White Screen - OSX won't boot

Thank you for taking time to assist me. One thing I didn't metion is my machine has been backed up with a 1TB time machine. My OSX drive is 250GB and there is another 750GB drive in my machine. (In case this info helps.)

Also, sorry to say I am forgein to this type of repair work. So I know you have outlined what to do, but I still need help knowing how to do it.

Would have done Safe Boot first time to delete temp files and check/repair the directory

Is it too late for me to do this because I reset PRAM? How would I check/repair the directory?

Would have booted from another system drive

How would I do this?

Use your Lion Recovery or OS X DVD to repair the drive

I tried booting from my Snow Leopard upgrade disc by holding 'c' as the system started. Twice I found the same white screen scenario. Do I need to use an original disc that came with the computer instead? Is there a way to repair the drive or reinstall the OS without erasing user data? Can this be performed from safe mode or do I need to boot from the disc at startup?

Install OS X on another drive and updated.

clone the system

"Recover" the /Users/account to another drive partition.

Is this part of my repair or a suggestion to prepare me in case this happens again in the future?

Setup for drive #2:

30GB OS X for Emergency

100GB for clone of your system

rest of the drive for user account data

I see, so it is smart to utilize another hard drive bay in my Mac Pro to have a second OSX install?

Use Disk utility frm another device or drive to repair the drive - you said it seems okay in Safe Mode. While it is safe, time to have bootable backup and other options.

Please tell me how to use disk utility from another device or drive to repair my drive, without erasing data. Also am I correct in that you are telling me not only how to repair my problem, but also suggesting how to prepare myself for this again in the future?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hi. Thank you for your tips. I finally had time to dive into this more today and unfortunately I am still stuck.

I can ONLY boot in safe mode. I can not run a hardware test or disk utility because every time I try to boot holding any key (other than shift) I get no progress.

I tried c+booting with my snow leopard disc and just get the blank frozen white screen, after the apple logo and spinning wheen go away.

I tried c+booting with my Install Disc 1 to run the Apple Hardware Test and I got the apple logo for a bit but then the screen went dark with the "You must restart your computer" message.

I tried d+booting to run a hardware test and ended up again with a frozen white screen.

Safe mode boots every time but as I said before the display looks pixelated and my displays are reversed. I tried adjusting this in the preferences with no avail. So I do suspect video card damage.

I also recently realized I possibly may have been experiencing 'brown outs' (power fluxuations) in my electrical. I have my Mac on a quality surge protector but havent had anything to provide power if it dips. I picked up a UPS yesterday.

Anyhow, can I run the hardware test or disk utility while booted in safe mode? Since this is all I can get to, I am hoping there is a way to execute these tasks from there as well.

Lastly, I dont want to keep trying over and over and cause any more damage or data loss, would you reccommend I stop trying to be mr fixit and take it to a certified tech at this point?

Thanks so much for your time, it is great to be able to find good help when needed, much appreciated!

I had my a female USB extention cable between my keyboard and Mac, I figured since 'shift' worked, this cable was working, but sure enough, when I removed the extention, I was able to run the hardware test first try.

Results..

Alert! Apple Hardware Test has detected an error.

4MEM/40/40000001 : B:1 C:1 R:1

Pass Number: 1, Total Time Testing; 5min 43sec

Looks like RAM problems. I have 4 x 2GB RAM installed. 8 slots available. Does this code specify which RAM stick is causing the problem? Maybe I should attempt re-seating, cleaning, re-arrangind the RAM?

Okay, I have done some extensive testing. Please take a look at what I have found.

It appears that my motherboard and both RAM risers are okay. However, I seem to have 2 bad RAM sticks. I assume this because I have tried several different combinations with the RAM sticks/slots and taken a look at the Hardware Profile each time in the Apple Hardware Test pane.

I found that each riser is recognized in each slot. I also found that all 4 of my RAM sticks are recognized each time. However, in the list, 2 of the RAM sticks show more info each time than the other 2. I think this may be the RAM model number?

Here are the two readings I get:

DIMM 1/DIMM Riser A 2048MB 667MHz HYMP525F72BP4N2-C4

DIMM 1/DIMM Riser B 2048MB 667MHz

Am I right in assuming that because the same 2 sticks, no matter where they are placed, do not display this extra info, that they are bad. These were the 2 sticks in the bottom Riser B which had the most dust bunnies accumulated also.

I removed these 2 bad sticks and put 1 good stick on each riser. Ran extended hardware test and recieved 'no problems found'. However, restarting just lead me back to the same frozen white screen with no OSX boot.

I then put the 2 good sticks together on riser A, ran hardware test, recieved 'no problems found'. Then upon restart, I got the same frozen white screen however it blink the beatiful blue for a moment after the apple logo went away.

I am now attempting to boot from my Snow Leopard install disk to run disk utility. However, I seem to be having no luck here. I used option+boot and was able to select the Snow Leopard disc, however it seems to lead me back to the same frozen white screen. It did flash blue for a minute but then turned white and has been sitting there for about 5 minutes now.

Any more thoughts, tips or ideas? Thank you!

I am suspecting a failing power supply now, since electrical problems. I have tried any way I can to boot from an install disc and it will not boot. I keep getting white screen with grey logo, spinning gear, then blue for a moment, then back to blank white frozen. I found an apple artical http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 that says if I can not boot from disk to remove all 3rd party periphreals. Only Apple RAM is installed, all items are original. All that is connected is an apple keyboard, mouse, and cinema display. I am still booting fine in safe mode. I am wondering now how to know if my power supply is conflicting, because hardware test says 'no problems' since I removed 2 RAM sticks.

Well I tried removing both hard drives, option+boot, select osx install disc... Same result, grey logo, spinning gear, blue sceen for about 10sec, white freeze.

I also tried connecting my damaged Mac Pro to my MacBook Pro via Firewire 800 and fired up the Mac Pro in target disc mode. Both hard drives and the OSX install disc appeared and all files seemed to be in place.

I also had a time machine backup for the Mac Pro.

Passing extended hardware test now also. What should I do, new hard drive and restore with Time Machine?

Thanks again.

I hope that it is something simple like that. Hopefully no issues on the mother board that the hardware test did not find.

Nice to know the diagnostics are free. I made an appointment for Wednesday morning. I will update with what I find.

Thanks a lot for all the assistance.

Thanks for sharing your experience Espvision.

Unfortunately I do not know how to diagnostics on these pieces. I'm wondering tho, did you ever run the Apple Hardware test (by holding D+booting)?

Once I removed 2 RAM sticks I passed the extended hardware test, which also tests the logic board. So I am extremely hopeful that it is not my logic board. If it is the logic board plus one more internal piece, like the power supply, it will be questionable if I should repair it or buy a new Mac Pro.

Anyhow, I am headed to the Apple Genius shortly, I will update tonight.

Thanks!