Blue Screen on a Mac?! (Plus other questions)

[Patch^]

Hey everyone, since I installed 10.4.8 My PowerMac G5 occasionally shows a blue screen (like the one before you shutdown) and locks up. Then about 10 secs later it goes back to normal. It seems to be becoming more persistent.

Also some other questions while I'm here lol.

The Bluetooth range on my powermac sucks I can only get about a metre and a half (about 2 yards or so lol). Which is annoying because I am using the application Sailing Clicker on my Sony Ericcsson k800i to control iTunes and DVDs etc. It needs to work at least 3-5 metres. Any advice on this.

Lastly I am looking to buy a tv aeiral thing for my mac. The eye Tv things seem good. Any recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[theheyes]

Lastly I am looking to buy a tv aeiral thing for my mac. The eye Tv things seem good. Any recommendations?

I use a Miglia TV-Mini (I think thats the right name) which comes with the eyeTV software. Its very good - I recommend using an outdoor aerial though. Ive found if it tries to process a very choppy signal it can seriously munch through cpu time and bring your whole system to a halt.

Sorry I cant help with the blue screen.

 

[mad jew]

What exactly are you doing when you get the blue screen? What apps are you running and what hardware do you have plugged in?

 

[PYR0M310N]

my bluetooth stopped working completely a while ago on my G5 and the advice on apples site is to unplug everything from the back (power, usb, ethernet, everything) and that solved all my woes! Might increase the range.

 

[Patch^]

my bluetooth stopped working completely a while ago on my G5 and the advice on apples site is to unplug everything from the back (power, usb, ethernet, everything) and that solved all my woes! Might increase the range.

Thanks I might try that.

What exactly are you doing when you get the blue screen? What apps are you running and what hardware do you have plugged in?

Well I don't really have any other hardware plugged in that isn't from Apple. The only things that aren't are my Dell 2007WFP, Crucial RAM 512 (x2) and my Logitech MX310 Mouse. But I have these for a while and can't see them being the issue.

I'm noramlly running iTunes and Photoshop, which is annyoying because I sometimes work with huge files that go into the GB range lol. This blue screen thingy is getting more annoying lol.

It normally occurs when i recover from sleep mode. Then happens everynow and then .

I use a Miglia TV-Mini (I think thats the right name) which comes with the eyeTV software. Its very good - I recommend using an outdoor aerial though. Ive found if it tries to process a very choppy signal it can seriously munch through cpu time and bring your whole system to a halt.

Thanks, I was thinking of getting that one. But I don't really have an outside aeiral for my room. I'm at Uni so my options are a bit limited. I'd want to use the included aeiral, but I can't really see it being much use. I'm currently living in Bournemouth UK, So if anyone knows about the TV reception around here. Please tell lol .

 

[iMetroid]

What do you mean by "blue screen?" If it's a gray screen, it's kernel panicking.

Well I don't really have any other hardware plugged in that isn't from Apple. The only things that aren't are my Dell 2007WFP, Crucial RAM 512 (x2) and my Logitech MX310 Mouse. But I have these for a while and can't see them being the issue.

You might have some defective RAM. Try taking out the third party RAM, keeping only the RAM branded by Apple in (that is - if you still have it).

It normally occurs when i recover from sleep mode. Then happens everynow and then .

Another sign that something isn't right physically.

 

[Patch^]

The RAM has been in there for about 6-7 Months now and no problems. Only got a 'blue screen' when I installed 10.4.8. Plus 'Apple RAM' as you say is made by Samsung (well most of it). So I don't see how crucial, which a lot of others use could be the problem. I haven't even had a powersurge or anything either etc....

And no it's not a gray screen/kernal panic I know what they look like

It goes blue like it does just before it shutsdown, then goes back to the desktop.

I personally think it may have something to do with the update .

 

[wchong]

OMG IT'S THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!! it's finally affecting the macs!!! lol

j/k don't know how to help u unless u provide a picture

 

[MacMosher]

OMG IT'S THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!! it's finally affecting the macs!!! lol

j/k don't know how to help u unless u provide a picture

ahah do you need the shade of blue or somthing? does that help you figure out what the problem is?

 

[wchong]

ahah do you need the shade of blue or somthing? does that help you figure out what the problem is?

lol it might have something written there that he might've overlooked

 

[apfhex]

I'm noramlly running iTunes and Photoshop, which is annyoying because I sometimes work with huge files that go into the GB range lol. This blue screen thingy is getting more annoying lol.

It normally occurs when i recover from sleep mode. Then happens everynow and then .

I know what blue screen you're talking about, but I've never seen it during normal operation, *only* when logging in/out where it's meant to appear.

When this happens, do all your applications quit too? Does it act as if you've just logged out and then back in?

Sometimes if the Finder crashes, your desktop picture will be replaced with blue like that until it relaunches putting your picture back. This wouldn't affect other applications, though.

 

[firstrest]

I have exactly the same since updating to 10.4.8. I have a MBP and nothing plugged in to it when this has happened. Had maybe 3 or 4 apps open too, the usual, Safari, Mail, Azureus.

 

[mad jew]

RAM can go bad, especially after system updates. I agree with iMetroid in that you should take it out to see if that helps. I'd also check and possibly repair the file system with fsck.