Urgent Help: My Mac Is &(*@$(@$!!

ast3r3xast3r3x
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
this is a message i'm relaying for TigerWoods99 because well read about his computer...he got the blue screen of death on a mac!





Quote:

ok.....i restarted my G4 today and after the initial grey login screen i was taken to a soft blue screen (like the login screen ) without the login window or anything and it didnt do anything after that



the mouse pointer i could move all over the screen, and after trying to restart and shutting down the computer for a while then starting it up, it did the same thing



so i tried resetting the pram, resetting the open firmware and resetting the nvram but it still did the same thing after that



i started the computer w/the option key held down but the only thing i could get to was mac os x again and it did the same thing



i couldnt open my superdrive either with F12 so there is also no way to open the drive and put in a cd to hardware test or boot off the original OS install disc (he doens't have an apple pro keyboard but says f12 does the same thing for him)



i am runninga Quicksilver DP 1 GHz G4 w/Jaguar



help a brother out...he needs it!
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 58
    superkarate monkeydeathcarsuperkarate monkeydeathcar Posts: 2,407member
    try unplugging all your gear and restarting.
  • Reply 2 of 58
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    hold down mouse button during startup to force cd tray to open



    hold down shift during startup to force FSCK this will load "safe mode" if problem still happens here (with all devices minus keyboard and mouse unplugged) then the OS/hardware is at fault and you will need to reformat/reinstall/send in to apple (not necessarily in that order)... but i doubt it would go that far...
  • Reply 3 of 58
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    <insert witty comment about his computer going into a coma like that girl in NYC>



  • Reply 4 of 58
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by LoCash

    <insert witty comment about his computer going into a coma like that girl in NYC>







    haha



    i never knew about holding the mouse down forces the drive bay open, or that there was a safe mode still, i guess since i never had to use it...
  • Reply 5 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    Sup.



    Aight so I unplugged all my stuff and did what Paul suggested and I still get the same blue screen. So I took the original Mac OS X install disk that came with my machine, booted off of that and went into disk utility.



    I then verified disk and clicked repair. This is the result:



    Repairing disk "untitled"

    Checking HFS Plus volume

    Ivalid sibling link

    Repair completed



    In the information, here is what it says:



    Information



    Mount Point: Not Mounted

    Format: HFS+

    Capacity: 74.53 GB (80,025,996,288 Bytes)



    Obviously something is wrong with the hard drive and it is not mounting, but I am wondering why because before I restarted the computer everything worked perfectly.







    Sir LoCash- Your comment will be forwarded to an admin. I dont appreciate it and the forum doesnt need it. [which means they find it amusing]
  • Reply 6 of 58
    baumanbauman Posts: 1,248member
    So, it still doesn't work? Or did that disk utility thingy fix it?



    I don't think that 'not mounted' part is of any concern... when you boot up off of the Installer disk, it doesn't mount your disks, does it?



    This happened to my roommate, exactly like this. He called AppleCare, and it turned out to be a corrupted Login Preference file. They fixed it by guiding him through single user mode (command-s at startup), and renaming several of his preferences so they were re-created.



    I wouldn't be able to tell you which ones, but hopefully someone else can use this as a jump point
  • Reply 7 of 58
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Have you got any PCI cards in your machine? I've had that startup trouble a few times with my DP1Ghz, and once it was so bad I pulled all the PCI cards and re-seated them in different slots. It worked. Why or how I couldn't tell you, but it did.



    And, don't be too hard on Jack...he's been in the sauna with a bunch of squirrels a little too much lately... ...and who's gonna listen to a newbie with only 1 post?



    [edit:] and while you're in there, pull your RAM and switch them around too. I know it sounds like voodoo, but, well...it is. \
  • Reply 8 of 58
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Verbal Assassin

    LoCash- Your comment will be forwarded to an admin. I dont appreciate it and the forum doesnt need it.



    Ok, you can find my email address in my profile. Forward away.
  • Reply 9 of 58
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by 709

    Have you got any PCI cards in your machine? I've had that startup trouble a few times with my DP1Ghz, and once it was so bad I pulled all the PCI cards and re-seated them in different slots. It worked. Why or how I couldn't tell you, but it did.



    And, don't be too hard on Jack...he's been in the sauna with a bunch of squirrels a little too much lately... ...and who's gonna listen to a newbie with only 1 post?



    [edit:] and while you're in there, pull your RAM and switch them around too. I know it sounds like voodoo, but, well...it is. \



    haha nobody...but its TigerWoods99 with 2422 posts



    Quote:

    Originally posted by LoCash

    Ok, you can find my email address in my profile. Forward away.



    sorry tiger but you have to admit that this comment was cute
  • Reply 10 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    Check tha sig yo, I aint a newbie w/1 post.



    Im gonna try and take out all my PCI cards since I tried command line ish and that stuff didnt even work. Plus I called Apple they told me I couldnt even be helped because I didnt purchase Apple Care.
  • Reply 11 of 58
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 12 of 58
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Verbal Assassin

    Check tha sig yo, I aint a newbie w/1 post.



    I know. Just f**kin with ya while you're way out on that limb....





    [edit:] Let me know if the PCI stuff works...I know it's a long-shot, but it worked for me.



    Also, have you tested your RAM at all? Bad RAM=machine having nightmares (literally).
  • Reply 13 of 58
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Oh, and if you have a red eraser around, clean the contacts of the RAM with that. No, I'm not kidding.



    You thought that the days of sacrificing chickens and whirling like a dervish were limited to getting your SCSI chain to work, didn't you?
  • Reply 14 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    I switched the RAM to a different slot, took out all of my PCI cards...still the same problem that persists.



    I also tried something that I found that is supposed to fix it.



    started up in single user mode with Command-S

    typed: mount -uw /

    then hit return

    typed: mv /var/db/SystemConfiguration/preferences.xml preferences.old

    then hit return

    typed: reboot

    then hit return



    machine still booted as before



    tried this too



    start up in single user mode

    typed: mount -uw /

    typed: mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist preferences2.old

    typed: mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist preferences3.old

    typed: reboot



    same thing





    finally try

    startup in single user mode

    type mount -uw /

    chmod 1775 /

    reboot



    nada



    I've tried resetting the pram (same thing as "zapping" ?), resetting the Open Firmware, resetting the nvram....nothing has helped. Unplugged all my gear from the computer, taken out all the pci cards, removed RAM and reinstalled it in different slot.



    I dont know what the hell to do...Mac works perfectly for a year and a half then all of a sudden after I restart it the other day...all hell breaks loose. I called Apple, and they arent allowed to help me over the phone because I dont have Apple Care and I purchased the machine a year and a half ago. The guy told me to look online at their support and I did and thats the only really relevent thing I saw was going into single user mode and typing those commands out.
  • Reply 15 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    booting into safe mode...everything else...didnt work. same thing.
  • Reply 16 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
    Oh...after I type the ish in single user mode...after each command I type it says "No file found" or something of that nature....
  • Reply 17 of 58
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Jesus...once you start talking 'Terminal' you've gone far deeper than I would ever dare. I'm sorry, I got nothin else.



    Good Luck TW, I wish I could help more.
  • Reply 18 of 58
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    well u may have to take it to be repaired...unless u'd want to send it to me, but i would take no responsibility for loss of information
  • Reply 19 of 58
    verbal assassinverbal assassin Posts: 74member
  • Reply 20 of 58
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Verbal Assassin

    Repairing disk "untitled"



    RED FLAG



    umm your disk isn't named untitled is it...



    i'd recommend buying disk warrior and running that...



    do you have a backup?



    you will probably have to reformat unless DW works some magic on your HD...
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