grey screen, what now?

Question

Level 1

4 points

grey screen, what now?

Loaded Lord of the Rings Online (LOTR) which included something called Pando Media Booster.

When I ran it the first (and only time) it worked beautifully. Amazing... for about 2 minutes, then the screen sort of flashed and became a rainbow-type digital pattern and I could not even get out of the program so had to turn off Mac by holding down on button in back.

When I restarted it got to the grey screen with Apple and then stalled there.

I tried zapping PRAM. I did a safe reboot and ran repair disk and repair permissions. I unplugged comp and tried it all again. Under safe reboot I deleted LOTR and Pando and Chrome (only because I had recently installed it). I reinstalled Mountain Lion.

After safe reboot (which is the only way I can access it)...everything seems ok unless I run something graphical. I ran a video and it was flashy, jerky, wavy (forgive my non-techy language). When I tried to access Launchpad the graphic icons were all weird and scrolled jerkily, then got stuck.

I now remember that I had some odd jerky things prior to this where my cursor hit links, etc. in some programs, so probably the graphics card was on its way out (also lots of fan noise/grinding when I was on a heavily graphic page). Is that probably what happened?

What should my next steps be? Anything else I should try? I've been told I should do a clean install. If that is the case will my itunes music be preserved without my backing up (I have itunes match)? Would I do install with orig. disks even though they were from a few years/OSX's ago? (Current OSX was downloaded, installed via app store). What else should I back up and can I drag all this to a USB flash drive?

iMac (24-inch Early 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on May 19, 2013 8:18 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Carolyn Samit

Level 10

165,621 points

May 19, 2013 9:19 PM in response to luckyhamza

so probably the graphics card was on its way out (also lots of fan noise/grinding when I was on a heavily graphic page)

To rule out any hardware issues, run the Apple Hardware Test > OS X Mountain Lion: Use Apple Hardware Test

You are responsible for backing up your iTunes library > iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

To reformat the disk on a Mac running v10.8.3 Mountain Lion, (clean install), you do that by holding down the Command + R keys whilte booting up.

Instructions here > OS X: About OS X Recovery

Using your original install discs will not work.

Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Reply

Answer 2

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

May 19, 2013 11:48 PM in response to luckyhamza

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in safe mode.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Triple-click the line of text below to select it:

for k in /Sy*/L*/Ex*/{,.?}*.kext; do test -f "$k/Contents/Info.plist" && /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :CFBundleIdentifier" "$_" | egrep -qv "apple|Accusys|ArcMSR|ATTO|CalDigit|HighPoint|hp-fax|JMicron|print|SoftRAID|stex" && echo $k; done | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste ( command-V). A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. Post the contents of that window, if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. No typing is involved in this step.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null | open -f -a TextEdit

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 3

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null | open -f -a TextEdit

Remember, steps 1-3 are all copy-and-paste — no typing. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

Reply

Answer 3

luckyhamza Author

Level 1

4 points

May 20, 2013 8:36 AM in response to Linc Davis

OK (and thank you)

After Step 1:

/System/Library/Extensions/BJUSBMP.kext

/System/Library/Extensions/hp_qc_io_enabler.kext

-------

After Step 2:

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

HPDeviceModel.framework

HPPml.framework

HPServicesInterface.framework

HPSmartPrint.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

Python.framework

Tcl.framework

Tk.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/InputManagers:

1PasswdIM

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

AdobePDFViewer.plugin

CouponPrinter-FireFox.plugin

CouponPrinter-Safari.webplugin

DRM Plugin.bundle

EPPEX Plugin.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

Windows Media Plugin

flashplayer.xpt

iPhotoPhotocast.plugin

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/QuickLook:

GBQLGenerator.qlgenerator

iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax

/Library/Spotlight:

GBSpotlightImporter.mdimporter

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

iBooksAuthor.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

LexSleeperX.app

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

SkypeABDialer.bundle

SkypeABSMS.bundle

Library/Fonts:

Library/Frameworks:

EWSMac.framework

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

.DS_Store

Picasa.plugin

fbplugin_1_0_1.plugin

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

.DS_Store

com.adobe.ARM.925793fb327152fd34795896fa1fb9ffa268b2a852256fe56609efa3.plist

com.akamai.client.plist

com.akamai.single-user-client.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.31BF3250-D267-45BC-9A8E-867 8EBF933AC.plist

com.apple.SafariBookmarksSyncer.plist

com.google.keystone.agent.plist

com.spotify.webhelper.plist

ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

.DS_Store

AkamaiNetSession.prefPane

Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Library/Services:

NoteBookHelper.service

----

Step 3:

iTunesHelper, Dropbox

Reply

Answer 4

luckyhamza Author

Level 1

4 points

May 20, 2013 8:39 AM in response to Linc Davis

I should add that as I scroll up/down (using magic trackpad) the scroll bars flicker.

Reply

Answer 5

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

May 20, 2013 10:51 AM in response to luckyhamza

It's very likely that you have a hardware fault. You can try reinstalling OS X in Recovery mode, but it probably won't make any difference. I suggest you make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested. Back up all data before you go.

Reply

Answer 6

luckyhamza Author

Level 1

4 points

May 20, 2013 6:39 PM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for your help. I'm working on backup now.

In safe mode I can't see my USB Flash... seems that won't be acccessible within safe mode? I don't have an external hard drive (although I could, I suppose, buy one), but first let me go shake my kids and remind them not to make the same mistake and backup, backup, backup. 😟

Reply

Answer 7

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,559 points

May 20, 2013 8:12 PM in response to luckyhamza

There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.

1. Boot from the Recovery partition or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”

2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.

3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Reply

Answer 8

luckyhamza Author

Level 1

4 points

May 22, 2013 11:43 AM in response to Linc Davis

I have no idea why, but after backing up everything and reformating, it seems everything is ok. Lesson learned, though, and now all my files are backed up and with your help I'm ready for the next time!

Reply