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General discussion

Lost screen color on an ibook PowerPC 750 w/MAC OSX 10.3.5

Apr 9, 2007 6:20AM PDT

Hi Guys,

The screen on my friend's ibook has decided to only display in black and white. She says it started after she signed up Earthlink (I think that's just a coincidence) She says she shut down, started up the next day and it's been black and white ever since. I've checked her settings, done the calibration but I can't seem to bring in any color... Any help you guys (or gals) can provide would be greatly appreciated!!

Discussion is locked

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Safe Mode
Apr 9, 2007 10:00PM PDT

Start the machine up in Safe Mode.
To do that, shut the machine down and then power it back up. As soon as you hear the chimes, hold down the SHIFT key. Keep it held down until you see the grey Apple and the spinning cog.

It takes longer to start in Safe Mode.

Is the screen in color now?

P

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Yep... It worked!...
Apr 10, 2007 1:42AM PDT

Will it always need to be started in safe mode now- for color? Do you know what the cause could be? By the way, thanks so much for the help. You guys really are great! I love this site...

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Safe Mode
Apr 10, 2007 2:28AM PDT

Ok, at least we now know that the mechanics of the machine are working correctly.
Your friends theory that signing up with Earthlink was what caused it, may not be too far fetched.
Ask her if she installed anything that she got from EarthLink.
There should have been no reason why she would need to install anything but she may have done. At next reboot the screen was B/W so I can see her logic.
Something that does NOT get loaded during a Safe Mode boot up is messing with another part of the OS. we just have to figure out what it is.
If she did install something, uninstall it and reboot. See if you have color on a normal boot.

P

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I agree you...
Apr 10, 2007 6:36AM PDT

She says the Earthlink software was already on the laptop and that all she did was call Earthlink and obtain the dial-up numbers for internet access. She says she never downloaded anything...? She also wants to keep the Earthlink software so I think that's all you or I can do for her at this point. I told her she needs to contact Earthlink support to find out if anything would have been downloaded without her consent when she connected the first time. Also, the Earthlink icons on her dock are just two giant question marks and they do not open the application when selected. Anywho, thanks very much for your help!!!

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you're welcome
Apr 10, 2007 10:22AM PDT

The reason that the icons in the dock are just question marks is that there is NO application associated with them.
Just drag them out of the dock and onto the desktop where they will disappear in a puff of smoke.

Drag the real application, I cannot think why Earthlink would need any application, into the dock and the correct icon will appear there.

With the existing software on the Mac, the only thing necessary to do was to plug in the telephone numbers for Earthlink and allow the modem to connect.

Mail and Safari would work just fine.

Good luck

P