Darker Gray Screen on Startup

i recently tried to boot from my installation disc to troubleshoot, etc. however, I was unable to get the computer to boot it completely. it went through the normal gray boot screen, followed by a blue screen for a couple seconds. after this, it went to a darker gray screen with a pointer, but it sits there and does nothing else, even after letting it sit overnight. I couldnt find this problem anywehre on the forum, and I would appreciate any information about this problem. thanks

ive tried by holding c, changing the startup disc, and clicking restart on the install mac os x application on the DVD. the problem is not that it wont boot, just that it freezes without any possible input from me.

Similar Messages

Beach Ball of Death, Dark Gray Screen after Clean OS ReInstall- Please Help

My 13" MBP is less than two months old.
I read online somewhere that a company that buys large quantities of Macs has a strategy for combating the industry standard 5% hard drive failure in new notebooks. It said something along the lines of performing a clean install / reformat of OS X was a good idea to see if any problems arise- then the HD would likely have problems in the near future, etc...
Being the nerd that I am I performed a clean install on my MBP. I had just performed one the day before on my other Mac (which worked perfectly).
First of all, my MBP took roughly 15 minutes to boot from the disk (to begin the reinstall). Actually one time I gave it over 20 minutes and it never did load. Once I finally got to the Language select screen it froze, clicking the continue arrow did nothing and I couldn't even choose another language. So I shut down and tried again. The DVD doesn't look scratched. Is my drive less than stellar?
This time, it worked, albeit, it took much longer to install than my lesser powered Mac Mini. OS X notified me that the installation was successful and that it now simply needed to restart. Upon restart I was greeted with a dark gray screen and mouse cursor spinning beach ball (that responded to trackpad).
Shut down, turned it back on- same thing. Tried a bunch more times, no luck.
Called Apple Care and after a few questions / tips we concluded that it needed to be sent in, the associate imagined it was a HD problem.
I took my MBP to a local authorized service provider and they took it, and called me back in a few hours. I asked what they did to fix it, and they skillfully dodged the question. They said it should be good now, that it passed all hardware tests, but to let them know if it happened again.
Since then it's been running okay. As a nerd it's a bit bothersome to know that I can't perform a clean install when I see fit- and that if I did, I'd have to take it into Apple Care again in the future, and once Apple Care runs out than a clean install just isn't an option.
It boots up just as fast, but when it gets passed the white screen with the Apple logo... when the desktop is loading I noticed that it stays at the flash of the solid blue desktop a bit longer than usual (the second before it loads your desktop bg image). It also seems that fully loading all of the top right menu bar items takes a bit longer than before.
Also, not sure if the hard drive's sudden motion sensor is going haywire. But randomly, the hard drive will make a singular faint "thud / click" noise. Very faint. But it's not your usual "reading data from the HD" hard drive thrashing noise you hear when you open an app / file. It's a single, more sudden noise, but like I said it is fairly quiet- I hear it when I have literally nothing running except this Safari window. This is something I didn't notice the first few weeks with the MBP.
Also in system profiler, the battery's condition was never good, but only "Normal." I did calibrate my battery one of the first days I had it.
Here's some coconutBattery info:
Current Battery Capacity: 5588 mAh
Original Battery Capacity: 5770 mAh
Which is 96%.
Load cycles: 10
Anyways, curious if anyone has any ideas about my inability to perform a clean install and successfully boot up? I don't see any reason why it should have taken THAT long to boot from the disk, frozen in several random spots throughout, and then not be able to boot up.
The HD noises aren't a huge deal just a bit concerning, and admittedly the battery info is just nerdy paranoia. Just curious what's going on with my MBP. Is there anything I can do, or should read?

Hi simplecoder13,
I perform a similar process on all the HDs that I buy, only I take it a step further. I'll run a single pass erase on drives under 500GB and a seven pass erase on drives larger than 500GB and ones that are deemed "mission critical." Here's an interest metric, though.
Since 01/01/10 on laptop drives (Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi)
+HDs purchases - 461+
+Drives > 500GB - 119+
+Drives < 500GB - 342+
+Drives that fail zero test - 13+
+Drives that pass zero test, fail within 30 days - 2+
+Drives that pass zero test, fail within 60 days - 0+
+Drives that pass zero test, fail within 90 days - 3+
+Drives that pass zero test, fail within 180 days - 4+
+Total drive failures within 6 months - 22 (4.77%) ~ 5%+
I don't have a manufacturer break down, I suppose I should start logging that more closely. Anyway...
I have a new MacBook Pro (13" @ 2.4GHz) and booting off the installation disc, from selecting the installer disc via the boot manager to the language selection screen is ~ 6 mins and 44 seconds. I use that as an average, I did it over 10 restarts but it was a pretty fair assessment. The fact that the installer is freezing is definitely cause for alarm, that's not normal or to be expected. Process of elimination would tell me the following:
1.) The disc is bad
2.) The optical drive is bad
My understanding of the installer is the HD isn't initially accessed during the installer until you choose an install location (at which point it's mount point is verified).
Regarding the battery, your full charge capacity is going to bounce around the first couple of months, usually anywhere from 250-400 mAh. I noticed sporadic reporting until I reached the 50 cycle mark (or around 6 months based on usage). That being said, I don't see any problems or cause for alarm with the information you've reported.

My Mac is producing gray screen at startup and crashes. I'm afraid that everything explode and disappear, and can no longer connect and work with my Mac. Can anyone help ?? Thank you.

My Mac is producing gray screen at startup and crashes. I'm afraid that everything explode and disappear, and can no longer connect and work with my Mac. Can anyone help ??
Thank you.
Problem description:
gray screen at startup and crashes
EtreCheck version: 2.1.1 (104)
Report generated 6 de dezembro de 2014 13:29:43 BRST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
1 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
4 GB RAM
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
AMD Radeon HD 6750M - VRAM: 1024 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
System Software: ℹ️
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549) - Uptime: 0:31:56
Disk Information: ℹ️
TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF disk0 : (698,64 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
- (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 749.81 GB (378.70 GB free)
MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-898
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[not loaded] org.samba.winbindd.plist [Support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[running] com.babylon.activation.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.divx.dms.agent.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.divx.update.agent.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.hp.help.tocgenerator.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
[running] com.skype.c2c_service.plist [Support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper UNKNOWNHidden (missing value)
FaceboxPro Aplicativo (/Applications/FaceboxPro.app)
Safari Aplicativo (/Applications/Safari.app)
Octoshape Aplicativo (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Octoshape/Octoshape.app)
uTorrent UNKNOWN (missing value)
Dropbox Aplicativo (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
Inkscape UNKNOWN (missing value)
RealPlayer Downloader Agent Aplicativo (/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/RealNetworks/RealPlayer Downloader Agent.app)
HP Product Research Aplicativo (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Customer Participation/HP Product Research.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
OVSHelper: Version: 1.1 [Support]
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Support]
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.4.4.2 [Support]
RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown [Support]
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.12 [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
DivX Web Player: Version: 3.1.1.9 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.30514.0 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.6.6
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7
SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.1.2 [Support]
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.12 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 13.9.8 - SDK 10.6 Check version
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
npsf_uni: Version: sf 3.3.2.1 [Support]
OctoshapeWeb: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
Searchme Adware! [Remove]
Skype Click to Call
iSkyDeluxe
TED HTML5 video playe
Audio Plug-ins: ℹ️
iSightAudio: Version: 7.6.6
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player [Support]
Flip4Mac WMV [Support]
Skype Click to Call [Support]
Tuxera NTFS [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine information requires OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later.
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      5% WindowServer
      4% DivXMediaServer
      1% fontd
      0% RealPlayer Downloader Agent
      0% WebProcess
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
296 MB WebProcess
202 MB FaceboxPro
185 MB Microsoft PowerPoint
163 MB Safari
137 MB Microsoft Word
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
843 MB Free RAM
1.76 GB Active RAM
706 MB Inactive RAM
978 MB Wired RAM
577 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Dec 6, 2014, 12:58:24 PM Self test - passed
Dec 6, 2014, 12:23:11 PM Kernel_2014-12-06-122311_MacBook-Pro-de-...panic [Details]
Dec 6, 2014, 07:08:28 AM PluginProcess_2014-12-06-070828_MacBook-...crash
Dec 5, 2014, 05:24:39 PM WebProcess_2014-12-05-172439_MacBook-Pro...crash
Dec 5, 2014, 10:45:59 AM Kernel_2014-12-05-104559_MacBook-Pro-de-...panic [Details]
Dec 5, 2014, 10:18:14 AM Kernel_2014-12-05-101814_MacBook-Pro-de-...panic [Details]
Dec 3, 2014, 08:28:35 PM locationd_2014-12-03-202835_localhost.crash
Dec 5, 2014, 10:25:44 AM Kernel_2014-12-05-102544_MacBook-Pro-de-...panic [Details]

Startup - Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
Startup Issues - Resolve
Startup Issues - Resolve (2)

Mac G5 Freezes on gray screen on startup.

I've been noticing a problem of a freezing computer on the gray screen on startup in the last month. I simply re-start my computer, and it goes back to normal and boots up fine. I've not installed and programs, utilities, or new hardware. My computer still has over 200 gig of free space.
Is this an indication of a worse problem? If not, is there something I can do to fix this? I regularly used the Disk Utility program to check and fix permissions, so that should keep it somewhat clean.

Update your os. Your profile confirms you still using OS 10.6.6! You should be using OS 10.6.8 the last version of SL.

MacBook Pro won't download, taken to dark gray screen instead.

When I click on a download link or pdf file link I am taken to a dark gray screen instead of starting the download or viewing the pdf. This just started happening. I haven't made any changes and installations to my Mac. I can right click and choose the "Download Linked File" and it will download fine but it's a pain when I am just trying to view an online PDF.
I'm running MacBook Pro 10.6.2 bought in Jan 09. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I can provide screenshots of the problem. In this example I tried to download flash player from Adobe. http://www.biggfx.com/example1.jpg When I click the "Agree and install now" button I am taken to the dark gray webpage which normally I am not redirected to another page just the automatic download begins. http://www.biggfx.com/example2.jpg As you can see in the address bar this is the .dmg page where the download is suppose to start. Nothing happens. No download to my desktop or my download folder.
Usually I can just right click the link button and save the file to my desktop. In this situation I am unable to because the button also acts as an agreement.
This is the same situation when I click on a .pdf link, instead of seeing the pdf in the window, it's just gray.
I've rebooted, relaunched and tried different browsers. Same problem, although in firefox I get a white page not gray.
Hope this helps.
Thank you!

Gray screen during startup after boot camp installation

I cannot either Mac and Windows t start on Mac Mini after I updated with Windows7 on Bootcamp.

Hi there Sudarshan21,
I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps found in the article below.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
-Griff W.

Freeze on blank gray screen at startup in OS 9.2.2!?

Hi,
I've been a happy OS 9.2.2 user for many years on my G4/933. I have OSX.3 on a 2nd internal drive. But I do mainly audio recording, and I find OSX to be extremely sluggish, so I work primarily in OS9.
Everything had been working fine, but then last night as I restarted from OSX with my OS 9.2.2 partition selected as the startup disk, the computer rebooted then completely froze on a blank gray screen. No icon, question mark, sad Mac. Nothing. Since then I have restarted many time by holding down the Option key to go back to OSX. While in OSX I ran Disk Repair on the internal drive with OS 9 on it. And I then ran Disk Warrior 2.1 for OS9 on the drive. They both found some errors, but nothing critical and they were fixed. But I still get the gray screen of nothingness when restarting under OS 9.2.2.
With some hesitation I tried "zapping the PRAM", which i've never done before. As I held down the Command/Option/P/R keys the screen just stayed black, which was scary. When I finally let the keys go it changed the Gray Screen of Nothingness and I was able to reboot and get back to OSX. I have no idea if I actually zapped my PRAM or not, or if that is the right thing to do.
I can function in OSX, but I'm really hobbled without being able to work in my good old OS 9 environment. I would really appreciate any tips...!
Thanks - Steve
G4 (circa July '02) Mac OS 9.2.x
G4 (circa July '02) Mac OS 9.2.x

Okay. I discovered these two post from a guy who appeared to have a similar issue as you do:
OS 9 Gray Screen, Help - MacWorld Forums & Os 9 Gray Screen - MacOSX.com
He even used Mac OS 9 primarily for audio work. From what I gathered his Mac was suffering from corrupt preference files.
Try doing the following:
Boot into Mac OS X and open the Preference folder in you Mac OS 9 System Folder.
Move these files into the Trash: Finder preferences, Mac OS preferences & System preferences. Also trash the preferences files for your audio card if you have any.
Open your Mac OS X System Preferences and select your Mac OS 9 folder as your start up volume, then quit System Preferences.
Shut down your Mac and unplug it.
Open the Mac, remove all of your PCI cards, and press the PMU button for 10 seconds. (The PMU button is a tiny black button on a small silver block mounted somewhere on the motherboard. It should look similar to this.)
Reinstall you cards, close your Mac and plug it back in.
Press the power button. If all is well the Mac should be able to into Mac OS 9 with out any problems.
If it still hags on the gray screen then your Mac OS 9 partition might be heavily fragmented or nearly full.

IMac G5 gray screen on startup and fan maxes out!! Help!

I've heard this problem quite a bit on several forums, but have yet to find an answer. I Need help!! My iMac G5 delays on startup ( i hit the button, and startup doesn't actually start for a minute or 2), and when it does, i get the gray screen, and then after another minute, the fan goes crazy and maxed out until I manually shut down. I reset the memory, and check the LED lights, (all came on normally). What's going on here!? I appreciate any help

If the troubleshooting solutions listed in Mac 101 were of no help & you found no solutions to your problem(s) listed in the various Knowledge Base Articles see if the following suggestions are of any help:
Except for the keyboard & mouse, disconnect all devices/peripherals from your computer.
Step 1: Restart into Safe Mode by holding down the Shift key during startup. The comp will run a complete & lengthy file systtem check, then start up w/only the required kerenel extensions & w/o running any Startup items tthat you installed.
If you are running OS 10.4 it will also perform some font finagling.
Try starting up normally again. If you are still stalling, restart in Safe Mode & move on to Step 2...........
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode
Step 2: Open Library>Startup items folder-the root level Library, not the one in your user name folder.
Look for potentially problematic 3rd party items such as virus scanning software components, etc. Remove 1 or more items to a location outside the Library folder, such as the Desktop, then restart normally & see if your Mac stalls. It it does, try removing all the items in the Startup items folder & restart. If all’s now well, place the items back into the Startup items folder 1 by 1, restarting each time you put one back. If and/or when the stall resurfaces, you just identified the faulty component.
If the above does not work, then it’s time to move on to Step 3.................
Step 3: WARNING-This step can be tedious-removing .plist files from the /Library/Preferences folder.
Remove the entire Preferences folder from the Library folder on your startup drive then place the files back 1 by 1 until you see the problem return. *The Mac will automatically create a new Preferences folder in the Library folder*
Alternatively, you can take half of the items out (all non-Apple .plist file, for example), restart to see if your Mac stalls, then move to a smaller set of items, repeatingn the process until the culprit is found.
Or you can use Preferential Treatment which is a FREE utility that does all the work for you.
Hang in there & good luck!!!!

Stops at gray screen on startup

This problem is mostly annoying but hasn't proved fatal: Sometimes, after my Rev A iMac G5 has been running for a while, if I do a restart or a shutdown and then restart, it get stuck at the gray screen. I get the startup tone, the gray screen comes up but no Apple logo or spinning wheel.
If I leave the machine off for, say, 10 minutes or so and reboot it works fine. And, sometimes, you can do a restart with no problem.
Anyone else have this problem? I asked AppleCare about it while battling a kernal panic situation in June. They were mystified.
Thanks for any help.

I have been having the same trouble for the last three months, I get the apple logo but no spinning wheel. re starts became less and less successful with time. . now. I tried to reload osx but it freezes up on install disc 2.i cant eject the disc, and now only getting gray screen. I suspect my hard disc is locking up .i have a seagate 80 gbdrive, my serial no is QP44OAFPP7, should I just send this computer to a repair station???

Gray screen at startup - hd ok

I'm a school teacher trying to get a G4 mac mini running again...it's needed desperately for a club I'm running.
A student was using Photoshop Elements 2 when the computer locked up. Nothing would respond. I performed a hard restart and since then, the computer will not get past the gray screen.
I booted the computer into target disk mode using another mac mini, and the HD displayed correctly on the connected computer.
I was able to verify the HD using disk utility and no problems were detected.
I repaired the disk as well using disk utility. Everything looks fine.
When I disconnect from target disk mode, and try to fire up the problem computer once more, it still won't get past the gray screen.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

At startup, there is a chime, and the DVD drives makes a noise as it usually does. The mouse lights up, and the caps lock key lights and turns off.
Holding down the option button produces two rectangular buttons on a blue background.
The button on the left has a clockwise, circluar pointing arrow.
The button on the right has an arrow pointng to the right.
The rotating watch icon is displayed and the mouse moves the icon around the desktop.
The screen stays blue with the two button icons visible, and the watch icon spinning for approximately 5 min.
Eventually a HD icon is displayed between the two buttons, with the osx symbol on it.
The machine has os9 installed, but it is not an option that is presented.
I click on the osx icon, and the right facing button. The mouse icon, now an arrow, disappears and the machine displays the buttons as well as the centered hd icon for about 2 minutes.
The machine then displays a gray screen for 2 minutes until the apple logo with the spinning progress bar appears. This lasts approximately 1 minutes before the machine reverts back the the "prohibited" sign and the spinning progress wheel.
At this point...things begin again.

Gray screen at startup - Help needed

Last night during a boot-up on my MacBook Pro, I powered the system down by holding down the power button. (I had wanted to boot to Windows and had forgotten to hold down option) When I restarted with the option key pressed, all I saw was a gray screen.
I've tried seemingly everything - putting in install CD and holding down C; install CD and holding down D; safe mode, verbose mode, single user mode; SMC reset; NVRAM reset.
All of these just give me a gray screen. The only two exceptions: holding down option upon startup does put a moveable mouse arrow on the screen. Also, when trying to reset the NVRAM, I never heard the two beeps -- the computer just started turning itself off and on (over and over until I released the keys).
Any suggestions for other things to try?
thanks!

I recently had the same problem. I was playing a certain MMO, when it suddenly froze. I was in fullscreen mode, and none of the key-combos would exit or minimize, so I held down the power button to shut it off. When I tried to turn it back on, it made the "ding" noise and got stuck at a gray screen, no apple logo.
I did everything I could think of, even tried booting from the CD, even plugging the HD into another computer(which failed to recognize it).
Anyway, what I wanted to say was, I got frustrated and left the CD in the drive when it was stuck on the gray screen for about 5 minutes, and when I came back, it had booted from the CD. Why it took so long, I have no idea.
I managed to run the disk utility and did a "verify disk." Here's what it said:
Verify and Repair disk "disk0s2"
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Invalid node structure
Invalid B-tree node size
Invalid node structure
Invalid B-tree node size
Volume check failed.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Sounds like a messed up HD to me. Is there any way to salvage the info on it? Or is the file structure too messed up for that? Also, I'm hoping this isn't a physical problem...
I'll postpone reformatting and reinstalling until I try to salvage what I can.

Gray screen at startup 27" 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 ?

My one week old iMac 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5. first started problems by not goping to sleep even when I forced it.
I shut it down using the shut off button and unplugging it from power for more than 5 munites.
I turned it back on, it does the usual startup chime and then gray screen. I have restarted twice from the shot off button and still getting the same result.
Please can someone share a solution to this?
Thank you

Since it's brand new, contact Apple support via phone. You can read these Apple notes too:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mchlp2889.html

New ITunes 8 Download - Pink and Dark Gray Screen Numerous Issues

I went out today and purchased a new 16 MB Nano. When I hooked it up to my computer I was told I had to upgrade to Itunes 8. After I downloaded and restarted, I noticed the screen was a very dark gray and pink. It is so dark you cannot read any of the various menu options (where it shows playlists, stors, etc.) So that is one problem. The other problem is that I of course want to synch my playlist with my brand new ipod. A screen comes on that asks me if I want to register the Nano, which I assume is manditory before i can synch with my itunes. Anyway, there is no way to get to the button to register the nano. There is a button that says "Cancel" the registration on the left side of the screen, but there is no way to scroll or arrow over to the right side of the screen where the register button must be hiding. I am so frustrated. Why can't this **** be made simple and true plug and play for those of us who are technology challenged. Anyway, if anyone out there can help, it would be appreciated. I loved the look and feel of my last ITunes version and I hate that the upgrade has screwed that all up.

*When I hooked it up to my computer I was told I had to upgrade to Itunes 8. After I downloaded and restarted, I noticed the screen was a very dark gray and pink*
Try this solution which has been advised in many posts on this problem. Go to the Windows XP Start menu > Control Panel > Appearance and Themes (in Category view) > Display > Settings tab and make sure Colour Display is set at Highest (32 bit).
*there is no way to get to the button to register the nano.*
Try increasing your screen resolution to at least 1024x768 so you can see the whole page: iTunes window does not display all options

Intel imac has gray screen at startup

My imac (intel) started having problems this afternoon that resulted in a gray screen at start up. Here are the events:
1) I was intrigued by the possibility of upgrading to Lion but decided to do some research first. At some point in the process, I accidentally clicked on either a "Buy Now" or "Download Now" button. I was expecting to be directed to a page for payment, but nothing happened except Safari seemed to get jammed up. I closed that page and thought nothing of it. Decided I wasn't ready to upgrade anyway because I still have some PPC software.
2) I received a software update alert and completed most of the updates.
3) I tried to stream a movie from netflix, but kept getting a page that said plug-in failure.
4) I attempted to restart, got the chimes, and then the blank gray screen but nothing else.
5) Tried to restart while holding down shift key. Was able to startup.
6) Attempted a regular restart again just to see what would happen. Got the chime and gray screen again.
7) Attempted to restart again holding down the option key. Was able to start from harddrive.
8) Attempted a regular restart again and it restarted just fine.
So, my questions are:
1) did I somehow partially download Lion and that is what is causing these problems?
2) have I fixed the problem or is there some underlying issue that will resurface?
3) is it likely that I need to take it in for service or will need to in the very near future and better just do it now?
Oh also, when I went to unplug peripheries, computer was extremely hot. istat says my harddrive is 126 F/ 52 C. Is that normal?
Thanks

It sounds like a HD failure however I'm hoping I'm wrong there. Please read Gray screen appears during startup and see if these actions help.
If they do not run Apple Hardware Test in Extended Mode.

10.7.5 gray screen on startup

I am fairly Mac savvy user. I've tried all reccomended steps to fix the issue, but to no avail:/
Safari was running several windows & tabs when the crash occurred. Now I can safe boot, but it hangs on a blank gray screen instead of launching my desktop.
I updated/reinstalled the OS, nada. I bought a new HDD, used carbon copy cloner, still nothing! Please help, deadlines approaching!
MacPro 3,1

Hey BrandoB123
The next step would be to reinstall the operating system but booting to the Recovery Disk and reinstalling Lion to resolve the issue. The article below will assist with that process.
About OS X Recovery
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Regards,
-Norm G.

Darker Gray Screen on Startup

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