Blue screen when start computer (Mac OS X 10.4).

Hi Trish and Welcome to Apple Discussions ...

First, if when you post here for advice, could you please tell us which Mac you have. We know you are running 10.4.8 so that is good

You need your system restore disk(s). Shut your Mac down. Restart by holding down the C key, pressing the Power Button and inserting the restore disk all at the same time. Keep holding down the C key until you see the Apple logo. Now, choose English. Next, an Installer window will open. Ignore that, instead from the Menu click Utilities/Disk Utility. When DU opens, select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, click the FirstAid button and then click the Verify button. If Disk Utility reports errors, click Repair. If DU can't repair the disk you might want to consider a good disk utility like DiskWarrior available here: www.alsoft.com or TechToolPro available here: www.micromat.com. If Disk Utility was able to repair the disk, from the Menu click Utilties/Startup Disk. When the window opens, click MacintoshHD 10.4 and reboot.

Carolyn 🙂

Hi, Trish,

How far into the boot are you getting? I am having what may be a similar problem with a macbook that I am trying to fix for my kids' teacher. In this case, the machine goes all the way through the boot -- the screen with the "Starting Mac OS X..." with the progress bar goes all the way through the progress bar as normal, and then at the point which you would expect that slight pause with a solid blue screen and then popping over to the screen offering the login window, instead it just stays forever at the blue screen.

Also I'm curious when it started for you. This happened Wednesday just after 6pm central time, when she accepted a system update and rebooted. It brought up an alert panel that said:

CoreGraphics server version 258.0 not compatible with client version 258.79; log out or reboot needed

...and then failed to reboot.

Hold the mouse key, or trackpad equivalent of it down while booting up, that ejects Discs.

Another thing which can cause these sorts of symptoms -- sometimes the memory chips go bad, but even more common they seem to have a tendency to work slightly loose over time. It's certainly worth a try to open up the memory compartment and give the chips a firm push.

About the Archive and Install feature, which can give you a new OS, yet preserve your files and settings if you have enough room on your HD...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

To stop re-occurrences..

"Try Disk Utility

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.

The usual reason why updates fail or mess things up, or things don't load/run, is if Permissions are not fixed before & after every update, with a reboot... you may get a partial update when the installer finds it doesn't have Permissions to change one obscure little part of the OS, leaving you with a mix of OS versions.

Some people get away without Repairing Permissions for years, some for only days.

If Permissions are wrong before applying an update, you could get mixed OS versions, if Directory is the slightest messed up, who knows!

If many Permission are repaired, or any Directory errors are found, you may need to re-apply some the latest/biggest updates again, or even do an A&I if you have enough free disk space.

The combo update for PowerPC-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateppc.html

The combo update for Intel-based Macs...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx10411comboupdateintel.html

Repair Permissions after re-install, then reboot again.

If all the above do not resolve the problem, then it's time for an Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

I can't thank you enough!!!! I have been starting my apple in safe mode for about three weeks now. I have no idea what happened. I followed you instructions and it looks like everything is back to normal now. The only thing that was different was it didn't ask me to repair because it didn't find any errors. Everything looks good now though. I was also missing fonts from Microsoft word too. Can't explain it but THANK YOU!!!!!