I tried to boot up my macbook, and it skipped the chime, and just displayed multi coloured vertical lines. The problem was solved via resetting the PRAM. Also, the screen is darker if there's a shadow on it. I have a diagonal shadow on the screen when it happened, and the lower half was darker than the top.
Does this behaviour continue if you shut down then start up again? If so, try removing your MacBook from power, remove the battery for 30 seconds then try starting up again.
I had this very same problem yesterday i had to reset the pram then about an hour or two later i restarted afetr updating software it did it again so i called apple and they had me erase my disk and re install os X works fine now i suggest backing up your all your stuff and re install
[I'll repost this here too since there are a couple of threads going...]
Well, I have a theory and a possible permanent fix.
My theory is that 10.4.7 somehow broke how the pram gets updated/saved. I ran nvram -p in a terminal on the problem macbook and it came back only with a value pertaining to speakervolme. I checked my functioning macbook and the same command returned a couple of extra boot parameters. I tried to set the startup volume disk from the preference panel but it didn't help, I could still reproduce the problem it at will. What did seem to help is setting the startup volume from the OSX Boot/Install DVD (10.4.6). I've succesfully rebooted at least 15 times and the problem hasn't reoccured. nvram -p now shows the boot values set.
My other macbook has been upgraded to 10.4.7 but still doesn't have the problem.
I'd be interested if someone else can try this out who is having the problem. At least what the nvram -p shows.
mmike70, looks like you were spot on! I wrote a .command script and this macbook has been rebooting for about 30 minutes now, non stop, no problems.
I've reset the pram, removed the battery, it's still fine.
Thanks mate!
Sorry about the late reply and the vagueness of this answer! It's an option, after booting to the install DVD, on the menu across the top. I believe it's labeled startup volume. If you need a more complete answer let me know and I can run through the commands...
White Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.0GHz | 2GB RAM | 100GB 7200RPM HD
Hello everyone, I have had the same problem happen to me a couple of times now!!, the first time it happend, I had only had my Macbook a couple of days, I went to reboot one evening and all I got was coloured vertical lines, nothing else.
I thought it might have been the i gig ram i had fitted the same day, but after changing the ram back to the original ram, the lines were still there. I reset the p-ram and it booted fine. then it happend again, but when I held down the option-command-p-r, still nothing, just coloured lines.
I was starting to worry now, however after rebooting several times by holding the power button down for 3 seconds, it finaly let the p-ram reset to work, then today......yes again, I tried everything I had done before, nothing!!!! So I removed the hard drive and turned it on with no hard drive in place, hooray........ at least the coloured lines had gone and a question mark was flashing on the screen, so I replaced the hard drive and all was back to normal.
So I searched Google for forums on this problem, and I had found heaps of MacBooks had developed the lines problem after installing the 10.4.7 upgrade........one guy suggested reinstalling 10.4.6, so I did and the lines have not come back yet. Well after all of this, I am not shure if maybe the hard drive may have moved out of its socket so when I pushed it back in it fixed the problem, or whether it was reverting back to 10.4.6, or it may still be a hardware problem.
If there is anyone out there with an answer to the coloured vertical lines mistery, I would appreciate any infomation.
NB: It seems when the dreaded lines appear the whole system goes dead.
