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blue screen after startup and system hangs

Going through various material available on the forum - i went through following self help and am finally turning to experts


1. Safe boot - everything works, even the login window after 'boot sequence is apple logo, spining pointer, loading mac and then login window'.

2. Single User mode - works, fsck shows no error, continuing with boot using rc in single user mode works with no graphics interface

3. Deletion of /var/db/.Applesetupdone or something equivalent Or even moving around other .* files - doesn't solve the problem

4. Looking at various logs in /var/log & other places nothing is obivious except for following few messages when doing a *standard boot*

windowserver.log ==> (last few lines)

Accel caps: 00000003

CGXPerformInitialDisplayConfiguration

Display 0x4271500: MappedDisplay Unit 0; Vendor 0x610 Model 0x9c54 S/N 0; online enabled built-in ....

Display 0x3f003d: MappedDisplay Unit 1; Vendor 0xfffffffff Model 0xffffffff S/N -1; offline enabled (2464,0)[1 x 1], ...

system.log ===> (last 2 lines)

localhost kernel[0]: ATY,Aphrodite2_A: vram [98000000:08000000]

localhost kernel[0]: ATY,Aphrodite2_B: vram [98000000:08000000]

5. Lastly blued always seems to be crashing. So moved it to a different name to see if i can resolve the issue, no luck.


Bottomline all above effort didin't solved the blue screen with standard login.


What could be the reason? I didn;t installed any memory - the system was/has been working smootly over past few years and only recently started making lots of noise or hangups after awakening from sleep. Do i have the faulty system memory?


I also tried reinstalling the OS - no luck there either.


Also i don't suspect the memory, because in safe boot the system performs normal with all graphical interfaces. What is the equivalent of /sbin/rc for multiuser mode? Is there a file similar to unix that i can look at to control what gets launched as part of multiuser boot?


Thanks in advance for all help.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 14, 2011 8:25 PM

Reply
46 replies

Aug 30, 2011 9:38 PM in response to rccharles

This web page will explain the kext info.plist.


http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KEXTConc ept/Articles/infoplist_keys.html


I think a non-existant

OSBundleRequired
means to load on a normal boot. Normal boot includes other flags like
Local-Root
& others.  Take a guess.


I don't think renaming an kext is the thing. Suggest you move to a different folder. May have to delete the kext cache or rebuild it.


Robert

Aug 31, 2011 6:40 AM in response to Troubled Imac User

I just found this thread, I had the same thing happen to my PPC iMac from about 2005 running Leopard.


Tried all the normal things like nuke and pave on the OS, and I still get a screen freeze at the light blue after the grey Apple logo. I see a mouse curser and can move it, thats all.


One interesting point was after my pave and Nuke when the first reboot, I heard the Apple welcome music from Leopard but did not see anything but the light blue screen and mouse curser.


Rebooting in safe mode let me finish the install, but not reboot regular, plus I'm not able to connect to my wi-fi since it's not seeing the wi-fi card in Safe mode.


So I'd think it's a video card issue also. I am not nearly as handy as you all seem to be in the thread above, so I really do not know where to start to disable the advanced video features in boot up.


If you come up with any ideas, please let me know. I appreciate it. Thank you

Aug 31, 2011 9:29 AM in response to Tim Verpoorten

I think the work-a-round will be to move a file from /System/Library/Extensions to someother folder. I need to try this from an external hd to see if this is workable.


Meanwhile,


You may want to post machine info.

blue apple > about this mac > more info button. Click on the hardware line. It has a little triangle in front of the work hardware.


Leave out the serial number.


Example:

Machine Name: iMac

Machine Model: PowerMac4,1

CPU Type: PowerPC 750 (33.11)

Number Of CPUs: 1

CPU Speed: 600 MHz

L2 Cache (per CPU): 256 KB

Memory: 768 MB

Bus Speed: 100 MHz

Boot ROM Version: 4.1.9f1


You could also post info on your video hardware:


User uploaded file

Aug 31, 2011 9:41 AM in response to Troubled Imac User

Good News. ... If you are brave!


the aty in the message means you have an ATI video chip. The ATI drivers are in /System/Library/Extensions


Conveniently, the ATI drivers all start with ATI. I don't know what all the extensions mean. I have noticed that kext files can be imbedded in kext files. I'd guess there could be extensions in some of the ATI directories.


I'd try moving all the files/folder beginning with ATI to some other folder & do a normal boot. 🙂 😀 😕


be prepared to do a reinstall if this doesn't work.


Robert

Sep 1, 2011 4:17 AM in response to rccharles

OK, thank you.

Here are my iMac specs:


Hardware Overview:


Model Name: iMac G5

Model Identifier: PowerMac8,2

Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (3.0)

Processor Speed: 2 GHz

Number Of CPUs: 1

L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB

Memory: 1.5 GB

Bus Speed: 667 MHz

Boot ROM Version: 5.2.5f1


Video info:


ATI Radeon 9600:


Chipset Model: ATY,RV351

Type: Display

Bus: AGP

Slot: AGP

VRAM (Total): 128 MB

Vendor: ATI (0x1002)

Device ID: 0x4150

Revision ID: 0x0000

ROM Revision: 113-xxxxx-117

Displays:

iMac:

Resolution: 1680 x 1050

Depth: 32-Bit Color

Core Image: Software

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Quartz Extreme: Not Supported

Built-In: Yes

Display Connector:

Status: No Display Connected


Hope that helps.

Thank you

Tim

Sep 1, 2011 12:17 PM in response to Tim Verpoorten

Success on my test system. Moved all the ATI files to another folder & did a normal boot. Got a running system!!!



To try:

1) Make a backup of your files. You may want to backup your complete system.


2) Create a new folder. I made /System/Library/ExtensionsDisabled


3) move all the files starting with ATI in folder /System/Library/Extensions to the new folder /System/Library/ExtensionsDisabled


a) goto the Finder then type

shift + command + g

b) type in

/System/Library/Extensions

c) press return

d) This will list the files in the Extensions folder

e) click on the first ATI file

f) hold down the shift key

g) click on the last ATI file

h) drag these files to the new folder


User uploaded file



4) do a normal boot.


Notice the current data on these files & folders.


User uploaded file




🙂

😀


Robert

Sep 6, 2011 10:55 AM in response to Troubled Imac User

Great!


Be sure to have backups of your data. This is a good idea after this scare. The oher poster said he was running this way since 2005, so happy computering.


Thanks for the report. Glad to hear how you were able to salvage out the use of your Mac. Spent a lot of time sorting out how extensions work. Didn't get all the way to the bottom of how they work, but got far enough.


Robert

ps.


for PPC

tenfourfox

"World's most advanced web browser. Finely tuned for the Power PC."

http://www.floodgap.com/software/tenfourfox/

alternative download site:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37761/tenfourfox

Jan 12, 2012 6:38 PM in response to rccharles

hey guys, after searching the web for a solution to the same problem - blue screen freeze, safe boot works - for an imac g5 your solution did the job for extending my hope of using the imac longer. i deleted the files in osx 10.5 extensions and logged in with normal boot. simple but yet powerful solution. this was a life saver. hoorayy 🙂 🙂

Jan 23, 2012 11:35 AM in response to Troubled Imac User

I have to say, this post is WAY underpositioned in Google. I'm also surprised this is not listed in ANY of the G5's known common issues lists all over the web (and there are many of these lists). I've been trying to fix this thing forever! After losing all hopes, trying everything and more (and failing once and again) I decided to take my 1.6ghz PPC G5 (Leopard) to Apple service. Thay said it's the logicboard, I couldn't afford a replacement so I took it back. I do not even know how I eneded up reading this post, but it worked so well and it was so easy to accomplish... For the record, I have Nvidia GForce FX 5200 video card: the procedure is exactly the same, I had to move al the extensions beginning with Gforce (DO NOT by any means move the ones beginning with NV as I accidentally almost did!).


Thank you very much everyone specially Mr Robert, you Sr. are a chosen one! greetings from Buenos Aires city, Argentina!

Mar 23, 2012 11:03 AM in response to bildungsroman

What machine do you have?


Query by serial number

"A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software. It's used for various things depending on the product / brand but what is your Mac's serial number for and more importantly... what is it hiding and what can it do for you ?"

http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php


or

http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

( hint by K Shaffer )


I assume that all the iMac's have the video card attached to the logic board. Not easily fixed. To fix the video chip you would need to replace the logic board. Expensive.

blue screen after startup and system hangs

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