Macbook blank screen at startup, possible virus?...

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Macbook blank screen at startup, possible virus?...

My ex-wife's Macbook (yes, I may be divorced but have to be the computer guy still!) powers up but right after the Apple logo disappears, the screen goes blank and never comes back... She says that it happened after she clicked on a recipe link on a Facebook page, but I'm guessing that was just a coincidence because surely it can't be a virus,,,or can it? Anyway, I have totally powered it down, removed the battery for a time, reinstalled it and it still does the same thing therefore it makes it impossible to diagnose? Should I take it to the Genius bar? Its way out of warranty.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Apr 15, 2011 6:32 AM

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Answer 1

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T5GP5Ox32

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Apr 15, 2011 6:41 AM in response to Paul Limpert

Try starting into Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key after you turn the Mac on.

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Answer 2

Paul Limpert Author

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Apr 15, 2011 12:00 PM in response to T5GP5Ox32

Okay, I will do that when I get back to that computer. I know my next question will be, what do I do after I start in the safe mode? Can I run the disk utility in the safe mode? Is that the right thing to do? Thank you for the quick help!

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Answer 3

Paul Limpert Author

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Apr 18, 2011 7:13 AM in response to T5GP5Ox32

Okay, I did as you suggested and have progressed to the point where a screen comes up and has a message that says "you need to power down your computer". The message doesn't really say much except that and the message is provided in multiple languages on the screen. So, I power it back down, and restart it, and the same message keeps coming up. This is progress because before I only got a blank gray screen, but now I can't get by this message. Any ideas?

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Answer 4

T5GP5Ox32

Level 3

590 points

Apr 18, 2011 7:21 AM in response to Paul Limpert

That would be what is called a "kernel panic" and is actually a step backwards from where we were previously.

You're going to have to reinstall the OS as it appears to be damaged to the point that even Safe Mode is failing.

If you'd like to see further what it's doing you can hold down Shift+Command+V and it will scroll text down the screen of everything that is loading. Or just start it up with Command+V to see where it is hanging on the normal startup. In any case it's going to be an archive and install.

How to: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1103.html

Information on what it does: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1710

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Answer 5

Paul Limpert Author

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Apr 18, 2011 7:37 AM in response to T5GP5Ox32

This should be fun... I have 5 different Mac's under my control, and no idea which disks go with which ones... I'm guessing it doesn't much matter, frankly I'll be lucky to find them all so I'll go with the one I find. Thanks

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