In the paper, we obtain the existence of symmetric or monotone positive solutions and establish a corresponding iterative scheme for the equation ${\left({\phi }_p\left(u^{\text{'}}\right)\right)}^{\text{'}}+q\left(t\right)f\left(u\right)=0$, $0<t<1$, where ${\phi }_p\left(s\right):={\left|s\right|}^{p-2}s$, $p>1$, subject to nonlinear boundary condition. The main tool is the monotone iterative technique. Here, the coefficient $q\left(t\right)$ may be singular at $t=0,1$.

We consider the classical nonlinear fourth-order two-point boundary value problem $$\left\{\begin{array}{c}{u}^{\left(4\right)}\left(t\right)=\lambda h\left(t\right)f(t,u\left(t\right),u^{\text{'}}\left(t\right),u^{\text{'}\text{'}}\left(t\right)),0<t<1,\hfill \\ u\left(0\right)=u^{\text{'}}\left(1\right)=u^{\text{'}\text{'}}\left(0\right)=u^{\text{'}\text{'}\text{'}}\left(1\right)=0.\hfill \end{array}\right.$$ In this problem, the nonlinear term $h\left(t\right)f(t,u\left(t\right),u^{\text{'}}\left(t\right),u^{\text{'}\text{'}}\left(t\right))$ contains the first and second derivatives of the unknown function, and the function $h\left(t\right)f(t,x,y,z)$ may be singular at $t=0$, $t=1$ and at $x=0$, $y=0$, $z=0$. By introducing suitable height functions and applying the fixed point theorem on the cone, we establish several local existence theorems on positive solutions and obtain the corresponding eigenvalue intervals.