Mac BSOD

By DeathLace
in Apple (macOS)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

DeathLace

Posted
Posted

My in-laws were over for the holidays, and were complaining about their Macbook running slow.  It is old (late 2008 13" unibody model), but I know they can't afford to buy a new one, so I checked how much RAM it has, and thought, may as well try to upgrade the RAM from 2GB to 4GB, for $40.  I showed them how easy it is (I've built computers for years) to swap out the RAM, as they thought it would be a big undertaking.  I took it out, put it back in, and left it.

 

This morning they went to turn it on (before I got the new RAM), and it just sits on the Mac version of the BSOD. It just sits on at the blue screen after the Mac startup chime happens.  I said that I'll go get the new RAM, put it in, and try it first, and see if that'll fix it (big hope), obviously it didn't.  They said they never turn off the mac/restart it, they just close the lid, so I don't know if this would have happened without me opening the RAM slots at all.

 

Things I've tried:

- Start in safe mode (doesn't attempt to, just sits at the BSOD)

- Start in single user mode (doesn't attempt to, just sits at the BSOD)

- Start in target disk mode (doesn't attempt to, just sits at the BSOD)

- Hook it up to an external monitor (just sits at the BSOD)

- I've reset the PRAM

- I've reset the SMC

 

It's running Leopard (10.5.5). I loaded it onto a USB (they don't have the original disk), and tried to start holding "C", to have it boot off of the USB stick, but it didn't do anything, just went to the BSOD.

 

Any ideas?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Circaflex

Posted
Posted (edited)

Like Eric mentioned, I would reseat the ram to make sure that isnt the problem.

 

Also, holding down C boots off the CD-Rom, you'll want to hold down option when booting to see a USB drive, and boot from it.

 

Also, the unit was shut down and battery removed when you took the ram out the first time correct?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597203662
Share on other sites
Mentor

jesseinsf

Posted
Posted

Well, since they never actually restarted it or turned it off you'll have to figure out a way to take the HDD out and back up everything. then you will need to reinstall the Mac OS. Now, you could also try to repair the disk using a Mac OK install disk and then Disk Utility.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597203676
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Circaflex

Posted
Posted
36 minutes ago, jesseinsf said:

Well, since they never actually restarted it or turned it off you'll have to figure out a way to take the HDD out and back up everything. then you will need to reinstall the Mac OS. Now, you could also try to repair the disk using a Mac OK install disk and then Disk Utility.

What? To be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me. Going straight to a clean install isn't always the best solution, OP has yet to report back on a few things that were asked; but in no way should he go straight to a clean install. It could be something as simple as reseating the RAM again.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597203700
Share on other sites
Mentor

jesseinsf

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Circaflex said:

What? To be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me. Going straight to a clean install isn't always the best solution, OP has yet to report back on a few things that were asked; but in no way should he go straight to a clean install. It could be something as simple as reseating the RAM again.

That was just my personal preference. He can try my second option. and yes, resetting the RAM is another option. Now isn't there a setting to have a mac delete memory when rebooting instead of saving what was in memory?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597203854
Share on other sites
Grand Master

DeathLace

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I know the RAM is installed properly as I get to the MAC boot Chime. When the RAM is removed, I get the single Beep signifying a hardware problem.  This also happened before I removed any RAM the first time, I just opened it to show them where the RAM was and how you would take it out/replace it. I even went back to the original RAM to make sure it wasn't the new RAM causing the problem.

 

I tried what @Circaflex suggested, but it just went to the blue screen again, ignoring to boot off the CD :(.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597204496
Share on other sites
Grand Master

adrynalyne

Posted
Posted

We should probably get past the notion of this being a bsod equivalent.  The Apple equivalent is a kernel panic which is not happening. You are simply not loading past a certain point. I recommend an nvram reset. 

 

 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597204590
Share on other sites
Grand Master

adrynalyne

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, DeathLace said:

Hey @adrynalyne, I've done a NVRAM (PRAM) reset already, it's the only startup shortcut that actually works. Unfortunately, it doesn't fix anything.

 

P.S. I meant to call it "BSOD", just to bring some humour to it.

SMC reset?

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1283266-mac-bsod/#findComment-597204604
Share on other sites
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Samsung is shutting down yet another app used by millions

      By Neonix1 · Posted

      Samsung messages is still alive and well. They reversed that and decided to our more effort into it.
    • Microsoft hides these secret Windows 11 performance boost settings available on every PC

      By richstad · Posted

      I think every American should have a course in a 'dry sense of humour' at school; and perhaps 'using sarcasm in jest' oh, and also 'the use or irony in humour'.
    • Major Xbox layoffs may claim South of Midnight developer Compulsion entirely

      By PeterTHX · Posted

      What they really need to do is automatically spell "loses" and "lose" correctly since nobody seems to know how to anymore. Then they blame spellcheck/autocomplete and don't realize autocomplete is just filling in the word for them automatically so it was misspelled in the first place.
    • Here is how I fixed Windows 11 not booting after clean installation

      By rseiler · Posted

      If someone chooses to continue using SB and therefore goes through the manual intervention in the thread, afterwards the BSOD problem is gone. Whether they then re-enable the task doesn't matter, they're done, though on such machines it might pay to keep it disabled in case the next update (if there is a next) causes the same problem. OTOH, if someone disables SB in the BIOS, the problem is also gone. Incidentally, I noticed that this task exists even on machines that don't support SB. It's just installed across the board...and runs. Doing what on such machines is a little hazy.
    • qBittorrent 5.2.2

      By Copernic · Posted

      qBittorrent 5.2.2 by Razvan Serea The qBittorrent project aims to provide a Free Software alternative to µtorrent. qBittorrent is an advanced and multi-platform BitTorrent client with a nice user interface as well as a Web UI for remote control and an integrated search engine. qBittorrent aims to meet the needs of most users while using as little CPU and memory as possible. qBittorrent is a truly Open Source project, and as such, anyone can and should contribute to it. qBittorrent features: Polished µTorrent-like User Interface Well-integrated and extensible Search Engine Simultaneous search in most famous BitTorrent search sites Per-category-specific search requests (e.g. Books, Music, Movies) All Bittorrent extensions DHT, Peer Exchange, Full encryption, Magnet/BitComet URIs, ... Remote control through a Web user interface Nearly identical to the regular UI, all in Ajax Advanced control over trackers, peers and torrents Torrents queueing and prioritizing Torrent content selection and prioritizing UPnP / NAT-PMP port forwarding support Available in ~25 languages (Unicode support) Torrent creation tool Advanced RSS support with download filters (inc. regex) Bandwidth scheduler IP Filtering (eMule and PeerGuardian compatible) IPv6 compliant Available on most platforms: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, OS/2, FreeBSD qBittorrent 5.2.2 changelog: FEATURE: Use D-Bus to show file in file managers (Chocobo1) #24340 BUGFIX: Fix friendlyUnitCompact precision calculation (vafada) #24323 BUGFIX: Remove all top-level folders (glassez) #24333 BUGFIX: Use proper API for checking exit status (Chocobo1) #24349 BUGFIX: Delete stale lockfile when hostname mismatch (TurboTheTurtle, glassez) #24363 BUGFIX: Fix wrong removal procedure of watched folder paths (Chocobo1) #24413 BUGFIX: Don't reannounce before interface changes are applied (glassez) #24447 BUGFIX: Use Latin script for Bosnian locale name (Andy Ye) #24342 WEBUI: Fix performance of global checkbox toggling (tehcneko) #24316 WEBUI: Fix Safari transfer list header misalignment (Piccirello) #24377 WEBUI: Fix error when submitting magnet before metadata loads (Piccirello) #24378 WEBUI: Use correct row id when updating Rss Downloader feed selection (Chocobo1) #24402 WEBUI: Use SameSite=Lax for session cookie to fix cross-site login (Piccirello) #24422 WEBUI: Bring back properties panel expand/collapse button (vafada) #24430 WEBAPI: Only use X-Forwarded-Host header when reverse proxy support is enabled (Chocobo1) #24457 RSSS: Fix "RSS Smart Episode Filter" RegEx (nathanon-akk, glassez) #24398 RSS: Fix previously matched episode format (glassez) #24452 WINDOWS: Fix Python fallback search path (TurboTheTurtle) #24325 WINDOWS: NSIS: Allow to install x64 binary on ARM64 (Chocobo1) #24358 Download: qBittorrent 5.2.2 | 41.1 MB (Open Source) Download: qBittorrent 64-bit installer (qt6) | 43.6 MB Links: qBittorrent Home page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Veteran
      branfont went up a rank
      Veteran
    • Reacting Well
      Almohandis earned a badge
      Reacting Well

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      497
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      183
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      126
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      85
    5. 5
      neufuse
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!