Apple logo and spinning circle only on startup - never loads

I foolishy changed permissions on the whole volume to try and give a new user Read&Write permissions to the whole volume and set it to propagate the new permissions down through the whole volume, and now when I power on my MacBook Pro, I see the Apple logo, a spinning wheel for a few minutes, and then it reboots itself, never loading the OS. I searched these forums and the internet for hours last night. It seems pretty clear from my research that I caused problems by changing permissions.
I can't boot into Safe mode.
I can boot into single user mode.
I can book to the install CD and run Disk Utilities.
I've tried Repair Disk and Repair Permissions from the Disk Utility several times. Verify Disk never finds any problems, but no matter how many times I run the Repair Permissions option, I still get a very long list of "ACL found but not expected on <filenames>. . .]"
I also found countless sites with instructions on running commands in single user mode:
mount -uw /
and then tried all of these suggestions-
chmod 775 /
chmod 1775 /
chmod o+r /
and a host of other variations
I do have BootCamp with Vista installed, and can boot into Vista with no problems, so it would seem the HDD itself is physically fine.
Any suggestions?
Snow Leopard is set to arrive before 3 pm today by FedEx. Would running the Snow Leopard upgrade from the boot CD correct any remaining permission issues when it over-writes what's currently there? If you're not sure, any ideas on how to proceed with fixing the current 10.5.8 installation?
Thanks in advance. I'm at my wits end, and very groggy from fighting this all night
Message was edited by: San Diego Darin

Actually, that wasn't the end of the log. My apologies.
There are quite a few errors.
Examples:
Could not connect to USB mux port 32498 for device 2: Permission denied
Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /Library/LaunchAgents
Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /System/Library/LaunchAgents
Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /etc/machinit_per_loginsession.d
SystemStarter 33: "/Library/StartupItems" failed sanity check: path was created after boot up
SystemStarter 33: "/System/Library/StartupItems" failed sanity check: path was created after boot up

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Dreaded Apple logo and spinning circle.

I have the 20 inch I mac and I am running leopard. Last night although my mac is on a power bar we did have a few power surges. Now this morning all i get is the logo and spinning circle I have checked the ram it all seems good tried it without no luck. I have tried booting with the c key, then the shift, then tried to reset the NVRAM no such Luck i put in my leopard cd thought i could boot from it and no but now i can't get it out, even pressing the mouse and all that. Where should i go from here? Please help

HI,
See if you can boot in Safe Mode
What is Safe Mode
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Carolyn

Gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear appears during startup

I followed the steps outlined in order in Apple Support by disconnecting all peripheral devices, performing a safe boot, and resetting the NVRAM / PRAM. Nothing changed - the gray screen still appeared when restarting the computer. Next I tried bringing up the Mac OS X Install disc using Disk Utility. I was able to get into Disk Utility but it would not allow me to click "Repair Disk" for the hard drive. I could only select "Verify Disk". So I did that then and the results in red were as follows:
-Invalid node structure
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Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.
So this is where I'm at, unsure as exactly how to proceed from here. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Well I tried entering in (after the "umount/dev/") disk0s1, disk0, disk1, disk2 etc. all to no avail. So I'm just recopying below exactly what shows up on screen in the Terminal once I enter "df" so that maybe you can better detect that way what my volume should be. Thanks David!
-bash-3.2# df
Filesystem 512-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk1s3 15513624 15414064 0 100% /
devfs 217 217 0 100% /dev
fdesc 2 2 0 100% /dev
/dev/disk2 934 12 876 2% /Volumes
/dev/disk3 934 124 764 14% /private/var/tmp
/dev/disk4 190 22 160 13% /private/var/run
/dev/disk5 190 4 178 3% /Library/Preferences

TS3680 Getting grey Apple logo and progress circle upon startup after removing "Everyone" as rights to Local HD

Hello, I am having trouble starting my 21" iMac running Snow Leopard after I had shared the HD with my MB-Pro. I had removed the "everyone - Read Only" rights on the HD (on the iMac) and opened sharing so my MB could attach to it. Grey Apple Logo and progress circle upon startup now.
Can changing these rights cause the system to not boot? I can go into single user mode but I am not sure what to do then. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

See section A1 of this user tip by Niel:
I accidentally set a disk's permissions to No Access

Each time i press the power button i just have a blank white screen, and intermittent sounds/tone. No apple logo, or spinning circle.

Each time i press the power button i just have a blank white screen, and intermittent sounds/tone. No apple logo, or spinning circle.
I used to install the rEFIt to boot with win7. When I deleted win7, I didn't uninstall rEFIt. Nothing wrong with it. One day after I watched movie in full screen,I pressed esc to quit. Then I found the touchpad didn't work. I can't turn off air. I just pressed power button for a little while. It rebooted, then my nightmare just began...
I have tried everything, PRAM, command+R, literally everything. No change.
But when I plug a CD-ROM with USB, I can only here one BONG, just once, then white screen, Like waiting for something...
I took it to a service center in China, they told me the CPU had broken. SInce it's one month out of warranty, they wanted to charge me for like $250....
I really don't think that's CPU's problem. I checked the history, it seems like somebody else also had the problem before.
Can anyone give me some hints??? Thanks!!!!!! Or I have to take it back to America to check....

Impossible, there are zero, as in none, zip, nadda viruses for OS X. If you have viruses on it they are for MS Windows and will not affect OS X. I suspect the hard disk has crashed, if you have backup then it's not a big deal to have it changed, just take it into your local Apple Store or AASP for service. If you have not been backing it up you may be in for a painful lesson on why backup is critical.

Hi...m using a mac pro quad core.....its not booting up...i can only see the apple logo and a circle loading...could not get into the login screen

hi...m using a mac pro quad core.....its not booting up...i can only see the apple logo and a circle loading...could not get into the login screen...any suggestions please.....m in the middle of a project and now i have got this one
regards,
v.s.bharan

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Do you keep your data backed up?
If not, you should always do so*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
You never know when a hard drive or a directory might go bad. Having a bootable clone is a must.
That link also shows you some tools you can use to recover data.
If you aren't backed up, try buying those tools first, before attempting to repair the directory.
Directory issues can be fixed with these tools*:
http://www.macmaps.com/directoryfaq.html

Please help me! MacBook Pro stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

Hi I'm really desperate and need help! My MacBook just stopped loading and would stay on the gray screen with the apple logo and spinning wheel.
I have tried safe mode and it would load a little and stop and then the loading bar would be blank and it would stay like that forever!!
I also have tried doing the single user mode and when I type the fsck - fy it will do a couple more lines then it will say error like a hundred times :(
I did verbose mode and it would just give me stuff that I have no idea what it saying I left on verbose mode for like 5 hours and it would just give me lines of stuff I have no idea what it's saying!
I downloaded lion through apple store so I don't have the disk I only have my snow leopard disk
Please please someone tell me a solution it's my moms laptop and I don't want to get in trouble!

Reboot in recovery mode an possibly repair over the internet.
Command-R to the rescue.
Just hold down Command-R during startup and OS X Recovery springs into action. It lets you choose from common utilities: You can run Disk Utility to check or repair your hard drive, erase your hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X, or restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. You can even use Safari to get help from Apple Support online. And if OS X Recovery encounters problems, it will automatically connect to Apple over the Internet.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Macbook won't boot past grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel.

For some reason, after about 1 year and 10 months of owning my Macbook, it decided this morning not to load past the grey screen with the Apple logo and spinning cog/wheel.
I used it for a couple of hours beforehand, and it was working fine. Software Update prompted me of about about 4 or 5 updates; I can't remember exactly what was downloaded, but I think there was a Security Update and iTunes among them. I restarted, left it to install with no errors, but when I logged in, Safari and iTunes were running incredibly slowly. I also noticed that the volume keys weren't responding, as well as the power key to bring up the "Sleep, Restart, Shutdown, etc" dialog box. I forced shutdown, hoping a restart would solve my problem, and that's when my troubles started. I originally just left it, but after about an hour the wretched thing was still spinning.
So far, I have done a number of troubleshooting tips on a variety of websites. I have tried taking the battery out and holding down power for 5 seconds, resetting the PRAM with option, cmd, p & r, and holding down power until the sleep light flashes rapidly and the computer lets out a large "BOOOP".
I have booted off my Leopard install disk with both option and c, repaired the hard drive a number of times, with there being no errors whatsoever. I have tried repairing permissions, but everything seems to freeze up, except the mouse.
For some reason my computer will not boot into safe mode, either, and holding cmd & s at startup doesn't get me to the stage where I can enter commands with the keyboard.
Unfortunately, because of my puny 60GB hard drive, I only have 1GB of free space left and cannot reinstall Leopard without wiping my hard drive.
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could assist me with this unfortunate dilemma. It's such a shame that my computer has been fantastic for so long and now decides to play up. (Maybe it's just Apple trying to get me to buy a new 2.4Ghz aluminium Macbook sooner than I was planning...)
Thanks very much.

Hi ds,
Sorry to hear you're having such trouble!
Unfortunately, the best thing you can do at this point is reinstall Leopard (and then attempt to install the combo updater, too). If you don't have a backup of your machine, you could boot it into Target Disk Mode (by holding down T at startup) and then attach it via FireWire to another computer to salvage your files.
I recently had to repair a machine with this exact same problem, and after messing around with that for several hours, I'd have to say that I think that an Erase and Install is the way to go. If you then migrate over your user data and start having troubles, you at least know where the problem lies. I suspect, though, that having a clean machine with all of the new updates applied will be the end of the issue.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. There are a few other things you could try first; you could, for example, manually download the relevant combo updater from Apple's website and attempt to install it to your damaged machine while it's in Target Disk Mode. If you have a copy of Disk Warrior, that too is certainly worth a shot (and in some cases may be the saving grace). In my experience, though, a failure of this magnitude isn't easy to resolve.
Hope that helps.
—Hazy

Won't turn on white screen with apple logo and spinning disc

Mac book air won't boot up just has a white screen with apple logo and spinning disc have tried all the startup multiple key pushes , I think

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Mac Mini won't boot past Apple logo and spinning wheel

Hello,
I have a Mac mini (late 2009) running 10.8.2. Today, I tried to log into the computer. It accepted my username and password, but then the screen turned gray instead of logging in. I left it like that for about twenty minutes, then gave up on waiting and Ctrl-Command-Power rebooted it. It then wouldn't reboot: it gets to the Apple logo and spinning loading wheel, but won't go past there.
So I went into single-user mode and was able to access the HD fine. I ran a filesystems check using the recommended syntax (/sbin/fsck -fy, I think). It said that the volume looked okay, and that it had been modified. I took this as a good sign (that it had been repaired) and typed "reboot" to restart the machine. I held Command-Shift-V to perform a Verbose Safe Boot.
The computer makes no further progress after the following four lines:
vboxdrv: fAsync=0 offMin0x809 offMax=0x2bc3
VBoxDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302; IOCtl version 0x140001; IDC version 0x10000; dev major=34
VBoxFltDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302
VBoxAdpDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302
I'm assuming all the instances of "vbox" are in reference to Oracle's VirtualBox VM. I do have VirtualBox installed, but haven't used it in a while (months), so I don't see why it's suddenly causing a problem.
To clarify, the computer doesn't "hang" after these lines: I can still type text into the terminal. The entire log is being saved to /dev/console, so I could probably grab it from Single-User Mode if necessary.
Everything else seems to be working properly: even the wl0 drivers are loaded.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix this, or at least disable VirtualBox so the computer can start?
Thanks!
WC

Cult of Mac post:
When the Apple Logo appears your Mac has found a valid system disk, and Mac OS X begins loading.
Apple Logo with Spinning Gear
Once the spinning gear appears the BSD kernel (Darwin) has assumed command and begins loading device drivers. Shortly thereafter it transfers command to the almighty (and controversial) launchd process. Such are the workings of UNIX.
What this means for us mortals is that when a Mac stalls at the Apple logo or the logo with a spinning gear, it probably has a corrupt Mac OS X installation. It may also be having trouble accessing an internal or external hardware component, but this is less-likely.
Rebooting your Mac in Safe Mode can sometimes get things working well-enough that a second, normal reboot then works normally Hold down the Shift key at startup to boot in Safe Mode. DiskWarrior is also worth a shot (this is by far my most used disk utility). If that doesn’t work, an Archive & Install may be needed.
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/50685/how-to-fix-common-mac-startup-problems-macrx/#CGI mG3jeGEBtysX1.99

Gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang at start up

after a lengthy round of "bejeweled", i let my imac fall into screen saver mode. when i tried to log back in, i tapped the mouse and the imac flashed as it does when actuated outside a dialogue without clicking the okay button, and immediately returned to screen saver. i then manually shut down and restarted to the gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang. i then inserted the leopard install dvd, manually shut down and restarted pressing the option key and selected the install disc. it booted as usual. i selected the language preferred, used the utility drop down menu and selected DU, then selected the hard drive and verify permissions to reveal a pop up "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. Permissions verification complete." i immediately selected repair disc, and breathed a sigh of relief with the notification "appears to be ok". then utilities/start up disc/macintosh hd/restart. still get the hang. i have repeated this process several times, also resetting the PRAM as well to the infinite hang. as a matter of fact, the gear has been spinning the entire time creating this post. needless to say, i am truly at a loss. SOS!!!!!!! Please!!!!! SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY!!!!

i have perused some of the threads posted per this topic and decided to attempt an "archive and install." i also have a 620gig acomdata external drive with close to a carbon copy of my internal. a few short minutes into the install, the imac reveals a pop up stating it cannot install some files on the hard drive, contact the software manufacturer or restart and try to install again. the internal drive is a 160gig with only about 60gigs of room, so i tried to archive and install to the acomdata instead as it has 180 gig of free space. i get the exact same dialogue once again. restart and a third attempt only archive and install will not highlight, only first time and/or erase and install. further, start up disc shows only the install disc and network as choices. so i attempt first time install on both drives and get the same pop up message again. DU recognizes both drives although verify/repair permissions does not highlight, but not start up disc.
i'm trying not to become frantic, but my patience is threadbare. i am in desperate need of sound advice as to what i need to do.
thanks again in advance,
bradley

TS2570 Mac will not start up after software up date, just screen with Apple logo and spinning icon?

Mac will not start up after software up date, just screen with Apple logo and spinning icon? I have tried safe start up, unplugged all other cables, no luck?

How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

MacBook pro 15" 2008 freezes at apple logo and spinning wheel

Have a MacBook pro early 2008 have installed lion but recently started to have problems. Started to freeze a lot so I would restart and most of the time it would work untill it froze again , now it's got worst every time I restart my Mac it won't go past apple logo and spinning wheel just freezes have been trying and trying but same thing freezes. Tried to start in save mode but no still freezes
Please has anyone got any suggestions thanks

The startup disk may need repairing.
Use Lion Recovery
Not enough free space on the startup disk can cause the system to freeze.
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure there's a minimum of 15% free disk space.

Macbook Pro (2011) froze while working, forced shut down, now won't turn on. Grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel for hours. Help?

Macbook Pro (2011) froze while working, forced shut down, now won't turn on. Grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel for hours. Help?
Unfortunately do not know the operating system since I never updated anything and I can't get in to it.
Thanks for your assistance.

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, and it's not already backed up, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is not fully functional. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot from the Recovery partition or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
2. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
3. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

My macbook is not starting properly, remains white screen as it is with apple logo and spinning gear

my macbook is not starting properly, remains white screen as it is with apple logo and spinning gear

Hi..
Your profile indicates you are running Lion v10.7 so you need to use Lion Recovery to repair the startup disk if necessary or reinstall Mac OS X.

Apple logo and spinning circle only on startup - never loads

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