Black screen after restarting?

[ashley]

Couple of weird things that might be related -

- My macbook went to a black screen with white writing before starting OSX when I turned it back on after a few days off.
- Today, after opening it back up when it was sleeping, it froze. First the trackpad wouldn't work, then the trackpad worked but the screen didn't respond to the mouse clicking on anything, or even magnify as a scrolled obver the dock. I finally held the power button down, turned it off, then turned it back on.
- When I turned it on, it went to that black screen with white writing, then flashed to the grey OSX screen, without the apple in the middle but instead a black box. Then back to the black screen, flashed back to the gray screen, and then booted.

What have I done wrong?

Thank you in advance!
Ashley

 

[ashley]

bump, still wondering if this is something to worry about!

 

[Gee]

bump, still wondering if this is something to worry about!

Sounds serious!

 

[Kong]

I don't know if it's something to worry about per se, but it might be a sign your computer isn't happy. If it's been a while, I would:

- boot up from OS X install disc (shut down the computer and then hold down the C key to make it start from Install disc) then run Disk Utility. Select your hard disk and then select Repair Disk.

It might find/fix the software related problem that is mucking up your computer.

If it starts up normally afterwards, I'd then run "Repair Disk Permissions" from Disk Utility as well (from the macbook is fine - you don't need to restart from the Install disc for Permissions repair).

If everything checks out, and you're still having problems, it might be hardware related, but I'd run Disk Utility first and see if that helps.

 

[Shadow]

Try setting the startup disk to Macintosh HD (or whatever yours is called) in System Prefs --> Startup disk. It worked for me when I got a black screen for a few seconds (no white writing though).

 

[CuteGothTech]

White screen with writing= kernal panic. Try the archive reinstall. If you can't get the drive to reposnd correctly, the drive might be failing. I've seen that one a few times. And if worse comes to worse, like because the trackpad wasn't working correctly and the black screen, then bad logic board.

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS COVERED BY APPLE.

So I suggest the archive reinstall, if that doesn't work, take it to be serviced.

 

[ashley]

Hi! Thank you all for your suggestions and help.

A quick followup:

I decided to just call Tech Support because there didn't seem to be "quick and easy" answer to my question.

Turns out I had somehow turned on a diagnostic tool used by programmers - that's why I'd get a black screen before startup and when shutting down.

The tech support man had me press apple + option + p +r at startup for two chimes, and then all was well!

I wouldn't advocate doing this if your computer hasn't been evaluated by a professional of course, but I thought I'd share just in case someone is desperate.

Thanks again!
Ashley

 

[Gee]

Did tech support tell you how you managed to switch this mode on in the first place? Or what it's actually used for?

Does anyone else know?

I ask because I recently had the logic board replaced on my Mini, and when I got it back, it was doing this exact same thing. Took it back to the repair centre and they basically told me I was either lying or imagining things. I insisted, so they took it back in. The next day they called me to say there was nothing wrong with it, and when I got it back for a second time, surprisingly it didn't do it.

Just don't like being made to look like a muppet, so I was wondering....

 

[CuteGothTech]

Its the running program for unix users, it was in single user mode... Sometimes it is used by techs to check systems and memory. Like memtest if they aren't able to use a cd or network. I have had to do it a couple times. But when you said that screen popped up, it normally pops up on kernal crash.
If the systems kernal crashes, that screen will come up with a bunch of nonsense and it won't restart properly.
But I am glad they got it figured out for you.
Happy computing!

 

[Gee]

Its the running program for unix users, it was in single user mode... Sometimes it is used by techs to check systems and memory. Like memtest if they aren't able to use a cd or network. I have had to do it a couple times. But when you said that screen popped up, it normally pops up on kernal crash.
If the systems kernal crashes, that screen will come up with a bunch of nonsense and it won't restart properly.
But I am glad they got it figured out for you.
Happy computing!

How would one switch it on? And would its use be related to replacing a logic board?

 

[ashley]

Did tech support tell you how you managed to switch this mode on in the first place? Or what it's actually used for?

They weren't sure how I managed to turn it on, which I guess could be a problem. He said it's usually turned on by hitting a certain sequence of keys, but I obviously didn't do that.

If it happens again, I'll look into it, if not, I guess it's just a fluke.

For your situation, this might be kind of different. Mine went to the black screen every time I turned it on or shut it off. So if yours is sometimes doing it and sometimes not, it might be something different.