PowerPC :: G4 Silverdoor Does Not Get Past Gray Boot Screen
Feb 6, 2008
At the tech dept we have this G4 that refuses to boot past the grey screen with the rotating wheel. The logic board has been replaced, we've removed all sticks of RAM save 1x512, we've tried a known working optical drive, replaced ribbon cables (optical cable was frayed on one end) No dice. Option booting works, but once we select the DVD we can't boot from an install PPC CD either, it just gets stuck at the grey screen. We also have a tech HD inside that the computer does not boot from either.
View 3 Replies
ADVERTISEMENT
Dec 30, 2010
I'm trying to resurrect an iBook (translucent white case, 14.1 LCD) that was long neglected, so not sure on its past service history. The following do NOT work: - won't boot up past the gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear icon (just hangs) - same problem if I try to boot from install DVD ("c" or using "option" then selecting DVD) - same problem with safe boot with "shift" - reset PRAM It will connect via firewire target disk mode to another computer, and I used that to completely wipe the disk and do a clean install of 10.5. When I tried booting into single-user mode (cmd-s), it fills about 2/3 of the screen with normal-looking messages, but then hangs after this (no keyboard response): Got boot device = IOService... [various other stuff] BSD root: disk0s6, major 14, minor 5 I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions? The machine is old enough that it's probably not worth the diagnostic fee of the local Apple shop. Since I can't get it to boot, I can't even run TechTools.
View 4 Replies
View Related
May 1, 2009
I recently required a Power Mac G4, and it was working fine, albeit a bit slow but I just assume that was because there's too many files on it, but that's another story. I shut it down before I left work, when I came back in the morning it was just the grey screen with the apple. I reset it, still no response. I reset the PRAM, nothing. I tried to boot in Single user mode, nothing. I tried to boot in verbose mode, nothing. I force ejected the CD and put in an OSX disk one from my laptop, asked it to force read by restarting and pressing "C" and still nothing. I am not sure if a cable inside has been jarred lose.
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jul 17, 2010
I was given a PowerBook G4 15" today. I need to fix it, but I can't find out what exactly is wrong. I've used MROOGLE and I can't find any problem quite like what I'm experiencing. In my case, the laptop will turn on, make the chime, and stay stuck on a white/grey screen. No apple, no spinning gear, no nothing. Just a blank white/grey screen. However, when I insert the Leopard DVD and hold down "C" the apple appears as well as the little spinning gear. That goes on for a few minutes. BUT, after those few minutes are up the small gear still spins, but the Apple logo is replaced with a prohibitory sign (like what you would see on a non-smoking or no parking sign) and it sticks there and sometime says that I need to re-start my computer. The same happens with the Tiger disk. Also, when I place the Leopard or Tiger disk in the SuperDrive and hold down "option" so that I can boot OS X from the DVD, I click the little continue arrow and nothing happens. I've reset everything there is to be reset, and I've opened up the computer and re-seated everything that could possibly be re-seated. RAM, HDD, all connector cables, etc. There isn't any visible physical damage inside of the computer either.
The most recent thing I've tried was to boot off of a PPC-specific Ubuntu disk. It does some stuff and lets me run the kernel, but after that the computer gets stuck on a black screen and does nothing at all. I'd really appreciate it if you all could offer some advice as to what may be wrong. All suggestions and ideas are welcome too.
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 13, 2009
last night i changed the permissions on my macbook to stop my files being shared. now when i log in i cant get past the grey boot up screen. i was told its because of problems created from changing the permissions. i booted up holding shift and nothing happened i booted up in in verbose and it says theres no posix_spawnp("/usr/sbin/mDNSresponder", ...) over and over i booted up with cmd+s and got If you want to make modifications to the files
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw
If you wish to boot system exit. I dont want what to do here, Im afraid to start messing with it. I really need to get the files in my HD, I'm doing finals right now!!
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 30, 2012
I have a mirror door g4 power pc that had been having some issues with not turning on, and after testing the power supply, it failed miserably. We placed a refurbished power supply in it from a company in New York and the computer was working wonderfully. I went on a cruise last week and went to turn the computer on for the first time in a week and a few days. The CPU turns on, the unit chimes, the fan turns on and the computer starts to boot up, but it won't boot past the gray apple logo screen. Actually, the first few attempts to boot it resulted in a blue screen with gaint apple logo and spinner; it wouldn't advance further. After several restarts and resets, I got it to come up into the normal gray screen. On several attempts it wouldn't boot further than this. On two occasions now though, it has moved past the gray screen to normal operation (it takes about an hour for it to get to that point though) but with some kind of errors. I get the side bar, but the gray panel on to with "file" ect is gone and my HD icon never comes up. The icons on the sidebar do not respond when clicked. The computer will not boot from the OS X disc.Â
Info:
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)
View 1 Replies
View Related
Nov 24, 2010
So bare with me I want to be thorough so hopefully someone can help me out. My MBP (08) will not boot past the grey screen. The wheel just spins infinitely. I've read about it trying to figure it out.
1) I tried to boot from the install disc, when I do there are weird diagonal lines and the thing is unreadable.
2) I hooked it to my Mac Pro in target disc mode. I was able to get some of the information off, but it would eventually freeze up and freeze the finder on the Pro. It wouldn't verify the disc in disc utility. It would freeze if I tried to repair the disc.
3) It won't boot in safe mode or single user mode (CMD + S)
4) I tried removing the ram and switching it and using only one stick of ram (to make sure it wasn't a ram problem).
5) I tried to boot without the battery
Needless to say I am a bit frustrated. My applecare is long gone and there is no apple certified repair place anywhere near here. I've also noticed the thing is very hot. If nothing else I'd like to have an idea of what I should be expecting from the repair place.
View 5 Replies
View Related
Nov 23, 2007
I started this topic on the Garage Band forum because I was having trouble with Garage Band '08 when my computer crashed and will not restart afterwards. Garage Band was crashing 2 out of every 3 attempts at recording, and I would have to use Force Quit to escape and start over. Then, while I was in the middle of a very complex project involving Garage Band, iTunes, Finale (music notation program), and Microsoft Word, the computer froze up and I hit restart, thinking that would solve the problem. Big mistake - the computer has not been able to restart since then. I have a late 2005 G5 power mac with 1 GB of memory, 230 GB hard drive (or something like that) and no additional gizmos installed, running OS X 10.4.4. I had upgraded to iLife '08 a month or so ago and have had problems since with unusual crashes and freezes, especially involving Garage Band '08.
When I boot, I get to the gray opening screen with the gray apple logo and the spinning gear (is it really called an "intergalactic frisbee?"), and no further. The fans come on (and begin to ramp up to a huge noise after two minutes or so), the white LED light comes on steadily. I've disconnected all peripherals except my keyboard and mouse (Kensington USB keyboard and Logitech Mouse, both of which seem to work OK still). I can use the keyboard to open the CD/DVD player, and I can start the computer with both the Apple Installer disk and with Disk Warrior 4.0. I've repaired everything I can find with both programs, verified everything available, used Disk Warrior to examine corrupted files, and removed all the .plist files that it said were broken and could not be fixed. The only thing I can't find is that it says I am missing a "tmp" folder in my HD/private/ folder, which I can't seem to locate on the directory on Disk Warrior. Both programs say that all my hardware is fine, and that everything else is OK too. Puzzling. I removed the battery and tested it (it was OK), replaced it, and reset the PMU button on the motherboard even though I know all you have to do is unplug the back for a few minutes or so.............
View 9 Replies
View Related
Jan 8, 2011
My iMac won't get past grey screen, I've tried holding down c. I've tried holding cmd+s. I've reset my PRAM etc, I've put back in RAM it came with, and when I turn it on I just get grey screen, apple logo and the spinning thing! Updated it to new snow leopard OSX 10.6.6 and it has a DVD in the drive and I can't even get that out! What can I do?
View 12 Replies
View Related
Jul 23, 2010
I apologize for the long message but I want to be as detailed as possible. My MacBook (purchased early 2006, white 13", upgraded to Leopard about a year ago with no problems until now) will not boot past the grey screen and spinning wheel. Here' are the list of 6 steps I've followed so far and still is not working. Oh, and I do not have any peripherals attached to my MacBook:
1. Reboot in Safe Mode: tried pressing down the Shift key before the powering up sound AND after the sound. Could not get into Safe Mode. Did this several times, holding the Shift key for as much as a minute or two. Nothing but grey screen and spinning wheel.
2. Reset NVRAM/PRAM: CMD+R+P+Option: Computer restarted but still goes into Grey Screen, spinning wheel and stays there forever.
3. CMD +S: I read this online. Gave me a black screen with a lot of information, but I don't know how to read the computer jargon, let alone know what to do with said info. 4. Disk Utility Repair Disk : Inserted my Leopard install disk. Went to Utility Disk. Performed a Repair Disk and I did get two error messages, something related to id 70000452 should be id 70000450 ( I'm sorry to say I cannot remember the exact error messages). But it showed as repaired. When I did a 2nd Repair Disk, I got the message that the volume appears to be OK. Turned off and on again, nothing but grey screen and wheel.......
View 3 Replies
View Related
Jan 8, 2011
My macbook pro won't boot past the grey screen, I've tried reseting PRam, running fsck from single user etc to no avail. All signs would point towards a hard disk failure, but the curious thing is that it sometimes mounts in disk utility when booting from the install CD, so theres a little life left in it yet! I have fairly recent backups of most of my files, but there are a couple I've been working on in the past few days that won't be backed up. So my question is this - is it possible to copy files from my mac HD onto a external drive through the terminal/disk utility while booting from the CD.
View 6 Replies
View Related
May 29, 2012
This morning, I would turn it on and it'd go to the grey screen with the Apple logo for a few seconds and then go to the icon that is a circle with a line through it. After reading online, I was able to boot it up in Safe Mode. I went to Startup Disk in Preferences. I chose the MAC OS X, xxxx and then clicked the lock to prevent further changes and then clicked restart. Now when I turn on the macbook, it goes to the grey screen with the Apple logo for at least two-three minutes and then just shuts off. Won't boot into Safe Mode now. I already tried the Command-Option-P-R keys trick like five times.
Info:
MacBook Pro
View 4 Replies
View Related
Jun 11, 2007
I have an iBook G4 1.07 GHz 30 gb 256 RAM with Panther. It was working fine until my HD got close to being full. Now I can't get it to boot past the Apple screen. It will either freeze there, or move on to the blue screen and freeze before the progress bar enters. I want to re-install Panther but I can't get any CD to boot during startup by holding "C", including the Panther OS CD, the Hardware Test CD, or the Tech Tool CD. I am able to boot to single user mode, where I type fsck -fy, and I recieve no errors with the hardware. I had this issue beore and my HD had to be replaced by Apple.
View 6 Replies
View Related
Aug 31, 2010
I have an old PowerBook G4 that my son uses for simple stuff. One day the screen went dark gray (not powered off) and it won't boot. When I try to boot from a Tiger disk, I get what appears to be a kernel panic. I don't get any strange startup beeps
View 1 Replies
View Related
Nov 1, 2006
So I've got a powerbook G4, thats 8 days past its warranty. Conveniently, it now won't turn on. It won't wont boot from CD. If I turn it on, I get a gray screen that usually just turns my computer back off, if thats not the case I get a screen that shows the finder icon and a question mark and then turns off.
All it will do is boot into open firmware mode. Currently the install disc is inside of it and I've tried booting the cd using "cd:, bxi" and "dir hd", and it can't open both. Does anyone know how to wipe the HD, and start the installer using firmware? Otherwise, I think I'll have to take out the harddrive and plug it into an external case and then wipe it.
View 9 Replies
View Related
Aug 2, 2010
first i'd like to give you a few pieces of information on what was going on before I restarted my mac. 1. My mac is a 13'' late 2008 mb with 2gb of ram (running leopard). 2. I JUST had my hard drive replaced due to a failure. 3. Before i restarted my computer i was having several "system extenstion" errors and when i tried to repair i recieved the message 'Underlying task reported failure on exit.' At the time, i was also trying to install Adobe CS5 Master Collection trial and i couldn't get past a password screen. This also prompted me to restart. Once the computer began to restart, it began updating boot caches. This was taking a very long time so i walked away from the mb. When i came back i realized the battery had died and when i plugged it back in and tried to get it to boot, it would get to the gray screen with the apple and the spinning logo underneath. But then it simply reboots.
I've tried restarting the pram. I've tried rebooting in single user mode (cmd + S) and got to the point where i could rebuild the tree (fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s2) and that did it's thing for about ten minutes and it didn't fix the problem. I don't have my install disk but apple is sending me a new one and will be here by friday.
View 3 Replies
View Related
May 12, 2010
I have a few month old iMac 27" i7 quad core for music use and did an update this morning which consisted of an itunes update and update to the screen firmware and two other things I can't remember. Do the usual install and restart business and am now met with the following error:
------------------------------------------------------
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x558271): "Unable to find device driver for this platform: "ACPI".
"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1504.3.12......................
Debugger called: <panic>
Backtrace (CPU 0) , Frame: Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
7 lines of numbers and letters (please let me know if you need these)
BSD process name correspoding to current thread: Unknown
Mac OS Version:
Not yet set
Kernal Version:
Darwin Kernel Version 10.3.0...............
View 3 Replies
View Related
May 21, 2012
what should I try? I did try restting the eprom by removing he battery and hoding the power button for 30 seconds.
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 21, 2012
Tried everything, the shift key at startup, the c key at start up, with the disk installed, disk is brand new no scratches. Gray Screen still on, no movement of the optical drive or HD apparent Is my HD screwed ?
Info:MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 2 Replies
View Related
Dec 2, 2014
How to get my computer to turn on? I used it on Friday and had a normal shut down but when I went to turn it on yesterday, it gets the the gray screen with the apple and the loading bar and loads half way and then just stops and sits there until it eventually shuts itself off. I have tried turning it off and then back on and holding the D key but nothing happened.
Info:
MacBook Pro, iOS 8
View 3 Replies
View Related
Apr 28, 2012
My macbook suddenly won't progress past the grey screen and the spinning gear. I have tried the procedures listed in one of the support documents, although I note they don't include OSX10.7 which I am running. I got to the part where it says try your system disk, problem is, I purchased through App store. I'm guessing at this stage I should have created an emergency boot disk.
Info:
iPhone 4, iOS 4.3.3
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 8, 2007
Unfortunately I bumped the switch on the power strip that my Mac Mini (1.42ghz G4, OS X 10.3) is plugged into while it was running. Now it won't boot up. All I get is the gray screen with the gray apple logo and the spinning wheel but no OSX.
View 14 Replies
View Related
Apr 26, 2012
My Macbook Pro is not starting past the grey screen and the apple logo and the rolling circle. I have tried every method and I am desperate to do anything to start my computer even erase the entire disc. I have contacted the Apple store and they told me the cost will be equivalent to $600 to just repair it and no way I will be able to afford it. I am willing to do anything and even erase my entire disc. However, for that the instructions on the Apple page state that 'Insert your Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 installation disc'. However, I do not have my installation disc Is there any other way I can erase the OS system and at least reboot my Macbook?
Info:
MacBook Pro
View 6 Replies
View Related
Apr 25, 2009
Last week or so my Mac (10.3 or 10.4, I think, was the model.) froze up while I was surfing the web. I clicked all over the place, let it sit for fifteen minutes, and came back to find nothing had changed. After shutting it off with that little button on the tower you're not supposed to use to shut it off (but it was frozen, so..) and leaving it to sit for another five or six minutes, I came back and turned it on. That's where I had issues. It only boots up to that gray screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel that means it's loading (lies. It never does. I thought it might just be slow so i left it like that for an hour; came back, still there.), and then it just stays there.
Now, I looked on the web for some suggestions and tried the stuff here: [URL] and went some other places that told me I needed some system CD that I don't have. Also, I looked on here and found someone with a similar problem (computer froze, turned it off, turned it on, got stuck on screen with apple and spinning wheel), and they told them to try something with the CD. They didn't have one either, and no one really commented after that. Does that mean I'm seriously up a creek with fixing my computer? I've left it unplugged for a few days at a time, too, just in case it needed some serious cooling down time, but nothing happened then, either. I'm not very computer savvy, but my Mac's future looks pretty bleak.
View 7 Replies
View Related
Dec 29, 2008
My iBook G4 will not boot even from DVD.Boot with option does not show the hard drive, but shows the Tiger dvd.Memory access error shows at open boot.How can I get this thing to boot?
View 11 Replies
View Related
May 24, 2010
My mac was shutting down and it took sooo long (blue screen with the spinning loader). I never experienced this, cause normally the dock would vanish and my mac would shut down instantly. But this time it kept showing a blue shutdown screen, so I decided (after about 2 minutes) to hold the power button and force a shutdown. The next time I booted the mac it showed me the gray boot screen, with the spinning wheel and a gray loading bar, which I think is indicating a firmware update or something that has to do with my forced shutdown. But the bar gets to about 1/8 and then vanishes. The spinning wheel stays, but nothing else happens. It just hangs and keeps spinning forever.
View 2 Replies
View Related
May 16, 2009
I hardly ever turn off my Macbook unless i need to - I just close it and use it whenever i need to. I let the battery run dry as Apple suggests to do every now and again, and turned it on the next day. It started to boot and took a little longer to get past the grey apple logo and loading circle and then froze on the blue screen. I can control the mouse, but every few seconds it changes to a darker blue, cursor disappears but returns after a second or two. I've tried:
- Booting into safe mode (Same thing happens)
- Booting from CD and repairing permissions (Said everything was ok, same thing happens when I booted)
- Single user mode (used some commands from an Apple page and restarted)
I can however boot into windows perfectly fine, which leads me to suspect it's a corrupt log in item. I'd like to know for sure it's not a hardware problem so I don't have to take it into an Apple Store.
View 8 Replies
View Related
Mar 5, 2010
I have one of the old blue PowerMac G3 computers, and I kept getting a kernel panic, so I reset the RAM and now when I start up the computer, it stops at the apple screen without even spinning. I've tried booting it in single user mode, and for some reason it doesn't make a difference what keys I hit while turning on the computer. It still boots to the apple screen.
View 13 Replies
View Related
Apr 1, 2012
My wife has a Macbook with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (Macbook4,1). I am trying to replace the original SATA hard disk (160 GB) with an SSD. I have two SSDs here with me:Â
1) Intel 320 series, 160 GB
2) Crucial M4, 128 GBÂ
In both cases, after replacing the hard disk with the SSD, I am unable to get the Macbook to get any further than the "Mac sound" and grey screen.Â
In my first attempt, I cloned the original disk to the SSD on another computer, verified the data got on there OK, and installed the SSD into the Macbook. In subsequent attempts, I just formatted the SSD to see if the Mac would recognize it at all.Â
When the original hard disk is installed, and my Snow Leopard install DVD is in the DVD drive, during the boot, I can hold down the option key and get a boot choice of booting from the hard disk or the DVD. With either SSD installed, when holding down the option key I get no choices at all, it just sits there (it does access the DVD for a few seconds but then nothing).Â
I have another 160 GB "regular" hard disk here as well and when I install that I also get the choice to boot from the hard disk or the DVD (although booting from the hard disk does not work since it's a hard disk from a PC).Â
combination of Macbook and SSD, installing into the hard drive bay? I've seen many posts from people who have had success putting an SSD into their Macbook so I am assuiming it's possible.Â
Some more information about the Macbook:
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00
SMC Version: 1.31f1Â
Info:
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
View 1 Replies
View Related
May 26, 2012
I was having trouble submitting an assignment on the American Military University website. After I finally submitted and verified my submission was successful, Finder popped open a window, without being prompted, with a specific part of my "private" folder showing. In the info window it showed that I had read only privleges, but that a user named "wheel" had permissions. Thing is, there is no such user. I am the sole user, and that is not my user name. I panicked, thinking I was being hacked, and moved the entire "private" folder to the trash. It was over 5 gigs. I had to input my admin password after dropping the folder in the trash. Then, my system froze. Now I can't get past the grey boot screen with apple logo and spinning wheel.
I've tried zapping PRAM. I ran disk utility from both the install disk and the startup disk for live verify. NO errors found. Still won't boot. I tried safe mode, and got a status bar below the apple logo but it vanished before filling completely and then the MacBook just continued to hang there spinning the wheel without a status bar. Tried rebooting while holding shift-command-v and got to watch as the computer tried to boot in safe mode, but I got the following messages before the darn thing just began to hang there again:Â
getaddrlinfo(): node name nor username provided, or not known
getaddrlinfo(): node name nor username provided, or not known
getaddrlinfo(): node name nor username provided, or not known
getaddrlinfo(): node name nor username provided, or not known
launch_msg(): Socket is not connected
launch_msg(): Socket is not connectedÂ
Info:
MacBook Pro 13.3", Mac OS X (10.6.6)
View 1 Replies
View Related
