Grey Screen Error

sandy · #1 July 21st, 2005, 10:30 PM

I have a G4, 500 notebook running in both OSX 10.3.8 and 9.2

I was trying to delete about 800m and received message not enough memory. I then brought the files back from the trash and proceeded to delete and empty trash in smaller increments. Once completed I was going back into photoshop and I got the grey screen to restart my computer.

After many attempts to get past the grey screen, c-start, option-start, command-option-p-r-start, I put in Norton Utilities. It came up with catalog b-tree error and files have incorrect clump size. Heard there was a patch for Norton but couldn't go to live update so had to leave Norton.

Tried Disk Warrior. Supposedly it repaired/restored everything and stated nothing had been lost. Now what?

I still can't seem to get past the grey screen to somehow restore with Disk Warrior's files. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Sandy

Satcomer · #2 July 25th, 2005, 06:48 AM

Your first problem is using a product that was discontinued and was VERY WELL known to cause headaches with OS X. Now if I were you I would first try repairing the Mac with safe-boot and fsck described by this Apple article. If those steps do not fix the problem then try the old remove third party RAM trick.

If none of those to tricks work then hopefully you can use another Mac and boot the G4 in FireWire target disk mode and reapplying the 10.3.8 combo update or the 10.3.9 combined update.

Short of these steps, you might have s serious system crash or hard drive failure. Short of re-installing and loosing all of your data, you have just learned the powerful lesson of backing up. External drives are really cheap these days and with backup programs like Carbon Copy Cloner.

sandy · #3 July 25th, 2005, 03:37 PM

Thanks for the great links.

I was able to transfer all my files to my other Mac using the fire wire. That was incredible!

Now I can concentrate on correcting the startup problem. Thanks again.

Sandy

Satcomer · #4 July 25th, 2005, 06:54 PM

Also Sandy I have two more suggestions. If you can't start the Mac is safe-boot or fix it with fsck, I hope you still have AppleCare on it. Another chance would be checking out your nearest Apple Specialists. Also there is one more Apple knowledge based article about if an OS X Mac will not boot.

**fryke** · #5 July 26th, 2005, 03:38 AM

On a side note: If you don't _have_ to boot into OS 9 in the future and can use the apps in Classic, I strongly suggest to boot ONLY into OS X. And: NEVER use harddrive utilities from the OS 9 side to check/repair disks that contain an OS X installation. Get rid of Norton software. It's known to kill Macs. This is not like asking you to stop smoking because that _might_ kill you, it's rather like asking you not to shoot yourself because that _would_ kill you.
If you have backed up everything important, I'd consider a clean installation of Mac OS X. Leave OS 9 behind completely if you can. If you can't, you probably have to install OS 9 first and then install OS X. But as I said: If you can, leave the old OS behind...

sandy · #6 July 26th, 2005, 10:16 AM

Unfortunately Apple Care ran out over a year ago. Tried everything applicable in the "will not boot" article but still have the the grey screen. Before I reformat I think I'll take it in for hopefully a small miracle to happen.

The tip on getting rid of OS9 is definitely what I plan to do.
Fire wires are a life saver. Thanks again for your help.
Sandy

sandy · #7 July 27th, 2005, 06:20 AM

I took the computer to a mac technician who wanted to charge almost as much as the computer was worth to reinstall missing software needed for startup.

Is there anyway I can do this myself? Can I transfer duplicate copies of programs from one G4 to another through the fire wire? Also, if the damaged computer already has the one of the programs I am transferring will it just alert me if I want to cancel or replace or add a new copy? What programs should I be transferring?
Sandy