Imac G5 17" blue screen, grey screen, post-it notes...

Hi guys, some more iMac fun and games for you...
My dad has got a 17" iMac first generation (EMC: 1989). It's had Leopard (version 10.5.8) installed for the last 6 months. Yesterday when he was using it, some of the graphics started having vertical lines through them, the computer slowed and the coloured spinning wheel appeared. Force-quit wouldn't work and so holding the power button shut it down. Then, whenever he would startup, the screen would go to grey with apple logo and spinning wheel, then go to the blue screen, then the blue would slightly change colour and there it would stay...
So, I've tried all kinds of 'fixes' from the 'applicationenhancer' thing from single-user mode etc (didn't exist on the iMac). I've re-set PRAM, the SMU. I've unplugged power, discharged power, left off over night etc. I have also run fsck from single-user mode.
It will boot in single-user mode but won't boot in safe mode. It won't boot from a CD, even when holding down option and choosing the CD to boot from. However, target-mode does work and I have transferred off some of his files. In target mode, I have also successfully used disk utility to repair disk. All this to no avail. Blue screen trick happens every time.
Interestingly, when I did try to boot from Macintosh HD via starting up holding option key, instead of going blue screen, it went black screen but with occasional vertical lines of colour, sometimes faint, slightly moving mysteriously.
This morning when trying again, it actually reached the main home screen, with the programme shortcuts in the dock etc - although these were whited / blued-out and displaying the mysterious vertical lines through them (interestingly, the 'shadow' of these icons seemed to be displaying colours properly as per screenshot). The rest of the screen was black including the 'top line'. When I did a spotlight search for disk utility, it actually found it and this seemed to be displaying normally (see screenshot). Then the spinning wheel appeared and I had to hold power to shut down again.
Then today, having opened up the iMac and run through Apple's troubleshooting for when an iMac doesn't turn on, LED 1 lit up when plugged in. Then when starting up using the button inside the iMac, LEDs 1,2 and 3 all lit up. When I looked at the screen, the second screenshot revealed some 'post-it notes' across the screen. Bizarre!
I'm thinking this means a corrupt hard drive or hardware somewhere, but any hints gratefully appreciated. Thanks for your time!!
I haven't yet had chance to hook up an external monitor, am ordering an apple adapter lead to check that.
Steve
http://zerofour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/iMac/blackscreen.jpg
http://zerofour.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/iMac/postits.jpg
Message was edited by: Steve Hayes1

Took it into the Apple Store Genius Bar yesterday and very helpful. Yours was the right diagnosis. The logic board needs replacing. They hadn't seen the 'post-it' note effect before. The iMac successfully started up from a firewire hard drive with Leopard, using the 'option' key on startup. However, there were some artifacts on screen (trails) as the Apple Store guy dragged the 'about this computer' around the screen. No dead pixels, so very sure this is a graphic card issue at minimum, possibly something wrong with the OS booting up as well, as this doesn't apparently work off the hard drive, despite being accessible by target mode. Cost will be £350 ($560 US) to fix, or £200 from a third-party supplier. Seems I may get a new iMac instead. So, thanks very much. Hope I can be of help to someone else on here. Happy holidays.

Similar Messages

Blue or grey screen on boot

Mac Pro 1,1; 10.6.4
On attempting to start up recently I got a screen in alternating shades of blue.
Trying to boot to a bootable CD gives me a 'you need to restart' grey screen.
Booting to the diagnostic works and finds no problems.
Booting in firewire target mode allows access to the HD and repaired some errors with diskutility but did not change symptoms. Subsequent checks show no errors.
Booting to an ubuntu livecd worked fine with generic graphics drivers (up to date drivers available but require a reboot).
Booting into safe mode has the blue screens alternating with a black screen with a white rectangle in the top left (about the size of an old terminal cursor).
Zapping PRAM doesnt seem to change anything.
Recent upgrades include +4GB RAM which I have removed and errors remain with the original 1GB RAM (2x512)
I have also replaced the graphics card recently, GT 8800 stopped working and I replaced it with another GT 8800.
The help pages on blue and grey screens seem to be mutually exclusive but both discuss removing peripherals and non Apple hardware.
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I suspect it is either a graphics fault which ubuntu doesnt mind but OSX does, or a more complex disk corruption.
The next option appears to be erasing the disk with firewire/diskutil and attempting a fresh install (not sure why this would remedy the kernel panic on booting from CD).
Some logs have been populated in Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports, I can post fragments as required but am unable to interpret atm.
Any suggestion appreciated.

HI,
Trying to boot to a bootable CD gives me a 'you need to restart' grey screen.
That is what is referred to as a kernel panic.
Go here for help to Resolve Kernel Panics
Carolyn

My iMac won't boot past grey screen and it didn't come with a os x disk

My iMac won't boot past grey screen with apple. I've tried booting in safemode but that didn't help and my iMac didn't come with a os x disk.

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 startup failure is to secure the 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 the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from 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, start 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. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else 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 startup 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 start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up 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 started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
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Safe mode is much slower to start 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 the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up 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, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup 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 restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup 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 the 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 restart as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the 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 startup 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.

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Hi there,
I have a new 17" Intel iMac (Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, 250 GB, 1GB Memory with OS X 10.4.8) that keeps getting those "You need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the Restart button." messages.
It all started on Sunday when I tried to wake the computer (the computer went on Sleep by itself) and got that message so I restarted the computer but it froze on the grey screen (even before I got the Apple) and it beeped 3 times and then the light on front just kept blinking 3 times. I finally was able to erase and re-install OS X and everything was fine until I left the computer for a while, it went to sleep again, and then the message came back. I restarted and it seems to be fine but I'm worried the beeping and freezing will come back.
The first time this happened, I didn't know enough to "log" the kernel panics but I do know that I deleted a lot of the applications (iWeb, Garage Band, etc.) that I didn't need and fidged with the Share folder in the Users folder. I use a Flash Drive a lot and always left it connected to the keyboard's USB drive. Also leave my iPod Nano connected. After I reinstalled everything, I only deleted the Garage Band demos, installed and deleted the Firefox 2.0 and Opera (wanted to just stick with Firefox 1.0) applications. Only used the Flash Drive a little and haven't connected my iPod on yet. Trying to isolate the problem. I can't remember doing anything else.
Here's the log from the latest kernel panic:
Wed Aug 8 00:00:06 2007
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x0019075E): pmap-remove: mapping not in pv_list!
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x13f5bc18 : 0x128d08 (0x3c9ac4 0x13f5bc3c 0x131de5 0x0)
0x13f5bc58 : 0x19075e (0x3ccc58 0xa0000000 0x0 0x1a2010)
0x13f5bcb8 : 0x1937d7 (0xddd000 0xddd050 0x0 0x19a406)
0x13f5bd08 : 0x16535c (0x252d420 0xa0000000 0x0 0xa000a000)
0x13f5bdf8 : 0x165b10 (0xffe00000 0x0 0x0 0x0)
0x13f5be38 : 0x13a676 (0x13000c8 0x0 0x0 0xffe00000)
0x13f5be88 : 0x339160 (0x2529a30 0x202 0x13f5bee8 0x2529a30)
0x13f5bec8 : 0x343614 (0x2b725dc 0xa 0x0 0x0)
0x13f5bee8 : 0x343d3f (0x2b725dc 0xa 0x0 0x0)
0x13f5bf58 : 0x343f25 (0xa 0x1 0x13f5bf78 0x2416e038)
0x13f5bf78 : 0x1273f9 (0x2544a10 0xffffff7f 0x0 0x4)
0x13f5bfa8 : 0x1a1f8d (0xffffffff 0x1 0x0 0x253b500)
0x13f5bfc8 : 0x19a896 (0x0 0x0 0x19d0b5 0x253b500) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x13f5bef8
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.5: Mon Dec 11 19:39:17 PST 2006; root:xnu-792.16.5.obj~1/RELEASE_I386
I also found this "error_log" in my System Profiler:
error_log:
Description: Printer error log
Size: 8.5 KB
Last Modified: 8/8/07 12:19 AM
Location: /var/log/cups/error_log
Recent Contents: ...
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/certs"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/ppd"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/classes.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/printers.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/var/spool/cups"
W [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/var/spool/cups/tmp"
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:07 -0400] Full reload complete.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Setting AdobePDF8 device-uri to "pdf800://distiller/" (was "file:/dev/null".)
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] New printer 'AdobePDF8' added by ''.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Printer 'AdobePDF8' modified by ''.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Setting AdobePDF8 printer-is-accepting-jobs to 1 (was 0.)
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Setting AdobePDF8 printer-state to 3 (was 5.)
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Printer 'AdobePDF8' modified by ''.
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Saving printers.conf...
I [07/Aug/2007:15:49:21 -0400] Printer 'AdobePDF8' modified by ''.
I [07/Aug/2007:16:35:22 -0400] Scheduler shutting down normally.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Listening to 700c3000:0
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/certs"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/ppd"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/classes.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/etc/cups/printers.conf"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/var/spool/cups"
W [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Repairing ownership of "/private/var/spool/cups/tmp"
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:15 -0400] Full reload complete.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:22:16 -0400] Printer sharing is off and there are no jobs pending, will restart on demand. Exiting.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Listening to 700c3000:0
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Full reload complete.
I [07/Aug/2007:21:28:43 -0400] Printer sharing is off and there are no jobs pending, will restart on demand. Exiting.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Listening to 40113000:0
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Full reload complete.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:00:06 -0400] Printer sharing is off and there are no jobs pending, will restart on demand. Exiting.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Listening to 40113000:0
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Full reload complete.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:12:01 -0400] Printer sharing is off and there are no jobs pending, will restart on demand. Exiting.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Listening to 7f000001:631
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Listening to 40113000:0
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Loaded configuration file "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf"
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Configured for up to 100 clients.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Allowing up to 100 client connections per host.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Full reload is required.
I [08/Aug/2007:00:19:06 -0400] Full reload complete.
I don't know what this part is about because I don't have a Printer hooked up to the computer.
The only other thing I can think of is I also installed WireTap and StuffIt before the initial crashing. I heard StuffIt was causing problems on some Intel Macs. Also changed a lot of the icons and changed the icon for Preview. I "verified" my hard drive and "verified and repaired the disk permissions" (I'm not that knowledgeable about computers let alone Macs). I also checked my hardware by pressing D while the grey CD OS X was running and get this:
4MEME/4/40000000: 2F244040
usually during the initial testing but when I restart and try it again, it's fine.
Well, that's all I can think of. Any thoughts?
Thanks a lot!
-Kim

Thanks for the reply and links!
After the first problems, I re-seated the RAMs. Does this mean I have to buy new memory? This is a pretty new iMac, bought it in May and have only been using it for maybe two months. Haven't done a whole lot with it but I usually keep a lot of programs open at the same time. I have Adobe CS3 installed too and it says it needs at least 1 GB of memory. I've heard people saying it's best to have as much RAM (this Mac can only take up to 3GB) when using those programs. Maybe it's getting too heavy? Should I only keep one program open at a time? Also, which part of my post indicated that it was memory problems? What the "panic.log" stated or that "4MEME/4/40000000: 2F244040" stuff? Anything else I can do to not let this happen again?
Thanks again!

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My iMac becomes unresponsive, whether by a system lock up, or I wake up in the morning (like this morning) to a black screen with the white light still on, as if it were asleep. Nothing I do wakes the computer or otherwise makes it respond, so I hold the power button down for a few seconds and it shuts off.
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Someone please help... I'm going insane.

Hi I am having the identical problem with my 24" intel iMac 2007..... Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I'm on round 3 now and with a completely blank grey screen and it won't start up from the disk 1.. I also have diskwarrior and techtool pro as well as the osx leopard and snow leopard disk... The HD is new.. Replaced by apple 3 months ago.. Don't know the cause the first time this happened about 9 months ago.. 2nd time, 6 months ago it never rebooted from the office for mac 2008 critical update... Did a clean install after backing up to TC... Took it to apple replaced HD even though it appeared ok, they checked all hardware and I ran techtool pro daily ever since. Last week software update had several updates avail. Office for mac being one of them.. I updated and have never booted since.. . I swear to never ever use another Microsoft product as long as I live if I can just fix this once more... Help me please

My husband(less technologically inclined than I am), decided to delete programs from our iMac, now it has a grey screen and won't get past it. If I insert the Application Install DVD, to repair the disk, will I loose all my pictures and music?

My husband(less technologically inclined than I am), decided to delete programs from our iMac, he turned it off and now it has a grey screen and won't get past it. It won't start in safe mode and when I If I insert the Application Install DVD, to repair the disk, will I loose all my pictures and music?

With a corrupt disk, the install procedure is most likely going to fail.
How old it the disk?
You might be able to reformat it to fix the problem. Of course that means you lose all of your data.
The other alternative is to get a new disk drive and put that in your Mac and install OS X
Then put the old disk drive in an enclosure and see what can be recovered from it.
Allan

IMac refuses to boot up - grey screen, first aid failed

Hope someone can help me...
Recently downloaded the latest intel mac securiy update - ver. 11 - since then my iMac began to take a long time to boot up. It started fine this monring but upon shutdown and subsequent restart this evening my machine reaches the grey screen stage and then seems to 'loop' continuously - no log-in screen is ever reached.
I tried power off, unplug all cables - no results
I tried safe boot - no joy either
Booted from back up cds - ran disk utilities
verify disk - it aborted at the catalog check with invalid node structure, 1 HFS volume could not be repaired messages
verify disk permissions - it froze
tried install and archive - message was installation failed
Is there anything else I can try apart from erasing my hard drive and installing from scratch?
This seems to have started since I downloaded the ver 11 intel security update...
any advice greatly appreciated
Hazel

Hi Hazel, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Don't try to Repair Permissions or anything else until the Disk Structure is fixed.
You must repair the HD, if Disk Utility or fsck should fail to repair it, your best bet is DiskWarrior from Alsoft, you'll need the CD to boot from if you don't have another boot drive...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But sometimes fsck will work if you do it a few times, not likely, but possible.
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Tough without the Tiger Disk problems, but try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
(SPACE between fsck AND -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: 
The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: *** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Imac G4 wont boot past grey screen desperatly want to fix it!!!!

Hi there,
Please can someone help.....
I got a Imac G4 at the weekend for a bargin, but it wont boot up. When i turn it on it makes the noise and comes up with a grey screen with the apple logo and the loading circle. It doesnt go past this screen and after about 15 mins turns itself off.
Any ideas how i can get this running again (havent tried anything yet to be honest as im not sure what to do). I love these machines as i just think they are querky and would love to get it working again to use as my home pc (as even though its old it will still probably be quicker than my old microsoft laptop)
Thanks!

Did you try a PRAM reset?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
>I can't get the disk drive to open either
If the optical drive tray cannot be opened, what happens if you hold down the mouse button during startup?
As a brody indicated, a faulty hard drive cannot be ruled out. Instructions for removing this drive can be found in the ifixit.com guides as well.
If you can gain access to the optical drive, the best way forward would be to use an appropriate Mac OS X system CD in an attempt to start from that disc (holding down the C key).
If it is not possible to locate a correct system CD right now, another way could possibly be to try to boot from an Ubuntu CD for PowerPC instead (once again, holding down the C key) just to see whether the computer is capable of booting at all.
Jan.

IMac startup gets stuck on grey screen

This is an intermittent issue and has only been happening for the last week or so. When I start up my iMac (bought early 2008, running Snow Leopard and fully updated) it will get stuck on the grey screen before the apple logo appears.
I have to hold the power button for a few seconds to shut everything down completely and turn it back on. Second time round it seems to power up fine (so far) so I'm a bit bemused as to what the issue is. I keep my external HD plugged in, so that's always connected when I boot up, but that hasn't been an issue before...
I've been having the issue since I bought my iMac back to uni. I'm always careful to package it properly (back in its original box) but I guess maybe it got clunked in the car? I don't know whether that would have an impact or not. I'm also careful to keep around 100Gb free on my HD to keep it running smoothly.
Any ideas would be hugely appreciated, as final year of uni is not a great time for my Mac to break!

OK, yes 100GB out of 320GB is plenty of space, the rule of thumb on Macs is you should have 10-15% of HD space available.
Regarding your power, that's a possible cause. If it does prove to be the problem I would recommend investing in a battery backup to ensure your iMac is not only is getting consistent power but is protected in the event of power failures or power spikes.
There are some things you can check, although they aren't 100% definitive they can give some clues. First is open Disk Utility (Applications-Utilities-Disk Utility) and check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your internal HD. It should say Verified, if it doesn't it's definitely in trouble and either needs repairing or replacing. You can also run Repair Disk Permissions in Disk Utility. Both actions should take less than 10 minutes on your machine.

Imac G5 17" blue screen, grey screen, post-it notes...

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