Macbook wont boot up past blue screen

[SamJones066]

I hardly ever turn off my Macbook unless i need to - I just close it and use it whenever i need to. I let the battery run dry as Apple suggests to do every now and again, and turned it on the next day.

It started to boot and took a little longer to get past the grey apple logo and loading circle and then froze on the blue screen. I can control the mouse, but every few seconds it changes to a darker blue, cursor disappears but returns after a second or two.


I've tried:
- Booting into safe mode (Same thing happens)

- Booting from CD and repairing permissions (Said everything was ok, same thing happens when I booted)

- Single user mode (used some commands from an Apple page and restarted)


I can however boot into windows perfectly fine, which leads me to suspect it's a corrupt log in item. I'd like to know for sure it's not a hardware problem so I don't have to take it into an Apple Store.


Thanks alot,
Sam

 

[Rhalliwell1]

i would very much doubt it would get that far if it was a hardware problem. have you tried re-setting PRAM?

 

[SamJones066]

i would very much doubt it would get that far if it was a hardware problem. have you tried re-setting PRAM?

Yeah I have, sorry for not mentioning

 

[JediMeister]

I would agree with the second poster that its unlikely to be a hardware issue since it passes POST and the Mac OS kernel (gray screen w/ Apple logo), and also the disk check (same as the kernel but with the gray gear). Not being able to go into safe boot is a bit of a concern however. You are holding the LEFT shift key until the disk check stage right? And it did seem to take another 3-4 minutes to get to the blue screen than it normally would otherwise? If using the built-in keyboard consider using an external USB keyboard just to see if that makes any difference.

 

[SamJones066]

I would agree with the second poster that its unlikely to be a hardware issue since it passes POST and the Mac OS kernel (gray screen w/ Apple logo), and also the disk check (same as the kernel but with the gray gear). Not being able to go into safe boot is a bit of a concern however. You are holding the LEFT shift key until the disk check stage right? And it did seem to take another 3-4 minutes to get to the blue screen than it normally would otherwise? If using the built-in keyboard consider using an external USB keyboard just to see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the reply.

I hold the left shift key from the chime up until the apple logo comes up.

 

[Rhalliwell1]

Thanks for the reply.

I hold the left shift key from the chime up until the apple logo comes up.

hold shift as soon as you hear the startup tone and release when you get the grey apple.

 

[SamJones066]

hold shift as soon as you hear the startup tone and release when you get the grey apple.

Yeah that's what I did, still nothing.

 

[deskjockey]

I am having the exactly the same problem.

let me know if you get it figured out.

 

[rhythmac]

The same thing happened to me after I tried to edit the "About This Mac" and "log in" screens. My Mac just kept cycling through the blue screens. I solved the problem by connecting another hard drive and booting to it, (it was my original 320GB HDD so it still had OS on it). I explored to the offending files and replaced the "edited files" by making copies from the connected drive.

Hope this helps