Blue Screen Hang, Safe Boot Works

[evangw]

I'm running on a G5 iMac that suddenly no longer will boot properly. I came back to my computer, undimmed the display, and the computer hung for 10 minutes. I reset it and got to the blue screen before login window (auto login is off), and nothing ever loaded, even after a 20 minute wait.

So I tried safe boot, which worked, but now I'm unsure how to return my computer to its normal state. I'm thinking it's possible a power surge blew out a component of my system that safe boot turns off (airport card, sound card, something).

I went through the articles on Apple's website:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

and I removed all non-apple kernel extensions. I'm wary of removing more extensions than those I know are not system critical (e.g. IOBluetoothFamily.kext). Anyone know if this is the right approach? Is it possible a blown airport card could cause my system to hang on startup?

All my haxies and other third-party system mods have already been removed, and those aren't the problem.

 

[FJ218700]

will it boot from the install DVD?

 

[evangw]

will it boot from the install DVD?

Nope. Just checked that, so I guess it's a hardware failure of some sort (the screen just started freaking out too -- dead pixels covering like 5% of the screen.)

Annoying. Guess I'll have to take it into an Apple store.

[Edit: For anyone who finds this in the future, the problem was a semi-blown logic board. You can tell if some of the capacitor-things are "puffed out."]

[Edit 2 for anyone who finds this in google searches: Mine was an iMac Rev B, no idea if it was covered by extended warranty, but I had no Apple care, and they replaced the logic board free of charge. The first logic board they replaced it with was also bad (overheated and fan never spun down), and they replaced it with a second logic board that was good.]

 

[goosnarrggh]

Nope. Just checked that, so I guess it's a hardware failure of some sort (the screen just started freaking out too -- dead pixels covering like 5% of the screen.)

Annoying. Guess I'll have to take it into an Apple store.

[Edit: For anyone who finds this in the future, the problem was a semi-blown logic board. You can tell if some of the capacitor-things are "puffed out."]

Based on what you described, I think the exact same thing might be happening to my iMac G5.

I cannot boot normally, only from Safe Mode. Resetting PRAM has no effect, ditto for resetting the SMU.

Booting from the Leopard DVD does not work either, but I can still boot from the factory-installed Tiger DVD. However, after a complete Erase and Reinstall, the same blue screen hang appears on the initial reboot, correctable only by going into Safe Mode.

To top it all off, there are bulging caps on my logic board too. Any hint what the repair cost might be? I checked, and my unit is NOT one of the models covered by either of the two existing logic board support extensions.

 

[markiv810]

Based on what you described, I think the exact same thing might be happening to my iMac G5.

I cannot boot normally, only from Safe Mode. Resetting PRAM has no effect, ditto for resetting the SMU.

Booting from the Leopard DVD does not work either, but I can still boot from the factory-installed Tiger DVD. However, after a complete Erase and Reinstall, the same blue screen hang appears on the initial reboot, correctable only by going into Safe Mode.

To top it all off, there are bulging caps on my logic board too. Any hint what the repair cost might be? I checked, and my unit is NOT one of the models covered by either of the two existing logic board support extensions.

Were you able to solve the problem you were having with your iMac or is it still persisting.