Grey progress bar on start, then shut down.

So I have a 27" iMac (mid 2011 I think, but not 100% sure) that's unhealthy.
My wife had been using the machine for a few weeks. At some point it rebooted, and when it did, it got stuck at what looks possibly like a firmware update screen?
When it powers on I get the normal chime, followed by grey screen, followed by the Apple logo, followed by a progress bar.
The progress bar runs until it gets about 1/16th of the way across the screen, then powers off.
- I've reset PRAM/NVRAM and SMC. I know NVRAM was reset because on next boot the screen resolution and default volume changed.
- It doesn't allow be to boot off other drives/volumes (option on start or C), and trying to start in single, verbose, or safe mode doesn't seem to do anything. Or in Recovery mode.
- If I try to start in target disk mode (hold T on start) it will enter that mode. If I try to start hardware diag mode, it tries, but if this system came with a hardware test disc, I don't have it anymore. Then it just proceeds to try booting again.
I'm assuming it's trying to do an EFI update, but that's failing for some reason. I've read that doing a firmware restore will help, but Apple doesn't seem to produce firmware restore disks anymore? I definitely don't see one available for download.
Any thoughts?

Do you have another Mac with Firewire to look at the iMac Drive or try to Repair it when it's in t mode?

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Progress bar at startup, then shuts down immediately, during progress bar

It started when my iMac started running a little slower then usual, so i decided to restart it just incase something wasnt working properly,
then when the startup apple came up a grey progress bar comes up underneath, loads to approximately 15% then restarts the progress bar,
and then the whole system shuts down.
Any ideas on what to do? Or just get apple to check it out?

WorriedUser wrote:
Yes, i already read this, but the problem is, it wont turn on at all, it gets to the startup then shuts down after the progress bar is no more then 10-15%
OK, then it's time to take it in to have it serviced at an Apple Store or AASP.

My MacBook Pro starts then shuts down on its own 4 seconds later. An idea on what I should do? Thanks!

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Is the little LED on your adapter's MagSafe plug glowing when it's connected? What color?
It sounds as though your battery is drained and the adapter isn't charging it. Try resetting the SMC:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
That may start the battery charging again.

Starts then shuts down

i got home from work yesterday, went to start up my G4 it starts the boot phase with the apple logo and spinning gear and then shuts down.
i tried to reset motherboard, i checked both fans which are spinning (rpms?) but i do notice the heat sink is fairly warm as well as the video card but not sure if that's a normal warm.
i cannot unfortunately boot up to access any log's or system drives.
would disc warrior help? would booting from another OS on an external drive work?
when i hold the option button down to choose the start disc the computer will remain on forever so do i have an overheating issue, but when i select to boot the drive it goes to the apple screen, spinning gear and then shuts down.
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job smith:
Do you get a normal startup chime?
You might try the battery removal advice you read... I'd suggest that perhaps you go a couple of steps further as well, though:
First of all, disconnect your peripheral devices when you're troubleshooting, which will eliminate them from potentially being part of the problem. Troubleshoot with only the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power cord connected.
Try the following with the Apple Hardware Test disc inserted in the optical drive tray:
Disconnect everything from the Tower.
Disconnect the hard drive(s).
Remove the battery.
Depress the front power button and hold it in for a five-count.
Depress the PMU button and hold it down for a five-count.
Take a thirty minute break to insure the capacitors have drained.
Leave the battery out and the drive disconnected.
Close the side door, hook up and attempt to boot to the AHT disc.
If successful, run it and see what you get.
Reinsert the battery and try booting to the OS 9 or OS X install disc.
If successful, reconnect the startup drive and attempt startup from the install OS X disc again and run Repair Disk and Repair Permissions on the startup drive.
Boot normally to the startup volume.
Any luck? If not, please let us know where things failed.
Gary

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Hi,
I got a brand new MB Z77-G45, with an i5-3470, 2x4Gb Kingston DD3 XMP Blue, and a WD Green SATA 6Gb/s. All that into a Cooler Master N400.
Plugged everything into the MB, powered it and it starts, the 3 fans spin, the frontal led flashes, as well as the 4 leds on the MB but nothing on the screen (with the "no signal" message)
and then shuts down. And restarts again. Shuts down, restarts...
It run with an Advance 600W and all components are new. Any clue?
J.

Good news: a friend brough one stick of DDR3 and it worked! So now, it's just a matter of finding out if the Kingston I bought really is faulty, or if, as you suggested, it's a matter of updating the BIOS.
Either way, I'll post the update and hopefully along a [SOLVED]
Thanks a lot for your input, guys.

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Larbeyr wrote:
CMSK, thanks.
"Invalid node structure
the volume of disk could not be verified completely.
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Great.
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Hello lharv71,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I have read your post on how your computer begins to shut down after cold starts, and I would be happy to assist you! I would like you to go back into your BIOS and disable Secure Boot and Enable Legacy Mode.
Please re-post with the results of your troubleshooting, and I look forward to your reply!
Regards
MechPilot
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!

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Help please
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adammabry wrote:
I ran verify because the option to run repair was not available.
And just to make sure, you booted from the install disc? (Repair Disk is never available when booted on the boot volume of the HD.)
Here's a follow up... This mac wasn't doing it's airport backups properly,
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Sounds like something is badly wrong with your system. First step would be to start up from your Mac OS X install disk, by inserting the disk and holding down 'c' at startup. Select your language, then choose Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. In Disk Utility, choose your hard drive and click the Repair Disk button.
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If nothing works, try rebooting from the Mac OS X install disk again and install Snow Leopard right on top of your current system. That shouldn't disturb your apps or data, but of course, if you don't have backups, you're in trouble if something goes wrong.

Macbook Pro get grey progress bar and shuts down

Hello All,
I have a macbook pro and I faced this issue out of nowhere. After shutting down the system last time, when I started the system, I could hear the apple chime, apple logo appeared with grey progress bar below it. The bar will progress to 1/3 or so and it will disappear and after few seconds laptop will shut down. I tried few times but same things was happening again and again.
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If your machine is under AppleCare or warranty you can take it to them.
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As for now, only thing that helped was an archive and install with preserve user settings. Seems after the reinstall of 10.4. everything that was weird has become normal again. I hope very much this state stays on for a while - or ever!
A comment to everybody: with problems that are common you get a lot of help from friendly users in here, but if like in my situation things get a bit more uncommon than the usual querks and troubles your bound to go through a whole workflow of tests and algorithms - i did learn some new things but eventually I had to go for the ultimate - the reinstall (of course, erase and install would have been more work.) and it's frustrating not to find out how it came to this problem. I wish I could nail it down to something I did mistakenly - i guess I'll find out next time.
THANKS THOUGH to those who replied.
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Grey progress bar on start, then shut down.

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