Dr. Smoke...Gray Apple Screen, Keeps Spinning...

My Father's G3 Blue and White 300 MHz machine (10.3.9) started having kernel panics during the boot sequence. (It would boot to the login screen, than panic right when it got there)
I could get the machine to boot into safe mode.
I ran TechTools Deluxe (the latest version) and every test checked out ok.
I attempted to run Archive and Install - It booted of the 10.3 disk fine, and gave me the option to Archive and install.
It started running the Test Disk, and the install failed, and said try installing again.
I read on the xlab to remove the items in the Library > startupItems folder - being that it seems the issue is during the startup sequence.
I dragged the contents to a folder on the desktop, and rebooted. The xlab said if it boots ok, add one startup item at a time and restart, working with process of elimination.
Well, now the machine stays on the gray screen with the Apple - and the spinning circle under it. (I let it try to startup for a few hours like this, no go.)
Tonight I may try Target Disk Mode between my G4 and the G3 to move the contents back in the startupitems folder, and go from there.
Anyone have any other recommendations?

Hi, maybe you can help me, since you seem to be very knowledgeable and experienced - like me. I have been a very proud and determined user of macs for about 18 years and never really had any issues with them until recently. I cleaned up my old G3 eMac and gave it to my kids about a year ago and a couple of moths ago I started getting the kernel panic and broken folder blinking icons, so I got Disk Warrior and hoped that would fix it. It didn't. I ran the hardware tests - everything was fine, got on live chat with the guy from Alsoft for three days, trying everythign we could to revive my poor eMac. Reluctantly I decided to erase the volume and re-install everything, which has been done, but now I can't get it to start off the new disk. It just sticks to the gray apple screen with the spinner just having a good time and I am miserable!! I refuse to believe that I am not going to get this one back - it's there, my information, files and pictures are gone, but the computer should be fine. What am I doing wrong?

Similar Messages

G4 TiBook won't go past gray apple screen with spinning black wheel

Hi,
I am trying to get this machine to boot, and things are very strange.
The latest development, which I'll start with, is that I just finished an install of Tiger on the machine. It gets to the gray Apple screen with the spinning cursor. However, the startup/welcome music to Tiger played in the background, and it started walking me through keyboard commands via Voiceover.
1) It will boot off of a Tiger or Panther startup DVD/CD, and will install without incident.
2) It will actually boot from the hard drive with a fresh install of OS 9.2.
3) Another machine can boot the hard drive while the TiBook is in firewire target mode.
4) I have tried a brand new hard drive, and have tried to boot other machines while they were in Firewire target mode - same behavior.
5) I have tried resetting PMU, PRAM and NVRAM multiple times. Every time I boot into OF, the very top message is "NVRAM Corrupted" and it performs an init-vram command, to which it says "OK".
6) Before all of this happened, the machine underwent an upgrade from Panther to Tiger. Everything was working fine (albeit slowly, since the hard drive was almost totally full) until PRAM and NVRAM were reset. After that, the only thing the machine has been able to do (with OS X on the drive) is boot to this gray splash screen.
7) The hard drive has been wiped completely with a fresh install of Tiger and even Panther several times. Same behavior.
8) Have tried taking out the memory, changing the memory - all resulting in the same startup screen.
I've tried booting up using Verbose mode as well as Safe mode. Doesn't make any difference. The only thing I have not tried is taking out the CMOS battery (which I don't yet know where it's at on this machine).
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks
Erik

Hi Erik,
Every time I boot into OF, the very top message is "NVRAM Corrupted"
Just one thought fwiw: I'm wondering if you have a bad cache. I can't remember if you can access your Apple Menu>About This Mac>More Info while booted to your install disc, but if so, see if your L2 and L3 cache are listed. If that doesn't work, again I don't remember if this will work, but while booted to FWTDM open Applications>Utilities>System Profiler on your Ti HD and see if caches are listed. Which Ti (CPU) do you have btw?
If it does turn out to be a cache issue, not good news, as cache is incorporated into the logic board, and the "repair" is actually replacing the LB.

I was updating my macbook pro and it restarted but didn't boot up. It made it to the gray apple screen with a spinning wheel underneath it. What do I do?

I was updating my macbook pro and it restarted but didn't boot up. It made it to the gray apple screen with a spinning wheel underneath it. What do I do?

This was happening to mine as well and I had to take it in a few times and they had to wipe it completely. If your computer is more that 5 years old, it may be that it is time for a new one. I suggest taking it in so they can diagnose it!

Crashed drive with Grey Apple Screen and Spinning Circle!!

I need some help!!
My G5 desktop computer had Font error, and then it crashed. I pressed the power button to restart and it won’t booth up! All I get it the Grey Apple Screen and Spinning Circle with loud fan noise.
I’ve tried using the install CD to booth up to use the Disk Utility, but it won’t let me select the primary Seagate drive (I do see the drive name), therefore I can’t repair or do anything.
When I tried to re-install the OSX, the system won’t even see the primary drive to reinstall.
Is this drive dead? (I never had clicking noise before) or is the Drive corrupted? How do I fix this problem?
Can someone please help me?
Thank you

I’m not sure which button I pressed, but I was able to see my Hard Drive with OSX and OSX Disk, but when I clicked on the Hard Drive it just does the gray screen
So, I used the OSX install Disk to boot up to run the Disk Utility.
I can see the drive name, but when I click on the drive nothing happens. Verify and Repair buttons are grayed out.
I’ve tried the Safe mode but it won’t start up.
I never had Applejack installed on the hard Drive so I can’t test it that way either.
How can I save this hard drive?
Is there another way to repair this?
Thank you all for your help!

Macbook Pro won't go past gray apple screen

When I turn my macbook on, it makes the chime and the gray apple screen appears. Then a progress bar appears and after it is finished loading, there is just a spinning loading circle thingy under the apple. My laptop never goes past this screen, it was like this all day. What do I do. This my work computer and I have not used it in a few weeks and before that it was FINE....PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Thank you so much for your reply. I am in the processing of doing the safe boot (I chose to see it) and there are a lot of codes on the screen and it was checking all different things. All of that checking seems to have stopped and all the words and codes on the screen are staying the same. How do I know if the process is done and how long does it take? I am not sure what to do right now.

Powerbook won't get past OSX gray apple screen

powerbook pismo running OSX for years...much joy and happiness,
up to this point.
Upon starting up my powerbook, I get the good chime and then the gray screen with the apple but no spinning wheel at the bottom, it will go no further.
It just sits there with the gray screen and the apple. I've tried the following:
Safe mode
Reset pram
target mode from another mac shows the pismo hard disk. I can run disk utility on it and the drive is ok.
Still no startup.
Reinstalled the OS from the other mac using target mode and it installed ok. Still no further than the gray apple screen.
It will not start from DVD or from a firewire drive with the OS installed on it
It does see the system folder when I tell it to let me choose a system at startup. I choose it and we are back at the gray screen.
Is this a pram or firmware issue maybe a internal battery
I have other macs, and I can move on, but still would like to solve this puzzle.
Thank you very much.

zydeco,
I am not sure if I can help, but here are a few suggestions...
1. If you have the original software, you may still have the Apple Hardware Test CD. Disconnect all peripherals including a USB mouse, then see if you can boot to the CD.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112433
2. If you have the internal original AirPort card, remove this card and try starting. A bad card can prevent startup.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50028
If neither of the two suggestions help, please post back.

Airport Extreme card installed, eMac stuck on gray Apple screen at start-up

I just installed an Airport Extreme card on my eMac (USB 2.0). When I try to boot, it gets stuck on the gray Apple screen, with the spinning gray "spokes." The card is pushed as far as it will go into the slot, and the antenna is all the way in as well. When I take the card out, the computer boots up fine. I tried installing the software first, but it doesn't appear to be installed after it does the required restart for new software. I'm not sure if I have the software already...
At any rate, the biggest issue is that it won't boot past the gray screen. Any thoughts? (I have a version of Tiger, though I'm not sure exactly which because I'm sick of the un/install process at the moment, and am staring at the gray screen.)

The card is pushed as far as it will go into the
slot, and the antenna is all the way in as well. When
I take the card out, the computer boots up fine. I
tried installing the software first, but it doesn't
appear to be installed after it does the required
restart for new software.
Hi, I have a 1GHz eMac ATI and had a problem installing my Airport Extreme card as well. It would boot fine, but the card would not connect. It turned out that the card was not seated properly and maybe this is something for you to look at.
If you look at the Airport slot with the card and cover removed you will see the end of a black plastic guide bar on the right of the slot when viewed from the front of the machine. (Assuming the ATI eMac and USB 2.0 are the same in this regard) When the card and the aerial are fully seated home, the silver top of the aerial plug should be just about level with the front end of the black plastic bar, just a whisker or 2 sticking out. If it is more than this (more than say 1-2mm - 1/16th inch) then your card is not far enough in to be connected properly. Believe me I found this out through trial and error and there is not much difference between the right position and not.
It is not just a matter of pushing harder, you need to wiggle it slightly up and down and push firmly with 2 fingers, one on each side so that the force is evenly distributed. Mine needed just a smidgeon more force than what it took to slide the machine back - try it a little bit at a time. Put it up against a wall so it doesn't slide back, but don't apply excessive force. Part of the problem is that is hard to get your fingers in there to do the job.
Hope this helps.

Mac stuck on Apple screen with spinning cog

My daughter wanted to wipe our iMac and as we don't have a recovery disc she looked it up online and got some codes. I think she out something in wrong as it won't load past the gray apple screen with the spinning cog. We have tried the cmd actions. We don't have the original disc if the mac came with one but we have the snow leopard upgrade disc. We can't get to an apple store with it so any ideas?

To restart with the SL Upgrade DVD, insert the disc into the SuperDrive and when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key until you see the install dic and follow these directions:
Insert the Snow Leopard Install DVD into your Mac’s optical drive.
Once the Snow Leopard DVD mounts on the desktop, the Mac OS X Install DVD window should open. If it doesn’t, double-click the DVD icon on the desktop.
In the Mac OS X Install DVD window, double-click the ‘Install Mac OS X’ icon.
The Install Mac OS X window will open and present you with two options. You can continue with a standard upgrade installation, or use the utilities included on the install DVD. Click the ‘Utilities’ button.
The Snow Leopard installer will inform you that in order to use the supplied utilities, you will need to restart your Mac and boot from the DVD. Click the ‘Restart’ button.

Mac won't boot, starts with white apple screen and spinning wheel. Also has grey loading bar which disappears after loaded then stays at white apple screen.

Mac won't boot, starts with white apple screen and spinning wheel. Also has grey loading bar which disappears after loaded then stays at white apple screen.

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.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
I hope this helps.
-Jason

G4 Quicksilver stuck on gray Apple Screen

My trusty tower started showing problems with a spinning beach ball of death when I wasn't even using iPhoto 5. It happened with Mail. I had to do a hard shut off a couple or three times because I couldn't even get to the force quit menu by any means.
Now it won't move past the gray Apple screen. I've read about and followed through with checking all my connections, unplugging the power source and resetting PRAM. Prior to the Option, Command, P, R on start up I was able to eject the DVD tray. Now nothing on my keyboard seems to work.
I'm not saavy enough to open up my computer to reset the PMU or take the battery out. I've got an appointment at the Apple store tomorrow. Oh how I wish I had an Apple store in my town!
I hope it's an easy fix and I can bring my computer home with me so I don't have to make another trip.
I want to buy a new computer but not until I get another bill or two paid off.
If anyone has suggestions I should try before I head south, I don't have to be there until early afternoon.

Thanks for the links and your suggestions. The genius at the Apple Genius bar was unable to start my computer either until he hooked up an ex-hard drive. Once he started through his drive and saw all my contents still on my computer, he did the tests and nothing was flagged as a problem. He sent me home with instructions to re-install my Tiger OS.
When I got home and fired it up, it opened right to my desktop like normal. I had to run an errand so I just put it on sleep. When I got back I clicked on System Preferences to change my desktop and I got the spinning beachball of death. I'd already put my Tiger DVD in the tray. I had to do a hard shut down once again. When I powered back up it showed my OS DVD so I refreshed my memory on selecting the "Install and Archive" process.
Reinstalling Tiger is underway right now, then I will do the fsck and other recommended steps before opening or reconnecting anything else.

IPod-video stuck on black/gray apple screen-won't reset

My iPod won't reset. It displays the black/gray apple screen. When I hold down the select and menu buttons the screeen goes blank for a second and then the black/gray apple screen comes back. When I plug the iPod back into my computer it is not recognized by iTunes or the computer. All system software is up to date.
eMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.10) iPod video - 60GB

Thank you for your help, although that didn't seem to do anything either. It just started working again today, yay!
But after trying endlessly lots of things I finally gave up and just let it sit, it was on for awhile until the battery totally drained. I had forgotten about it and today I went to plug it in to charge the battery so I could try another round of possible solutions. I plugged in the usb cable, at first it went to the black screen with the logo. Then as I was about to walk away 10 seconds later I saw the screen light up then the menu appeared. I don't know what was wrong but it seems totally find now. So I don't know what I did or what happened but it seems to be working with no problems again.

Hard Drive Crashed with Grey Apple Screen and Spinning Circle

I need some help!!
My G5 desktop computer had Font error, and then it crashed. I pressed the power button to restart and it won’t booth up! All I get it the Grey Apple Screen and Spinning Circle with loud fan noise.
I’ve tried using the install CD to booth up to use the Disk Utility, but it won’t let me select the primary Seagate drive (I do see the drive name), therefore I can’t repair or do anything.
When I tried to re-install the OSX, the system won’t even see the primary drive to reinstall.
Is this drive dead? (I never had clicking noise before) or is the Drive corrupted? How do I fix this problem?
Can someone please help me?
Thank you

Hi, it does seem like the HD is a goner.
For internal Storage options see this...
http://tinyurl.com/ygtbaan
For external get FW/800...
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search.cfm?Ntt=firewire%20800
Once you get a new Drive installed...
If DiskWarrior can't fix it, you might try Data Rescue II...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
Or FileSalvage...
http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?%20mainpage=product_info&productsid=1
to recover what you can.

G5 wont boot past grey Apple screen and spinning cirlce

I cam in to work this morning and found my Mac on with fans blazing the the display just showing the grey Apple screen and spinning circle. I have it set to turn on before I arrive at work and it has been doing so flawlessly for all the years I've had it. When I shut down last night everything was working fine. Now this.
I've scanned some help forums but can't quite determine what the cause might be. Old battery on the memory card, a bad memory chip, ...I'm not sure.
As I said, things had been working flawlessly for years.
I've tried unplugging and re-plugging in the power cord (nope), resetting the PRAM (didn't work), Pressing the PRAM button on the memory board (again no), resetting things from Open Firmware (Using these commands: reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all -- no luck)and now have Disk Utility repairing permissions from the install DVD. That doesn't seem to be doing anything, it has been "Determining correct file permissions" from my startup disk for about 20 mintues now...usually it goes a lot quicker.
Any thoughts? This is my primary work machine and if I can't get it running I'm dead in the water. I'm accessing these forums from a PC in the office and would rather not have to, hahah.
Thanks.
(also, when running permission repair, do you repair the volume or the primary disk? I'm repairing the named sub-volume of the hard drive.)

(also, when running permission repair, do you repair the volume or the primary disk? I'm repairing the named sub-volume of the hard drive.)
I repair the hard drive that contains the Startup volume, unless multiple partitions are present.
In that case, only the startup volume.
Rather than "repair permissions", "Repair Disk" is what you should run on the startup volume.
Troubleshooting:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
Reseating the RAM and graphics card may also be helpful.
If you get the machine started again, install Applejack for future help:
http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

I have a PB G4 that won't start. It shows the gray apple screen, shows the blue screen, and then the screen goes black, and "sleep" light pulses.

I have a PB G4 that won't start. It shows the gray apple screen, shows the blue screen, and then goes black. The sleep light pulses. From there, I can't turn it off normally. I have tried restarting the PMU. And I have tried unplugging the ac adaptor and removing the battery. From there I have plugged only the ac adaptor in, and it will begin to start but do the same thing once it shows the blue screen.
I tried only using the battery (without plugging in the ac adaptor) and the same thing happens. I tried starting the computer while holding down CTRL, Option, P, and R, waiting to hear the start up chimes 3 times, and then holding Shift as it starts up. But I still get the black screen once I see the blue one, and the computer's sleep light pulses.
I need something very important from this computer. And was able to start it last night. I did not shut down the computer, and was going to take it to a friends to use his printer today. The computer was in sleep mode in the morning.
Thanks for any help!
Gina

What your describing could be a logic board or memory issue.
You did or did not hear 3 startup chimes? If you hear 3 chimes when you start it, that would indicate a memory problem. Try reseating the memory to see if that makes a difference. If you have 2 RAM cards, try one then the other in each slot. If you have 1 RAM card, move it to the other slot. Powerbooks can develop one bad slot.
You may need to pull the hard drive out of the Powerbook, put it into an external case, then read it from another mac.

Startup freezes on gray apple screen

I've restarted twice and it freezes on the gray apple screen. No kernel panic message, no error message, nothing. No peripheral devices plugged in. No new RAM installed. It just decided to start doing this today.
Any suggestions?
thanks.

Your directory is corrupted. It could be from a bad block on the hard drive, incorrect shutdown procedure, or even hardware issues (possible but not likely).
You will either have to reinstall (not fun) or purchase a utility like Disk Warrior.
I checked further and found this post on another web site:
DiskWarrior and invalid key length on Mac OS X hard drives
I had a problem where a hard disk of mine wasn't mounting -- it just wouldn't appear in the finder. It did show up in Disk Utility, where it reported that it had an "invalid key length", but Disk Utility would not repair it. I tried to use Tech Tool Pro 3 and Tech Tool Deluxe for OS X, but neither of those would even let me select the volume.
Some searching on the web suggested DiskWarrior. It retails for about $100, but I was able to get it on a special for $80. I ran it, it found the volume, and fixed it right up. I highly recommend the program to anyone with an invalid key length error.

Dr. Smoke...Gray Apple Screen, Keeps Spinning...

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for