White screen after router crashes

[diggerd]

I have a cable modem from the cable company that my tv, phone and interenet go through. We also have an airport extreme.

I heard a "click" sound and the computer and cable tv box went off. The printer also went off. Maybe it was the surge protector that clicked, I'm not really sure.

I re-started the computer, it chimed, the apple logo came up, I could hear it "starting", but when it finished all I had was a white screen and the pointer.

The laptop that uses wi-fi thru the airport extreme, work no problem.

I've re-set the SMC and zapped the pram, everything still the same.

 

[honestone]

Disconnect the cable modem and the airport extreme card while the computer is off. Also, take out the plug for the computer. Wait a "certain" period of time, and then re-connect each of them. The period of time you need to wait, and the order of re-connecting the equipment, will usually depend on your cable company. Once that is done, plug in the cord for the computer, re-start the machine, and see what happens.

 

[diggerd]

Disconnect the cable modem and the airport extreme card while the computer is off. Also, take out the plug for the computer. Wait a "certain" period of time, and then re-connect each of them. The period of time you need to wait, and the order of re-connecting the equipment, will usually depend on your cable company. Once that is done, plug in the cord for the computer, re-start the machine, and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice, but that didn't help. Is it possible the video card got "zapped" ?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

If honestone's suggestions didn't help, then it sounds like the OS may have been corrupted, thus preventing the Mac from loading properly. Since you have video, white screen and cursor, then it sounds like the graphics card is OK. Since you get the startup chime, it means it passed the testing for communications with the processor, RAM, logic board, etc.

-Do you see the Apple at any point?
-Can you boot into the recovery partition?
-Do you remember how much free space is available on the hard drive?

There can be many reasons you are experiencing that startup issue and we'll try and narrow it down.

C

 

[diggerd]

As I mentioned in my question, i get the apple, but when it finishes starting-up all I have is a white screen and t he pointer. I have no video. I think the video card might have gotten "zapped".

 

[Cory Cooper]

Understood, but you are getting video if you see the Apple and then get the white screen with the cursor. If the video card failed, you wouldn't get anything but either a black screen or very distorted video.

Try to click on this link: Can you boot into the recovery partition? and follow the steps there. Let us know the results of that.

C

 

[diggerd]

Understood, but you are getting video if you see the Apple and then get the white screen with the cursor. If the video card failed, you wouldn't get anything but either a black screen or very distorted video.

Try to click on this link: Can you boot into the recovery partition? and follow the steps there. Let us know the results of that.

C

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like good news.
I finally have had the time to sit and spend some time with the iMac. Just want to run something by you before doing "recovery partition".

I started the computer holding down option and got the choice of my system, the e-drive I created with TechTool and Recovery 10.10.3.
Is the recovery option the same as the "boot into the recovery partition" ? Will using Recovery lead to losing everything on my hard drive?

Funny thing is connecting with the e-drive I was able to run come tests including disk utility, which don't help anything. Also, I was able to open Safari and use that. So, you were right on about the video card.

Thanks

 

[Cory Cooper]

No problem...I figured the graphics card was OK.

-Do you have any form of Time Machine or other backup?
-Do you have an external HD you can install OS on, boot from, and copy your files to?

You should be able to reinstall OS X over the top of the existing install, without losing anything, but if the disk is failing or there are more than OS problems, it could lead to data loss.

OS X Yosemite: Reinstall OS X

***NOTE: DO NOT perform an Erase & Install, only a Reinstall.

C

 

[diggerd]

No problem...I figured the graphics card was OK.

-Do you have any form of Time Machine or other backup?
-Do you have an external HD you can install OS on, boot from, and copy your files to?

You should be able to reinstall OS X over the top of the existing install, without losing anything, but if the disk is failing or there are more than OS problems, it could lead to data loss.

OS X Yosemite: Reinstall OS X

***NOTE: DO NOT perform an Erase & Install, only a Reinstall.

C

I have most of the important stuff on a USB drive.I do have time machine, but hate to say I don't use it enough. I do have a Seagate GoFlex.
What is the recovery 10.10.3 ?

 

[honestone]

I also use TechTool Pro for weekly disk maintenance/repairs (usually no repairs needed).

Also, the Recovery Option is the same as "boot into the recovery partition".

As for re-installing Yosemite, I suspect part of that process is selecting the "Install OS X Yosemite" file, which should be in your applications folder. Note, though, that such an installation will only get you to OS 10.10. To get to OS 10.10.3, you'll need to install the OS 10.10.3 Combo Updater and the OS 10.10.3 Supplemental Updater, in that order. In case you don't have them, you can get them from here:

Combo Updater: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1804?locale=en_US

Supplemental Update: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1807?locale=en_US

Also, version 8.0.6 of Safari (the latest one) came out after that Supplemental Update. You'll need to get that from the App Store.

Regarding backups, I would strongly suggest you first make a bootable backup/clone of your current system. You can use the "free" version of SuperDuper! for that purpose, available from here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/13803/superduper

That Seagate external drive you have would be perfect for that!

If you do need to recover the non-system files, you can use Migration Assistant for that purpose, after re-installing OS 10.10.3.

 

[diggerd]

Happy to report all is well. Everything is working smoothly and i didn't lose anything. All I have left to do is SuperDuper. It was really easy after I knew what to do. Thanks for all your help. I had started on apple communities, and was getting ready to bring the computer in for repair. This was the last comment I got after zapping the pram and resetting SMC. So I decided to search for another Mac help forum

"I tried booting up from the CD, screen stayed white.
Then it's time to take your iMac to your local Apple Store or an AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider). Diagnostic testing is FREE!

So I decided to search for another Mac help forum and the rest is history. I'd also like to thank you both for not being snarky with your replies. Some forums can be a bit condescending.

Thanks again.
Regards,
Deb

 

[Cory Cooper]

Glad to hear it's all working and back to normal.

We're always here if you need us.

C