G3 won't startup (grey screen with happy mac)

My sister has a iMac G3 that all of a sudden stopped working. When it's turned on, we get the chime, a grey screen and a happy mac, that's all. It just sits there. I've tried restarting with the C down, using the PRAM trick, putting in a CD startup disk (though not the one it came with), disconnecting the USB drve/hub, but get nothing. We've had problems with the CD drive before, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was broken too. Any help would be appreciated. It's a blue iMac (maybe a 350mhz?. Thanks in advance
iMAC G3 (350mhz) Mac OS 9.0.x

You may need to replace the PRAM battery. A weak or dead battery has been known to cause startup problems.
If you can startup from a Mac OS installation CD, you can run Disk First Aid from the CD (for Mac OS 9) in the Utilities folder, and verify (and repair if necessary) the internal drive.
If you suspect the CDROM drive, you can also try disconnecting the CDROM drive internally to see of this will allow the iMac to start up. Sometimes, a bad drive will prevent another drive on the IDE bus to not be recognized.

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Computer won't start, grey screen with Apple logo only. Ideas?

Last night my wife's G5 froze. It is a G5 2.0 running OS X 10.4.11. I shut it down (had to use the power button) and tried to restart. No luck, just made it to the grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel. After a few seconds the Apple logo disappeared and a black box took its place, then the wheel stopped spinning. It was late, decided top wait until morning before trying again.
This morning I tried to start up again. This time got a warning(?) in upper left that a Firmtek item had already started. I'm sorry I didn't write this all down at the time, so I don't remember the entire message. Since there is a Firmtek card installed in one of the PCI slots I thought that might be the problem, and I pulled the card, as well as another Adaptec card that was also installed. Tried to start again, got to grey screen with Apple but this time no spinning wheel.
Opened media slot manually and inserted Diskwarrior. Tried to start with Diskwarrior but again only reached grey screen. Let run for ~5 minutes, until fans started to run and were begining to get noisy.
Next I reset the PRAM. No luck, still stuck on grey screen. Tried Diskwarrior again, this time got another message in upper left. Here is most of it -
System Failure : cpu=1; code=60000009 (Invalid pmap)
Lateset crash info for cpu1;
Exception state (sv=0x609bb280)
PC=0x000a4ad0; MSR=0x02003000 followed by more similar strings, then
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address; 0xfc088891
So what's the diagnosis? I've had various issues with my G5s in the past, but have never had one refuse to boot with Diskwarrior before.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Whew, could be many things, from RAM, (or RAM slots/solder issue), to CPU #1 being bad, (CPU#1 is actually the second one.
Does it boot into any of these modes?
Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
We might get clues with verbose mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

PB Won't start--grey screen with logo--no spinning wheel

Did an update that required a restart--got grey screen with the apple logo and that's all. Tried resetting the Pram and the PMU, no luck. Won't start in safe mode or from another DVD (tried both the original and my Tiger disks). It was working normally before the update (iTunes and I think an Airport update and a couple of other things). I've removed and re-installed the RAM with no change.

Thanks!
HD disconnected it starts from a CD. HD re-connected it now displays the spinning geary thing but doesn't get any further. Disk First Aid found and fixed many problems but it still won't go past the spinning thingy. It passed Apple's hardware tests. So--a new HD is likely in order but I want to try a more comprehensive disk repair program and recommendations for that and for a new HD are welcome!

Macbook Pro won't boot past grey screen with Apple logo and then shuts off

This is a long story...
This morning, I would turn it on and it'd go to the grey screen with the Apple logo for a few seconds and then go to the icon that is a circle with a line through it. After reading online, I was able to boot it up in Safe Mode. I messed around a little bit in system preferences thinking I could fix it on my own, not really knowing what I was doing (I'm a *******). I went to Startup Disk in Preferences. I chose the MAC OS X, xxxx and then clicked the lock to prevent further changes and then clicked restart.
Now when I turn on the macbook, it goes to the grey screen with the Apple logo for at least two-three minutes and then just shuts off. Won't boot into Safe Mode now. Please help. I already tried the Command-Option-P-R keys trick like five times.

If you have a full retail DVD for 10.6 you can boot from that by holding the C key during startup...but you will then be in install mode if that is what you want to do. At least go ahead and see if it will boot ok from the 10.6 disk and then you can decide what you want to do further.
Apple does not have 10.5 for sale anymore from what some other users have said on here so if you want to go that route you will have to find a copy for sale such as from eBay or one of the Mac resellers.
Before taking the machine to someone, try booting from 10.6 and see if that works...that way you can narrow down problems the machine may be having.

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

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

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

Powerbook won;t go past grey screen with apple logo on start up

Hi
I am getting very stressed, my powerbook g4 won;t go past the grey screen with the apple logo when switched on. I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it. I have tried the RAM reboot but nothing, there is not even the spinning loading symbol just a grey screen - which it will stay on until I turn it off. Someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not sure of my OS as I can't turn my comp on, but I am running leopard on it

Welcome!
First, see if you can boot in Safe Mode, holding the Shift key during startup until you see a message about safe mode. Getting a desktop can take longer because Safe Mode forced some disk checking.s
...I am running leopard on it
Then you should have the install disks. They can be used to boot the computer for repair. Insert the DVD and press and hold the "c" key during startup. That will launch the installer BUT you don't want to reinstall yet. Find the install's Utilities menu and launch Disk Utility. From there you can check the hard drive and make some repairs.
I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it
That would require that your compute work enough to start in FireWire Target Disk Mode. FWTDM lets your hard drive show up on another Mac as if it were an external drive. You can test by starting the computer and holding the "t" key until you get a blue screen with a big yellow FireWire symbol. Looks like this:
!http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8uGcDJDrUrECaelR5ash9yA3zuGBakhxrJ9TjfjO_uoCmKQ&t=1&usg=_5RiQv2QkO7UuPLUpiige1MVxdb0=!
I believe FWTDM's code is in firmware and not on the hard drive , so may let yo uaccess the disk form another computer.

I updated Efi firmware, but force quit twitter to install. Now system won't come on, it just shows grey screen with the spinning wheel loading. I am running lion 10.7.3

I updated Efi firmware, but force quit twitter to install. Now system won't come on, it just shows grey screen with the spinning wheel loading. I am running lion 10.7.3.
Thank you

The following support article is somewhat outdated. Where it refers to booting from an installation disc, you should boot from your recovery partition (if running 10.7 or later) by holding down the key combination command-R at the chime.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

My Mac 10.7.5 won't shut down after new software (security update 2013-003) installation-- hangs at grey screen with "software update" at top. It also intermittently goes to sleep without my asking. What to do?

My Mac 10.7.5 won't shut down after a new software installation (Security Update 2013-003). It just hangs at a grey screen with "Software Update" at the top. I have to force quit, then restart-- but the new software hasn't installed.
My Mac also intermittently goes into Sleep mode, repeatedly, unprompted by me. I suspect a connection between these two problems.
I have tried deleting the /Library/Updates folder. It hasn't helped. The update still won't install, and my Mac won't shut down without my forcing the quit.
Help please!

Hi, I've just come accross the same problem... did you manage to get a resolution??
Cheers, Chris.

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

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

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

G4 mirror can't won't boot past grey screen with dark gray apple

Before this the computer was operating fine.
I just went and downloaded the latest versions of itunes and Safari. It stated that I had a corrupt download of itunes. It went thru the normal downloading/install procedure. When it went to restart from the install, it just hangs up at the light grey screen with the dark gray apple and I get the spinning wheel. It stays here for one/two minutes, then shuts itself down. Any ideas for fixing? Also I do not have any install disks. Thanks.

*Option 1*: Boot from your bootable backup drive, then erase the internal drive and clone the backup to the internal drive. You can use Disk Utility in the Utilities folder on the backup drive. Don't have a backup? Good time to start planning a backup strategy. Move on to:
*Option 2: Download AppleJack* - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - and read the documentation carefully. Then install the utility and use it to perform repairs and maintenance on your normal startup drive. Note that to use AppleJack you must be able to startup in single-user mode. If the existing system is unable to start properly into single-user mode, then you cannot use AppleJack.
*Option 3:* Purchase a copy of Leopard from an Apple Store or Apple retailer. Use it to reinstall OS X by doing an Archive and Install:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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 quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

17 MacBook Pro is not booting up. Won't get passed grey screen with Apple wheel spinning below.

17 MacBook Pro is not booting up. Won't get passed grey screen with Apple wheel spinning below.

You may be having a hardware problem that you cannot resolve on your own. Nevertheless...
...hold down the command and R keys whilst booting to try to get to your Recovery partition. If you can, use Disk Utility to try to Verify your boot drive (usually named "Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). If the verification fails, try to repair your hard drive. If everything appears to be OK, restart.
If you can't get into your Recovery partition, your problem is likely hardware related. If so, keep your appointment and see what the Apple techs have to say.
Clinton

My MacBook won't start up. After turn it on I get a grey screen with an apple in center and a circle below with lines around it and a blank bar below that. How can I get it to get beyond this screen?

MacBook won't start. After I power up, I get a light grey screen with an apple in the middle, a circle with lines moving around it and a blank grey bar below that. It won,t get beyond this. Please offer suggestions.

I have the exact same problem and waited it out and got to my homescreen. Whateve the problem is fried my bluetooth and my trackpad. I tried starting it again and couldn't even get to homescreen, it stayed on the bluescreen with the wheel of death. So, I took it to genius bar today. I was informed that my logic board is fried and it needs to be replaced. $300 repair that I'm looking at...

My emac won't get past the grey screen with spinning indicator

before i went to bed last nite it was fine. when i woke up i click on the screen and got the little rainbow ball. that lasted for about 5-10 minutes so i had to push the button. when i try to turn it on now it gets to the grey screen with the spinning indicator but won't get past that. any help would be appreciated

An Archive and Install will preserve you user settings and data. You will need a minimum of 5 GB free on the hard drive to perform an A&I; you can reduce the space required by about 1 GB by selecting the option to install language support only for the language you use (assuming you don't need multiple languages).
However, after seeing your other post (BTW, it'll be easier to keep track if relted issues are in the same thread), you do not want to try an A&I if Disk Utility is reporting anything about 'could not be repaired'. Doing so will would ensure problems down the road, if it worked at all. It's possible for one disk problem to mask another. Whenever Disk Utility (or any other repair utility) reports making repairs, it's good practice to repeat the repair until it reports no problems found or it becomes clear it cannot repair the disk.
DiskWarrior has an excellent track record at repairing problems that Disk Utility cannot (especially Disk Utility versions prior to OS X 10.4.2).
If the drive cannot be repaired, you may be able to keep it by doing an erase install with the write zeros (one pass) option. That will update the hard drive firmware record of bad disk sectors to avoid using. If there are only a few bad sectors, that may let you keep using the hard drive for several more years. An erase install will do just that to your data, through. If you have access to another Mac with either a large amount of free disk space of a DVD burner, you can try using the other Mac as host and the eMac as target in FireWire target disk mode. You can run the host's copy of Disk Utility on the eMac hard drive, and hopefully be able to mount the emac HD so that you can back up the data in your Home directory.

Computer won't load past grey screen with Apple logo, even with OS Disc

I turn on my computer and only gets to the grey screen with the Apple logo and idling circle. After a while, it loads a small box telling me to restart, time and time again, no matter how many times I restart. I've tried holding "shift" to go into safe mode, it won't let me.
I believe it's originally a Tiger platform, and right now I think it's running on Leopard.
I just bought a Snow Leopard OS X Disc, and I inserted it and tried to let it load. It gave me the restart box. I held down "c" while starting up, got the restart box.
Held down "option", and selected the "Mac OS X install Disc"; it went back to the grey Apple logo screen to load, and gave me the restart box after several minutes. Repeated that and held down "c" while loading, still gave me the box.
Nothing I do with or without the OS X Disc is making a difference. I cannot load anything on my computer, period.
Can someone please suggest something for me to try?

Well if you do then turn both computers off. Connect a Firewire cable between them. Boot your computer into Target Disk Mode. After the TDM screen appears boot the other computer normally. If your drive is accessible it will show up as a disk icon on the Desktop of the other Mac. You can then access your files and transfer them to another hard drive.
Then open Disk Utility. Your drive should appear in the sidebar list. Select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the Partition Scheme drop down menu to one. Set the Format type drop down menu to Mac OS Extended, Journaled, then click on the Partition button and wait for the process to complete.
Your drive should now be OK assuming it's not mechanically damaged. Eject the drive from the Desktop as you would eject any removable drive and disconnect the Firewire cable. Shutdown your computer. You can now boot from the installer disc and install OS X.

Mac mini won't start up. Grey screen with apple just freezes.

Mac mini won't start up. just get a grey screen with the apple and it freezes. Please help.

Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitirion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.

G3 won't startup (grey screen with happy mac)

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