IMac froze, white screen on startup

Last night I had a freeze of my iMac. It locked up emptying the trash. Firefox would not quit or force quit. In the end I pressed the power button to close it down. Then it would not boot and just displayed a white screen (no apple). I left it for 30 minutes, disconnected all cables except the keyboard. It then booted OK and Techtools reported all passess, including surface scan.
I might have had an overheated CPU after many hours of video processing. Or too many firewire devices. Or ...
However, There do seem to be a lot of similar problems in today's discussions - 1st June 2009!
The video processing was using an Elgato Turbo 264. That is working OK now but maybe it had problems?
I will gradually reconnect devices and see if the iMac freezes again.

HI Michael,
Can you post a crash log here?
How to locate a crash log:
1. Open Finder.
2. Click "Go" in the menu, then select "Go to Folder".
3. Copy and paste this path into the Finder dialog: ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/
4. Click the Go button.
5. Finder opens the folder containing the crash log. Look for a the crash file with a date field that *looks like the most recent.*
Carolyn

Similar Messages

Imac has white screen and spinning wheel and will not boot up---after lion install

imac has white screen and spinning wheel and will not boot up---after lion install

Please read Gray screen appears during startup.

Help with white screen on startup PLEASE!

My new imac is only showing a white screen on startup. I am not really confortable with mac's yet to start trying a bunch of different things, I did try a restart where you press four buttons (p and r restart I think).
I made an appt. tomorrow for the mac store. My question to you is, is this a hard drive issue. I have read a little that others have had this problem...did you loose everything on your hard drive?
Thanks guys,
Michelle

To add to the conversation, my iMac has decided not to start up any further than the grey screen with apple logo and scrolling symbol. I haven't a clue what to do with it!
I tried doing a safe boot but that didn't work. I then tried to access the disk utility repair but i upgraded the operating system on my comp to tiger so i don't know if i should be using that cd or the one that came with my computer thus old operating system.
If anyone could shed any light on this i'd be most gratefull.. i hear reports of needing a replacement hard drive.... nooooooooooooo

I get a white screen at startup that turns to checkerboard pattern

My iMac Intel 2012 20" displays white screen at startup then the screen turns to a checkerboard pattern adn goes no futher.
Thanks

My iMac Intel 2012 20" displays white screen at startup then the screen turns to a checkerboard pattern adn goes no futher.
Thanks

HT2452 White screen at startup and stays?? How can I get past this?

White screen at startup and stays?? How can I get past this?

Safe Boot is perfoming a disk integrity check and repair process which may take a long time. Let it complete, though if the startup disk requires repair to begin with, it is likely already in a failed state.
If the Mac eventually starts, take that opportunity to back up your important data if you have not already done so. It may be your last.

Intel OS X 10.7 iMac has white screen and three-alarm sound, won't start up

Intel OS X 10.7 iMac has white screen and three-alarm sound, won't start up

The 3 beeps during start-up are telling you that the RAM is bad.
If you can access the RAM modules, you may try taking them out and putting them back in, perhaps it's only bad contacts.
If that doesn't help, you'll need new RAM module(s).

My imac has white screen and does't open

my imac has white screen and does't open

Great to hear Joe, thanks!
ML has several improvements & only 42 steps backwards, compared to Lion's 3 steps forwards & 169 steps backwards!

Imac cant pass apple logo with white screen at startup!

Topic clear..
After starting white screen with apple logo (not clear) and in a min screen turns off.. Can you identify what my problem with? lcd panel? graffic card? or else?
Screens:
http://cid-b0bc35141d9aad6e.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/imac/ss1.PNG
http://cid-b0bc35141d9aad6e.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/imac/ss2.PNG
Thanks.

That are very strange pictures. That looks like a Graphic Card issue but I was having almost the same problem only my Apple Swirling Gear Looks Normal. But the Swirling Gear stops at about 1 or 2 turns & just freezes & sits there indefinitely. First some said Hard Drive but the Tech ran Tests & the HD Passed. The Senior Tech from Apple said it was the Logic Board. So the Logic Board is being replaced tomorrow.
Can you boot up to the Install Disc? I couldn't. At first I could get it to startup by Pressing Power Button & trying 10 times in a row. Same with Install Disc. It kept turning & making a lot of noise, but would not boot to Disc. I finally got the Disc to Boot & did an Erase & Install, but I still had the problem. I would see if you can do an Erase & Install first.You may get Lucky & your problem might just be Software related. Mine was not.

IMac Freezes at white screen during startup

Hello,
I was off of my iMac for an hour or two so my screen saver when on. I went to wake the computer and it was frozen. I tried using the keyboard and mouse to wake up the computer from the screen saver, but it would not work, so I powered the iMac down manually from the button on the back. I let it sit for 15 minutes, then I tried to start the computer up again. Now at start up, I get to a blank white screen with the spinning moving pin wheel, and that is it. Any suggestions?

You could try to use SafeBoot mode on startup, essentially you'd hold the Shift
key down on startup, perhaps you may need to login after waiting quite awhile,
then continue holding the shift key down until you see a traditional desktop.
And then use Disk Utility to verify HDD, & repair disk permissions.+ Restart.
Or if you have a system install-restore DVD, boot from that and have the
Installer's version of Disk Utility check verify repair the hard disk drive.
It can also repair disk permissions, too, from the booted version of D.U.
Then when it is done, choose the startup disk from installer menu options.
The DVD should eject, but if not, it should be ignored as a boot volume
after you've chosen the Mac HD as a boot system.
PS: If your computer is now running a system later than Snow Leopard,
where no DVD would be needed if it has a Recovery partition in the HDD
then you could see about booting into Recovery (command + R) to access
the later system's OS X Utilities, and choose Disk Utility to check/repair, etc.
These may help.
Good luck!
edited

My imac stuck on white screen on startup

hi i got a late 2009 27" imac with i7, recently i restart the imac, it just keep stuck on the white screen right after i hit the power, no apple logo no chime, just blank white screen. i unplug the power cord for 1 hour and plug back in still the same.

Start your computer with the original DVD that came with system and repair your disk with disk utility, also repair permissions. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417

My imac 27 inch is stuck on white screen at startup why?

How come my imac is stuck on white screen?

If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitirion & use Disk Utility from there.
If that doesn't help, reinstall the OS.

My iMac is giving me a blank white screen at startup help

I just installed the sims 3 on my iMac and after the installation it kept giving me the spinning wheel so I restarted it. Once it restarted it just gave me a blank white screen for thirty minutes so I restarted it and held the option key so I could go into the recovery HD and repair the disk but still blank white screen. Now I've run out of ideas.

Brendan,
I would post this in the iMac forum for a quicker reply.

My Mac won't boot past white screen and startup keys won't work

Hello. I have an iMac not sure what year.
So about a year ago it froze and wouldn't restart, so I neglected it for a year. Now that this my only fixable Mac I have been researching to fix it. I was able to boot into safe mode about a week ago for a little bit but then it froze again. Ever since then none of the startup keys work, even resetting the PRAM, I heard the second ding and then it just brings up the cursor on the white screen with no disk options.
I have an external disk drive connected to the USB I'd like to boot my Mountain Lion from but since the start up keys don't work I don't know how to do that.
Any help would be incredible, I do not care about saving anything from the computer I just want it to work. I hate dealing with the "geniuses" so that's not an option.
Thanks

When you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key and you should be able to boot into the Recovery Partition if you have Lion, Mt. Lion or Mavericks on the internal HD. If even the Option key does not work then your keyboard may have dead batteries or be defective and in need of replacement.
If you have ML on the EHD as a bootable clone then you should be able to boot from it.
My best guess is you have a failed HD though, my advice is to take it in for professional diagnosis to your local Apple Store or AASP and get a quote on what is wrong then decide how you want to proceed.

White Screen during Startup

Everything was working fine on the Mac until about an hour ago when I tried to install software updates and then the screen fades and a message pops up saying the computer needs to be restarted by holding down the power button.
After doing that, the computer is now stuck on a blank white screen every time it is restarted. FYI, there is no external hard drive connected to the computer. Here's what I have tried thus far to troubleshoot:
Completely disconnect from the electrical outlet and restart.
Restart with the OSX Install disc in (also tried this holding down "c", both times just goes straight to white screen and won't do anything else)
Tried resetting PRAM (it made the second chime but still wont go past the white screen)
Restart in single-user mode and safe mode (still just stuck on the white screen)
Tried restarting with any USB cables disconnected
Tried restarting with the Ethernet cord disconnected while holding down the D key per the instructions in the "Everything Mac" book (only thing connected was the keyboard + mouse)
NONE of this has worked or caused any different result, it's still just showing a blank white screen.
Can anyone suggest another possible solution or cause for this problem?
Thanks!

My iMac is brand new, barely 2 months old. I've been getting the white screen quite often at startup. The only way I can get past it is to hold down power and reboot. One thing I've noticed... I'm pretty sure it only happens when I have external drives connected. If I shut down with my hard drives mounted and restart, I tend to get a white screen. If I disconnect them, startup is perfectly fine. I'd hate to have to disconnect Time Machine every time I power down, though. What a pain. Just installed Snow Leopard; perhaps it will fix this (though it did not, sadly, fix the missing "new mail" sound, so who knows)?

White screen at startup and no bluetooth

I have owned my iMac for 2 months.now at startup there is a white screen for 3 minutes.after it boots up the bluetooth wont work at all and can not be turned on.what do i do to fix this?

Should still be under warranty. Call Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775

IMac froze, white screen on startup

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for