PowerBook Stuck at Blue Screen?

Hi there, I have a old Powerbook G4 15" thats having the common blue screen with cursor on startup error. Since then, Ive wipe OSX off and has been using Linux on this powerbook for some time and it works fine and i always though the blue screen issue is just a normal software issue. Recently, i decided to reformat it back to OSX 10.5, the installation went on smoothly and it completed without any issues. After rebooting, it stucks a the "blue screen with cursor" again. Heres what ive tried and some facts.
- Reseted PRAM
- Reseted PMU
- Reformatted the HDD
- Boot in Normal Mode and it stucks at blue screen v cursor
- Verbose Mode shows no signs of errors and it continues to blue screen n sits there.
- Boot in Safe Mode and it works
- Works perfectly fine with Linux
- HDD tested OK
- RAM tested OK
- Ran Disk Utility to check for permission errors.
- Tried removing Airport card.
- DVD drive removed (after installation)
- Was able to boot from 10.5 Installation DVD
- Can't do AHT (Apple Hardware Test) as i do not have the original DVDs
- Warranty is obviously over.
Does anyone has any suggestions for me? Thanks!!

15-inch PowerBook G4s with 1.5 and 1.67Ghz processors had a serious logic board fault that caused one RAM slot to fail. Use "About this Mac" to see if all the RAM installed is recognized, or remove one RAM module at a time and see it the computer runs properly on the other module.

Similar Messages

  • 10.6.8 update stuck on blue screen... 4 hours and counting

    Upon selecting automatic software update my system seems stuck on blue screen with spinning grey gear.  How long should I tolerate this (going on 4 hours now) before attempting to do something?
    I can access the hard drive of this computer from others on my local network and am able to copy files from it.  I'm wondering if I should try to grab all that is valuable to me before anything worse happens.
    Advise?

    If your data is not backed up copy any important documents you can from your Mac's startup drive.
    Once you are done copying your data, use the power switch to turn off your Mac and disconnect everything except a wired keyboard/mouse and monitor. Start up in safe mode by holding the shift key down right after you hear the startup chime. Keep holding down the shift key until you see the Apple Logo and spinning gear.
    Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode Mac
    OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
    Safe mode will do some maintenance routines and checks/repairs the disk if needed so it will take quite a lot longer than normal to boot. Once your Mac boots restart normally. It will take a little longer than normal to boot but not as long as booting in safe mode.
    If things don't work as expected install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo

  • 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?
    fortunately I have backups if worse comes to worse...
    Any other tips/thoughts?
    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 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
    1 Apple hardware test (says every thing is ok)
    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)
    Yet when i boot i get stuck on a grey/blue screen . it starts in safe mode though, Is there some EFI , firmware restore file that i can install ???
    What else can it try????

    Please closely follow Apple's advice in Gray screen appears during startup. There are a number of steps to take, be methodical and follow the directions closely.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Iphone 3g stuck in blue screen

    iphone 3gs is stuck in blue screen....won't shut off, won't upload, nothing????

    have you tried a reset?

  • Stuck at blue screen

    It will load up after restart, passing the grey apple logo. When it looks like it's about to finish loading up Mac OSX it gets stuck at blue screen. Tried using Diskwarrior on it but it gets stuck in repair.

    First thing to do in this situation is load the MacOS install disk, and reboot the system holding the C key down when you hear the chime until MacOS shows it is loading. This will not on;y show whether the system is basically sound and capable of booting, but also then give you the opportunity to run Disk Utility (in the Utilities menu of the installer) to check the hard drive for errors, and if any are found, attempt to repair them.
    You'll need a wired USB keyboard (almost any will do, but NOT the Apple aluminium model) to boot to the installer.
    When Disk Utility had finished the Repair Disk task, it if shows no faults, then you have a MacOS problem and likely need to perform an archive and install to set up a new copy of MacOS while preserving your files and applications. If Disk Utility shows errors it cannot repair, particularly reporting 'error on exit', it generally means the drive has suffered a problem. In those situations DiskWarrior is sometimes successful at recovery, though often a reformat is needed. In a small proportion of cases this problem is indicative of hardware failure - usually the hard drive itself, in which case a reformat would generally be expected to fail.
    Be aware of course that reformatting the drive will wipe any and all data, so should not be done unless and until you have secured essential data.

  • MacBook won't start, stuck on blue screen

    My MacBook is stuck on blue screen... forever....
    MacBook info:
    13.3in, 2.0GHz Intel Core2 Duo, 120GB HD, 2X1GB RAM with Leopard
    MacBook was running great until last night...  My screen got frozen while browsing, and force quit did not work.  So I used power button to turned it off.  After that, my MacBook won't boot up anymore...  gray screen for about 3min, apple icon screen for 15min, then stuck on blue screen.
    I think I've tried everything in here..
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
    The only command that I was able to use was "Reset the NVRAM / PRAM", but no change there...
    I tried install DVD (came with the MacBook), but I cannot boot with DVD with C button and now the install DVD is stuck....
    Is there any way to fix this?  My warranty expired already, and I am trying to do everything before taking this to the store...
    Thank you.

    Thanks Eric.
    I have tried that before, but I gave an another try.  I held the option button longer this time, until I saw the apple icon.  Then cd (DVD?) image came on, so I clicked on it.  But after apple icon went away (10 min?), my macbook is again stuck on blue screen.  I only saw cd image, and did not see any other drives...  Is that a bad sign?
    Thanks,
    - Hidemi

  • G5 stuck on blue screen at set up point?

    I've read other listings and they all have tried everything they know. I know nothing except to turn the computer on and off. Last night it worked then this morning it is jusst stuck at this start up point. I held in the button and turned it off and on again, got stuck at blue screen point again. I unplugged everything and still stuck? Please advise as I just spent hundreds adding this G5 to our system of g4's throughout the house and are looking forward to using it.
    Thank You

    Have you tried starting from your install disc and using Disk Utility?
    1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, 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. (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. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
    5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
    6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk.
    Please post back with results,

  • Trying to install snow leopard-stuck at blue screen

    I put disk in,  computer restarted and am now stuck on blue screen.

    Did you hold the C key down after the boot beep to boot from the installer dvd?
    Is that a retail version of the dvd or did it come with you machine, or somewhere else?  If it's the latter you cannot use it.

  • Powerbook won't boot - stuck on blue Screen with rolling pin wheel

    Hi, maybe someone could remove my current headache.
    My old Powerbook G4 is stucked on a blue screen with an infinite rolling pin wheel(just after the little mouse arrow appears and disappears).
    For the information:
    - I already did all the possibilities on this page without success:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1411?viewlocale=en_US#symp1
    - When I do Fsck in single user mode, it tells me that everything is fine with the HD
    - I also checked techtool pro v4: everything is fine with the hard drive and files
    - I can't start in safe mode
    - I can't put my computer in Firewire target disk mode - the Fireware icon screen appears but it doesn't mount on my apple dekstop.
    - I don't know where is my old PB G4 install disk, so I can't try that.
    Message was edited by: NGrignon

    I don't know where is my old PB G4 install disk, so I can't try that.
    And, there in lies the solution. Without an OS disc to repair the OS you are up the creek without an OS disc.

  • Powerbook g4 stuck on blue screen

    I have a powerbook g4 15" 1 ghz.
    It has been running slow and the hard drive makes running sounds when nothing is open so I thought I would re-load the OS which is OS 10.5. So I got the original disk that came with the computer and loaded it into the DVD drive. I opened the disk image and hit the icon for loading the OS. It re-starts and gets all the way past the chimes and the grey screen with the apple but freezes at the blue screen right before it seems it should show the desktop. There are no sounds coming from the drive it's just frozen. What should I do now? Anyone?

    At this point I would run the Apple hardware test. Since you have the original OS X disks, find the first one that should say 'AHT Version x.x' in small print on the label, probably on the first disk (maybe the one in the system!). Insert and reboot while holding down the alt/option key, choose the Apple hardware test, click the arrow pointing to the right, and when prompted choose the extended test. Does it complete and does it identify any hardware issues?

  • Powerbook hanging on "Blue Screen of ????"

    Ok, I've got a 12" Powerbook here that no longer boots up. It hangs on the blue screen right after the gray apple and before the login screen. I tried a complete re-install (Tiger) several times, each time using different security options like zeroing out the data on the drive, etc.. I've reset PRAM, NVRAM, tried different hard drives, booted off external drives, you name it, I've probably tried it, and it always does the same thing... it just hangs on the blue screen. The weird thing is I can boot into safe mode just fine. There are no start-up items or log-in items to delete under the user, I even tried creating a new admin user, then deleted the original, nothing worked. I am truly stuck, I've worked with Macs for years, this is the first time I have come across this particular problem, any suggestions would be appreciated!

    Have you run the Apple hardware test, or either of the TechTools tests? Find your original OS X disks, which will say in small print on the first one's label 'AHT Version x.x'. Insert it and reboot holding the option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, click the arrow to the right and follow directions. Choose the extended test when prompted. Does that give any error messages?

Maybe you are looking for

  • Help using multiple computers and one shared external drive

    I just "bought" the new LR / PS combo special.  I have 3 computers, 2 PC's in seperate cities and a laptop that I use on the road. I would like to use an external hard drive as the main drive.  This way I could take the drive with me. 2 Questions....

  • Playing movies using VLC on external display

    My Macbook Pro is connected to my TV through the DVI port. There is a side-by-side arrangement, not mirror displays. Everything is working perfectly, sound and video. Sometimes I try to use VLC to play a movie on the TV screen, while I do work on my

  • Won't display Album Art while playing music and the screen is Locked

    So what's happening is that while I'm playing music and I lock the iPod, it won't display the album art. Only my wallpaper, which is one of the wallpapers that come with the iPod.

  • Accessing IMAGE Columns in SQL Server

    I'm trying to use the TG4MSSQL to access tables in a SS2k database. All is well, except for 1 table that has an IMAGE column in it. I must say that I'm a little surprised and disappointed that the 10gR2 gateway for MSSQL apparently translates these t

  • Pacman only checks core rep

    I just installed Arch but I can't get pacman to check any repositories other than core. Ie, $ pacman -Sl extra returns nothing. Here's my pacman.conf # /etc/pacman.conf # See the pacman manpage for option directives # GENERAL OPTIONS [options] LogFil