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#1 2009-06-25 12:45 am
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
- From: NYC
- Registered: 2003-07-28
- Posts: 3241
iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Well, decided to try to give my folks a newer experience by updating to 10.5.7 and experiencing Safari 4 and other stuff, but it gave me the multi-language hose screen during the install, now it only boots up to a light blue screen with the mouse pointer that disappears and reappears over and over. This computer is reaching 5 years in age this year, and is a real POS at this point. Before they decide to get a new more robust and better value iMac, is there any way I could coax this thing into life the way it is? I'm pretty convinced it's time to just slide any important files off this dead computer at a later date and not bother wasting hours trying to deal.
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#2 2009-06-25 2:21 am
- Nefarious
- Tuning Fork
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Basically, try to reinstall by booting from the install CD / DVD.
Or, hold down the option key during booting. Have you ever done this method ? If no, someone can explain it. Good night.
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#3 2009-06-25 2:57 am
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
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- Registered: 2003-07-28
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
I can't begin to explain how many times I've done this. This machine was a real PITA to get to install 10.5 in the first place. Once that's all done again, there's no guarantee it won't just KP again on the Combo updater. The old IBM iMacs from '04 are testy.
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#4 2009-06-27 3:16 am
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
- From: NYC
- Registered: 2003-07-28
- Posts: 3241
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
So, I've been clicking around with this thing some more. It won't boot up from the DVD for some reason, just like back in November when I first tried this, but somehow it eventually saw the install disc then, but not now. Can I just target mode this sucker to a laptop that reads the disc fine and erase and install? For some reason the disc said I have to erase to a GUID and then install, so I'm backing up the Users folder before I try that. I'm not saying it's magically going to be a working computer, but it would be nice to beat this thing into working for just a bit before getting a new one.
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#5 2009-06-27 7:33 am
- Dunkin'
- Mom Bo'
- From: Over the hills and far away
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Try Target Disk mode on the iMac and install from the laptop if you have a retail Install disk. The laptop install disk may not install correctly on an iMac.
1/φ = φ-1
Dron't dink and dive.
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#6 2009-06-27 11:02 am
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
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- Registered: 2003-07-28
- Posts: 3241
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Dunkin' wrote:
Try Target Disk mode on the iMac and install from the laptop if you have a retail Install disk. The laptop install disk may not install correctly on an iMac.
Yes, thank you, that's what I have, a retail disc. For some reason it said I have to erase the iMac drive and reformat it as a GUID partition, and I don't even see this option in Disk Utility on the laptop. Is it an option in Disk Utility on the Install Disc? Is there a reason why it wouldn't already be that? Or is the point that it needs to be erased, and not what kind of partition it is? The hard drive has 26GB of free space at least.
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#7 2009-06-27 2:30 pm
- Dunkin'
- Mom Bo'
- From: Over the hills and far away
- Registered: 1999-10-15
- Posts: 3300
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
GUID is for Intel Mac Startup disks. Since you have a G5 iMac that is not appropriate. The HDD should already be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - used to be called HPF+. If Disk Utility does not offer GUID as a format it is because your machine cannot use it.
I think you should be trying an "archive and install". This will archive your current OS and then clean install the new OS. All your apps and data will be untouched. Network settings and other System Preferences will be transferred (copied) to the new OS.
1/φ = φ-1
Dron't dink and dive.
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#8 2009-06-27 3:57 pm
- Nefarious
- Tuning Fork
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Dunkin' wrote:
All your apps and data will be untouched
That's not true for all archive and installs. The new apps and data may be imported (converted) such as Mail, iTunes library, iPhoto Library.
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#9 2009-06-28 8:29 pm
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
- From: NYC
- Registered: 2003-07-28
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Dunkin' wrote:
GUID is for Intel Mac Startup disks. Since you have a G5 iMac that is not appropriate. The HDD should already be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - used to be called HPF+. If Disk Utility does not offer GUID as a format it is because your machine cannot use it.
I think you should be trying an "archive and install". This will archive your current OS and then clean install the new OS. All your apps and data will be untouched. Network settings and other System Preferences will be transferred (copied) to the new OS.
Now it makes sense. Since this iMac won't see the Install Disc when I insert it, then spits it out after a good 30 seconds or so, and now won't start up from the HDD but does immediately try to start up once the disc is spit out, I always get stuck on the blue screen and have to restart just to try to get the disc in again, using C on startup, or even the combination of keys to disregard the hard drive on startup.
But in this long meandering way of trying I got somewhere by accident. I attempted to install using GUID partition map, and was successful. It booted fine as a firewire media attached to the Intel MacBook. When starting up the iMac, it didn't see a system drive anymore, maybe not even a viable hard drive, and that's when I attempted to put the Install Disc in again, with no worries about it trying to boot the broken System drive. So for whatever real reason, after one spit out, it recognized the DVD on the second try. Installing now....
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#10 2009-06-28 10:13 pm
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
- From: NYC
- Registered: 2003-07-28
- Posts: 3241
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
SO, I have this G5 iMac running 10.5.7, no archive and install, no transferring of account data, just the system and bare bones apps. Gonna have this sucker run lean and see if it does the KP thing before we take it seriously.
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#11 2009-06-28 10:28 pm
- sturner
- Royal High Poobah
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
You are rapidly become an expert!
I'm not dead yet.
There are 3 types of people, those who can count and those who can't.
"There are few things graven in stone, excepting your date of death."
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#12 2009-07-04 8:01 pm
- knobtwirler
- Anthropocentric Temporal Chauvinist
- From: NYC
- Registered: 2003-07-28
- Posts: 3241
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Well, this puppy is running just fine now, with no signs of panic. Going to try copying over old iPhoto library, if that even works with iLife '09!
If you look around the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.
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#13 2009-07-04 11:01 pm
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..
- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
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Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
You might have dirty optics in your CD drive.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
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#14 2009-07-05 2:08 pm
Re: iMac G5 blue screen of death after KP during Combo Update
Pariah wrote:
You might have dirty optics in your CD drive.
I'd lean more towards it being the fault of Leopard being finnickier than Windows 98.
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