G4 Power Mac won't boot past gray screen

I have a mirror door g4 power pc that had been having some issues with not turning on, and after testing the power supply, it failed miserably. We placed a refurbished power supply in it from a company in New York and the computer was working wonderfully. I went on a cruise last week and went to turn the computer on for the first time in a week and a few days. The CPU turns on, the unit chimes, the fan turns on and the computer starts to boot up, but it won't boot past the gray apple logo screen.
Actually, the first few attempts to boot it resulted in a blue screen with gaint apple logo and spinner; it wouldn't advance further. After several restarts and resets, I got it to come up into the normal gray screen. On several attempts it wouldn't boot further than this. On two occasions now though, it has moved past the gray screen to normal operation (it takes about an hour for it to get to that point though) but with some kind of errors. I get the side bar, but the gray panel on to with "file" ect is gone and my HD icon never comes up. The icons on the sidebar do not respond when clicked.
The computer will not boot from the OS X disc.
What's going on, hard drive? Virus? Something else?

You likely have hard drive directory issues or worse.
Virus is just a hopeful whimsy.
No virus.
I hope that you have a backup of your data.
Try a Safe Mode boot. This forces system repair of the directory (if possible).
Hold Shift while starting to enter Safe mode. Be patient, as it can take several minutes to complete.
Failure to boot to the OS X disc is not good. A severely damaged drive can prevent boot while connected.
Disconnect your boot drive and try booting to the OS X disc.

Similar Messages

Computer won't boot past gray screen

I can't get my computer to boot past gray screen. It keeps showing the apple logo and the spinning wheel. What can I do to get into my system?

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G5 Power Mac won't boot past the white screen w/ the grey Apple logo

Ok trying this again. Thank you in advance for any help. My dual 2 gig proc power Mac froze during a movie. I shut it down restarted it but it hangs at the apple logo and the fans slowly build speed until it sounds like the box is take off for flight
What I've done:
No single user mode. I restart with cmd+s and it it hangs on the black screen w/ white lettering. The last thing it says is Dart enabled. There is a cursor box but it won't allow my to type anything
I can get into the open firmware mode and it works
I reset the nvram and the pram. I removed the battery and put it back in
I pulled all hard drives and attempted single user mode again nothing
I ran an apple diagnostic disc. All hard ware checks out fine. When I try to run the os diagnostic on the disc it hangs at the apple logo still
I rearranged the ram nothing going. Pulled all the ram and replaced one set at a time still nothing
Any ideas?

See if you can get it to run long enough to get/install some of these...
Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor
iStat Menus...
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
And/or iStat Pro...
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
If you have any temps in the 70°C/160°F range, that's likely it.

Won't boot past gray screen

I recently tried to upgrade RAM from 2x256 MB to 2x512 MB (PNY PC133 SODIMM 133Mhz). This worked at first and checking "About this Mac" indicated 1GB of RAM. But trying to use Safari or Firefox would freeze the computer and I'd have to hold the power button to reset. I put the original RAM back and now I can't get past the Gray Screen with spinning gear. I'm stuck at this screen with either set of RAM in. I tried to boot with the Apple Hardware Test disc, which worked and showed that everything was working fine (Logic Board, HD, & Memory included). Any suggestions?

thunderable and fantast1cdan
It sounds like both of your PowerBooks are suffering from a failed internal hard drive. If you have a cloned, fully bootable, backup on an external FireWire hard drive then try starting up from that. If that works then it suggests the PB's logic board is alright and the problem is most likely to be the hard drive.
If the failure is due, perhaps, to a software corruption then DiskWarrior might be able to resurrect it by repairing the directory.
On the other hand a complete erase and 'zero all data' might sometimes help as it will map out any bad blacks that are on the drive. Obviously to do this you need to be able to startup using the original installer disc - but that does not seem possible at the moment.
Alternatively if you have access to another FW-equipped Mac then try using FireWire Target Disk Mode to see if the drive can be accessed.
thunderable
Unable to eject properly, I unplugged the external drive and was able to reboot and get almost to the logon screen, but it wouldn't go any further. Since then I cannot get past the gray screen with the Apple logo and spinning circle.
Are you referring to the internal hard drive when you say that you were able to reboot almost to the login screen? Or were you trying to reboot from the external drive?
2.0GHz MacBook, 15" 1.25GHz/12" 1GHz PBs, 2xPPC Mac minis, 12" iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8) Cube, 2xTAMs, iPod 4G & nano 2G, 1G & 2G iPs, AEBS, AX

Macbook won't boot past gray screen.

Macbook will not boot past the gray screen with the Apple logo. I tried booting in Safe Mode... tried booting to the Leopard install DVD (can hear it spin)... tried resetting the PRAM... all to no avail (hangs on the gray Apple screen... no progress indicator). I am able to connect to the hard drive via Firewire from my MacPro no problem. Just to make sure, I also tried swapping the hard drive for the original hard drive that it came with (upgraded hard drive 2 yrs ago) but it did not make a difference, still did not boot.
Not sure what else to try, any suggestions?

Thanks for all the replies. I do think it is probably the logic board. Unfortunately the nearest Apple store is about 3.5 hours away from me and from what I've read online the price to put a new logic board in by them is around $700... that's about $300 shy of a NEW 13" Macbook! I am finding used or new logic boards for sale online for around $350 to $450.
The reason it seems that it is the logic board is like I previously said in the opening thread that it would not boot to two different hard drives that I put in the Macbook, nor would it boot to the install disc that I put in the Superdrive.... "tried booting in Safe Mode... tried booting to the Leopard install DVD (can hear it spin)... tried resetting the PRAM". Being able to connect to the Macbook's hard drive from a MacPro via a Firewire gives me reason to believe the hard drives are not the problem.
Now I guess I'll have to make a decision as to whether or not to shell out cash during this weak economy for a new Macbook or scrounge for components for a 4yr old laptop.
Any final last words for me?

My Mac won't boot past white screen and startup keys won't work

Hello. I have an iMac not sure what year.
So about a year ago it froze and wouldn't restart, so I neglected it for a year. Now that this my only fixable Mac I have been researching to fix it. I was able to boot into safe mode about a week ago for a little bit but then it froze again. Ever since then none of the startup keys work, even resetting the PRAM, I heard the second ding and then it just brings up the cursor on the white screen with no disk options.
I have an external disk drive connected to the USB I'd like to boot my Mountain Lion from but since the start up keys don't work I don't know how to do that.
Any help would be incredible, I do not care about saving anything from the computer I just want it to work. I hate dealing with the "geniuses" so that's not an option.
Thanks

When you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key and you should be able to boot into the Recovery Partition if you have Lion, Mt. Lion or Mavericks on the internal HD. If even the Option key does not work then your keyboard may have dead batteries or be defective and in need of replacement.
If you have ML on the EHD as a bootable clone then you should be able to boot from it.
My best guess is you have a failed HD though, my advice is to take it in for professional diagnosis to your local Apple Store or AASP and get a quote on what is wrong then decide how you want to proceed.

I've just loaded snow leopard and mac won't boot past grey screen.

Please help me

Try booting in Safe Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
Or...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
FYI... you need to hold down the C key when booting from the install disc until you see the Apple logo.

My iMac won't boot past grey screen and it didn't come with a os x disk

My iMac won't boot past grey screen with apple. I've tried booting in safemode but that didn't help and my iMac didn't come with a os x disk.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then restart as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen
my system:
new (month old) 24" intel imac, 2.8 ghz, 4 gb ram.
running: leopard (upgraded from tiger, which was pre-installed at purchase), installed 10.5.1 update right before this huge problem occurred.
install discs on-hand: two-disc tiget set, single leopard upgrade disc.
what led to this:
i wanted to install windows using bootcamp on a 50 gb partition.
at this point i was running leopard 10.5
i followed all bootcamp instructions, printing out the guide, as well. once i got into the windows setup, i was prompted to choose a partition to install windows. unlike the bootcamp guide, which showed three partitions, one clearly labeled "bootcamp", i saw only one partition. not wanting to risk writing over my mac partition, i quit the setup and rebooted the mac os. after some googling around, i looked for firmware updates (didn't need any), and then software updates. i decided to try updating to 10.5.1.
i then ran through boot camp again, deleting my previous windows partition, creating a new one, and moving forward as before. once again, i was only shown one partition to choose from in the windows setup. i exited the setup again to reboot through the mac os, but this time, i was only given a blank gray screen.
here's what i have tried so far:
booting from a CD, holding down the C or D keys: no response (in fact, i have to restart the computer holding down the mouse button to be able to eject the CD)
booting with option key held down: gray screen
booting with option key held down with external bootable firewire drive attached: the firewire drive appears as a boot icon, and i can click on it within a five second window, but then the screen freezes after that time period, and nothing changes
booting into target mode while attached to another mac: gray screen (no firewire icon, and drive never shows up on other mac)
resetting NVRAM: i'm able to hear the boot chimes, but no difference in performance. gray screen every time
Safe boot: nothing but a gray screen
Verbose mode: gray screen
Single user mode: gray screen
Single user mode with firewire drive attached: occasionally (not every time), i am able to get the white on black terminal to show up. from here, i'm able to run fsck, but it appears to only be checking the firewire drive. i have tried several times to boot from here, and once it took me to a blue screen with movable arrow cursor, but it never went beyond this.
is there anything else left to try before taking it to apple?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Casey Burns
Casey Burns Illustration and Design
http://CaseyBurns.com

I'd call Apple support at this point. You'll need
to put this issue on the record.
Call U.S. iPod and Mac technical support: 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273)
The wait may be long for an agent to come on the line
so expect that and have some other stuff to do in the meantime.
If you have the applecare protection plan, I'd ask about "onsite"
service.
I like your work ! Good luck !
Slim
Message was edited by: slimpikkunz

IMac Does not boot past Gray Screen

iMac does not boot past Gray Screen. 2008 24" Intel iMac running Mountain Lion with 1TB hard drive.
Problem started yesterday while I was web surfing, and my iMac frooze and shutdown. I rebooted and could only get as far as the gray screen.
On bootup the following things happen:
Startup tone
Gray screen with Apple, and gear spins below Apple.
Once the gear stops spinning, nothing happends.
Troubleshooting steps I have tried:
removed all devices connected to iMac and rebooted, but same symptons occur.
booted into Safe mode and run disk utilites.
     Disk Utilities found no errors on the drive, but did find two permission issues that it was able to fix.
          First permission issue:
                   "Group differs on library; Should be 0; group is 80"
          Second permission issue:
                    "Permissons differ on library; Should be drwxr-xr-x; They are drwxrwxr-t"
Disk Utilities says it fixes these issues and then I reboot, but get the same problem.
I reboot back into Safe Mode and run Disk Utilities and it discovers the same problems listed above with Permissions. It says it fixes them, I reboot, but the same problem occurs. Its as if we are stuck in some sort of loop process.
Booted into Single User Mode and ran the following command:
     /SBin/fsck -fy   it reports back, Volume Apprears to be ok.
I reboot, same issue !
Performed SMC Reset, Rebooted, same issue
Performed PRAM Reset, Rebooted, same issue.
Booted into Recovery Partitioin (Command R) and ran disk utilities. It found the same permission issues listed above. It fixed them. I rebooted. Same problem still.
While in safe mode, I preformed a full time machine backup.
I am out of ideas. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,
I reboot back into Safe Mode and run Disk Utilities and it discovers the same problems listed above with Permissions.
You can ignore repeated "fixes" it's not really a problem, if it says completed repairs that's all that's needed.
Luckily it boots in Safe Mode, here's basically the steps to try to find out what it is...
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for problem in Safe Mode...
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive
Reboot, test again.
If it only does it in Regular Boot, then it could be some hardware problem like Video card, (Quartz is turned off in Safe Mode), or Airport, or some USB or Firewire device, or 3rd party add-on, Check System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items window to see if it or something relevant is listed.
Check the System Preferences>Other Row, for 3rd party Pref Panes.
Also look in these if they exist, some are invisible...
/private/var/run/StartupItems
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Though I'm suspecting some corruption to your OS at the moment.

IMac G5 Power PC won't boot past the grey apple and pinwheel

After everything froze and having to shut down (holding the power button), it won't boot past the grey apple and pinwheel. After a few seconds, the fans speed up and then nothing else.
*it won't boot into safe mode (holding shift)
*booting to OS on DVD works but then freezes after select language and hit "continue"
*disk utility shows the actual hard drive name but no disk image/partition is listed for me to repair or change
*running the system hardware diagnostic CD returns a list of "passed" for all hardware
I did have the logic board replaced during the extended warranty period a few years back and have not had any issues at all since.
Any thoughts, suggestions, tricks/tips?

Perfect diagnosis. I replaced the HD and reinstalled the OS. Back in business! Thanks!

PowerBook G4 won't boot past blue screen

I've read a couple of posts with similar problems. The jist is, I did a security update/restart earlier and now my laptop won't boot past the blue screen after the white screen with the gray apple. I think I'm on Mac OS 10.4.11 but I had it on auto-update so that could be incorrect.
I've booted from the install disk and run a diagnostic from the First Aid bit in the Disk Utility. It says that there are no errors found and the S.M.A.R.T. status says "verified" as well. It won't let me boot into Safe Mode (although, I could be doing that wrong as I'm not exactly clear on how to do it - pressing S doesn't seem to do anything, but if I press Command + S it takes me to a text listy thing and I've run the "fsck -f" system check (which seems like the same as the disk utility check?) from there and also gotten the "volume is ok" message. There was also a suggestion to run some kind of diagnostic after booting with the D key from the install disk, but I was never able to get the disk to boot from the D key, only the C key.
I'm sure that this is kind of the "same song, different verse," kind of post, but I've not read about volumes registering as okay. I'm a little wary of a archive-and-reinstall as I've not ever done that before (so, if that's the suggestion you have, I would really appreciate loads of specifics on how that works so I don't mess up!)
I've read in several instances suspicion of a hard drive problem but I've not had any slow downs or any crashing. I did travel to the UK for about 10 days, but I didn't even change the time zone on my laptop while there, so I don't think that's it (but I suppose it could be.)
Lastly, I did recently replace my keyboard. A few keys had become non-responsive so I replaced it and have had the new keyboard for a bit over a month.
Suggestions? Ideas? Sorry if it's a repeat post -- just felt like the circumstance was a teensy bit different. And also, thanks very much for any info you can give.

Linsey:
If you can boot your computer into Firewire Target Disk Mode and you have access to a second Mac that supports firewire, you may be able to back up items that have not been backed up previously.
If you are able to back everything up successfully, and you have tested your backup to be sure it is sound, then we can proceed with re-installation of the OS. The best option is to completely reformat and erase the HDD and then install the OS from disk. (I will post complete step by step directions). This will enable you to start with a clean slate/HDD. Your other option would be to use the Archive and Install option. Think it over and let me know how you want to proceed.
cornelius

MBP won't boot. Gray screen, apple logo.

As above, my 2.4 Macbook Pro, won't boot past the gray Apple logo and that spinning circle.
Holding C doesn't allow it to boot from CD either, for Leopard/Tiger OR Disk Warrior!
Holding alt allows the start up menu, but then spits the CD out and only shows the Macintosh HD which obviously wont boot!
HELP!
MBP 2.4 / 10.5.2

Have you tried zapping the PRAM?
Here's how:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Ideapad K1 won't boot past Lenovo screen

HELP! My IdeaPad won't boot past the lenovo splash screen. Here's what happened...
It has an AOSP version of Android on it which has been running fine for over a year - never had a problem with it. Yesterday, I tried to awake it from sleep but nothing happened. So I held the power button down until it switched off. I then restarted it and got to the password screen. After entering my password it became unresponsive - it just stalled with the desktop screen on. I gave it 10 minutes but it never became responsive again.
I reset it by holding the power button again until it switched off then I switched it back on. It has never got past the Lenovo splash screen. I've tried booting it loads of times, giving it a full charge, taking the SD card out, giving it a rest, leaving it booting for the whole night...nothing has worked, same result.
I also tried connecting it to the computer and using NV-Flash to put a new image on. It seems to work okay but when it re-boots it still won't get paast the Lenovo splash screen.
I'm desperate for anyone to give me some hints and tips as to where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi,
I am having a similar problem. My 3 month old ideapad u510 froze last night while surfing the internet. nothing worked as far as getting shutdown menu in windows 8 to even work (just froze), so pushed power button till it turned off. immediately afterward, tried to boot by pushing power button and it just stopped booting at lenovo screen.
i've tried to boot a few times since and sometimes i see progress thing (circle of lights...similar to status bar) going other times not. i am not sure what key it is but can get to bios screen sometimes too. was hoping there was safe mode boot in bios but doesn't appear anything thats useful so didn't change anything. it just doesn't boot to windows after exiting bios.
my hunch is that i need a bootdisk or sort. importantly, would like to avoid resetting or refreshing, etc.. until have opportunity to get data off harddrive if possible. some important stuff on there that need to get off first.
Help is very much appreciated.
Thanks,
J

Powerbook won't boot past apple screen, disk utility can't repair

Last night I applied the most recent software updates, I don't remember exactly what they were but there was a Java update, a security update, a quicktime update and an itunes update. after the required restart, my powerbook g4 won't boot past the apple icon screen.
I can't boot it into safe mode or single user mode.
I can start it up in target disk mode and transfer a handful of files/directories at a time before it hangs.
When I try to run the repair in Disk Utility against the target disk, it gets about halfway before the following:
Verify and Repair disk “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
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
the disk doesn't make any grinding or anything, just a few clicks when it tries to boot but nothing bad sounding.
Is my computer hosed? Is it worth bringing it to the genius bar?

Hi, Pat. How much time did you give DW to complete its work? Locating the data it needs to rebuild your directory can take a while — that's the step at which DW far outperforms other utilities. It digs deeper and tries harder than anything else, and that can take a long time. The longest successful DW "fix" I've seen reported here in the seven and a half years I've been participating in Apple Discussions was *14 days* of continuous work to find the necessary data and reconstruct a hard drive directory from it. That was after all other disk utilities had been tried and had failed; it was the user's last hope to save data that hadn't been backed up anywhere. If you haven't allowed DW at least a few hours to accomplish its task, give it another chance. And don't try to use the computer for anything at all while DW is working.

G4 Power Mac won't boot past gray screen

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