When I start my computer, EyeTV automatically opens - which has never caused a problem. But, as of today when the computer begins a dim black screen appears (I can see the desktop behind it) and in white writing accompanied by a picture of the power button it says that I need to restart my computer and I should hold down the power button for 2 seconds or press the restart button. It then says the instruction in two other languages before. Any ideas why this is happening?

Hello,

I am wondering if you are having a system crash, and the white writing you are seeing is that of the UNIX underpinnings coming through the GUI.

What does the white writing say? Don't need the whole thing, just give us a chunk.

Also, have youmade any software changes. Did you recently update the system software, or install something new?

Thanks.

Christian

The dim black screen & "You must restart..." message is usually what you'll see with a kernel panic in OS 10.3. If this has recently appeared out of nowhere (you haven't made changes to the system which might have caused conflicts), then some hardware component is beginning to fail. In any of these incidents, was there also text on the screen other than in the black box?
You can also check your console logs for logging of kernel panics; the information there can help in narrowing down the cause. Try running Apple Hardware Test, too. If it has a kernel panic during the test, note what part of the test was running at the time.
I recently had the same thing happening, at first only occasionally, but more & more frequent over the space of a week or so, until it wouldn't even finish starting up before the "You must restart..." screen appeared. In my case, the failure was the logic board. It's probably more usual, though, that a memory chip is the problem. In either case, you'll need to go to an Apple tech for definite diagnosis as well as repair.
Hope this is some help.

The inverter or tube probably has a problem you can repair this by going to google and typing in laptop backlight problem and the first site will tell you how to repair it. It could also be your tube.