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TICKET ARCHIVE -> BSOD after software update

sowens - Dec 13, 2005 - 5:58 am

My son ran the latest Apple software update Saturday evening on his G4 mirror drive machine. All was well until he plugged in a flash drive, which caused the "You must restart this Macintosh" message.

Rebooting begins in a normal fashion (big white apple on gray background w. little progress spinner) and then the screen goes dark, then becomes a blue screen. Nothng I've done so far changes this situation. I cannot even boot from either the CD or DVD drive with a system disk to do a reinstall. If I try, (holding the C key) booting begins but same results. I can only eject the CD with a paperclip. I've reset PRAM, tried safe boot, pulled the battery and reset the PMU, unplugged all peripherals. Nothing I've done so far has had any effect whatsoever.

I did try the Techtool Deluxe disk shipped with Applecare. It placed 3 icons in the middle of the screen, offering me a glimmer of hope, but then sadly ejected and back to blue screen.

Any advice before I call Apple and play the wait game?

Thanks...


Stephen

(Mac owner since 1984, relatively experienced, currently frustrated)

ishan - Dec 13, 2005 - 8:35 pm

What version of System software are you running? Do you know what was updated with the software update? Did you try a safe boot (hold down the shift key at startup)? What model (specifically) are you using? Please give us a few more details. Thanks.

sowens - Dec 14, 2005 - 10:33 am

SInce I cannot access anything in the Mac at present, I can only guess at these questions, although I'm pretty sure they are (somewhat) accurate, as he keeps his machine up to date. He has 'misplaced' all documentation and I cannot remember exactly which G4 it is.

OS - 10.4.3
What was updated - He said it was whatever Apple presented on his auto update screen as of 12/11/05 -maybe the latest security update? The update seemed to work fine, as he continued using the Mac. The problem occurred when he plugged in a flash ROM via USB.

I've tried safe boot - no change at all
I checked the battery voltage - OK. Took it our for a night, reinstalled and reset the PMU - no change
I removed and reset the RAM cards - no change
I've unplugged all cables - no change
I've tried to boot from Panther and Tiger main install disks hoping to get the machine into some state where I can access something. I must use a paperclip and physical grabbing to even get the drive trays out. Regardless, whether with disks in drive, or with safe boot, or standard turning the machine on, the results are the same:
Begins OK with startup bong, gray screen w. Apple and spinning progress indicator for seemingly normal time, then sudden appearance of plain blue screen, as expected, but nothing more. I've let it set like that for an hour, because I've run out of things to try.

Model - All I can say for sure is : Mirrored doors PowerMac G4 1 GHz, 1 GB ram, 80 GB HD, DVD read/write and CD/RW drives, mirrored doors. Bought in 2002. No added cards, nor peripherals except USB printer, cordless mouse and keyboard, Apple external speakers.

Thanks again for your time and efforts...

Stephen

ishan - Dec 14, 2005 - 12:34 pm

I think your only option at this point is to start up in "Target" mode. To do that, you need access to another Macintosh with a Firewire port. With the second Macintosh up and running, connect a FW cable between your Macintosh and the host Mac. Then startup your Macintosh with the T key held down. With some luck, you should eventually see your Mac's internal drive appear on the desktop of the host Macintosh. You can then copy data, run Disk Utility or Disk Warrior (using the second Mac's hard drive), do an Archive/Install or erase/install, as you prefer.

HTH and please let us know what happens. There's been lots of problems with the most recent Security Update. QC at Apple seems to be slipping. I'm betatesting 10.4.4 and 10.4.5 and there's a lot of fixes coming...

sowens - Dec 14, 2005 - 12:47 pm

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll try that next. I did try starting in every other mode (single, verbose, OF, startup) just to read. All seems well, as the Mac then goes blue and freezes, although I've noticed it does a freeze of the initial progress indicator before jumping to blue. When I startup with the force startup option key, it will not display a boot disk in a drive, nor can I open a drive with Command-period.

Target disk next and I'll report results.

Thanks!

Stephen

sowens - Dec 18, 2005 - 7:28 pm

Back to 'normal'. I was able to reinstall TIger on the eerrant Mac via Target mode. Thanks for your suggestion. I have yet to do the software update though, as my son doesn't want his Mac to quit again. However, we are going to do them this evening.

Thanks again for your time and suggestions. Much appreciated.

Stephen