Black screen Asking for password?

Sounds like it's booting into single user mode or console mode. The problem is it's not accepting your password. It should ask for a user name first, and after you enter the password say, "Welcome to Darwin" then you can type reboot and hopefully it will reboot normally.

You can try a forced shutdown and restart while holding the Command-Option-P-R keys. This will flash the P-RAM. Hold down the keys until you hear the chime a second time. You can also try just holding down the option key on startup to select a volume to boot from.

Okay I understand the problems now.

1. Your computer is stuck in console mode.
2. Your computer was automatically logging in and now you don't remember the password or even login name.

First thing I would try is the good old reset PRAM and NVRAM. This article explains that: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

Also, if you have the 10.4 install disk, try booting from that by holding down the C key and inserting that into the drive. From there you can do quite a bit, like run Disk Utility and inspect and repair the hard drive for problems, change the password, or even re-install the software. Just be sure not to erase and install, unless you want the drive wiped.

This article explains resetting the password from a disk: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1274

Let us know if any of that helps.

Again, have you tried starting up in OS X by holding down the x key as the startup chime is ending. (There is a small chance that this could work.)

You could try starting up in Safe Mode. This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard disk.

If this works you will see your normal desktop. Once completely started up in Safe Mode, try to restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click on the top hard drive icon in the left sidebar and note the S.M.A.R.T. status at the bottom right of the pane. What does it say?

Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar, ("Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). What is the hard drive capacity and how much space remains available on it? Repair permissions on it.

See if you are able to do a little hard drive maintenance to help things out.

I suspect that it may be your hard drive which is acting up.

Hi, Robert. Welcome to Apple Discussions.

Have you tried starting up in OS X by holding down the x key as the startup chime is ending?

Have you tried starting up from the Mac OS X 10.4 Install disc? Will it start up from that disc by holding down the c key as the startup chime is ending?

It sounds like console mode. My computer says this

*Darwin/BSD (G4.local) (console)*

login:


What exactly does yours say?