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I have a MacBook which won't boot beyond the grey screen / Apple logo. With some key combo (can't remember what I did!) I managed to get a black screen with text output - see image. Can anyone offer an interpretation? I'm imagining the logic board is fried.

macbook screenshot

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Have you tried booting OS X from a DVD? It could be an installation issue (perhaps failing hard drive). It is awfully rare for RAM to go bad, so it could be the logic board. – EmmEff Feb 20 '12 at 14:04
Thanks for the replies - very helpful. Have tested RAM - no bad chips. Machine won't boot from DVD, so hardware tests can't be done. My original post was to see if anyone knew exactly what the codes in the screen referred to; I haven't been able to reproduce that screen since (it wasn't cmnd-V that I used). At this point, I think I'm inevitably drawn to the "fried logic board" school of thought; at UK prices for a refurbed LB, I'm definitely better off buying a new/old MB on eBay. – smackenzie Feb 20 '12 at 15:45
The screenshot looks like verbose boot mode which you can do via Cmd-V. See support.apple.com/kb/HT1492?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US . – bneely Feb 20 '12 at 16:35
Please add to the question a note of whether there are any wired or wireless peripherals. If there are any, please give details. – Graham Perrin Nov 11 '12 at 21:31

2 Answers

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Not necessarily a logic board issue (but it is possible!).

1) It may be a RAM Issue: easiest way to test is crack it open (if it's the old non-unibody one then that's not too bad) and try running it with either stick removed. If you get the same issue it's onto...

2) An issue with the installation: there's a chance it could be a weird problem at a very low level of the installation, if you've still got the install discs and don't have any data you can't afford to lose try reinstalling. If you're still stuck...

3) Try the hardware check tool: there's a pretty good guide on how to use it here: on the Mac OS X forums. That should show any issues in detail. However...

4) The processor/logic board is done: and either way if it's either then you're down to opening that puppy up and replacing it.

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Could also be the video card tripping the error. A technician would need to see the entire crash log, not just this single screen. This level of troubleshooting is most likely beyond the scope of AD. I'd suggest a trip to the Apple Store or to an authorized repair tech. – jaberg Feb 20 '12 at 16:55
+1 … discussions.apple.com/message/6184413#6184413 associates a comparable kernel panic with bad memory. – Graham Perrin Nov 11 '12 at 21:34
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If you have access to a FireWire cable and another Mac, consider booting your MacBook in target disk mode. IF your computer responds and boots, you can then copy files off your machine and also attempt a permissions repair (not that I think this will cure your problem.

For this discussion, your problematic MacBook is Computer #2 and the other Mac is Computer #1.

  1. Boot Computer #1.
  2. Plug a FireWire cable into #1.
  3. Connect Computer #2 to power.
  4. Connect the FireWire cable to #2.
  5. Boot #2, holding down the "T" key until the FireWire logo appears.

At this point you should be able to see Computer #2 in the Finder on Computer #1. It will act as a regular hard drive as far as Computer #1 is concerned.

Retrieve your needed files, use Disk Utility to Repair the disk and Restore permissions. YOu can even check it with a program like Drive Genius for errors.

If the MacBook boots to Target disk mode, you know it's not the motherboard or RAM. At that point, I'd reboot into Repair mode by holding down COMAND-R at boot. From here, you can reformat the drive with Disk Utility and reinstall OS X.

Good luck!

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