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).
Steve

Similar Messages

  • 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?
    Dah•veed

  • IMAC intel A1208 is stuck on blue screen after start-up. What is the fix?

    IMAC intel A1208 is stuck on blue screen after start-up. How can this condition be resolved?

    Please carefully read Apple's Gray screen appears during startup

  • Hi, Hi, Hi  I have the old MacBook Pro. Upgraded to Mountain Lion which completely wrecked the system. So downgraded to Snow Leopard. The updated the combo update. Now stuck on blue screen at start-up. Need help. Greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    Hi,
    I have the old MacBook Pro. Upgraded to Mountain Lion which completely wrecked the system. So downgraded to Snow Leopard.
    Then updated the combo update. Now stuck on blue screen at start-up.
    Need help. Greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    Downgrade Lion/Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard
      1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer
          loads select your language and click on the Continue
          button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the
          Utilities menu.
      2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the
          mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status
          of the drive in DU's status area.  If it does not say "Verified" then
          the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing.  SMART
          info will not be reported  on external drives. Otherwise, click on
          the Partition tab in the DU main window.
      3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions
          from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS
          Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the
          partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on
          the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
      4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
    This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner.
    If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.  If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

  • Intel Imac stuck at white screen and 3 beeps sound continously....

    Intel Imac stuck at white screen and 3 beeps sound continously when power on. Pls help......

    Well Barry, as for the Ram, all this while are install by apple technician since very day i bought iMac on july 2008. Just wondering What's actually went wrong..
    Very first day I bought iMac, few days later, system cant even on. AppleCare Centre exchanged a new set of iMac.
    two weeks later, i notice several dead pixels appearing on screen, call to log a case with them, later on, they changed a new panel.
    After several months pass, been using happily with iMac... but since now, this problem occurs. So fastrating... My third time encounters problem with iMac. sign
    Any suggestion? If not, I guess i have to bring this bulky iMac to applecare centre again. sign

  • Stuck at Blue Screen on start up

    My MacBook Pro gets stuck on the blue screen at start up. Have tried all the obvious fixes but no joy.
    I put my mac in target mode and connected to another MacBook Pro
    Then selected my HDD as the start up disc, rebooted, and this worked fine, i was able to run my HDD and all software fine.
    I conclude this shows i have a hardware problem on my mac.
    Can anyone please give me a clue as to what it might be? or is it time for a visit to the apple store (and a remortgage on the house)?
    Many thanks Phil.

    I know you already mentioned that you "Tried all the obvious fixes" but this is the first thing that came to mind when I read your problem.
    Hold down the power button until your Macintosh shuts off.
    Then hold down the power button until the white light on the front of your Macintosh starts flashing rapidly.
    Then release the button and see if your device boots up normally.
    I had this very same problem happen to me a few weeks ago and I was able to solve it by doing those few steps.
    Hope this helps!
    -Benjamin

  • Intel iMac stuck at desktop screen, no menu bar, no finder, spinning ball

    Hi, I've just run into a serious problem with my 24" Intel iMac not starting up properly. At first it was getting stuck on the gray screen, then I got it to the blue screen, and now finally I can get it as far as loading the desktop picture, the cursor comes up and is responsive to the mouse, but has now become the spinning beachball. There is no menu bar, and the finder will not load. It's been in this state for about ten minutes. What I did to get it to this state is:
    1. Disconnect all peripherals. I'm using an Apple wireless keyboard and mighty mouse, too.
    2. Reset the PRAM.
    3. Reset the PMU.
    4. Used the installation disc to run Apple Hardware Test (the short version) successfully...no problems.
    5. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Corrected a minor problem with the file structure.
    6. Used the installation disc to run Disk First Aid. Repaired permissions.
    7. Performed a Safe Boot, and got to the log-in screen, did not log in, but restarted normally as suggested in one of the Apple support articles.
    8. Am now staring at my desktop picture without the menu bar or the Finder, but the spinning beachball is chugging along and is responsive to my mouse.
    If it is of any help, I've noticed for several months that the computer would occasionally fail to wake from sleep, and I'd need to force a shut down by holding the power button for several seconds. Could this have been a precursor to the current problem?
    At this point, I'm not certain which version of 10.5 I have, because I can't check. But I've installed all the Apple updates that have come through, so I must be at the current version of 10.5. I can't remember exactly how much RAM I have installed, either, but it might be 3 GB. I installed a second memory module at the time of purchase, which I bought from Crucial.com.
    I'm having to write this on my ancient PowerBook G4, which is still performing admirably under OS X 10.4.11. Thanks for any help or suggestions anyone can provide! : )

    It appears to have been a short of some sort on my power supply...it blew a capacitor somehow, though I don't know how/when that happened. Computer is on a surge protector, and generally sleeps during day while I'm away, but no power outages or other electrical issues occurred while I was out that I'm aware of.
    Anyway, I had a new power supply installed by an Apple certified technician...opted not to do it myself...and discovered that the HD is perfectly fine. No data loss. Phew! Just two weeks w/o my computer, and no way to recover backup files on Time Capsule in the meantime.
    Thanks for all the help and advice!

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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!
    many thanks

    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

  • MacBook stuck on blue screen when starting up?

    So I started my MacBook the other day (running Tiger) and it was stuck on the blue screen (with the apple logo) for a long time. I figured it was just slow and left the room. Came back about 15 minutes and it was still stuck. Went to the following site:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1411#symp1
    and tried starting in solo mode, etc and made it all the way down the list till it said try Disk Utility (not exact name I don't think) so I put in the Install disk that came with it and attempted to repair it. It said it was unable to repair due to a node error or something along the lines.... I gave up and am reinstalling OS X (Erase and start again is what I did which is okay as I have no personal files on that computer, I keep them al on my iMac and backed up on my Time Capsule) not to go off on some rant but my question is will the computer fix whatever a node is by completely erasing the hard drive and starting over? It's only at 22% complete so I'm not sure yet. I consider myself fairly computer competent but can someone explain what a node is and how it got messed up?

    Yes and erase and install will fix ANY type of software issue you are having. A node is something used to build data structures, if there is an error or one is corrupted it will affect the whole data structure, but no worries, the E&I will fix this issue.

  • 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).

  • Stuck on blue screen after start up

    Hey,
    Today I turned on my Imac like I've done hundreds of time before, but this time the start up screen with the clock took longer than normal and then once it got to the blue screen it just sticks ther. I"ve tried to boot off my OS X 10.5 disk but when I do after awhile of in start screen with the apple logo and clock the Fan rammed out like it would in firewire transfurs. I've heard stuff about this happening after updating but it's ran normal till now. Has anyone else had this issue and have any suggestions for me
    FoX

    You could try this;Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode.
    And here is What is Safe Mode.
    DALE

  • IMac stuck at blue screen after 10.6.6 update

    Hello,
    I updated to 10.6.6 via Software Update today. I left it to install, then rebooted when it asked to. Upon reboot it sat at the blue screen indefinitely and would not get to the log on screen.
    I left this for over an hour, and then forced a reboot with the power button, brought it back to the same blue screen though.
    I then booted with the disk and tried a disk & permissions repair, but the same thing still happens.
    Booting in safe mode also doesn't get to the login screen, just sits there.
    Is there any way to recover this installation? Suffice to say i'm mightily pi**ed this update has bricked my machine :/
    thanks

    i am having the same problem - been going on for over a week - blue screen won't open - used snow leopard disk to run disk utility - disk checks out fine - doesn't help - then reinstalled snow leopard from install disk, starts perfect runs normal, software update updates everything, and it still runs fine for a while then boom, same thing - REPEAT - three times. Hangs up when switching users or starting up.
    Today - started again, only this time the reinstall of Snow Leopard fails, says it cannot copy support files. Call to tech says I have to wipe the drive and start over, something is corrupted. Am running right now on a bootable clone on an external hard drive and preparing to wipe my drive. Not happy about it - had not considered that it was the 10.6.6 update causing it... should I wipe the drive or not?

  • Stuck at blue screen at start up

    Starting up from a cold boot has becomea problem.
    I've been talking with apple and we've tried somethings but it;s gotten worse.
    I start up an get the apple with the gear.
    long wait.
    then blue screen and nothing
    shut down manually
    sometimes will retart or
    I get my screen but will not be able to pull down menus
    sometimes relaunching finder with a force quit will get it running
    sometimes not.
    Thanks

    Then see if you can get it going with Safe Boot. Hold down the Shift key as you start up. This process takes several minutes longer than normal, because it does a Disk Check as it comes up, and loads only the kernel extensions needed to get the machine going.
    Then run Disk Utility:
    1) Check the SMART Status of your drive. Should be "Verified"
    2) Verify your Drive. Anything errors will need to be repaired.
    3) Repair Permissions. Error messages here can be ignored unless they appear in RED.

Maybe you are looking for