be a problem if that would solve it but I can't even get to the disk to do it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.

You need to attempt to restart it with the gray DVD that came with it. If it was purchased last September, then no other DVD will be able to boot it. If you do get it to boot, then run the diagnostics from Disk Utility. Also, you should run the hardware test that is available on the same DVD.
bd

I downloaded Mountain Lion OSX three days ago. On start-up my IMac shows a black DOS screen. Must unplug the Mac to restart. Please help!

I downloaded OSX Mountain Lion three days ago. On startu my IMac shows a black DOS Screen. I must hard boot and it works. Does anyone have the same problem?

vonundzu wrote:
Same problem here...
"I did an upgrade from OSX Lion to OSX Mountain Lion and I also get a black boot screen ONLY from a cold startup. If I type exit, my macbook pro startsup normally."
I already made a clean install and it didn't fix anything - the issue still exists (on my MBP 5.1 late 08)
BUT: the most horrible thing is: I also tried to downgrade to 10.7.4 (it worked perfectly before the update to 10.8!!!) and after being back on 10.7.4 it also boots (cold boot) into single user mode...
Now I'm back on 10.8 again (the 2nd clean install) and waiting for a fix...
I tried everything (alls kinds of commands, permission rights and reset all PRAM NVRAM SMC... no luck!)
A friendly guy on the german applehotline told me (after 2h telling him what my problem is): "mountain lion didn't break your mac it must be a hardware error and your mac is out of warrenty - so have a good one...bye"
Maybe apple will bring an update to fix this because it is ofcourse a software error...
Best regards from Germany
I hope Apple brings an update too. I still have this problem. I also tried to do a clean install, which was a lot of work! So it must be a software problem.
I find it really annoying to get the black boot screen every time I do a cold startup!
I hope more people who have the same problem post something here, to let Apple now that they have to do someting about it!
Best regards from the Netherlands.

Got Black "You must Restart" screen, won't boot after. only restart screen!

I was browsing craigslist when i got the slow creeping down "You must restart blah blah blah screen..."
After obliging the machine's wish and restarting, it started to boot as normal. After an unusually long boot cycle, i got the same Restart screen. I removed the battery and reset power management because of a post that I found with a similar problem. After that, it goes through the boot system and then just shuts down.
It just continually does the same thing. I believe i left my install discs at work, so am working without them.
I logged in to single user mode and ran fsck -fy , and found it to come back with this result:
** /dev/rdisk0s2
** Root file system
** Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
** Checking Extents Overflow file.
** Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
(4,36954)
** Volume check failed.
/dev/rdisk0s2 (hfs) EDITED WITH SIGNAL 8
:/ root#
anyone know what the **** is going on??
I can't run diskutil in single user and verbose shuts down when trying to boot.

Not bickering at all. Are all discussions "bickering"?
Topher, let me get this straight. How does one determine something is wrong? DU? DW? Other Utilities? What if, after an A&I, these Utilities show nothing wrong? Still recommend an Erase and Install?
This is like the "permissions" debates of yesteryear. My analogy was and is the same. I keep an elephant stone in my house. It wards off elephants. Not one elephant since I bought that stone.
A lot of people around here seem to have this type of thinking as regards someone else's data, time, and effort. It's not that complicated.

My iBook G4 only goes to a black 'Darwin' screen when it boots up. How do I get it to boot up normally again?

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Thank you so much for replying; unfortunately, my screen had already gone gray by the time I read your reply and I had to take in to the Genius Bar. My laptop's up and running, but the main problem is still unknown and I'll have to buy a new one soon. Thanks again!

Black "Restart" Screen - In 5 Languages

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