When I start my computer up, all I get is a gray screen...
Last night my macbook froze on me. I couldn't even restart, so I pulled the battery and the charger to restart it up. When it came up, all I got was a gray screen with a flashing folder with a question mark in it. I wasn't able to get onto the internet last night, so I don't think its a gasp virus, but for some reason the computer just crashed on me.
1. What has to be done to get my computer working again? I don't have my restart discs (I am at school and they are at my home 2 hours away), and I tried holding OptionCommand+RP and nothing. Are there any other quick fixes I can try besides taking it to a specialist?
and
2. Anybody know my chances of saving my information on my hard drive? I have all my notes on there for school, as well as over 1,000 pictures and nearly 13 gigs of music. I am going to be sick if they are gone. I know that it is hard to say one way or another without actually troubleshooting the computer, but being that I didn't do anything to it, it just went down, is it more than likely just an OS problem and my files will be okay?
Basically something is preventing access to the system folder if all you see is a continuous flashing ? folder. It could be a bad directory, a misplaced file, or a damaged drive. My recommendation is to get a Firewire hard drive at least as large as your internal drive from http://www.macsales.com/ and Subrosasoft Filesalvage to see if it can recover your data. If that can't try Prosoft Data Rescue II. Both may be available from your school store at a school discount. If neither works, sometimes Alsoft Disk Warrior 4.1 might work. If that still doesn't work, unfortunately a data recovery specialist which may cost thousands will have to be used such as http://www.drivesavers.com/ This is why I recommend you ALWAYS backup your data*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
Good luck!
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.
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when i active my mac pro all i get is a white screen and it loading and when it fully load its turn off , and it keep on doing the same thing for hours
Hi Shahenaz,
It's a little difficult to understand exactly what's going on with your mac based on the description you gave. Is there anything else you could add? Is it stuck in a reboot loop? Or is it just showing a white screen forever?
I had pretty much the same problem a few days ago, and was worried my mac was screwed permanently, but I got it fixed up no problem!
Follow these steps to try and troubleshoot/fix the problem.
1. Boot into OSX Recovery Mode
First, turn off your Mac. If it isn't responding, or is stuck in a reboot loop, just hold down the power button until it turns off, and you hear the fans stop. Then boot it while holding the Command and R keys. If it successfully boots into OSX Recovery Mode, continue with this step. If not, skip to step two. (My Mac couldn't successfully boot into the recovery mode, so I had to go to step 2)
Select "Disk Utility" from the list of options, and find your built in hard drive from the list on the left. Usually there are two listings/names for your drive. The first should be something like "500GB longchainoflettersnumbers Media". Then the one below will be a little easier on the eyes, named Macintosh HD, if you haven't changed its name. That's the one you want, click it.
Now go to the "First Aid" tab. Click on the "Verify Disk" button in the bottom right corner, and let it do its thing. Once that's done, hit repair disk, also in the bottom right corner. If your disk is corrupted, you may need to run the repair process several times, before it comes up completely clean.
Once this is done, select Shut Down from the Apple menu and, once your Mac is completely off, turn it back on like normal. If it works, great. If not, proceed to step two.
2. SafeBoot
Sometimes, when a mac is acting up and doesn't want to start, all it takes is a safe boot, followed by a regular restart. Or maybe you recently installed a program that either has malicious or errored coding that's causing your troubles. This is where Safe Boot comes in.
Turn off your mac, and reboot it while holding Shift. (If you want to see the process that's going on in the background, boot while holding Shift, Command, and V. This will enter something called Verbose Mode).
If it boots successfully into Safe Mode, great. If you believe that there's a particular program that you recently downloaded that might be causing your trouble, now's the time to delete it. If not, just reboot normally and see if it works! If it doesn't, or if your Mac didn't even Safe Boot like mine, proceed to step 3.
3. Fsck!
For this step, you're going to be booting your mac into Single User Mode. I'm not going to go into details as to what this step does, but it works for some people. Here are the steps.
Turn off your mac, and reboot it while holding Command and S. The screen should go black, and you'll see some white text run across the screen, wait a few seconds, until you see the command prompt. Now type
fsck -fy
and hit the Enter key. This will run a series of system checks, which could take a few minutes. Be patient on this part. Once it's done, it will show one of two messages:
1. "The volume (your Mac) appears to be OK
or
2. "File System Was Modified"
If you got message 1, type reboot and press Return. Hopefully your computer works after this - if not, proceed to step 4.
If you got message 2, run the same command again until you get message 1. If it doesn't seem to be working, turn off your system and proceed to step 4.
If you couldn't even boot into Single User Mode in the first place (like me), go to step 4 anyways.
Step 4: Reset the NVRAM
The NVRAM is another kind of RAM that stores data like the computer volume you had set before you turned it off, or the screen brightness, resolution etc. This memory is saved, unlike with regular RAM. Resetting it isn't harmful to your system, it will just put your screen brightness, volume, etc. to defaults.
Turn off your Mac, and reboot while holding Command, Option, P, and R, and continue holding them down until you hear the computer restart again.
I can't really explain why to do this step, I just know it works for some people, and seems to be what unbricked my MacBook Pro. If none of these steps, fixed your Mac, well the situation is looking pretty grim. Try setting up a meeting with a Mac Genius at your local Apple store. However, I know that many other people with these symptoms ended up having a logic board failure. Apple can swap out your logic board for a new one, but the price is pretty hefty, somewhere around $300 I believe.
Well I wish you luck, I hope this helped you! -
I am trying to use imovie and i have never had this problem before. All of my videos are completly grey and when you try and play them all i get is a black screen but i still hear audio. Can you please help and tell me what i need to do. Thank you
Make sure all of the videos used in the project that is having that problem are from the same event. If they are from multiple events, move them all into one event.
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My mac doesnt start. All i get is the gray screen with the apple and the loading icon but nothing more happens. I tried to start it in safe mode but it doesnt help. What can i do?
If you have a external USB enclosure - trying installing your hard drive in that enclosure and connect it to your usb port - restart your macbook while holding down the options key. If you Macbook boots to your desktop then you have a faulty cable. If you get the same error, then your hard drive just died on you.
good luck. -
****,I have done this successful in the past but on my IPad it shows I have 4 apps that need to be updated so when I hit the update tab all I get is a white screen. When I hit the purchase or other tabs it opens up. What could be the problem?
There have been numerous reports on the forum today regarding this issue. It seems to be an issue at Apple, but no information has been posted on the status site.
http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/ -
I just registered. I tried accessing Buzzword and Connect
Now... All I got after the page is loaded is a dark gray screen...
I waited, but nothing happened.
Anyone?I want to take this thread just a little to the side.
I have people trying to use acrobat.com with non microsoft operating systems and other combinations of browsers.
It seems we are having real rendering problems with the black background and lightly colored words. Some systems display black backgrounds and brown words leaving the viewer to wonder if there is anything written on the screen.
Please change acrobat.com to be a light background and dark letters. More monitors and systems will be able to display this combination.
Or, provide us with a way to reverse video the screens. -
I Turn on my mac air 13" . I get : startup disk is full . I access the device, then the screen turns grey. What happened? what can I do?
Go step by step and test.
1. Start up in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11212
2. Empty Trash.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13806
3. Disk space / Time Machine ?/ Local Snapshots
Local backups
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4878
4. Delete old iOS Devices Backup.
iTunes > Preferences > Devices
Highlight the old Backups , press “Delete Backup” and then “OK”.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
5. Re-index Macintosh HD.
This will take a while. Wait until it is finished.
System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2409
6.Try OmniDiskSweeper. This will give the storage size details of the items.
https://www.omnigroup.com/more
Select Macintosh HD and click “Sweep Selected Drive” at the bottom.
Delete the files you don’t want to keep.
Be careful. Delete only the files that can be safely deleted. -
Players in other sites are working.
Hello!
First you might want to check about:plugins to get some information about your Flash plugin status.
If your plugin version is stated there along with more information - it means that its installed. Furthermore, if the plugin is outdated, well, this can be the first cause of the problem. Please go to http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/ . I your plugins is outdated, please update.
If the problem persists, try creating a new Firefox profile see where it gets you.
More information here https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing-profiles
If still no go, we'll have to send your data to our dev team, meaning filling a bug in bugzilla under the core product and plugin component https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ . but i hope we won't get there.
Please let me know if any above worked for you
Cheers! -
Why won't the conversion page option open after I sign in to adobe? All I get is a gray screen.
What prevents the conversion page from opening, after i sign on?
Select a topic, then click I STILL NEED HELP to start Premiere Elements chat to help with serial number issues
-http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?product=premiere-elements -
When i turn my touch all i get is a white screen help
when i turn on my touch all i get is a white screen help
Try a system reset. It cures many ills and it's quick, easy and harmless...
Hold down the on/off switch and the Home button simultaneously until the screen blacks out or you see the Apple logo. Ignore the "Slide to power off" text if it appears. You will not lose any apps, data, music, movies, settings, etc.
If the Reset doesn't work, try a Restore. Note that it's nowhere near as quick as a Reset. From iTunes, select the iPad and then select the Summary tab. Follow directions for Restore and be sure to say "yes" to the backup. You will be warned that all data (apps, music, movies, etc.) will be erased but, as the Restore finishes, you will be asked if you wish the contents of the backup to be copied to the iPad.
There's more to try but let's go a bit at a time. -
I purchased a refurbished Macbook pro without operating system.
This is my first Mac, but have heard they are very simple and much more intuitive than Windows,
I've had the machine for three weeks now, and it's been nothing more than a paperweight!!
A friend said he had his old install disks, which happened to be exactly what google said I needed to start out as: version 10.5
When I boot holding the OPTION button down, I get two options. Windows (with an up arrow below it) and Mac OS x Install Disk 1 (with an up arrow below it).
I can move the mouse, and move the cursor with my arrow keys, to select either Windows or Mac OS install. The problem is - if I select the Mac OS install,
the disk starts up (I can hear it), but it never does anything. I can no longer move the mouse / cursor after selecting it. It will stay for hours like this with no progress.
On the disk itself, it says MAC OS version 10.5. This software is part of a hardware bundle purchase - not be sold separately.
It also says: to start up from Mac OS x, hold down the C key as the computer starts up. When I do that, all I get is a gray screen.
I've also tried the shift key when starting up (supposed to be safe mode?) but same thing - gray screen.
The only way to even eject the disk (scared the heck out of me) is to start up holding the OPTION button.
If I select WINDOWS after using the OPTION button, I get an IBM message:
IBM Secure Data Disposal Utility 2.0
IBM Remote Deployment Manager 4.1
Date and time of execution...7/24/12 18:01:22
Command executed................A:\SCRUB3.EXE /d=all /l=2
Return code...............................0
I assume this is what they used to wipe the hard drive before sending...
Obviously I am Apple-illiterate, but I've spent days going through chat rooms, etc. and came up with nothing.
At this point, I suspect either:
1) The machine is junk and needs to be returned OR
2) The disks are bad and/or can't be used for a clean install
I don't want to waste money buying a brand new OS, only to find out that the machine is bad.
Any thoughts??That model originally shipped with a special Intel version of Tiger. You should be able to install any retail version of Leopard or later. I would recommend you start with Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard requires a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. If you have 2 GBs of RAM then you could install Lion or Mountain Lion.
You can purchase Snow Leopard from Apple's online store's telesales agents.[1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753) or Customer Service and Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775.] Ask for a Sales Representative.
Third-party sources for Snow Leopard are:
Snow Leopard from Amazon.com
Snow Leopard from eBay
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store.
When you receive the DVD:
Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. When completed quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the Snow Leopard installation. -
Ive just upgraded my late 2009 macbook, and things are not working properly. First of all, when I started the computer first time after installing Mountain Lion, some message advised me that some files were impossible to install. Once I wrote my password, and for now on, everytime I start the session, another window advise me that "Java SE 6" is missing, due that, the computer can't run some "CS5Service Manager". If I try to install it, the download ends with an error. If finally, you skip the istallation, you arrive to the dock, but the menu bar at the top of the screen doesn't show up.
In addition, my trackpad doesn't works either. I can move the arrow but i can't click anywhere, probably because the option of clicking by touching is disabeled and I can't performance a regular click.
I'll be very glad if someone know what the heck is happening with my computer. Anyway, I'm going to the genius bar next Saturday. Thx!We're sorry.
We can't find the article you're looking for.
Please return to the Apple Support homepage.
Sigh. -
Somehow, all of my exe files are tagged as Acrobat files - I cannot run any of the software on my computer - when I start the computer none of the startup programs run because they all try to open in acrobat.
See if anything in here helps: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/application-file-icons-change-acrobat.html
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When I start my computer my dock will not show up. help!!!!
When I start my computer only the galaxy screen shot comes up. My dock won't appear or anything else. Just an empty screen.
I have been able to get onto safari because my screen saver will eventually appear and because it's on shuffle sometimes the apple screen saver that says facts and new releases about apple products usually writes, to learn more press 3. one day I pressed 3 and it took me to safari.
I was able to discover all my pictures and music is still intact but I only know that because I look at screen savers and one of the options is shuffle pictures and so I knew my pictures were on my hard drive.
I just can't pull them up, or my itunes because i have no dock.
Help!!!! This happened one day when I was watching a dvd on a plane. I had it on pause then all of a sudden my computer just went blank.
I already bought a new macbook pro but would really love for this computer to be fixed. I will take it in if I have to but through reading other discussions think I may be able to do it.
I have seen the "killall dock" command suggested but am seriously computer illiterate and have NO idea how to do that.
please help!
Thanks!!!!emilyann33 wrote:
I have seen the "killall dock" command suggested but am seriously computer illiterate and have NO idea how to do that.
You would need to open your utilities folder and click on and open "terminal", type that command without the quotes and hit the enter/return key. -
When I start my computer in the morning and click on Firefox, about 50% of the time it will not open. I've waited approximatly 15 minutes and it still does not open, so it is not that it is loading slowly. Restarting my computer resolves the problem and Firefox works fine. I have Firefox set to always "run as administrator".
== This happened ==
A few times a week
== A few weeks ago ==
== User Agent ==
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; Trident/4.0; Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) ; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; MS-RTC LM 8; OfficeLiveConnector.1.5; OfficeLivePatch.1.3; .NET4.0C; AskTB5.6)P.S It might also be a good idea to completely remove all of your Firefox user data and settings (profiles.ini file and Profiles folder) when you [[Uninstall Firefox from your computer|remove the Firefox application from your computer]]. On OS X 10.7 or above:
#Click the Finder icon in the dock.
#On the menu bar, click the Go menu, hold down the option or alt key and select Library. A window will open containing your Library folder.
#Open the "Application Support" folder
#Delete the '''Firefox''' folder containing '''profiles.ini''' and the '''Profiles''' folder.
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