Imac g4 won't boot; black screen

Hi,
I have a question about a friend's imac g4 (1.25 gz). When I press the power button I can hear the startup chime, but the screen stays black. At first I thought it was the display, so I started up in target disk mode; however, the hard drive would only show up in disk utility on the host computer. When I tried to verify and repair the disk I got an error. Here is a screen shot of what it said.
http://img812.imageshack.us/i/diskerror.png/
Was this error because disk utility said the hard drive wasn't mounted?
The imac's CD drive doesn't work, so I tried to use an external CD drive to boot from the install disk, but it didn't come up with the boot options when I held down the option key--just a black screen. If the hard drive was bad, would it cause a black screen?
Thanks in advance,
Peter

Keep in mind that you have to repair a drive with a Disk Utility version that is the same OS as the one you are trying to repair. Example, 10.5's Disk Repair on a 10.5 system. Otherwise you will get erroneous errors. If you did that, read on.
pythonkid94 wrote:
Was this error because disk utility said the hard drive wasn't mounted?
No, it said Disk Utility's Disk Repair couldn't fix it. It may be so damaged that it will not mount.
If Disk Utility can't fix it, you'll need a more robust utility to repair it.
I would recommend DiskWarrior. It is the best at directory repairs. It rebuilds then actually replaces your old directory. I feel every Mac owner should have a copy.
It also has File System repair now and hard drive S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics.
Make sure you get the disk so you can boot up on it to run repairs. You can also install it on another drive and run it from there to repair this one. DW works faster that way. But sometimes a badly damaged system can be deemed unrepairable by the installed version, but if booted and repaired from the DW disk it may be repairable. This has happened to me.
I use DW once a month to try and catch errors in my system from getting too far out of hand. It has repaired every little and big issue I have ever had with my three Macs.
If your friend has a good backup, hopefully a clone of your system before you had issues, an Erase and Install may also rid you of this issue. But, beware! You will lose everything on the drive with this procedure. Let us know if you need help with that!
Good Luck! DALE

Similar Messages

27" iMac Mountain Lion won't boot (Black screen) after switching to bootcamp

Hi,
I've been running Windows 7 in Boot Camp on Mountain Lion on my 1 month old 27" iMac without any problems. Tonight after I switched the startup partition to be boot camp the machine won't boot. I get the startup sound and the disks spin up, but the system just sits there with a Black Screen. There is no disk activity other than them spinning up.
I've tried starting the machine while holding the option key and also command-r, but nothing is happening. I have the feeling that the bluetooth keyboard has not had the chance to connect to the system before it is hanging.
I tried inserting a Lion OS DVD, thinking that it would at least complain and give me an option to boot back in to Mountain Lion. You can hear the DVD spin up and then go idle.
Any suggestions on how I can recover the situation?
Thanks in advance
Mick

The RAM mismatch might be the problem fix that.
Also backup/data recover naturally, assume TimeMacine or bootable clone is corrupted and backup only files to a storage drive
Most commonly used backup methods
Install OS X on a external drive and boot from it.
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Use Disk Utility on the booted clone to Erase with middle selection (Zero) the ENTIRE internal hard drive
Use Carbon Copy Cloner to reverse clone the clone onto the internal, copies the Recovery HD too.
That should fix it, or else the drive or another hardware issue
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's

Laptop won't boot; Black screen w/moveable cursor

Satellite A305-S6905
Current Situation: Laptop won’t boot-up; black screen with moveable mouse cursor, HHD indicator actively flashing.
I was attempting to upgrade from Vista to Win7-32bit-Ultimate. Kept receiving error messages regarding non-compatible files. Next the computer would not recognize the Multi-Drive (did not appear on the My Computer screen. Now all I get is the black screen. How can I restore?

BTW, to reboot this PC (Windows 7), all you need to do is pres ctr+alt+delete at the black screen, and it will do just that. But if you disconnected all usb drives, then you cannot use this shortcut. You need to just shut it down with the power button.

G5 won't boot - black screen

my g5 2x1,8ghz (late 2004, pci) running on 10.5.4 recently freezed during work. after forced shutdown with power button, the g5 refused to boot. if i press the power button, i get the chime sound, the fans are spinning up and the power led is on, but i get a black screen. the fans are ramping up and i have to force shutdown again. every 1 of 15 times trying to startup the machine will boot. i have to crt monitors connected via vga to a radeon9600xt agp and a radeon 7000 pci card. both monitors show a black screen. if the system boots, it can boot from internal hd, apple hardware test cd, or leopard installer dvd. after running for 15-20min. the system freezes again and i have to force shutdown. while running, the fans operate in normal speed and temp sensors show no overheating!
what i have done so far for troobleshooting:
- reset pmu on logicboard
- changed pram battery
- reseated hd, pci and agp cards, ram modules, changed position and amount of ram modules
- the crt monitors and cables are fine
- from time to time i can boot in open firmware or target mode
- apple hardware test shows no error messages
- if system boots in os x, both processors and ram modules show up correct in system profiler
- even if i disconnect the internal hd's, i get a black screen ... and sometimes the grey screen with missing startup folder
any ideas?
kind regards
ole

Hi. My G5 quad started with the same problem yesterday. The keyboard doesn't work either can't reset the pram or boot from the leopard DVD. I tried everything I could think of removed and reseated everything, tried with just the factory ram, tried just the OWC ram, reset the PMU. Called support today. Tried everything he said. No luck. He set up an appointment for me at the store tomorrow. Fortunately I have 10 months left on my AppleCare. I'll let you know what I find out. Mine started with the screen going to diagonalred lines and the sound started looping. My kid was playing Rainbow 6. When he rebboted, got chime but black screen then the fans went into turbo mode.

Macbook won't boot, black screen, no chime

My macbook won't boot at all. It is a white non unibody one. When you press the power button the screen breifly blinks and a clicking sound is heard but no other sounds or chime or anything. I'm suspecting the worst but thought i'd submit it on here first. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply but it isn't a hard drive issue. I have tested the hard drive in an external enclosure and it's working fine. I even put in another hard drive i have and it wont boot that either. I'm thinking its a logic board issue. Any one know best place to get logic board replacement near london for cheap

Won't boot/black screen

My MacBook Pro turned itself off and won't boot up now. Could it have overheated?

Mac will shut down itself when it is overheated to protect itself from damage.
But in this case it is better to take the Mac to the Apple Store for checking.
Best.

IMac 400DV Won't Boot-Gray Screen

I'm having trouble with a 400mhz iMac DV.
When starting up, there is no chime, and it gets to the gray screen right before there would normally be the Mac OS logo...and does nothing further.
The hard drive is spinning, but does not chatter as when booting. I get the same result when trying to boot from a CD.
I have replaced the battery, reset the PMU, swapped out the RAM, and reset the PRAM.
When resetting the PRAM, it DOES chime, and seems to act normally until getting to the gray screen. If I hold down the "option" key at startup, I do get to the "choose a startup disk" screen, but it makes no difference which disk I choose.
There is no flashing ? or any other indication it can't find the hard drive. BTW,, it is running OS 9.2.x
Any Ideas?

Start working through the items in KB 16473, Mac OS 7.x - 9.x: Troubleshooting Startup Issues.

PowerBook G4 froze, won't boot, black screen

I have a PowerBook G4 1.67GHz (DL-Hi Res) running OS 10.5.8 with 1GB of RAM. It has been a great machine; reliable with no major issues throughout the years and still fast for its age. Unfortunately two days ago the screen came to a complete freeze and since then I haven't been able to boot into its OS.
In particular, that afternoon I visited the Weather Channel web site and then left the house. When I came back three hours later, I found the screen frozen at the Weather Channel site. The mouse cursor would not move, the clock (on upper right side of the screen) was also stuck at 4:10pm, which was about the time when I last used the computer, and the fan was running faster than normal but not spinning out of control; moreover, the laptop felt as warm as when I stream live video from the Web, not hot though. Since the computer was unresponsive I decided to turn it off by pressing and holding its power button for several seconds. I should mention that there was nothing connected to the computer when this happened and that there was nothing that was installed, updated or upgraded recently.
When I attempted to turn it back on, the sleep light came and stayed on, the startup tone was heard once, the fan started running at normal speed and the optical drive did its normal startup spin; meanwhile, the screen was pitch black and stayed like that. Five seconds later the optical drive did its normal startup spin again; five seconds later it did it again and then again and again.... and it kept doing it every five seconds until I shut the computer off by pressing and holding its power button. I am not sure whether or not the hard drive was spinning during the startup.
Any ideas what the problem might and how to revive my powerbook (if possible)? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Tom, thank you very much for replying.
I read the links you provided and here is everything I've done so far to revive my powerbook:
- Started up without the battery (though the battery is fully functional)
- Started up with the battery installed
- Started up in Single-user Mode
- Attempted to reset the PRAM
- Started up in Safe Mode
- Tried to get into the Startup Manager
- Attempted to reset the PMU
- Started up in Open Firmware
All of the above attempts failed to produce any good results. Each time I tried to start up the laptop, the sleep light indicator would come and stay on, then came the chime (except for two times), the fan would run at normal speed and the optical drive would keep doing its startup spin every 5 seconds until I would shut the computer off.
Here is the last thing I tried... Since I was even unable to get into Open Firmware I decided to press and hold the power button, as suggested by one of the Apple Support documents, until the computer is forced to boot into Open Firmware. Instead of the Open Firmware what I got was a brief high-speed spin of the fan, fast blinking of the sleep light indicator and a single deep, somewhat loud and long beep. What I just described lasted for a few (maybe several) seconds and then the sleep light stabilized, the chime came on and the optical drive started doing its thing every 5 seconds.
Any more ideas / suggestions?

MBP won't boot, black screen, no white LED, clicking hard drive noise

Hey everybody, so the title basically summarizes it all. I connected an IDE HDD to my Macbook Pro through a USB enclosure, which had an AC IN jack, for plugging it into an electrical outlet (which I did) and the moment I connected it to my computer's usb port, the screen suddenly went black. I disconnected the HDD, and tried to turn on my MBP but it was no use. Ever since I have tried again and again to turn it on, but the computer will not boot. I have performed all of the suggested steps by Apple (PRAM reboot, holding down different keys while pressing the "on" button, etc.) but it's been worthless. My hard drive is okay, since i took it out and found out that all of my information and files were there. Still, whenever I try to turn the computer on, a clicking sound can be heard, as if the HD was trying to spin but failed. I have no display whatsoever, and no white LED in the front. I am truly desperate and would appreciate anyone's help big time.
Thanks a lot,
Luis

Thanks for the reply but it isn't a hard drive issue. I have tested the hard drive in an external enclosure and it's working fine. I even put in another hard drive i have and it wont boot that either. I'm thinking its a logic board issue. Any one know best place to get logic board replacement near london for cheap

Upgraded to 10.8.1 - Won't Boot - Black Screen

I upgraded to 10.8.1 and restarted. The laptop screen never flickers, activates, or appears to turn on at all.
All peripherals have been disconnected. Powering off and on multiple times has no effect. Removing (and replacing) the battery has no effect. Attempting to hold Option or Shift or Command-Option-P-R have no effect.

Ok, this is weird. I came back from church after leaving the laptop completely off and disconnected the entire time. It just booted up as if nothing happened.
Any ideas as to why? I did note to myself when I shut it off before departure that it was running hot, but I didn't think the temperature was too far out of normal.

27 inch Imac Intel won't boot up. Screen ligthts up, then shows a flashing file folder w question mark. What can I do to find the problem?

27 inch iMac Intel won't boot up. Screen lights up, then shows a flashing file folder w question mark. What can I do to find the problem?

Please readd Apple's trouble shooting steps in Flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac

I have an iMac that won't boot up. Chimes, Gray screen w/ apple icon, spinning gear and progress bar at bottom, about 20 sec then shuts off.

I have an iMac that won't boot up. Chimes, Gray screen w/ apple icon, spinning gear and progress bar at bottom, about 20 sec then shuts off.
Please Help

The internal drive is malfunctioning. What backups do you have?

I have an iMac that won't boot up. I've read all posts on this subject to no avail. When power is switched on, it chimes, Apple logo appears, spinning wheel, then loading bar starts to fill. It gets to about 25% then switches off! Help please!

iMac that won't boot up! When power is switched on it chimes, Apple logo appears, then loading bar, then spinning wheel. Bar seems to load up and gets to around 25%, then reverts to the start again, gets to about 20% on the bar and then switches itself off leaving a black screen. Tried all the remedies on internet with no avail so would welcome some advice other than binning what is a relatively new computer. Earliest appointment Apple could offer was Thursday 17th, really useful for a business user _ not impressed,

You've probably tried this, but will it Safe Boot? Restart holding down the Shift key until you see the grey progress bar. You'll need to input your admin password during bootup. If it will boot you can then try to eject the disk using the various suggestions here that you haven't tried already:
http://osxdaily.com/2009/08/28/eject-a-stuck-disk-from-your-mac-dvd-super-drive/
Or this (not tried this myself, but if things are desperate): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7NYW9Dr448

IMac G5 won't boot up

My iMac g5 won't boot up. The indicator comes on, but the screen stays black. Help!

Looks like you have both an Intel and an older iMac G5 PPC. Do you hear the chime on startup?
The chime is quite meaningful. It means the computer passed the P.O.S.T / Power On Self Test.
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/22/mac-101-whats-happening-when-your-mac-is-starting -up/
See
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1367

IMac 2007 won't boot

I have a strange problem.
My 24" iMac 2007 won't boot. It won't boot either from CD/DVD or anything. It will display the white screen with the Apple logo, and the spinning wheel under it, until the spinning wheel will stop spinning. Using my old Linux knowledge, I find that it seems like it freezes on "Login Window Application". Before this happened the iMac would occationally freeze, creating strange wave-patterns across the screen.
I have tried the following:
1) safe mode - same result
2) reset NVRAM - same result
3) single user - I can fix the filesystem, delete loginmanager files - same result
4) boot from Apple CD - same result
Every time the computer hangs, the strange waves will appear on the screen. My guess it is the video card that's causing this - and I need to replace it.
Can anyone give me heads an idea to confirm my suspicion - or to find the real culprit?
regards

OK, thanks, that was a helpful reply.
Somewhere in my browsing, I gathered that any Mac OS install disk would have the AHT. After searching around, I found the CD/DVD.
After extended testing, the AHT says nothing's wrong, but I find two things strange:
1) the AHT tells me that my memory is 1 GB, while it is 2 GB.
2) the AHT tells me nothing about my HDD - as if it's not there.....
I make two conclusions from that; namely that one RAM block is faulty and the HDD is invisible seen from AHT. The latter would stress me immensely, if I hadn't seen the entire drive from single user mode before. There could be some faulty sectors though that would mean that the OS is behaving strangely.
Please advise on hints on where you would go next - anyone?

Imac g4 won't boot; black screen

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for