Gray apple and spinning wheel only

I installed an update from the update scheduler. At first I couldn't print, I restarted the computer and it went to the background display only, no icons. I shut down the power and now all I get is the gray apple and spinning wheel.

I would advise against the PMU reset. It will not solve a problem with botched software update, and can make matters worse if you have an Intel Mini.
Since your forum name is SeattleMom, I'd suggest you take the Mini to the genius bar at your local Apple store and have them sort this out. Be sure to give them a full description of the steps that preceded the problem.

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Imac G5 stuck on white loading screen with gray apple and spinning wheel

I purchased this imac from a rebutable seller on ebay. He obviously had it working before he sent it to me, and he has been helpfull the whole way through, so I am positive this computer is not junk. When I recieved it, I plugged it in and turned it on, at first nothing would show up on the screen and the fans came on. Then, I contacted the seller and he told me to hold the shift key while turning it on. That did work to some extent. Now when I turn it on, it is stuck on the white screen with the gray apple and the spinning wheel. He had just updated and installed EVERYTHING imaginable so I am positive everything is up to date. I am not sure what to do, I have researched this but I cannot seem to find an answer. Oh, and even know on the white screen the fans turn on. It is quite weird.
Well, I hope someone can help. Thank you.

Call AppleCare. You should not be having problems with a brand-new machine.

My iMacG5 will only boot to white screen, gray apple and spinning gear. Help?

My iMacG5 will only boot to white screen, gray apple and spinning gear. Help?
Also not totally sure if it's an Intel based computer, but that's what I recall. Any way to check, since I can't get to About This Mac window?
It's running on OSX Leopard 10.5.4
First symptom = running slowly - then it kind of froze with color wheel spinning - thought a forced shut down would help - help power button til off, then white screen, gray apple and spinning gear.
Have tried...
1. Turn off the computer by choosing Shut Down from the Apple menu, or by holding the power button until the computer turns off.
2. Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord.
3. Wait 10 seconds.
4. Plug in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer.
5. Let go of the power button.
6. Press the power button once more to start up your iMac.
Then try booting from your install disc again.
- No change
And...
Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo
appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
- The fan just got louder.
Thanks for your help.

You need to do an Erase and Install or an Archive and Install depending on whether the hard drive is OK or needs to be reformatted.
Start by booting from your Leopard DVD. The rest is just following directions.
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, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
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.

TS2570 I have the gray screen problem with the white apple and spinning wheel

I have the gray screen problem when it boots to the white apple and spinning wheel, but when I tried safe booting and doing the fsck thing I think I only made it worse, because it now starts, the safe mode progress bar comes on, (no matter if I press any keys or not) and after a minute shuts down again by itself. I also tried the command option, p, r thing and that did not work either, only brought me to the gray screen with the white apple, spinning wheel, and bar, and it promptly shut down. I am thinking more and more that I need the disk, but im not sure I have it. is it possible to order a new one online or is there another thing I can try? there is not an apple store nearby, and ereasing my data is not an option.
Also Im not sure what my exact opporating system is, but I did buy and download mountainlion in August so It is pretty new

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
The hard disk is damaged. Take the Mac to an Apple Store

My Macbook Pro shows the apple and spinning wheel at start up but won't continue startup. Any Help would be appreciated.

My Macbook Pro shows the Apple and spinning wheel at startup but will not continue the startup. Does anybody know how to get past this, so the computer continues to startup?

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 boot failure is to secure your 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 your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into 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, 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.
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. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to 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 boot 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 boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot 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 booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot 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 your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot 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, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot 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 reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot 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 your 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 reboot as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Repeat Step 9, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your 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 boot 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.

Just tried to update my iPad 2 to the current iOS, and I got an error that said the update wouldn't install. The iPad is stuck in a funny mode with the apple and spinning wheel showing. I can't power it down or restart it. What next? Thanks.

Just tried to update my iPad 2 to the current iOS, and I got an error that said the update wouldn't install. The iPad is stuck in a funny mode with the apple and spinning wheel showing. I can't power it down or restart it. What next? Thanks.

Try a hard reset: hold the power and home buttons simultaneously until the Apple logo appears.

My imac starts up with a white screen, gray apple and spinning gear and is frozen on that screen. What can I do?

my imac starts up with a white screen, gray apple and spinning gear and is frozen on that screen. What can I do?

Start your iMac with the original DVD that camera with the system. Then open disk utility and repair your hard drive, also repair your permissions.

Apple and spinning wheel

I was working on my Macbook and it stopped responding altogether. I forced shutdown. Now at restart, all I get is the Apple and spinning wheel. I've had hard drives crash, but in those cases I got a folder with a question mark.
What can I do here?

It happens when a needed system file is damaged. You will have to reinstall OS X.
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 Utilities menu, 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. 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If all is well continue and reinstall Snow Leopard. Your disk will not be erased and your files will be preserved.

TS1367 when the white start screen comes on with the apple and spinning wheel but underneath it there is a bar. Once the bar fills up my MacBook goes off what is that? What do I do?

start screen comes on with the apple and spinning wheel but underneath it there is a bar. Once the bar fills up my MacBook goes off what is that? What do I do?

Have you tried a safe start by holding the shift key when you boot? If that works, and it can take a while to complete, see if a regular boot now works. If it does, you need to free up space on your hard drive.
If a safe boot doesn't work, you need to either boot from an OS X DVD or go into target disk mode to connect via firewire cable to another mac to free up space on your hard drive. You need 5GB min, with 10% to 15%, or more, better, for systems usage. If you have a backup, move some data files to it, erase them and empty the trash.

Brand new MacBookPro 13" , Stuck at White Screen with gray apple and spinning gear.

Brand new MacBookPro 13" , Stuck at White Screen with gray apple and spinning gear.
This MBP apparently didn't come with a DVD and safe mode ( holding shift at boot up ) isn't working.
Any ideas would be most appreciated.

Call AppleCare. You should not be having problems with a brand-new machine.

Imac intel won't restart, I get gray screen and spinning wheel then shut off

My imac intel only restart after running disk utility, otherwise I get a gray screen with apple logo and spinning wheel then after about 2min it shuts off. this all started after a power outage. I have tried everything that I have read online to fix this, it seems doing a clean install is last resort. Does anyone have any other options for me?

nessman wrote:
I have tried disconnecting the periperals, restarting in "safe boot", resetting the pram and I tried starting up in single user mode. It will only start up if I start up from the original gray 10.4 start up disk and run "repair disk"....I get errors including "The underlying task reported failure on exit". I then eject the disk and restart and it works fine but if I have to shut down or restart for any reason it's back to the gray screen.
Your system profile confirms you are using OS 10.5.8. Boot up from your OS 10.5.x install dvd. Use the "repair disk" setting. If you get the same error, then run Apple Hardware Test from your original system dvd.

My imac has a gray screen and spinning wheel and will not start up

my imac has a gray screen with a spinning wheel but will not start what does this mean?

Probably a damaged or failed HD. Please read Gray screen appears during startup on how to troubleshoot and what to do.

IMac Will not boot up grey screen, apple, and spinning wheel

Help. Tax time is a good time for this.

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 wife's MacBook Pro won't boot up. The Apple and spinning wheel stay on the screen indefinitely. What should I do?

I have tried complete shutdown. Could it be the harddrive?

Roger J wrote:
I have tried complete shutdown. Could it be the harddrive?
You'll find out shorty.
Review the link provided above and also run through these fixes, obvious things will occur if you can't perform them or the hardware test will tell you something.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac

On start-up macbook chimes, grey apple but spinning wheel just keeps spinning and spinning and...

So my Black Intel Macbook running Leopard was acting a bit funny. So I shut it down and tried to re-start it but after it chimes and shows the grey apple and spinning wheel.... it just keeps spinning and spinning. I shut it down and tried pressing the power button and immediately held down the Command (x), Option, P, and R keys simultaneously until hering the startup sound a second time (re-setting the PRAM). I get the same resultsd. Does anyone know what I should try next?

Reinstall OS X:
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, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) 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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
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.

Gray apple and spinning wheel only

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