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WTF Just happend?

i4k20c

i4k20c

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 10, 2005
876
127
I had shut down my mac the night before, and i press the power button on my powerbook. I get a blue screen with he little folder in the middle with a question mark and also a picture of a globe kinda.. after about 40 seconds it goes to the regular apple grey screen and starts tiger, but when it got to my desktop, it went back to the regular desktop and got rid of the picture i put.. what just happend?
 
I am a little concerend b/c this powerbook is 1 month old and i am fairly new to macs..
 
Need a LOT more details from you to give any kind of accurate answer.

In general it looks like you either have 2 operating systems on your machine and it's choosing the "wrong" one to start with (perhaps because your primary is damaged), or you have accidentally moved or damaged your user folder or have created a new user account that is being logged in, not your original account/preferences/data.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Need a LOT more details from you to give any kind of accurate answer.

In general it looks like you either have 2 operating systems on your machine and it's choosing the "wrong" one to start with (perhaps because your primary is damaged), or you have accidentally moved or damaged your user folder or have created a new user account that is being logged in, not your original account/preferences/data.
Click to expand...

Huh? How do i check how many operating systems do i have? I've shut down and started this computer like 2 days ago and it never happened. When i first booted up there was a picture of a globe fit into a square, after that, there was a picture of a folder with a question mark inside of it.. and than it worked fine..
 
So everything is working now, except the desktop picture you had chosen has gone away? Do you use an external monitor? I do, and my desktop picture always gets whacked for some reason if I switch from monitor attached to PB only.

If you're not using an external monitor, I'm not sure what may have happened. You are "shutting down" and not just "powering off" right (no offense intended, but you say you are new to the Mac)?
 
emw said:
So everything is working now, except the desktop picture you had chosen has gone away? Do you use an external monitor? I do, and my desktop picture always gets whacked for some reason if I switch from monitor attached to PB only.

If you're not using an external monitor, I'm not sure what may have happened. You are "shutting down" and not just "powering off" right (no offense intended, but you say you are new to the Mac)?
Click to expand...

LOL yes, i do not use a second monitor, and the only thing i did diff last nite was this.. i shut down my computer, unplugged all the cords pluged into my laptop (power, ethnernet) and i had taken out the battery and put it back in to try to make it more flush with the powerbook..didnt work.. so i just turned the powerbook right side up again..and left it shut down without the cords attached and went to sleep..
 
Odd... the little globe usually means that the computer is trying to netboot (start up using an operating system stored on a server, something some schools and businesses use), but I'm assuming you wouldn't have set it that way. Question: Was there a little spinning grey globe, or a big static blue globe?

Open up System Preferences, go to Startup Disk, and let us know what shows up in the list there, and which item you have selected. Make sure it's the OS on your startup disk that you think it should be.
 
I think removing the battery and AC power is a factor - which may have caused some of your Parameter RAM settings to be lost.

In general though, (newbie advice coming) you will get better advice if you clearly and succinctly outline what Mac you have, what operating system, and the exact chronology of events describing what preceded the problem, and exactly what the problem is. Don't leave us guessing. The type of posts that go "I didn't do anything and somehow magically it's not working today" are just about impossible to answer.
 
Woah, that is weird..

1. The globe was the big blue static globe.

2. Under start up disk, there is Mac OS X 10.4.2 on MAC HD, and than there is Network startup (for some weird reason network startup is highlighted); i should select Mac OS X 10.4.2 on Mac HD rite? I have no idea how it would've got switched..
 
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