Emac osx problem, blank home page, missing icons.

Question

Hello.   I am having trouble with my 2005 or 2006 (cant quite remeber) emac osx.  I get through the login portion and it then brings me to the home screen except their are no icons visable.  I also tried turning it on by holding done the option button, the apple button, and the P and R button.  This made it flash from a blue screen to the home screen with icons and then back to the blue screen repeatedly.  I am essentially trying to get off the harddrive about nine days worth of music.  If I can do this without logging into the computer through extracting the hard drive or some other method that tip would be appreciated as well.Thanks for all hope you can help! 

Answer 1

Some eMacs had serious, near-fatal logic board issues tha could produce the grief you describe. Before we go much farther, let's see if you have an eMac in the affected ranges.
First, look for the serial number. This article shows where to find it:
How to locate the serial number and identify your model
The bad logic boards affect many 1.25Ghz eMacs and the seldom-seen "edu-only" 1.0 ghz version with the later USB 2.0 logic board of the 1.25g. The computers affected were supposed to fall in these ranges:
G8412xxxxxx- G8520xxxxxx
YM412xxxxxx - YM520xxxxxx
VM440xxxxxx - VM516xxxxxx
If your serial number starts with "R" or "RM," then yours is a factory refurb and the above list won't help.
For security reasons, Apple doesn't want people posting there serial numbers here. Instead, simply tell us if your eMac falls in on of the affected number ranges. Then we can go from there.