Spotlight Comes On

[sashaann]

I have an old IMAC G4 and I'm afraid to power it down because when I do, it doesn't want to come back up. It gets as far as the screen but won't display anything. The only thing that comes up is the spotlight in the corner. If I hold down the option + shift, it will come on after several tries but I have to try to restart it again to get it out of safe boot. I am going to be moving next month and have to power down my computer and I'm afraid if I do, I may never get it back up. Doew anyone know why this is happening?

 

[bluekatt]

i have no idea but seeing im the only one awnsering i am going to speculate since its al i can do
my best guess is that it either has something to do with the ram
or the psu \ inverter board
what to do ? is it your only mac ? if so back everything up
pull a ram module and see what happens
look into replacing it for a emac possibly if your ona budget or a used mini

if its not your only mac you can pull those stunts without much fear do back up though

 

[Ric]

Hi there and welcome !

If you have a decent back up , then I would suggest doing a 'Archive and Install' it doesn't sound as though it's hardware if it's booting to the desktop and you can see the spotlight icon...

If you are not sure about the Archive and Install bit let us know and we'll talk you through it !

It certainly doesn't sound like anything to major !

regards

Ric

 

[bluekatt]

well you might neve rknow id certainly be suspicous about hardware behaving like that
just because it gets to spotlight doesn tmean nothing hardware wise is wrong with it