Hi there...

This is embarassing, while using windows through boot camp I stupidly tried to install a new gfx driver that matched the gfx cards model number (something I do reguarly on my PC).. it was obviously incompatible.

After installing the driver I rebooted as instructed.

Now the mac will turn on, the light displays on both the mac and the monitor (The screen remains blank), it chimes, the drive spins with the disk that's still inside and then the Mac goes silent.

And that is that... game over.. I've reset the NVRAM, still no joy! Help!!

Basically i'd like to know if there's a way of getting around this without taking it to a repair center..
i.e taking the hard drive out and formatting/replacing (replacing would probably cost the same as a repair through a mac center i'm guessing)

I'm running an intel 2ghz model if that helps.

Thanks for your time.

Have you tried to restart holding the mouse button down to eject the disk?

After that, I think an Archive and install of OS X using the installation disks would clean things up. Are you using Tiger or Leopard?

Thanks for the reply.

I've managed to get the CD out since the last post.

However as the display drivers are still wrong, I can't see anything on screen. There seems to be no way of solving the problem short of removing the drive and then formatting in an external enclosure. But please do correct me if i'm wrong.

So, I have opted to go down the route of replacing the hard drive, which doubles up as an upgrade that I wanted to do anyway. Better than paying Apple to remove and format it for a similar cost to the new drive!

correct me if im wrong, but the gfx driver should be strictly limited to windows, and the EFI loader in the mac should work and display video regardless of what you have installed in windows

it is only part way through the boot sequence, so if you boot up and hold down the alt key after the chime, you should be given the option of booting to mac os x or windows

i find it hard to believe that anything you have installed in windows would cause the issue you are experiencing. i would also assume that if you are unable to boot to an OSX cd/dvd that you will not resolve the issue by re-installing the OS on a different machine. booting from the cd stops you booting to the HD, and is essentially like booting from a very basic install, with tools like disk utility you can run on the hard drive

I'll second Iggy's comments. (except that I thought it was the Option key. )
I may have been a bit hasty with my "Windoze conditioned" advice.

If that doesn't work...
Try restarting by pressing the power button and immediately hold down the Command, Option, P, and R keys until you hear the startup sound twice.

It might be a good idea to find those keys before you press the power button.

Question: What kind of disk was stuck in the drive, a audio/vedeo CD, software installation disk, or the Mac OS X install disk?