IBook will not boot - blank blue screen

I am a bit desperate and clueless. My iBook G3 500mhz OS10.3.9 will not book. When I was doing the latest update for security and QT it crashed. Now, when I start it I gets stuck on a blank blue screen. I tried to boot it from the panther 10.3 install CDs but no luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

maxit,
many thanks! the problem when i boot into safe mode and prompted for user name and password, it is not recognized. i keep getting a message of incorrect password and don't know how to get around it. this all started during the latest security download.
frustrating...

Similar Messages

Will not boot past blue screen

The present status is that my ibook g4 will no boot past the spinning wheel screen which hangs for a few minutes and then goes to the "Mac OS X" screen with the progress bar.
My first goal is to back up all of the data. I have a second IMac. Plus, I just purchased an external 500 gig hard drive just prior to when the error started. FYI the error started when I was going through the install process of the backup program supplied with the external hard drive. The program just asked me to restart the computer and that is where we are now.
The second goal of course is to fix the start-up issue. I have tried a number of the suggestions in previous posts including the following the install disk utilities to repair the disk.

I am having the exact same problem. I was just surfing the Internet this weekend and it completely froze and now it won't boot up. I no longer get a grey screen, at boot up, it goes from black to blue and then it hangs at the blue screen.
I have a TimeMachine and a Retrospect back up of my data but I can't boot to the Leopard Install CD which would let me restore my data.
I have tried just about everything, including booting in firewire target disk mode and connected to my old clamshell iBook G3. I was able to access my files, and I even reinstalled Tiger (couldn't use Leopard because it's not compatible with the G3). So there is a fresh copy of 10.4 running on my iBook G4 but it still will not boot up on its own.
No idea what to do at this point, but I would suggest not reformatting as it really didn't seem to help.

I have a 2005 g5 2.5 2g ram will not boot up ,blue screen with folder with finder icon question mark. have tried to boot from dvd disc by holding down ckey but all i get is apple logo and fans start running really fast.have tried hard drive in identcal g5

tried hard drive in another g5 but with the same result.can anybody suggest what might be wrong

had the same result on other g5 blue screen finder folder with question mark. i put the hard drive in the bottom bay of my g5 after and ran disk repair said disk ok .reparaired permissions tried hard drive in top bay again but with same result.
do i just disconnect the two connections on hard drive and then try your second suggestion?

Will not boot - Blank Gray Screen - Help!

I was trying to use Boot Camp to partition my new iMac to allow a small several Windows Applications. Followed (I think) online instructions including reformatting. When it looked like it was repeating the "formatting" I hit cancel figuring I would stop the partitioning and get advice......result was iMac shut down and now when I start I get the chime and a plane gray screen with no option to access or reboot. I tried PRAM (opions-control PR) and that did not get results......not sure what else to try.

Timetraveller wrote:
Hi Again Nerowolf and thanks for your help and patience.......sorry don't know the John Titor you mentioned.
Google "John Totor"
But I did try the DVD and holding down "C" while rebooting and while there was some hopful clicking no result. Do you have other suggestions.......am wondering if a trip back to the store might be a good move!
I suspect a hardware problem. Back to the store sounds like the appropriate thing to do.
Booting from a DVD has very little to do with the computer OS.
But first - do this, Sometimes it does miraculous things:
■ Shut down your computer. Turn the computer back on and immediately hold down Command-Option-P-R, continuing to press until you hear the startup sound for the second time. This resets the computer’s parameter random-access memory (PRAM).
IMPORTANT: Resetting PRAM may change some system settings and preferences. Use System Preferences to restore your settings.
■ If resetting PRAM doesn’t solve the problem, reset non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). When the “To continue booting ...” message appears, type “reset-nvram” and press Return. Then type “reset-all” and press Return.
Post back the results.

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen
my system:
new (month old) 24" intel imac, 2.8 ghz, 4 gb ram.
running: leopard (upgraded from tiger, which was pre-installed at purchase), installed 10.5.1 update right before this huge problem occurred.
install discs on-hand: two-disc tiget set, single leopard upgrade disc.
what led to this:
i wanted to install windows using bootcamp on a 50 gb partition.
at this point i was running leopard 10.5
i followed all bootcamp instructions, printing out the guide, as well. once i got into the windows setup, i was prompted to choose a partition to install windows. unlike the bootcamp guide, which showed three partitions, one clearly labeled "bootcamp", i saw only one partition. not wanting to risk writing over my mac partition, i quit the setup and rebooted the mac os. after some googling around, i looked for firmware updates (didn't need any), and then software updates. i decided to try updating to 10.5.1.
i then ran through boot camp again, deleting my previous windows partition, creating a new one, and moving forward as before. once again, i was only shown one partition to choose from in the windows setup. i exited the setup again to reboot through the mac os, but this time, i was only given a blank gray screen.
here's what i have tried so far:
booting from a CD, holding down the C or D keys: no response (in fact, i have to restart the computer holding down the mouse button to be able to eject the CD)
booting with option key held down: gray screen
booting with option key held down with external bootable firewire drive attached: the firewire drive appears as a boot icon, and i can click on it within a five second window, but then the screen freezes after that time period, and nothing changes
booting into target mode while attached to another mac: gray screen (no firewire icon, and drive never shows up on other mac)
resetting NVRAM: i'm able to hear the boot chimes, but no difference in performance. gray screen every time
Safe boot: nothing but a gray screen
Verbose mode: gray screen
Single user mode: gray screen
Single user mode with firewire drive attached: occasionally (not every time), i am able to get the white on black terminal to show up. from here, i'm able to run fsck, but it appears to only be checking the firewire drive. i have tried several times to boot from here, and once it took me to a blue screen with movable arrow cursor, but it never went beyond this.
is there anything else left to try before taking it to apple?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Casey Burns
Casey Burns Illustration and Design
http://CaseyBurns.com

I'd call Apple support at this point. You'll need
to put this issue on the record.
Call U.S. iPod and Mac technical support: 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273)
The wait may be long for an agent to come on the line
so expect that and have some other stuff to do in the meantime.
If you have the applecare protection plan, I'd ask about "onsite"
service.
I like your work ! Good luck !
Slim
Message was edited by: slimpikkunz

Mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Have a MacBook Pro. the computer will not boot up, the screen has black and white stripes and multi color bands as well.

Have a MacBookPro. The computer will not boot up. the screen has black and white bands with multi color bands as well.

Yeah it's dead. Take it to an Apple Genius Bar and have it checked out. Then buy a new one.

Ibook will not boot..blank blue screenl

That pretty much says it all. I've consulted the Apple Support doc on this, and I'm unable to boot in Safe mode, Single-User mode or Verbose mode. It simply will not go beyond the blank blue screen. (Needless to say, I'm posting from my husband's iBook.)
This started tonight when I booted up, signed in and had Safari launched. I launched iTunes, clicked on the podcast section of my library, selected a file and clicked the "i" for Info on the episode. Next I got the spinning beach ball. Unable to use Safari or iTunes and unable to even Force quit either of them thru Finder, I pushed and held the power button to Restart. And after that, it's been nothing.
Any other suggestions? Other than an Archive and Install? That is if I can find the install disks, which seem to be misplaced at the moment....

An update...
I'm not sure why I couldn't target my drive from husband's iBook, but it did work on Mac at the office. I selected my "bad" drive in Disk Utility on the work Mac and selected Repair Disk. When finished, it informed me that no repairs were necessary. I was able to copy off my files from the drive to rescue some items that were not backed up.
What does this mean, if no repairs were needed? Does that indicate that the drive is OK and the motherboard is bad? Or do I need to repair directory with something like Disk Warrior or perhaps reinstall the OS.
Thanks again for any assistance.

Ibook will not boot PLEASE HELP!!!!

Hi,
First the ibook booted then would come up with the kernel error: square box with "you need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button......
I then booted to single user mode and ran fsck -y which eventually came up with the all clear "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK"
I then restarted the system which booted to the blue screen with some quirky graphics towards the top. It will now not boot into single user mode, just black screen or multi-coloured stripy screen. When booting from the CD drive the sceen is just blue or black.
Okay, I have connected the ibook via fire wire to a powerbook, and re-booted the ibook in terminal mode which brings up the fire wire connect symbol on screen.
After a while the system stalls showing part of the symbol and the connection is frozen. I have tried to re-install tiger using the powerbook to initiate as the ibook will not. However, it freezes at 50% of install.
I changed the ram to iliminate a ram failure, however... still the same.
While I was in terminal mode I erased the disk using the disk utility from the PB and then ran the install again... still froze.
This looks more serious than I thought. I'm now thinking that it could be the hard drive or worse. I have tried to use the apple support phone # and it does not seem to work, 1800 275 2273.
I'm having some real bad luck here. Any ideas?

I ran the apple hard ware test disc. The quick test found no errors. The extended test freezes up completely. Now I'm really stumed. The logic board came up with know errors.
When the system froze on the extended test. I falsed a re-boot. However the screen went black so I could not run the test again. It seems like a time thing... the ibook can only run for a short period before it freezes. Then it has to shut down for a while before it can run again

Ibook will not boot

My ibook G4 will not boot up it satops at a blank white screen... I've tried resetting the PMU by using the shift-ctrl-option-power and restarting but no luck. Any ideas??
Thanks

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
If the iBook is on, shut it off.
Push the power button, and as the startup chime is ending, hold down the x key. This should allow you to boot into OS X.
If this doesn't work, check out these links to articles on recovering from the flashing question mark:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58042
http://www.bombich.com/mactips/openfirmware.html

Macbook Pro will not boot beyond grey screen. System freezes.

My Macbook Pro will not boot-up or get beyond the grey screen (with spinning gear wheel.) I've tried all the recommended actions: resetting PRAM, disk repair, permissions repair, re-boot in safe mode etc but still the problem persists. When viewing the safe-boot in verbose mode, the system seems to hang at the stage when it's checking the Airport & Ethernet - the last line on the page reads: "AppleBCOM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?"
Any ideas how to fix this without doing an Archive & Install?
I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them.
Any help gratefully received. Many thanks.

jfromplymouth wrote: ...I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them...
Archive and Install just affects the System files, so any apps you have should still be available afterwards. The Installer on the disk that came with your Mac, when you bought it, will tell you this before you proceed. Of course, you can always back out of the Installer if you feel chicken.
Notwithstanding it is still necessary to backup everything. You need to check that Time Machine is set to also backup your Applications folder. It might be set not to do this.
It may not be necessary to worry about this if you have the original installer disc(s). I think any stuff downloaded from iTunes etc can be re-downloaded. However, it's probably quicker to get Time Machine to backup your apps if you can afford the HDD space. It's bound to be quicker than re-downloading the stuff plus any updates. And of course there's those Apps that you have but forgotten about. What about them?

IBook will not boot from CD

Disk utility has found problems. Specifically it returned this info:
Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid node structure
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I have tried to restart the iBook using the original restore CD, the original install CD, the Leopard CD, the Tiger CD and Norton Utilities CD. The computer will read the discs but will not boot from them so I can't find a way to repair the effected volume.
Tried Parameter Ram but feel there are deeper problems; just don't know how to get to them.

knateb, Welcome to the discussion area!
Just for the record, your iBook shipped with a version of OS X somewhere between OS 10.4.2 and OS 10.4.4. Therefore it will never boot from a retail Tiger (10.4) disc.
Have you tried resetting the PRAM?
Have you tried resetting the open firmware? The procedure is
Start up into Open Firmware by pressing and holding the Command-Option-O-F key combination during startup.
At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
Press Return.
At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
Press Return.

Ibook will not Boot - goes to DOS, error message inside

Hi folks,
The old ibook (late 2004 model) is slowing down more and more, and yesterday refused to boot after crashing.
I left it booting on its blue screen for a while and it eventually went to a black dos screen with the following message:
SystemStarter[47]: The following StartUpItems failed to properly start:
/System/Library/StartUpItems/PrintingServices
- execution of Startup script failed
Now i'm assuming the problem is with the start up script, so I've looked around and done a few things suggested.
For example:
1. Reset the PMU ~ Shift - Control - Option - Power, waited for 5 secs, then rebooted, same problem.
2. Ran single user commands as detailed here http://missionitgroup.com/blog/?p=1490
Tried this twice to make sure, same thing happened. When checking the disk for errors (/sbin/fsck -fy) it would not find any volumes.
Also it would not run repairPermissions, it just kept giving me the options under diskutil, but not running the repair (Im assuming this may be due to it not being able to find any volumes)
3. Someone has suggested running the Mac from its original startup OS X DVD.
The problem is that there is a DVD (movie) already in the drive and pressing eject does not eject it.
4. I put the ibook into Firewire mode with it attached to my iMac. The iMac could see the DVD that was in the ibook drive but could not see the ibooks harddrive.
sooooo!!!!! a bit lost as where to go from here, any help would be greatly appreciated!?

Drewdrops,
That is a link for a SATA (Serial ATA) drive) which will not work. You need a PATA or Parallel ATA drive, also called ATA, Ultra ATA or IDE drive. The drive in the link you sent is also a 3.5" drive. You will need a 2.5" notebook drive for your iBook.
After you get the new HD installed, you will have to boot from your Leopard install DVD, go to Disk Utilities again, select the drive in the list of volumes and click on the 'partition' button. select 1 partition (unless you would like more than one volume), make sure that "Mac OS Extended (Journelled)" is the format selected and then click 'partition'. You can then quit Disk Utility, and continue the installation. If you click on the 'options' button in the first install pane, you will see the button, pre-selected, that says 'installs OS X for the first time'. That is the correct choice.
After the install is complete, you'll get the welcome window, set up your account, and get going on your iBook. Immediately go to software update in System Preferences and begin installing the myriad of updates. After each install and restart, return to software update again and again untill it finally says that "you are up to date". This entire process can take hours, but stick with it. One more thing that is very important.... After you are finished with updates, open Disc Utility in the Utilities folder that is within your Applications folder and drag that icon down to the dock. Open it, select your HD volume to the left (the upper one with numbers, not the sub-volume) and then click "Repair Disk Permissions". Apple recommends doing this after each time you install updates and generally at least once a month after that. The instructor in an OS X class that I once took, said that you should repair disk permissions every week.
To me, all of you symptoms would point to a failed hard drive and a replacement would most likely take care of the problem. Are there ever any guarantees, though?
Is there an Apple Store close to your location? You could make an appointment at their "Genius Bar" for a free check-up. They will look at your iBook, tell you what is wrong and how much it will cost to repair it at their facility. You are not required to have it repaired there. It's just s service they offer. Look at the bottom of the Apple Store or Support page. I believe there is information about making an appointment.
Let me know how it goes.
Randy

IMac will not start up - blue screen after months of Leopard use

I have an iMac G5 that will not start up. It hangs at the blue screen, but does not have the issue with the ApplicationEnhancer.bundle file. It will start up in safe mode.
This iMac will not start from a bootable external drive (the external drive can be used as a start up disk successfully with my iBook G4). The iMac's internal drive can be used as a start up disk for the iBook (via the target mode) and does not appear to have any problems. Does this seem like it is a hardware issue with the iMac? The iMac also hangs at the blue screen if I attempt to start up with the Leopard install disk after using the startup disk preference pane in safe start mode.
I have repaired permissions, verified the disk, etc., using the disk utility. I have cleared caches, preferences, and so on, using Mac HelpMate.

It may be that some of your login items might be incompatible with the mac. Also, try booting up from the install disk and repair your disk.

Ibook will not boot HELP!!!!

Hi,
First the ibook booted then would come up with the kernel error: square box with "you need to restart your computer. Hold down the power button for several seconds or press the restart button......
I then booted to single user mode and ran fsck -y which eventually came up with the all clear "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK"
I then restarted the system which booted to the blue screen with some quirky graphics towards the top. It will now not boot into single user mode, just black screen or multi-coloured stripy screen. When booting from the CD drive the sceen is just blue or black.
Has anyone any ideas what this could be

You are having kernel panics as shown in this Apple doc.#106227.
Do everything, in order, in Dr.Smokes Resolving Kernel Panics and don't leave out any steps.
Quote from Dr.Smoke "My FAQ is a roadmap: start at the beginning and work through to the end, following the instruction in the order specified, including the "If all else fails..." section if a cause or resolution is not found in an earlier troubleshooting step therein"
Here's more at a brody's KP site.
To get things going, try things in Apple doc.#106464.
Cheers!
DALE

IBook will not boot - blank blue screen

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for