Blue screen and spinning wheel at shutdown

since a few weeks my Mac mini won't shut down properly.
The blue screen with the spinning wheel does not go away.
Once I left the Mac on over night while shutting it down. In the morning there still was a blue screen and spinning wheel.
This happens not every time but more and more often.
I repaired the rights und checked the volume with the harddrive-tool (don't know the english name of that tool). No change.

Since last Friday (3/18), the exact same thing has been happening to me on a Mac mini (2010), only every time. I have searched and search since then and have not found a resolution online.
I have zapped the pram/vram, repaired permissions and verified disk in Disk Utility. I uninstalled the ONLY app that I added before the problem.....still no success.
When I boot up in Safe Mode, I can restart/shutdown. So at least it may not be a hardware issue.
Any ideas would be MUCH appreciated!
Message was edited by: peteranton

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Blue screen and spinning wheel at startup

I had permission problems (locked time machine drive) so I did a full time machine restore.
Did the restart after the restore.
Machine won't reboot.
I get 'bong', apple logo on grey screen as per normal.
Then blue screen and spinning wheel for approx 7 seconds
Then blue screen and black pointer for approx 2 seconds
The blue screen spinning wheel / black pointer repeats.
Also can't start up from Snow Leopard DVD.
I get exactly the same scenario.
I have held down the power key at got the tone.
Still won't start.
HELP!!!!!
It's an Imac (white one) 1.8Gig Dual with 1.5 gig of ram.
Running Snow leopard.
I can see my disc over the ethernet; it is still there as it was sharing with my other machine.
Not sure if this helps me at all?
Cheers

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. 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.
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. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.
If you cannot boot from your installer DVD on the iMac, then you can try connecting to your other computer via Firewire cable and use Target Disk Mode to boot and install from the other computer - Transferring files between two computers using FireWire

Blue screen and spin wheel on start up

Right, typing this on iPhone and was a nightmare
To find the place to per this....
This morning went to turn on 17 inch 2009 mbp and stays on blue screen with spinner Jen flocks and refreshes blue screen and spinner every 10 seconds... Managed to restart in safe mode with disc.... Went to repair disk permissions and in red gives me the following: "error: the underlying task reported failure on. It."
Right someone tell me what is going on and instructions how to fix this and recover my data please.... I'll be checking From iPhone and hopefully typing to minimum please.
Many thanks

Update: when I click on either the repair or verify buttons after selecting the hard disk in utility it fives the red error message as describes above, however, when I click the verify icon at very top left it takes a minute to verify then reports in green "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK". ... Don't know if that helps anyone with a diagnosis?
I'll look forward to any sort of help anyone can supply, thanks!

Macbook Pro 10.6.8 won't shut down. Blue screen with spinning wheel.

it's an 15 inch macbook pro. since I bought this computer was working fine about last year. Somehow, start of this year, the problem begins. Everytime when i opened microsoft word 2011 on mac or Photoshop cs5, and quit the software as normaly. When i try to shut down the blue screen with spinning wheel apears. this spining wheel is endless. But funny thing is that after use other software such as games, web browser (safari) etc. and quit them. when i shut down there was not a problem. only word 2011 for mac and adobe photoshop cs5. Any solutions?

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
Step 1
Select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes) in the search box. Note the timestamps of those log messages, which refer to the times when the system was booted. Now clear the search box and scroll back in the log to the last boot time when you had the problem. Post the messages logged during the time something abnormal was happening. That time might be before or after the boot.
For example, if the problem is a slow startup taking three minutes, post the messages timestamped within three minutes after the boot time, not before. If the problem is a system crash or freeze, post the messages from before the boot time, when the system was about to crash or was failing to shut down. In either case, please include the BOOT_TIME message at the beginning or the end of the log extract.
Post the log text, please, not a screenshot. If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
If the log doesn't go back far enough in time, scroll down in the Console file list to /private/var/log/system.log.0.bz2. Search that archived log, and if necessary the older ones below it, for the same information.
Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Edit it out by search-and-replace in a text editor before posting.
Step 2
Do the same with kernel.log.
Step 3
Still in Console, look under System Diagnostic Reports for crash or panic logs, and post the most recent one, if any. In the interest of privacy, I suggest you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if present (it may not be.) Please don’t post shutdownStall or hang logs — they're very long and not helpful.

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http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11044
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http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
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Hi cybertoof,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like you're seeing a startup issue with your Mac, it's booting to a gray screen with an Apple logo. Try the suggestions in the article linked below, they will resolve most issues related to starting up your Mac.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
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A few months ago my 2004 iMac froze as I was simply shutting down the power and attempting to restart. I was not installing any new O/S.
Today I attempted two things while booting with the O/S recovery disc-1:
(a) I slid the disc in and held down the "C" key while I attempted to power it on. Nothing happened and I continued to see the grey screen and spinning wheel.
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Can anyone help me as to what could be done? I appreciate everyone's answer in advance. Thank you.

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nessman wrote:
I have tried disconnecting the periperals, restarting in "safe boot", resetting the pram and I tried starting up in single user mode. It will only start up if I start up from the original gray 10.4 start up disk and run "repair disk"....I get errors including "The underlying task reported failure on exit". I then eject the disk and restart and it works fine but if I have to shut down or restart for any reason it's back to the gray screen.
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Mac mini will not complete shutdown-closes desktop, goes to blue screen, and spinning icon just spins forever, so must power off to reboot.

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I've had my macbook for about a year and a half now. Today I noticed it was running extremely slow every once in a while. I also noticed a faint beep while using the laptop. I decided to turn the computer off for a little bit and and then started it back up. When I did this, the usual blue screen came up, but with a blinking file folder icon instead of the usual apple icon. I tried restarting it since then, and it just displays the spinning wheel upon start up and nothing else. Any advice?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
See first if your Mac is under a return/exchange program:
http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/
If not, attempt to reset the PRAM:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
and SMC:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411
If none of these help, is your data backed up?

My MBP 15 inch can't switch off (freeze at blue screen with spinning wheel)

Whenever i try to "shut down" my MBP, it will freeze at the blue screen with the spinning wheel (that keeps spinning like 'eternally')! Any idea how to solve the problem?
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Currently i can only switch off my MBP by holding the power button (forcing it to shut down)...
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Launch the Console application by entering the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search, and select "system.log" from the file list. Enter "BOOT_TIME" (without the quotes) in the search box. Note the times of the log messages referring to boot times. Now clear the search box and scroll back in the log to the time of the most recent boot when you had the problem. Look for error messages in the minutes before that time, and post them here -- the text, please, not a screenshot. Edit out excessive repeats, if any. Do the same with kernel.log.
If the logs don't go back far enough in time, scroll down in the Console file list to /private/var/log/system.log.0.bz2 and /private/var/log/kernel.log.0.bz2. Search those archived logs, and if necessary the older ones below them, for the same information.
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IMac does not boot up, gets stuck on blue screen with spinning wheel ...

... and tries to do something in a 10 second circle ... blue screen ... spinning wheel b/w on blue screen ... blue screen ... spinning wheel again ...
... with some hard disc work going on ...
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any idea what I could do apart from reinstalling the os?
thanks for your help!
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Hi J
Welcome to Apple Discussions
That sounds almost like a failed Leopard install:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1545?viewlocale=en_US
or it's Stuck in a "loop" at the login window after upgrading to Leopard: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1413?viewlocale=en_US
Try an Archive & Install:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1710
or restore from your Time Machine Backup:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
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My imac will not boot up... only grey screen and spinning wheel?

Can you help me get to the screen where I put in the mame and password?
I only see spinning wheel
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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
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.
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.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, 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 5.
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 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
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 6
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 7
Repeat Step 6, 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 8
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested. If you can't get to an Apple Store, go to another authorized service provider.

Blue screen and spinning wheel at shutdown

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