intel imac stuck on blue screen at startup

[kjs862]

My friends alu intel imac is having a problem. When he power on the machine the computer gets stuck on a blue screen. Can anyone help me fix this problem for my friends. Thanks

[MacAndy74]

F8 at Windows startup - go to Safe Mode. Maybe rollback the last installed driver or 'right click - manage' then have a look at the system logs. They could provide a hint of what's going wrong.

[kjs862]

I had him reset the PRAM and now the computer is stuck on the gray apple screen.

[MacAndy74]

Originally Posted by kjs862

I had him reset the PRAM and now the computer is stuck on the gray apple screen.

Disconnect the power cable from the back of the iMac, then press the power button (that will drain any remaining power from the system), plug the power cable back in and see what happens now when you attempt to power on the iMac...

[illegallydead]

Originally Posted by MacAndy74

F8 at Windows startup - go to Safe Mode. Maybe rollback the last installed driver or 'right click - manage' then have a look at the system logs. They could provide a hint of what's going wrong.

He's not talking about Boot Camp or Windows at all...

Same things.


When your friend turns on the computer, hold down Command+V after the startup bong. This will initiate Verbose boot-up, meaning you will see all the messages that the system is generating. This might help you troubleshoot and diagnose the problem...

[richprice]

I had this problem and tried everything possible and in the end I had to format and reinstall everything. If you find a solution please share.

[allan.nyholm]

I suggest disconnecting the iMac completely with all cables removed including the power cable for 10 seconds or so. Then reconnect with only a mouse and keyboard and maybe ethernet cable. Might work. I've experienced long startup times with grey screen and blue screen for minutes (around 5 minutes) until I did this. Oh yeah, and disconnected any external drives and the printer.

[macindork]

you can also try booting it while holding the shift key down...this will boot the machine into "safe mode"

[pusman83]

Same problem with a G5... nothing seems to work!

Edit: Ok, well Safe Mode worked (boot while holding shift). Now I'm scared of leaving it...

[macindork]

Now I would say go into System Preferences > Accounts > "Your Account" > Login Items tab and uncheck all items, then run a disk permissions repair by going to Applications folder, Utilities, click your hard drive then click "Repair Disk Permissions" in the middle lower portion of the window. Let us know how it goes.

[illegallydead]

Originally Posted by macindork

Now I would say go into System Preferences > Accounts > "Your Account" > Login Items tab and uncheck all items, then run a disk permissions repair by going to Applications folder, Utilities, click your hard drive then click "Repair Disk Permissions" in the middle lower portion of the window. Let us know how it goes.

In addition to the above, also try going into System Preferences>Startup Disk, and clicking on your OSX disk. Sometimes (especially when dealing with bootcamp or anything) this will not be "selected" and in some cases may cause the Mac to hang while booting.

Just something else to try, best of luck making this work!

[macindork]

Originally Posted by illegallydead

In addition to the above, also try going into System Preferences>Startup Disk, and clicking on your OSX disk. Sometimes (especially when dealing with bootcamp or anything) this will not be "selected" and in some cases may cause the Mac to hang while booting.

Just something else to try, best of luck making this work!

That's the kicker though, it gets past EFI and boots into the OS, it just hangs before it loads finder and the menu bar.

[pusman83]

I've also noticed some inconsitencies with fonts in Firefox (don't know if it's related to the problem or Safe Mode): some default fonts get changed to Serif.

[pusman83]

It seems to be a widespread problem due to a 10.5.7 update. Search a bit for "blue screen loop" and 10.5.7 and you'll find something.

I ended up resetting the PRAM three times in a row (Cmd-Alt-P-R) and then let it boot. There was a blue/grey screen but then it took be to my login screen.

Huzzah!

[illegallydead]

Originally Posted by macindork

That's the kicker though, it gets past EFI and boots into the OS, it just hangs before it loads finder and the menu bar.

So does it give you the login option and everything? That is goofy, it sounds like something is looping for sure. Perhaps see if you can change the login items by booting into safe mode or through the install disk. That is about as far as my knowledge goes though, best of luck with this. This is a stumper!

[macman4789]

My iMac took a while to boot and seemed to hang for a while, seemed to be cos my ipod was plugged in. If you've got an ipod plugged in then try taking it out and then booting up.

[macmee]

This kept happening to me thismorning. I ended up unplugging all USB powered devices, and then it booted.

[Hisho]

Originally Posted by MacAndy74

Disconnect the power cable from the back of the iMac, then press the power button (that will drain any remaining power from the system), plug the power cable back in and see what happens now when you attempt to power on the iMac...

Thank you MacAndy74 after freaking out a bit about my new-ish Imac i came upon your brilliant advice, and it worked perfectly. and i figured i'd register to tell you Thanks for the advice. so there. Cheers

[MobileMou]

Originally Posted by MacAndy74

Disconnect the power cable from the back of the iMac, then press the power button (that will drain any remaining power from the system), plug the power cable back in and see what happens now when you attempt to power on the iMac...

I've had this problem for a while but hadn't found this thread when searching for solutions. THIS WORKED! (While I was at it, I disconnected every peripheral device, and my 2-year-old iMac booted up like new.)

Thanks so much!

[OGDaniel]

Originally Posted by MacAndy74

Disconnect the power cable from the back of the iMac, then press the power button (that will drain any remaining power from the system), plug the power cable back in and see what happens now when you attempt to power on the iMac...

Fantastic . I tell people about this solution all the time, and they don't believe me. Like the solution isn't complicated enough.

To the OP, try the above solution. I hope everything works out.

[momech]

Thanks!

[woceht]

I'm working with an older imac g5 that is a communal office computer. It runs Tiger OS, if I am not mistaken. Today it booted to a blue screen only showing the mouse arrow. I can't seem to be able to get beyond the login screen for safe boot (hangs after entering password). Running disk repair booting from installation disk doesn't pick up any errors. For good measure I also repaired permissions. Have reset PRAM and NVRAM. Also tried running fsck in single user mode and that didn't pick up any errors either. Yet it still can't boot.

Some further information: Running boot in verbose mode kicks up a bunch of "family specific matching fails" errors for various devices. After login and password prompt I get

/System/Library/CoreServices/mcxd.app/Contents/MacOS/mcxd: MCXD.createConnection Unable to register server
MCXD.createConnection Unable to register server
MCXD Unable to create the connection
mcxd: runloop could not be started; status = -2

Any suggestions besides data retrieval and format disk? Is the harddisk fried?

Unfortunately, most of my measly IT experience comes from troubleshooting my PC, so explanations would help (and be very much appreciated).

[monst]

The same thing happened to my Macbook. I was stuck in the blue screen loop and neither "Repair Disk" nor "Repair Disk Permissions" worked. Booting into Safe Mode and unchecking all the Login Items finally got my Macbook to boot up normally again. I'm backing up my HD right now, I'll update again when I recheck the Login Items and try rebooting.

UPDATE: I rechecked the Login Items and my macbook still rebooted perfectly! Looks like simply booting in to Safe Mode did the trick.

[ladycertz]

Originally Posted by MacAndy74

Disconnect the power cable from the back of the iMac, then press the power button (that will drain any remaining power from the system), plug the power cable back in and see what happens now when you attempt to power on the iMac...

Thank you very much! I tried all other options - and this one worked like a charm. I just have to make it a point to keep current with updates.

[Schtooping]

Originally Posted by allan.nyholm

I suggest disconnecting the iMac completely with all cables removed including the power cable for 10 seconds or so. Then reconnect with only a mouse and keyboard and maybe ethernet cable. Might work. I've experienced long startup times with grey screen and blue screen for minutes (around 5 minutes) until I did this. Oh yeah, and disconnected any external drives and the printer.

Works like a charm...