Only working in Safe Mode

Welcome to the forum!

Why did you erase the HD?

Did you Zero out the disk when you erased it?

Was the disk giving problems?

In a situation like that I would replace the HD, no if's or but's. Price of a HD is peanuts in comparison with the hassle of working with a possibly faulty disk.

That is where I would start.

Message was edited by: Epochmaker

If it locked up immediately after you installed the new OS and nothing else, then it's a hardware problem. If you installed software, try re-zeroing out the drive and simply installing the OS. See if it will work properly then. If it does, you have a software conflict.

The only thing I can think of is that your logic board may be failing.

So it boots from the CD and boots in Safe Mode. A wild guess is that booting from the CD is about the same as Safe Mode. You might want to run the Hardware Test, If you hold the option Key (with the CD inserted) while booting, one of the selections is the test. I don’t have much faith in the test, but its worth a try.

Just out of curiosity, if there is a hardware problem, how does booting in safe mode avoid the problem.

Well Here
is some info on safe mode.

Might want to try what Epochmaker said “In a situation like that I would replace the HD” - but another idea is to get hold of a firewire drive and install a new system on it. You should have one for backups anyways. After the install and booted from the firewire disk and you have the same problem, then that will almost rule out the HD, but since it will be still connected, not completly.

Post back with what you end up doing and the results. Good luck

Either the logic board or the hard drive, both need to be checked. If you can, as suggested, put the internal drive in an enclosure and see if it mounts on another Mac, then it's your logic board that needs replacing.

Hi,

If the problem involves a hardware component that is only needed for "enhanced" performance (like fancy graphics) and which is called upon by a particular system kernel extension that does not load during a Safe Boot, then as a workaround you might be able to find that extension file and remove it. That might let you boot normally without crashing. You wouldn't have the "enhanced" functionality controlled by the bad component, but the hope would be that you would then be able to maintain other features which would be disabled by a Safe Boot.

See this outside thread:
*Use wireless networking in safe boot mode*
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080629044753419

It includes the following tip:
--------------
Safe Boot doesn't let some extensions load, which activate specific extended functions of various chips, including some function controlled by circuitry that's damaged in your friend's Powerbook. The "troublemaking" extension may be one of the ATI extensions at System/Library/Extensions; when it loads, it encounters an unexpected hardware fault, which prevents OS X startup from proceeding. So, if you want to start up the Powerbook without turning off all the extensions that Safe Boot mode turns off, use a process of elimination to find the specific extension that's causing the trouble, and move it out of System/Library/Extensions--first drag one of them out, restart, see if the problem still exists, and if it does, restart in Safe Boot mode, drag the next ATI extension out, restart, etc. Once you've found the troublemaker, drag the other extensions you removed, back into System/Library/Extensions, then repair permissions (since moving extensions out of, then back into, this location will mess up their permissions).
-----------------------------

if you have the apple hardware test cd insert that as soon as u turn the machine on
and hold down the C key only
and it will boot to that
even if there is no harddrive working
if it dont boot there then its a logic board fault
as mine booted to the hardware test cd even with a bad logic board
so its a mystery as to why it wont boot
unless u aint holding down the C key long enough

I have a similar issue - iMac G5, fails in non safe mode...runs in safe. Due to prior onscreen issues I can deduce it's a graphic card problem. In safe mode OS X relies only on the main CPU to perform drawing i.e. no core graphics stuff...so safe mode is good...

Now how do I only disable graphics stuff around core graphics? Oh and turn sound devices on?

i have the exact same problem g5 10.4.11. works every time in safe mode. did hardware test = ok. first aid on drive = ok, completely reinstalled OS. but it will not boot normal. bought my wife the new 27" and wanted the kids to have this computer because it never had a problem. if there was a hardware problem wouldn't it be recognized int the hardware test?

Did you ever find an answer to why you could only start up in safe mode? I have he same issue. I have done a complete erase of HD and reinstalled OS. Still does not restart unless in Safe mode.
I did hardware test and everything passed. Is it a logic board issue?

Thanks for your help.
mack

I had the same problem, imac G5 - lots of squiggly lines and non-booting normally, but works fine in safe mode.

If it really is that safe mode by passes the graphic chip (and bad graphics chips on imac G5's seem to come up a lot on the web for this age of machine), then is a way I can just turn of the ATI graphics without turning off all the other system extensions, that would be really helpful!

add another one to the list. completely erased the hard drive (zeros), and installed only the original system disks. hardware test didn't find anything wrong. like others here, I've already replaced the computer but was hoping to pass this along. a safe boot works fine, but a regular start up stops with a blue screen.