Bootup-blue screen-screensaver with no icons

[ljrkrispes]

So the 14 year old brings me her 4 year old Macbook running Snow Leopard. Long bootup, blue screen flickers dark and light. Then her screensaver comes in with no icons and the beachball starts to spin. Are we dead in the water? Or course we are out of warranty...now what? thanks ..Linda

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You could simply reinstall Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and see, if that helps. A normal reinstallation will not delete any personal data, it just "repairs" what might have been broken.
Do you have a backup? Do you have access to another Mac with Firewire?

If that doesn't help:

Mac doesn't boot

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on

A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac​