FileMaker was working just fine. Then yesterday I got a message on the screen, in a strange black and white window, that I need to restart the computer.

so I did.

FileMaker does not work anymore. I can click on the app icon, or in the dock. The splash screen comes up, and then it just stops.

I removed both com.filemaker.filemakerpro.plist and com.filemaker.pro7.plist from the ~/library/preferences. I reinstalled the program. I updated it again to 7v3. I fixed permissions. It still does not work.

What should I do now?

OS X 10.3

Then yesterday I got a message on the screen, in a strange black and white window, that I need to restart the computer.

It sounds like an OS level error. Booting from the install disk and running Disk Utility (First Aid and Permission Repair,) is a good first step.

FileMaker does not work anymore. I can click on the app icon, or in the dock. The splash screen comes up, and then it just stops.

So is it just your database that doesn't open, or does the FileMaker app not open all the way?

You may want to check that you have the latest update for OSX as well; perhaps installing the latest update will fix whatever OS-level problem that's going on. FYI - I've never seen anything like what you're describing in OSX. The black & white window sounds more like OS9/Classic...

-Stanley