During start up screen goes to new 3 icon screen first

during start up i now have a new screen that appears. it consises of of 3 icons 1. a circlular arrow, 2 a hard drive icon, and 3 a single straight arrow. i have to press the straight arrow to continue with the normal start up process.
has anyone else had this problem?

Steve
Welcome to Apple Discussions!!
This is the Startup Manager. Follow the instructions in that article to start from your normal disk, then go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and make sure the correct volume is selected there. If it appears to be correctly selected, select something different (like Network Startup), then re-select the correct volume.
You'll probably find "Network Startup" has been selected, and because it can't find anything to boot from on the network, it drops into Startup Manager automatically.

Similar Messages

Internal display normal during start up but goes black with external monitor showing desktop

My MacBook Pro (2.4 Ghz, Santa Rosa with infamous nVidia card) acts strange. It shows the normal gray screen with Apple logo and animation flawlessly during start up but the internal display goes black without any rendering at all when all is loaded. (shining a light on display show nothing) If an external monitor is connected through the DVI port it will remain black during start up and then show the desktop as the internal display goes black. This happens both while booting to Mountain Lion and Windows XP. I have checked "About my Mac" and only the external display is listed. The same is the case if I use the nVidia Control panel in Windows XP.
My questions: Is this a hardware problem or is it related to software maybe even firmware? What controls the display during start up, graphics card or something else?

I found an article about the same issue. Screen looks exactly the same with bloated apple logo.

Freeze during start: Black screen with cursor

I have an L305-5955, probably infected by a virus (?) which freeze during booting (also with a backup CD) ending with a black screen and the cursor. Someone has an idea how to solve this? Thank's a lot for any help.

Choose Startup Repair from the System Recovery Options menu.
If that doesn't do the trick, go back to the System Recovery Options menu and do a System Restore.
If that doesn't fix things either, go back to the System Recovery Options menu and follow the directions here,
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair start...
-Jerry

During start up I have a finder face icon with a blinking question mark.

I gave my sister my old iMac (Flat Panel) she had the Mac for 3 months everything was working ok until she did the last software update. after updating her Mac she never restarted, and I am assuming it went into sleep mode but now she gets a weird cracking noise and when she went to reboot the Finder face came up with a question mark over it. please help don't know much about hardware. Thank You.

The cracking noise (without me hearing it) is kind of vague. I do believe it is not a good thing though! Is it coming from the speaker or from inside of your Mac? Can you describe it better perhaps?
Here's Apple doc.#58042 on flashing ? mark. Maybe that will help!
Cheers!
DALE

Cannot install Windows 7 Pro; gets stuck on "Starting Windows" screen

I have read dozens of posts on this topic but none has helped yet.
My system has Windows 8 with UEFI. I want to install Windows 7 Pro on another partition. I have turned off Secure Boot in the UEFI/BIOS. When I try to install Windows 7 Pro from a DVD it shows "windows is loading files" and then gets stuck on "Starting Windows"
for ever. This happens even when no USB peripherals are attached.
I have already wasted many days on this. I hope someone can help.
Thanks!

Hi friends of the internet
I have been reading several forums regarding the issue of installing windows 7 (64 bit) to a computer that have had windows 8 installed previously or just a GPT formatted disk.
My Case:
Windows version installed: Windows 7 Professional N with Service Pack 1 (x64) or Windows 7 Professional (x64)
Computer used: Samsung laptop
Model Code: NP53U4C-A02SE
See the specks here:
http://www.samsung.com/dk/consumer/computer-peripherals/notebook/notebook/NP535U4C-A02SE-spec
Create a USB install disk that not freezes at ”starting windows” screen:
First I followed this great guide (Thanks Daniel):
http://
hodgin.ca/2012/10/02/creating-a-uefibios-windows-7-usb-and-installing-to-gpt-partitions/
STOP AFTER STEP 13!
1. Open a command line in administrator mode
2. run DISKPART
3. type LIST DISK
4. Look for the disk number that represents your USB drive
5. type SELECT DISK # where # represents the number of your USB drive. Get this right or you will wipe a different drive out.
6. type CLEAN
7. type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
8. type SELECT PARTITION 1
9. type ACTIVE
10. type FORMAT fs=fat32 quick
11. type assign
12. The drive should now be formatted and marked as active and fat32. Do not format the drive as NTFS or you will only be able to boot into the installer in BIOS mode.
13. Now you will need to copy the contents of the windows 7 install dvd to the USB with a regular copy paste from windows explorer.
Here comes a very weird hack... I do not know why it works, but I think it is all about flash drive data structure. I did these steps on a win 7 prof. computer.
(Let’s assume it’s drive E:)
Make a copy of your e:\efi\microsoft folder to e.g. your desktop.
Delete the e:\efi folder
Copy the \efi folder from a windows 8 installation disk (I used Windows 8 (x64) Professional) to the e:\efi folder. Sorry I cannot provide this for you.
Here comes the weird part. Then delete e:\efi\microsoft you just copied from the win 8 installation disk.
Copy the \microsoft folder form the desktop to e:\efi\microsoft
Resume the guide from step 18.:
http://
hodgin.ca/2012/10/02/creating-a-uefibios-windows-7-usb-and-installing-to-gpt-partitions/
18. Insert the USB in the machine and turn it on and boot into the UEFI/BIOS loader and check for boot options. On the ASUS Zenbook it detected two boot options on the USB drive. One was UEFI and one was regular BIOS. I made the
UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.
My bios setup was:
Secure Boot = Disable
OS Mode Selection = CSM and UEFI OS
Boot Device Priority = I made the UEFI option the first choice and restarted the machine.
The installation should start normal.
E.g. See this guide:
www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html
What I did was:
Select custom installation (Advanced).
Click Drive options (Advanced).
Delete all partitions (this might not be needed). When I did not delete all partitions I was asked every time after the install, during start up by the windows boot manager to select ether win 8 or win 7.
Click new (DO NOT make Changes in the size of the disk), apply, see NOTE!
Edit the Primary partition as you want it e.g. divide it to more partitions.
Select the one you will install windows on and do a normal install.
I do not make changes in the Bios after install. The Boot priority is automatic set to “Windows boot manager”. If I change the boot mode back to OS Mode Selection = UEFI OS, the computer will freeze at the “starting windows” screen again.
All this worked for me, good luck. There might be more to it, but this is a start.
By the way, the start up time for a MBT install was 37 s. And for the GPT it was 49 s.
Remember if we stand on each other’s shoulders we will reach higher
J.
NOTE: Here the installation program should create three partitions automatically!
Partition 1 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
Partition 2 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
Partition 3 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.
If this isn’t the cast you are not installing in UEIF mode. To check for this (thanks again Daniel):
If you need to find out if you have booted into BIOS mode or UEFI mode when the installer starts you can press SHIFT+F10 when the welcome installer shows up to open a cmd prompt. from here you will likely be at X:\Sources. Type cd .. to
go back a dir and move into \Windows\Panther\
Then type notepad setupact.log
Within this file do a ctrl+f and search for
Callback_BootEnvironmentDetect: Detected boot environment:
It should either say BIOS or UEFI.
To check if your disk is in the GPT format.
Open the command prompt.
Type: DISKPART
Type: List Disk
See for the star (*) in the GPT column

Hi. There is a ghost search bar on my iMac screen which flashes constantly, even during start up and shut down. How can i make this go away? Please help. x

Hi There is a ghost search bar on my iMac that flashes continually, even during start up and shut down. How can i make this go away? Please help. x

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a test, not a solution. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Step 1
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is localized to your user account.
Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”
While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.
Test while logged in as Guest. Same problem?
After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.
*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.
Step 2
The purpose of this step is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login, by a peripheral device, by a font conflict, or by corruption of the file system or of certain system caches.
Please take this step regardless of the results of Step 1.
Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards, if applicable. Start up in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. You must hold down the shift key twice: once when you turn on the computer, and again when you log in.
Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start up and run than normal, with limited graphics performance, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain models. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.
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.
Test while in safe mode. Same problem?
After testing, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of Steps 1 and 2.

Blue screen appears during start up and freezes

During start up the apple logo appears and locks up. Re booting results in blue screen. After re booting 3 or 4 times finally boots fine.

If you are still not working properly you might want to try the recovery mode http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808
It is a useful link to keep in mind.

Blue screen of death during start-up

Hey Adobe-Community,
I am having troubles with After Effects CC again. Every time I want to open After-Effects i get a BSOD. The last thing I can see is the opening-loading-thing (talking about that thing just the after effects version of it, logically I cant make a screencap of the AE version). I dont even get anything written in there - no "loading blabla" or "searching this-and-this" and so on - just the empty image without any information. It is like that for about five seconds before my audio starts jamming and I get a Blue Screen of Death.
System Specifications:
Windows 7 Home Edition - 64 Bit
CPU: Intel i5 2520m 2.5 GHz
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 3000 and Nvidia GeForce GT 555M (I think I am currently running on the GeForce - does anybody know how I can check which card I am using right now...)
110 GB SSD - 40GB empty
500 GB HDD - 150GB empty
Laptop Screen: 1600x900
External Screen:1920x1080 (always using both screens)
Things I tried already:
Booting in Safe Mode
Result: Same as before - but without the Blue Screen. Just nothing happened. The Start-Up Screen of AE was showing, but again without information for about 5 minutes before I wanted to close it. Task Manager told me that there is no Application running, just a process. So that one didn't work.
Reinstalling After Effects
Same result as before - Blue screen and empty Start-Up-Screen
Reinstalling my Graphics Driver
After a bit of googling around I found some people mentioning that a Blue screen might come from troubles with my Graphics - so I reinstalled the driver from the GeForce. Same Result as before - Blue Screen.
I was able to run After Effects without any troubles just a couple of days ago. I didn't install any Plug-Ins, any new software, I cant even remember a Software update from any other software or anything (besides the Update for After Effects and InDesign from today).
Please, I really don't know what else to do.

Provide the crash details from your event viewer:
Working with your Operating System’s Tools
Mylenium

Computer won't start up after recent version of mountain lion. My power Mac was running extmely slow this morning, so i shut down to restart. As it is starting the screen goes black, says something about debugging with the word panic in parentheses. was

I upgraded to latest version of mountain lion yesterday, this morning my power Mac was running extremely slowly (while typing, had to wait a second or two for words to appear), I shut down to see if problem would clear up. When starting up, screen went black with programming jargon, something about debugging with the word panic in parentheses. Screen then goes back to gray, says Mac encountered a problem and has to restart once I push a key. Apple logo comes on gray screen, icon keeps circling and nothing happens. This has happened three times in a row after shutting down and trying to restart. Any thoughts?

When verifying disk, said could not repair disk, back up as many files as possible then re format disk. Computer now doing Internet recovery. Should I. Do the following in this order
1 restore from back up on time machine
2 re install osx
These are the options coming up on osx utilities window

I am having sporadic issues after new hard drive install and recovery using Time Machine. The same sluggish response, start up screen pixelating...If I reinstall Lion will it wipe out other applications? My HD was formatted and partitioned correctly, I ha

I am having sporadic issues after new hard drive install and recovery using Time Machine. The same sluggish response, start up screen pixelating...If I reinstall Lion will it wipe out other applications? My HD was formatted and partitioned correctly, I have a late 2009 iMac.

Use the trackpad to scroll, thats what it was designed for. The scroll bars automatically disappear when not being used and will appear if you scroll up or down using the trackpad.
This is a user-to-user forum and most people will post on here if they have problems. You very rarely get people posting to say there update went smooth. The fact is the vast majority of Mountain Lion users will not be experiencing any major problems with the OS, or maybe with apps which are not compatible, but thats hardly Apple's fault if developers don't update their apps.

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer. I did a cmnd R but worried it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS. Is there a risk at cmnd R will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer - MacBook Pro with lion.
I did a command r after doing some research but got nervous that it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS.
I was nervous because it asked me for language for software use before any options were presented (such as repair via disk utility). It looked similar to an OS install.So I powered off....Is there a risk at command r will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is
three times faster than wireless.

What would cause a prolonged blue screen during start up?

I have an iMac desktop. Recently I've had trouble with a prolonged blue screen during start up (approx. 10 mins) before it finally takes me to the login screen. Any ideas why this is happening?
Jeff P.

Hi Jeff,
Open console in Applications>Utilities, check the system log for the date/time of the last problem Startup for clues.

My mac wont turn on. It is charging and the on light is on when the computer is shut but once I open it the light turns off and the screen is black. I turn it off and then on again and the start up noise goes but it is still black - Help!?

My mac wont turn on. It is charging and the on light is on when the computer is shut but once I open it the light turns off and the screen is black. I turn it off and then on again and the start up noise goes but it is still black - Help!?

Claire, please post your machine specs as requested. There are some variants of the MBP with specific hardware issues. Example: the older "silver key" MBPs with 2.2Ghz and faster processors can have a defective video chipset that produces a black screen or distorted video. That problem is covered under an Apple program that will fix this at no cost to you if you computer is that model.
Do "About this Mac" from your Apple menu and, in the resulting window, click the "More Info..." button. That launches System Profiler for you. The first screen looks like this:
The second line, "Model Identifier" (or "Machine Model" if you are running OS10.4) precisely identifies your MBP variant. Post that, and include it in your equipment info in your profile for future posts. That means people don't have to ask, and you get faster help that is targeted to your specific model. Saves everybody a bunch of keystrokes and you get better advice.

I am having problems shutting down my MacBook Pro. I go to the apple and click shutdown or restart, it appears the shutdown process starts, the screen goes blue and the little circle keeps going round and round, but nothing happens even after 30 minutes.

I am having problems shutting down my MacBook Pro. I go to the apple and click shutdown or restart, it appears the shutdown process starts, the screen goes blue and the little circle keeps going round and round, but nothing happens even after 30 minutes.

Make sure you quit all your applications before shutting down.
And try resetting the SMC.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

HT1199 my computer displays grey screen and apple logo for 10 minutes or more during start up and shut down. sometimes it refuses to shut down . this issues started after installing OS lion. what do i do?

my computer displays grey screen and apple logo for 10 minutes or more during start up and shut down. sometimes it refuses to shut down . this issues started after installing OS lion. what do i do?

I don't think it's exactly an incomplete installation brody, but most likely in-correct permissions somewhere along the line that either happened, or became magnified during the upgrade. Also, it could be corruption as well.
First thing to do, is boot up holding down Shift key to do a safe-boot so we an clean up any corrupted OS caches, after that do another reboot, but go to the Lion recovery, and scan the HD for errors, repair any if you find them, and then try to do a Repair Permissions job.
That should fix the issue, if not, we can start doing a PRAM reset and SMC for good measure.

During start up screen goes to new 3 icon screen first

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for