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JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
Last night I was in the middle of a large Bit Torrent download and I decided to port forward my router for the first time. As the download took forever, I decided to go to sleep and leave my computer on to finish it up. But when I woke up this afternoon, I noticed my download had stopped and that my internet connection was not working. So I decided to restart my computer and after the Apple chime, the screen just stayed white. The grey Apple did not come on and the computer has just stayed that way. I have turned it off and tried it time and time again, but right after the chime comes on, it just stays the way it is and the screen remains white. I have tried to put in my Leopard DVD and tried to reboot from Tiger, but it freezes so early, no key commands work and I can't eject the disc. Has my computer died? I just installed Leopard on the release date and I am wondering if this has anything to do with it. Any way to fix this is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,644
4,044
New Zealand
BitTorrent shouldn't kill drives. No software should. It definitely sounds like something's failed though, how old's the computer?
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
BitTorrent shouldn't kill drives. No software should. It definitely sounds like something's failed though, how old's the computer?

I purchased the computer in May of 2006. It's an iMac Intel Core Duo 20".
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
Also, to elaborate, I have tried resetting my PRAM and NVRAM, and also tried holding down C at startup, but the white screen still remains and does nothing.
 

unity

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2005
926
0
Green Bay, WI
Try holding the option key.

If still nothing, unplug power to it for a couple hours. Then power back up.

But I agree, sounds like a logic board issue. If the logic board is fine though you should get a startup chime, no chime = bad board, thats what the chime is for, its not to be cute.
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
Try holding the option key.

If still nothing, unplug power to it for a couple hours. Then power back up.

But I agree, sounds like a logic board issue. If the logic board is fine though you should get a startup chime, no chime = bad board, thats what the chime is for, its not to be cute.

Alas, the option key does not work either. I will unplug it and get back to you then. Hopefully this works... thanks!
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
Do you get a start-up chime?

Yes, I got the start up chime. Actually, guess what? About 20 minutes ago, I had tried it again and this time, instead of turning it off, I left it on with the white screen. Anyways, as this was happening, I decided to call Apple, but their wait was 15 minutes, so as I go back in my room, I find that my computer is on and working.

But, I decided to restart it and, instead of only giving it a few minutes, I sit there and wait. The good news? The computer goes on and I'm typing from here, right now. The bad news? It took five minutes just to go from the chime to the gray Apple and six minutes for the computer to start up period. Is there any clue as to why this is happening? I have NEVER had this computer start up this slow... not even close.
 

unity

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2005
926
0
Green Bay, WI
Well then, sound like a possibility of software corruption. Possible the boot file, but then there is usually no start up. Then there is a chance that the drive is failing.

I would backup what you can and consider doing a few things. First boot form the install DVD (insert and hold C). I know you tried this and it did not work right away, which is odd and would indicate problem elsewhere, but try it again.

From the boot disc run Disk utility and repair the drive and permissions.

If its still not right then run the hardware diagnostic boot disc.

If no hardware problems are found and there was nothing repair via disk utility I would re-install the OS using "Archive and Install".
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
Well then, sound like a possibility of software corruption. Possible the boot file, but then there is usually no start up. Then there is a chance that the drive is failing.

I would backup what you can and consider doing a few things. First boot form the install DVD (insert and hold C). I know you tried this and it did not work right away, which is odd and would indicate problem elsewhere, but try it again.

From the boot disc run Disk utility and repair the drive and permissions.

If its still not right then run the hardware diagnostic boot disc.

If no hardware problems are found and there was nothing repair via disk utility I would re-install the OS using "Archive and Install".

Thank You, I will try that right now, although, where could I find the Hardware Diagnostic Boot Disc? Is it something that came with my Tiger stuff, because I only see the one installation disc for my Leopard stuff.
 

unity

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2005
926
0
Green Bay, WI
Thank You, I will try that right now, although, where could I find the Hardware Diagnostic Boot Disc? Is it something that came with my Tiger stuff, because I only see the one installation disc for my Leopard stuff.

The disc came with the computer, its not OS dependent.
 

killerrobot

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2007
2,239
3
127.0.0.1
I think you're best bet is to back up all your information and do a clean reinstall of Leopard, especially since the disk utility in Leopard does not fix any errors it finds - or just downgrade to Tiger if you still have lots of problems.
This happened to me twice and the only way around it was a fresh install- the first time I did a upgrade install and it bumped my admin user to standard (whole other can of worms there). Later airport gave me a kernel panic and it never got past the "blue" screen - at least you make it to the silver screen.
So, clean reinstall and everything was fixed until, like you I left azureus running overnight and the same thing happened. Did all the same steps and finally just gave up on Leopard for now - I'll try it again once 10.5.1 comes out.
 

unity

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2005
926
0
Green Bay, WI
I dunno, I'm pretty darn convinced Firefox killed the hard drive in my HP notebook, but HP's hard drives seem to have a high failure rate anyway.

HP does not make drive. They buy them from various sources, like Apple. I have had LITTLE luck with Samsung laptop drives.
 

JPM42

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
275
7
O.K., back. I tried Disk Utility and Disk Permissions and that did nothing. Then I inserted my Hardware Testing Disc and, while that found nothing either, once I told the computer to restart, it started up in 30 seconds, which was a bit faster than before. I tried it a few more times just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke, but it started up quickly each time. I have no idea what caused it to work normally again, since the Hardware Test found nothing, but I'm glad the problem appears to be solved.
 

GSMiller

macrumors 68000
Dec 2, 2006
1,666
0
Kentucky
HP does not make drive. They buy them from various sources, like Apple. I have had LITTLE luck with Samsung laptop drives.

Yea, and they obviously don't test them fully because all three HP's I've owned (both notebooks and desktops) have had a hard drive failure.

Matthew I'm glad to hear your Mac seems to be functioning properly again.
 

unity

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2005
926
0
Green Bay, WI
Yea, and they obviously don't test them fully because all three HP's I've owned (both notebooks and desktops) have had a hard drive failure.

Damn dude, thats nuts, sorry to hear that! I do bet they go for the cheapest bidder though, whether that be Samsung, Hitachi, WD or any other. Generally I have had goo luck with Apple shipped drives, no failures. But ones I put in that I got off the shelf have had a few failures.
 

GSMiller

macrumors 68000
Dec 2, 2006
1,666
0
Kentucky
Damn dude, thats nuts, sorry to hear that! I do bet they go for the cheapest bidder though, whether that be Samsung, Hitachi, WD or any other. Generally I have had goo luck with Apple shipped drives, no failures. But ones I put in that I got off the shelf have had a few failures.

Indeed it does, but without all the problems with my PC's over the years I probably would have never bought my iMac, so kudos to HP/Compaq and their crappy hardware :D
 
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