Blue Screen Reboot

Almost sounds like a HW problem....have you ran the HW test using your install disk.

How could you forget if you were or were not getting a blue screen before the update?

Also not quite sure what you mean by a "blue screen reboot"? Do you mean the computer restarts?

As a note: have you reset the PRAM and SMC?

Message was edited by: D/FW

Richard Green2 wrote:
I'm surprised that you don't know that "reboots" means "restarts".

I ran the HW test. Found nothing.

I reset the PRAM and SMC.

I could easily forget exactly when the problem surfaced. I assumed that it was a one time occurrence and that was it. That was several weeks ago. Now it's happening more often.


R Green

Still not sure about reboot or restart. If your screen reboots back to a normal desktop or the computer actually restarts?

If the computer restarts on it's own without any intervention from you after a blue screen then it would more than likely be something Apple would need to help you with (power supply issue). Could try a PRAM and SMC reset though.

If the screen reboots by going from blue screen back to normal desktop it's probably a software conflict, which would require either an archive and install or erase and install. In my opinion it would be ineffective to attempt a disk repair using DU or DW. Could also try a PRAM and SMC reset as this could also be the issue.

To isolate the problem you could create another user account and try that for a while. If everything works normal there then you'll have your answer.

I've done an erase and install several times due to my own extermination. I've found the following steps to always work for me, assuming all your data is in your Home folder (documents, photos, music, etc). It is a major pain.

1. If you cloned using SuperDuper or some other 3 rd party software, just make a clone before you start the erase process. That way all your data is safe (assuming your cloned drive don't fail).
2. After you've erased (zeroing the drive) and installed get all your updates (assuming your drive was already up-to-date).
3. Install all your 3rd party application (get the updates).
4. Run Repair Permissions.
5. Connect you cloned drive, goto your Home folder (on the clone) and drag your document back to you freshly installed, updated internal HD.
6. Run Repair Permissions.
7. Run DU from the clone, then run DW from the clone.
8. Run Repair Permissions.
9. DONE 3-6 hours later

OR, if you have a GOOD Time Machine backup probably cut that time in half using a ethernet cable to you TM (Not WiFi).

As a note: I recently did the steps (not TM) method to re-install my Mini which has a 500GB HD in it, with 310 GB's in use it took me over 8 hours using a FW800 drive as my clone to get everything back to where I was before I started (of course without the problems I had).
a. 2 1/2 hours to zero out the 500 GB HD
b. 1+ hour to reinstall SL, iLife09, and iWorks (bypassing the DVD inspection)
c. 10 minutes to update SL
d. 45 minutes to install 3rd party apps.
e. 10 minutes to update 3rd party apps (.
f. 1 1/2 hours to bring back movies (267GB), music 17GB), documents(3GB), etc from the cloned FW 800 drive.
g. 45 minutes to repair permissions (3 times), run DU, and DW
h. 1 hour syncing MM, DropBox, and AppleTV.

If you decide to do an erase and install I would recommend zeroing out the drive just incase there are any bad sectors on the disk platter. Zeroing will also insure that there's no straggling bits of information left on the dive that could cause conflicts down the road.

If you zero use the "Zero out Data" (= 1 Pass), you could use the 7-Pass but it will take 7 time longer. One pass should be good enough.

You can try an archive and install first, hopefully for your sake it will work. If you determine you even need to do either.