Blue screen

[rrp]

I have an IMAC that we cannot use. When turned on all we see is a blue screen. We tried the command R technique, get a grey screen and the Apple logo and then the screen turns blue. Can someone give us some direction?

 

[honestone]

It sounds like there is are hardware and/or software issues with the internal hard drive. What exact iMac model do you have? Also, what exact Mac OS are you using? Do you have access to another Mac? Also, and extremely important, have you been making backups to an external device? And if that is, hopefully, the case, what software have you been using for the backups?

 

[rrp]

It sounds like there is are hardware and/or software issues with the internal hard drive. What exact iMac model do you have? Also, what exact Mac OS are you using? Do you have access to another Mac? Also, and extremely important, have you been making backups to an external device? And if that is, hopefully, the case, what software have you been using for the backups?

iMac10.1
Mac OS X Snow Leopard
No backups

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Do you have any files on the iMac that you cannot lose?
-Have you tried an SMC reset and/or a PRAM/NVRAM reset?
-Have you tried starting up in safe mode?
-Have you experienced any graphics distortion previously?
-Did you suffer any power outages recently, or have to force power off the iMac?
-Is the hard drive low on free disk space that you remember?

C

 

[rrp]

Hello and welcome.

-Do you have any files on the iMac that you cannot lose?
-Have you tried an SMC reset and/or a PRAM/NVRAM reset?
-Have you tried starting up in safe mode?
-Have you experienced any graphics distortion previously?
-Did you suffer any power outages recently, or have to force power off the iMac?
-Is the hard drive low on free disk space that you remember?

C

How do I start in safe mode?
Start up disk message says it is full.
Don't know how to do the resets you mention.
No distortions and no power outages.

 

[Cory Cooper]

If the hard disk is full, that is why you are getting the blue screen. You need to have at least 5-10% of the hard drive as free space, in order for OS X to operate properly.

The resets and safe mode steps I mentioned are actually links to Apple documentation if you click on them. That is why they show as purple.

Do you have an external hard drive with OS X on it you could startup from? You need to clear some space on the internal hard drive of the iMac to enable it to successfully startup normally. If not, you may have to take it to an Apple Store to free up some space.

C