IMac stuck at blue screen, then finder

Hi, I've searched for the forums for this answer but haven't found anything. Sorry if this has been discussed already.
I'm a user of a 24' white iMac with 2.16 GHz, 300 GB HD. I have 4GB of RAM installed from OWC.
Early last week I started having problems with my iMac. Nothing specific, just a general slowdown and stutter in programs that should have run fine. Things like typing for 5 seconds and waiting for it to show up, scrolling in iTunes would sometimes hesitate, etc etc. The strange thing is I noticed no substantial slowdowns in heavier programs like WoW, Photoshop and Aperture.
I ran Onyx maintenance on it with no real discernible difference.
Today I returned from a weekend of non-use, and when I tried to start it up it got stuck on the blue screen after the grey startup screen. I tried a safe boot, but for whatever reason it didn't recognize my keyboard and was still extremely slow. I finally got it to boot up normally, but it didn't load any desktop items, dock, or anything else. It just showed the finder bar. I clicked on all the available bars (finder, file, edit) with no response.
Any ideas on how to go about troubleshooting this problem?
Thanks in advance!

It sounds like it might be a problem related to the hard drive, with three possibilities.
(1) It is too close to being full - Mac OS X needs free space on the startup drive.
(2) There is disk directory or other type of data corruption/error.
(3) The hard drive is becoming faulty.
If you are able to start up and operate the computer, back up at least your personal data, if it is not already, before doing anything else. If the problem is (1), move or delete some data so that you have at least 10% of total capacity as free space.
Otherwise, restart from your Mac OS X installation disc (for the installed system). Note if it is running normally when you are booted from another disk. At the first Installer screen, go up to the menu bar and select to run Disk Utility under Utilities. Use +Repair Disk+ on your internal drive. Note if any errors are reported, and if any are reported, if they are repaired.

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Imac stuck on Blue screen after upgraded to 10.6.8 combo

Hello,
I been using imac since 2007, I started upgrading my imac this week from Tiger to Snow Leopard. I want to get mountain lion so I was doing the final upgarde from Snow Leopard 10.6.7 to 10.6.8 and it was almost completed the install when my screen went black. I shut down the computer and when it rebooted the screen stayed on blue and it's not moving. The wheel is spinning on the screen like it searching for something. I try to reboot in safe mode not doing anything. I don't have the original Tiger 10.4 disc that the iMac came with, all I have is the Snow Leopard disc that I just purchase to do the upgrade. I am stuck and I don't know what to do at this point...HELP!! Can anyone confirm if there is an issue with the Snow Leopard upgrade 10.6.8 combo. I downloaded it from the apple support site.

Hi, there is no problem with the combo10.6.8 for 99.99999% of the people.
Do NOT attempt to use a Tiger/10.4 Disc to repair anything even if you had one.
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X 10.6 Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
If it still reboots to the blue screen, reinstall 10.6.x
Then the big 10.6.8 Combo...
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
Repair Permissions afterwords, reboot.

Intel iMac stuck at blue screen.

I have a 2007 model intel iMac running 10.4.11
Never had any problems until about a week ago, then it just locked up. Nothing was responsive although the mouse was still moving (spinning beach ball). I left it for about an hour or so before concluding it wasn't going to work itself out and held the power button on the back until it turned off. Now whenever I start it up it gets stuck at the blue screen. It goes through the grey screen with the apple then to the blue screen but never brings up the "Mac OS X" loading box. I left it for 30 min and still nothing.
So I started perusing these forums for help and have tried a few things.
First I loaded in the original grey disks and erased the hard drive and reinstalled the system software. This worked and the computer worked for about 2 hours before crashing again and having the same problem. Since then I've tried resetting the PRAM, using disk utility on the grey disks (came up with "invalid volume header").
I've taken it down to the apple support store here where I live and they told me it was a dead logic board. Would I still be able to reload the system software and use the computer without problems for 2+ hours with a dead logic board? Any help would be great, also I'll run vebose mode and post again with what it says.

I would suspect a bad HDD. What is the SMART status reported in Disk Utility when you highlight the drive itself, not the boot volume?
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10.6.3 imac stuck on blue screen

Hi
wondered if anyone could point me in right direction.
When i boot my imac it gets stuck on the blue screen, if if then press the power up key on side of imac it goes to sleep and when i wake it up (2 secs later) the imac behaves totally normally.
anyone know why this might be and how to resolve this issue?
I have tried-
a) repair disk permissions
b) reinstalling system software and it was fine for a week and then started to do the same thing again!
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Hello peter:
Welcome to Apple discussions.
This article provides Apple's guidance on trying to resolve the blue screen issue:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8963.html
Barry

IMac stuck on blue screen on startup

I recently purchased an iMac 21.5". It is running Mac OSX 10.6.2 (Snow leopard). When I turn it on it passes the screen with the gear and the apple logo, but gets stuck on the blue screen, with only the cursor showing.
I have already tried:
1. Booting into safe mode and deleting all startup items.
2. Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
3. Running Disk Utility and repairing the disk.
Anyone have any suggestions on hwo to fix it?

Try this:
You will need to type some Unix commands. If you are not comfortable with this, I don't know of anything other than a re-install. But if you are careful, you should be OK. I recommend you print this out in a largish mono-spaced font so you don't miss any spaces (or add extra ones). Note that case is important.
Be careful. Some of these commands are dangerous, since you are going to be root.
Start up in Single-User mode by restarting the computer. After the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-S keys until you see white text on a black background. When this has finished you will see a prompt ending in '#', although there may be other messages. Enter the following commands after the prompt:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press RETURN. Wait a few seconds for 8-10 lines of output. If the last line says repairs were carried out, repeat this command until you get a message 'The volume <yourdiskname> appears to be OK'. Then continue with:
/sbin/mount -uw /
cd /Library/Preferences
rm com.apple.loginwindow.plist
rm com.apple.windowserver.plist
cd /Library/Caches
rm -r *
cd /System/Library
cd /System/Library/Caches
rm -r *
reboot
Press RETURN after each command.
This should now take you to a proper login screen after the normal boot sequence. You should then Repair Permissions by using Disk Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder).

Intel iMac stuck at blue screen on start up

Our G5 Intel iMac flat panel is stuck at the blue screen on startup. Won't go past it, no sad mac, just blue screen. Yesterday it kept locking up with the rainbow circle of death in all our applications. Now it won't even start up, seems to be stuck in the startup process. Any suggestions?

Hi
Have a look at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
Though article says 10.3.9 or earlier, it also can apply to 10.4.
Also, you either have an iMac G5, Intel Core Duo (Jan-Aug 2006) or Intel Core 2 Duo (Sep 2006 onwards).
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thanks

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I have an iMac G5 stuck on the gray screen with spinning gear. I woke up to it being stuck on a blue screen, then force quit and now it's stuck on gray with spinning gear.

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Imac 8,1 does not boot stuck on blue screen

imac8,1 mid (2008) 20" stuck on blue screen after boot ,It starts in safemode, below is a list of thing i have check so far
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2 Disk utility repair (was successfull)
3 reset PRAM ,SMC
3 Boot for OSX dvd and reinstalled (still only starts in safe mode )
4 boot in single user mode and used fsck ( said every thing was ok)
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10.5.3 won't install... stuck in blue screen loop

I chose to install it from software update. It told me to restart. I did.
I got hung up on a blue screen loop.
But no error messages or anything.
I had to hard reset.
Then started up fine- but system profiler shows I'm still 10.5.2.
And software update still shows the update as "downloaded".
If I click "install" it immediately asks me to reboot, and sticks in the blue screen loop again.
I have done this three times now.
If I choose restart from the apple menu- same thing.
So I decided to shut down- can't shut down. Get stuck in the looping blue screen.
So it seems like something is gumming up the shut down process. I've heard of startup items making things freeze- can the same thing happen when shutting down?
Not sure what the issue is.
The other people posting problems seem to be getting error messages, etc.
I am going to try to repair permissions, and if that doesn't work maybe I'll try the standalone installer- but why is this happening? this is like a 2 week old MBA with next-to-no third party stuff installed on it... what could be corrupted already?
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Thanks!

Alexroet wrote:
should i try the standalone installer?
You could try, it's been known to sort system issues because it's fuller than the incremental "delta" update, so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing.
Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
But if you can't boot into Safe Mode something is amiss*. Since, you are able to use your system (not stuck on blue screen, try this first:
Go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items and remove them. Boot normally and test. If not go to ~(yourHome)/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving ~(yourHome)/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
*EDIT: You do have to hold the shift key for Safe Boot until you see the spinning gear, just in case you didn't do that.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

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.

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned my free space. I tried holding down T key as it reboots and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen

Imac frozen at blue screen after i went into disk utilities and cleaned free space.
I tried holding down T key as it reboots
and i get a message. Start up disk full empty it how can one emptie it if you cant get past the blue screen?
to make matters worse we bought the IMAC of amazon uk on the 4/07/011 so what can we do?
please remember how frustrating it is when asking for help when the helper telling you to type something on the screen when its frozen
Tell us when you can type some instuctions to the software how do you get to the doss prompt so to speak to do this
Thanks

i tried all this thanks
i can not get past blue screen and message Your disk is full it needs to be emptied Please not I cant proceed past this message.
no matter what you tell me
Am i right ok in thinking that
when i went into disk utilities and chose to clean my free space i left it over one hour to do its stuff
i came back and there was no progress bar just the box so i quit the program and when i opened mac mail the system just froze i forced quit mail rebooted and blue screen death
Now when free space is being cleaned is it the same as windows dose the utility write lots of 0 on the hard drive then rebbot its self to free the space
basicly is my hard drive full of 00000 is this why im getting this message because the process was interupted
I need to know if i need outside help i bought the computer on line on amazon uk what dose one do next

GE60 0NC-622UK laptop is stuck on Blue Screen can't login! please help..

Had this laptop for just one month, before it's all good. Windows 8 64bit.
In last two days, the mouse and touchpad became dysfunctional occasionally, able to move the pointer but just could't click on anything regardless of left or right, e.g. choose or open new. It would be working after logoff/relogin and reboot, but same problem still came up randomly.
Last night, I did the same thing to reboot the laptop after had the pointer dysfunction, but then it displayed a blue screen before the login with a error called 'System Thread Exception Not Handled', and then just stayed on this page would't reboot automatically (waited for 30 mins), so it left me no choice to shut it down by pressing power on/off button manually, afterwards with couple of times rebooting, it just kept going into this same blue screen and could't get into the system...Sometimes it would automatically start diagnosing before blue screen, ask me to restore or repair, but none of them fixed the problem, repeatedly stuck on blue screen every time...
And I don't have any windows 8 dvd, delivered box only has one for drivers and manual book.. so boot from dvd is not possible..
p.s. sorry about my english if caused confusion
thanks..

Quote from: Neoistheone2000 on 06-June-13, 00:26:05
Try starting Windows 8 in Safe Mode, its kinda difficult in Windows 8 to do you have to be very precise when doing it, right as the system boots you need to start spamming F8 sometimes you have to do Shift+F8.
You may want to disable fast boot in the BIOS so you have some time to get ready to hit the buttons, once you get the boot menu up try Start Up Repair first and see if it fixes anything then try booting, if noting then try safe mode and un-do anything you have done to the system recently.
Let me know how this goes.
Really appreciated your help!
I get into troubleshooting page by pressing F3 when laptop was booting up, and changed start up with Safe mode which works..I've done many things in Safe mode, like updated drivers, run anti-virus program, deleted recent installed software, and then somehow the blue screen error was gone after reboot...It seems one of them must be the cause for that problem.
Anyway, my laptop is working properly now, thanks a lot, if error happens again in future i might still need some help

IMac stuck at blue screen, then finder

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