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help please! gray screen!

dana.lee

dana.lee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 30, 2006
21
0
philly
about ten minutes after i turn on my computer or wake it up from sleep mode, a gray filtery thing goes over my whole screen, everything freezes, and i have to hold in the power button to restart. sometimes the screen doesn't even go gray, it just freezes altogether. this morning i woke up and the fans were on really high. help!!!! :( :( :(
 
Do you see this image?
 

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It's called a kernel panic. How long have you been getting them? Did they start after you installed any particular software and/or hardware?
 
EricNau said:
It's called a kernel panic. How long have you been getting them? Did they start after you installed any particular software and/or hardware?
Click to expand...

i've only installed movies and music recently, and i've scanned them for viruses, if that helps? i just started getting them late last night and today.
 
dana.lee said:
i've only installed movies and music recently, and i've scanned them for viruses, if that helps? i just started getting them late last night and today.
Click to expand...
...but no new software was installed? What virus scanner are you using?

How old is your system? Is it still covered by AppleCare?
 
no new software. version 10.4.8. powermac g5. no longer under warranty. i've had it for about a year.
it usually does this while i'm running RealPlayer.

oh, and i'm using norton.
 
Well, I would quit (and possibly delete) RealPlayer and see if the problem persists.

I would also stop using Norton for the time being. I've heard that certain versions can cause problems, and with OS X, you really don't need it.
 
Right, let me get this straight. You get the grey screen and after you manually restart the computer, it still does not load? Can you give us a few more details that might help narrow the problem.
 
so far so good with that; however, how would i play my .rmvb files? is there a way to convert them from real player files to .avi's or anything similar?

DeSnousa said:
Right, let me get this straight. You get the grey screen and after you manually restart the computer, it still does not load? Can you give us a few more details that might help narrow the problem.
Click to expand...

i get a gray screen, so THEN i manually restart. then usually (but not always) when i'm using RealPlayer again, things freeze or the gray comes back.
 
dana.lee said:
so far so good with that; however, how would i play my .rmvb files? is there a way to convert them from real player files to .avi's or anything similar?
Click to expand...
For now, I would just wait and see if RealPlayer is really the culprit - if you find that it is, then we can find a solution for your videos.
 
ok i deleted real player, and i haven't used it since i started posting, and i haven't had a grey screen in about 40 minutes? :rolleyes:

i've got my fingers crossed.... crossed..... crossed
 
ok it happened again. it was while i had a quartz screensaver on, so i deleted the screensaver...
 
dana.lee said:
ok it happened again. it was while i had a quartz screensaver on, so i deleted the screensaver...
Click to expand...

What else do you have connected to your Mac? I would start by shutting the Mac down and unplug any external devices. Then unplug the Mac for about 15 seconds and then plug it back in. Then just plug in the monitor, keyboard & mouse. Start up and see if you get the panics again. If you do then it is most likely a hardware problem like RAM or video card. I had the same problem with my G5 and it was related to RAM. How much RAM is installed?
 
okay i figured it out. i had norton automatically running full system virus scans every day (at least 2). and since they were unnecessary, it was freezing the machine. so to anyone who ever has this problem, just take the automated virus scans off your computer.

thanks to everyone for all your help!!!
:apple:
 
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