Computer makes it to white start up screen with apple, the twirling circle appears and.....keeps twirling. Desktop never loads. My desktop is crowded with loose files and the last 2 things I did this morning were 1-sync with iPhone and 2-after was attempting to shut down a screen I didn't need when the cursor locked up. Had to do a forced shutdown. Twice I got it to boot to desktop but frozen at desktop-by third attempt, couldn't get past startup screen...

Power down, get os cd then insert os disk when powering up. If your desktop has way over 2gb then that would be the problem since the computer (on start up) is trying to read everything on the desktop. Recommend to move the files to document folder to keep desktop clear.

Here's a video Charles East suggested as a solution to your problem from YouTube:


How To Fix White Screen On Your Mac

Reboot the computer while holding the V key. This will boot in verbose mode and show you the specifics of the boot issue.

Try two or three times, make sure there are no add ons usb

Try turning on the computer while holding down Command+Option+P+R until you hear the boot tone twice.

restart from your original cd/dvd that came with the computer, then open disk utility and run disk permission and disk repairs from the utility
Kev. www.apple-core.co.uk

Considering you have tried the Safe Boot mode to correct this, try to resolve this from the hardware side:

Procedure #1:

Here are some steps you can try to resolve the issue:

• First, hold in your power button for approximately 10 seconds to do a hard shutdown, if you have not already turned your Mac off.

• Once your Mac is shutdown, you will need to perform what is called a PRAM reset (Parameter RAM)

• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously .

• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

• Now, hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the star tup sound for the third time.

• Release the keys and allow the Macbook to start up.
If the iMac still does not start up to your Desktop correctly, go on to the next procedure:
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Procedure # 2

-PMU RESET-

The Power Manager is an integrated circuit (computer chip) that is usually on the logic board of your Mac computer.

It is responsible for power management of the computer. It controls backlighting, hard disk spin down, sleep and wake, some charging aspects, trackpad control, and some input/output as it relates to the computer sleeping.

• If the computer is on, turn it off.
• Disconnect all the connections going into the Mac except for the Power cord.
• Once all connections have been disconnected, remove the power cord from the iMac.
• Wait 1 minute.
• Reconnect the keyboard, mouse and power cord back into the computer.
• Press the Power button to restart the iMac computer.

• Observe if it starts up to the main desktop this time.
If it does not however, you may have an issue with your current Mac OS X directory or the issue could be hardware related.
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Here is a comprehensive reference for you regarding Additional Troubleshooting for Blue, Gray screen issues and more, that you can also review:
Apple Support Link:
Startup Issues for Macs
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If all else fails, you may need to visit your local Apple retail store Genius bar or local Apple-authorized service center in order to have your iMac at least diagnosed to find out what the core issue is.

Regards,

-Mactechtrainer

--SAFE BOOT MODE--

I am going to have you take your Mac into Safe Mode to see if we can't remove a possible folder(s) that may be affecting your Mac's start up function.

Try these steps:

• Reboot your Mac
• Upon restarting your Mac, press the Shift key.
• Hold the Shift key until you see a White Screen with Gray Apple icon and eventually a spinning gear.

• When you see the Spinning gear, release the Shift key.

• Allow the Mac to continue booting up. Also this may take a little while
(NOTE: this may take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to load to the Safe mode screen depending on the performance of your Mac, but if it exceeds this time, shutdown your Mac and try just once more. It may have just frozen up the first time around for you.)

• You are going to enter the Safe Mode (which looks like your main desktop environment - the only difference is certain start up items are disabled.)

• Once within the Desktop in Safe Mode
• From the Finder Menu, click Go> Go to Folder
• Type in this line: /System/Library/StartupItems
• This path, is going to take you to the System Library folder which has all of your Mac OS X StartupItems.

• Remove all of those folders to the Trash.

*Reboot your Mac normally and see if you can access your normal User desktop environment.

This should help get your iMac G4 back up
and running.

Regards,

Mactechtrainer

If the white band appears right from start up, the display needs to be replaced, if it comes on after it starts, it is most likely a software problem.

It is the hard drive. The EXACT same thing happened to me. You will need to replace the hard drive. You can backup all the info onto another computer using a firewire cable as I did. Boot your computer and hit "apple" "T" while booting, a firewire logo should appear and bounce around the screen. Makes your computer a giant external hard drive.