Gray circle instead of apple at startup

i started up my 20" imac today and at first it came up to the startup screen with a circle with a slash instead of the apple logo. i turned it off and on and it loaded normal. im just curious to know what might have caused this, since this is the first and only time its happened.

See: Mac OS X- "Broken folder" icon, prohibitory sign, or kernel panic when computer starts

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Gray Circle on startup

I have a Quicksilver Dual 1GHz desktop that started having some problems with the original hard drive (4.5 years old). I a new 160GB Seagate drive and installed 10.4.6 and have this problem: it takes a LONG time to startup, I initially get the gray apple, but after about a minute and a half into the startup cycle, the apple changes to the gray circle with the slash through it. The computer still has the spinning "segments" and after another 45 secs, I get the blue screen, and then a normal startup. The computer works fine. I tried all the recommendations found in this discussion group (I think) such as zaping the PRAM, resetting the nvram via open firmware, resetting the PMU, checking the battery voltage, and repairing the permissions - anything I missed? I'm just a little befudled with the gray circle, and then a normal startup, as slow as the startup cycle is.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Chris

Well, I think I fixed the problem. I didn't seem to have the same problem when I started from the Tiger install DVD (the gray circle), so I pulled out 3rd party USB2 card, reseated the memory and video card, and restarted. Still the same problem. As a last resort, I swapped out the original ribbon cable with the new one that came with the new hard drive since the CD/DCD drive seemed to work normally (thought maybe the ribbon cable had gone partially bad). The desktop is now back to speed.
As a side note, I ran the hardware diagnostics disk and everything checked good.
Chris

"World - Earth" logo instead of Apple logo on startup...

Hi,
Last few startups of my macbook pro (2,4, 15.4'') I noticed that instead of Apple logo, LCD displays "Earth" and just waits there.
I thought that it was maybe because connected HD (fw800) and Audio card (fw400), so i tryed do disconnect both at next startup, and still "Earth" logo appeared.
Plugged out also LAN cable on next startup, and after 15-20 sec. "Earth" became Apple logo, OSx booted.
Does anybody have a clue, what happened? I ran hardware check from OSx installation disc, no hardware problem...
Didn't find any post or discussion, where "Earth" logo would be explained or even mentioned...
Can anyone explain, what is this "Earth" thing doing and what it means?
Thanx
i

The Earth means it is trying a network boot. Make sure the correct hard drive is selected in the "Startup Disk" system preference.

On startup, I get a gray screen w the apple logo and the gear going underneath, help can't get into my sign in and password..

On startup, I get a gray screen w the apple logo and the gear going underneath, help can't get into my sign in and password..

Hi there,
Yes it does. Please read this training manual that is supplied by apple that clearly states that it does.
http://service.info.apple.com/service_training/en/010/comp-theory/index.php?page =startup
Oh, if you cannot access it please look here.
Please note that the ""Some other issue" means that there could be a possible other issue, but the chance of that
happening is small.
Thanks an ACMT Trainee (Apple Certified Mac Technician)

Gray circle with Exclamation point instead of photo?

I get that....er still can't paste the bugger.
when I try to open a photo from viewing the event. The event pics are there but when I double click on the pic the gray circle appears. I have been a mac user for years and this is an annoying problem. Any help would be great. Thanks.
Message was edited by: musashi88

Then I'm afraid that it's likely a damaged database.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums back.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

I am trying to sync a library from iTunes onto my iPhone 4s iOS7 however the songs won't load but there is a dotted gray circle around them. Can you explain how to sync my phone to this library please

I was talking to the Apple support and they said to join a chat. I am trying to sync my iPhone 4s iOS7 to my friend's library but the sync says its goes through (it goes through the six steps of syncing) but none of the songs go onto my iPhone. I put the sidebar on iTunes up and dragged the Music bar onto the bar that says Katie's iPhone. I then clicked down on the drop down for music under Katie's iPhone and the list of songs came up with dotted gray circles next to them. The circles are not filling up so the songs are not downloading on to my phone. Please help me download these songs onto my phone. Thank you

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296

My MacBook Pro stated that it needed to be updated. I clicked yes to restart the computer and update but when it restarted it stays on the gray screen with the apple logo and then pops up, stating "unable to find driver for this platform." What do I do?

My MacBook Pro stated that it needed to be updated. I clicked yes to restart the computer and update but when it restarted it stays on the gray screen with the apple logo and then pops up, stating "unable to find driver for this platform." What do I do?

Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with networks that require any kind of authentication other than a WPA or WPA2 Personal password.
When the Mac OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the Mac OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac didn’t ship with Lion, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.
Don't install the Thunderbolt update -- it's defective.

My computer will not start up. It powers up I get the gray screen with the apple and get the loading progress bar it loads to 25% and the screen goes black

My computer will not start up. It powers up, I get the gray screen with the apple, then the loading progress bar starts loading to about 25% the the screen goes black. what can I try to get my computer up and running?

Carolyn Samit wrote:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
Use Command + R for Lion Recovery
Try restarting, when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key. Then choose the Recovery Partition.

Attempting safe boot--gray screen stuck with apple symbol--

So, left Imac on over weekend with Itunes playing in continuous mode--when I got home (about 36 hrs later) the screen was good but Itunes had locked up and was the Imac was making a stuttering sound (not like a hard drive clicking but like the songs were stuck). The mouse was frozen but the arrow was visible--only way I could get out was to use the power button to force it to shut down. Since then, I get the gray screen when it boots (not using any shortcut keys during reboot) and it sticks there with the eventual appearance of the perpetual spinning circle under it. When I boot using all the tricks I can think of, safe boot (hoping to get to safe mode) I get everything from a gray screen with the apple but w/o the spinning circle (that's from safe boot attempt) to choosing the drive to boot from which reveals a text message that instructs me to reboot and another effort gives a page long text of information that begins with "kernel fail" laid over a gray screen w/o the apple logo, and several other options result in the screen staying black. One screen asked me to type "mac-boot" and enter but nothing new happened. Once I got the screen to come up solid gray with a single black line (running the width of the screen horizontally) about 2/3 from the top of the screen. I have tried booting with every peripheral removed (even tried it with multiple keyboards and mice--even w/o a mouse and keyboard). Tried the PRAM and SMC. The dvd drive is non-functional and has been for more than a year--(different issue) it won't even open (it's the Imac with the pod base and 15 inch screen all in one look from a few years ago)--just wanted to let that be known because I can't put the OS disk in--it's been upgraded to Lion from the original Panther--I think?
Anyway, looking for solutions, ideas etc...Thank you.

I had that same thing happen to me when I was updating my iPhone to iOS 5! What I did was I just kept resetting and resetting and holding down the home and power buttons until 3 in the morning. (ok, maybe it was only midnight but it sure FELT like 3 AM!) Anyway, I would just keep at it until it decides it wants to cooperate. Mine eventually did.

I am not able to use my Mac while FileVault is encrypting. Is it frozen on a gray screen with the apple logo. Is it actually encrypting?

I have an early 2008 MacBook and running iOS Lion. I just turned on FileVault and restarted my computer as instructed. It told me before hand that I would still be able to use my Mac while the files were being encrypted. However, when I logged in on the secure gray login screen, I was only directed to a plain gray screen with the apple logo in the center. There are no time turners or anything moving. Is my Mac encrypting or is it frozen in some sort of way? If it is encrypting, how long does it usually take? and if it is frozen, how do I unfreeze it?

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.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. 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.
d. 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 the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d 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 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 11. 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
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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.

Gray dot instead of artworf

hi!
excuse me, i have a problem:
i have some artworks in some songs, i can see them on the iTunes, but when i eject the iPod, it only shows a gray dot instead of the art, does anyone know why is this? please, help!
iPod Video 60 Gb. Windows XP Pro

Hey jid,
Same happens to me... Just not the gray dot. I can see my album art in iTunes but when I'm listening to my iPod alone, no album artwork shows up at all.
See my post: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=527211&tstart=0
HELP anyone!
~annmarie~

Small faint gray circle and line at top of the iphone

I noticed a small faint gray circle and a curved line at the top of the iphone just above the reciever and just below the silver trim. Does anyone else see this - it has to be angled right and in the correct light. I assume this is going to be the proximity sensor and the light sensor and everyone has it...just wondered as I didn't want it to be a fault!

it is the sensor, goto the link below
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/index.html#sensor
hope this helps explain, visuals are always better

My MacBook Pro will not start. When I started it goes to a gray screen with the Apple logo and has the spinning dial. When I started in safe mode it will not start. In safe mode it as an error message that says MacBook Launch_msg():Socket is not connected

My MacBook Pro will not start. When I started it goes to a gray screen with the Apple logo and has the spinning dial. When I started in safe mode it will not start. In safe mode it as an error message that says MacBook Launch_msg(): Socket is not connected

If running 10.7 or later hold down Command-R at Startup.
This should invoke recovery Mode.
Choose Disk Utility.
Select your Hard drive. Inspect the SMART Status in the lower right of the window for "Verified".
Select the Mac OS X Volume (originally Macintosh HD) click (Repair Disk)
If errors, run again until it comes clean or gets stuck.
Report any error messages.

I have updated my Macbook pro to mavericks since yesturday it has been running none stop with a gray screen and the apple logo in the medle

I have updated my Macbook pro to mavericks since yesturday it has been running none stop with a gray screen and the apple logo in the midle. Does anyone has incounedt that same of problem? Please help. Thank you in advance.

The startup disk may need repairing ...
Startup your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys.
From there you should be able to access the built in utilities to repair the disk and restore OS X using OS X Recovery

Why does Personal Hotspot in iOS 5 give a rotating circle instead on the on/off button?

Why does Personal Hotspot in iOS 5 give a rotating circle instead on the on/off button?

I went to the www.att.com and found this possible solution.
WARNING! - Upgrading iPhone 4 to IOS 5 may break Tethering.. Read for solution
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10-19-201103:46:40 PM - last edited on 10-19-201103:50:09 PM
I'm talking about the PAID FOR "Personal Hotspot" AT&T feature that comes with a 4GB dataplan. If you have a Jailbroken phone then this isn't for you.... Anyway, upgraded to IOS 5 and at the worst possible time I discovered that my phone no longer had the ability to share it's over the air data with my Laptop. Restarting the phone didn't help, turning cellular data on and off didn't help and after hitting a wall I called AT&T's tech support number as I had a strong suspicion what the problem was and that they'd be able to help. Despite explaining the problem and proposing a quick fix the agent made reference to an internal memo saying there are bugs in IOS 5 and that my lack of tether was an Apple software issue and I had to call them. Frankly in this case it's VERY MUCH an AT&T provisioning issue, and one AT&T should have their techs deal with in 30 seconds rather than waste customer's time pointing fingers. After a long and frustrating attempt to get the tech to fix the problem I ended the call by CANCELLING my tether plan and going back to the "Regular" 2GB plan. Reason being hat if it's an IOS bug then it will be weeks I'm paying for service that I'm not getting, or if I was right the problem would be fixed on my next call to AT&T. For giggles I called and spent a very miserable 40 minutes dealing with Apple's IVR and nice but dim tech who was more concerned that I didn't have Apple care than anything else. That call ended with Apple saying it's not them and I should call AT&T support... However, instead of beating my head against the wall again I called SALES and asked them to add 4GB data and teher to my phone. 5 minutes later I had working tether. Problem solved. Basically to enable tether the phone has to pass a sanity check that it hasn't been tampered with, and then to activate the feature a fil is pushed down over the air to "Bless" the iPhone. I suspect as part of the IOS upgrade something went out of whack with either the file or the anti-tamper checks. Solution was to reprovision tethering, but AT&T support wouldn't hear of it. So, if you have lost tethering after an IOS 5 upgrade and AT&T support won't help then the solution is pretty painless. A) call customer service (not tech support) and CANCEL your tethering and extended dataplan. B) Turn your phone off for 5 minutes, then wait another 30 mins or so and call SALES. Ask them to add Tethering and extended data to your account. C) Wait another 30 minutes, or if you're impatient you can try turning your phone on and off again, and you'll be back in business. The down side to the is is you pay for two data plans for this month, but get a credit for the overlap next month (ie net you don't lose out). Hoping AT&T reads this and stops wasting everyone's time by enabling 1st level support to deprovision and then reprovision tether without messing with billing. We can live in hope, but until then I hope this may help someone being bounced around in a game of "Blame Tennis". Once again AT&T = All Twisted & Tangled!

Gray circle instead of apple at startup

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