Gray Screen and Won't Boot Up

I posted this problem several weeks ago. Then there was an update. Everything went away until yesterday. Now I when I turn on the IMac 20" I get either a gray screen followed by the loud fan after a few minutes, or, I get folder with a question mark icon flashing on a gray screen. I have rebooted over and over and nothing changes. ANy one have any recommendations how to fix this - this time. Previously, this problem seem to coincide with an Apple update.

The only thing I can think of short of a hardware or software problem is go into:
System Preferences > Startup Disk, from here make sure you have the correct location selected, "on Macintosh HD"
Also, which version of the iMac G5 do you own? Rev A, B, etc. You can go here: http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/ check to see if your machine falls into any of the repair programs...
Rick
iMac G5 iSight 20" - 30G iPOD in Slimming Black - Mac OS X (10.4.8) - HP Pav 15" WS and Toshiba Sat 17" WS LP's - Canon 20D & A620 Kodak P880

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My late 2006 Black MacBook has a gray screen and won't boot.

My late 2006 Black MacBook has a gray screen, folder icon, and flashing question mark. I replaced the HD with a Western Digital 500 GB and had no change. What's wrong with my MacBook?

That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the hard drive Operating System data is somehow corrupted.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive and reboot. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option key until the Install Disk shows up). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
Once it has finished booting and you Choose Your Language and you are at the Install screen launch Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is then select the First Aid Tab run Repair Disk and if that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

Grey Screen
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

Vertical bars on screen and won't boot up

All of the sudden my MacBook won't boot up. It has pink and gray verticals bars for a few minutes and then just goes gray and won't boot up. Can anyone help.

Hey KatInTheHat2,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Sounds like it might be a screen issue or a computer issue. This first article discusses what to do if your Mac won't turn on.
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367?viewlocale=en_US
The second article is to troubleshoot your computer if it is having issues with video.
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573
Have a nice day,
Mario

Gray Screen - Mac Won't boot from DVD, Please Help!

Hello all
I have an issue. A big issue in fact. I made a fatal mistake of not reading whether my Mac Pro (1,1 1st Gen, 2006) supported Windows 7 64-bit. So I installed via the Bootcamp installer on a separate internal HD and ever since my Mac Pro will not boot up, it just boots into a gray screen and I get the spinning wheel of death. I can however, boot into Safe Mode.
Throughout the years and many moving of houses has meant I have lost my original install disks, so I purchased a retail copy of Snow Leopard (10.6.3 / MC573Z/A). My thinking here was that something is obviously screwed and perhaps a good ol' fresh installation of OSX would do the trick. My Mac originally came with a version of OSX older than Snow Leopard so I'm not violating the can't-install-using-an-older-version-that-what-your-Mac-came-with rule.
Cutting a long story short nothing I do can get the Mac to boot from the install DVD. I've tried the following:
1. Holding down 'c' at start up
2. Selecting the startup disk to be the DVD from Settings within Safe Mode
3. Holding down alt + option key then selecting the DVD
4. Holding down apple + option + shift + delete (read somewhere this forces the Mac to ignore it's desire to boot from the main partition and boot from next available device)
5. Tried resetting the NVRAM
6. Repaired disk permissions from within Safe Mode
All unnecessary periphals have been removed. I have yet to remove 3rd party RAM admittedly.
Really struggling for ideas now.
Is there any hope for me and my beloved Mac Pro?
Many thanks for your suggestions.

Right, another update. This coffee stuff really works!
Did a bit more digging around and found the following forum threads:
http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1241149.html
http://osx86.wikidot.com/known-issues
Anyway, turns out the chap in the first forum link had the exact same problem as me. He temporarily got around this by removing the following files from the following location whilst in Safe Mode:
Location: /System/Library/Extensions
Files:
NVDANV40Hal.kext
NVDANV50Hal.kext
NVDAResman.kext
NVSMU.kext
GeForce.kext
GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle
GeForceGA.plugin
GeForceGLDriver.bundle
GeForceVADriver.bundle
I decided what the heck and moved these files into a new folder on my desktop and deleted the originals.
Sure enough my mac now boots up normally!
So it seems that the graphics card was the issue. I have read about the NVIDA 7300 GT only supporting 32-bit, but my tekkie understanding is not enough to know 32-bit what? I thought OSX was a 64-bit OS? If so, then why had it worked all this time? Only when I mistakenly installed Windons 7 64-bit did all my problems start.
Anyway, looks like I'll need to find a suitable replacement.

My Mac Book Pro 17" has a blank screen and won't boot up?

My Mac book Pro 17" the screen started to scramble and I restarted the computer....I then got a grey screen and the computer never booted up again....Any ideas?

Hey Julius62,
Thanks for the question. After reviewing your post, it sounds like you have a gray screen during startup. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you resolve or isolate the issue.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Have a nice day,
Mario

Gray Screen and won't start up

I shut down my mac last night because we were expecting storms. I tried to start up this morning and it chimes and then the screen goes a light gray. It is not showing anything on the screen - no icons, no little weird folder - nothing, just a blank gray screen.
I have pushed the power button and it goes black (like asleep) then push the button again... it chimes again and then the screen goes gray. I have done this several times. Then I turned it off, unplugged it from the outlet, plugged it back in and tried again with the same result - blank gray screen.
I am freaking out because I am in the middle of several major projects and I need to be able to use the computer today. Right now I am emailing from an older mac that I have in my office.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Your welcome!
Now look at: *System Preferences > Startup Disk* and select the 10.5.6 on Macintosh HD then lock the preference.

Help with start up. new iMac 27" with Marericks installed has been giving me trouble with IDs and passwords. More than one account downloaded from older Laptop. Now the computer has the turning wheel in from of gray screen and won't go any further when

I recently started using my desktop iMac 27" and have been having problems since installing Mavericks, not saying that Mavericks is the problem per se. I think I have too many accounts with too many names, with too many Apple IDs and too many passwords, email passwords and Apple ID passwords, and keychain passwords, etc. Can't keep them straight even though I write everything down. The screen has been making me log in and log out with Account name and passwords after everything I've been doing, also confused about Users and Groups and how to sync everything. I finally just "shut down" everything and the screen was black. When I turned the computer on again, the circular gear in the middle just kept turning but nothing happened after that. Then I held the on button in the back until the screen went black again.
What should I do? Is there a way to combine all my accounts into one account with one Apple ID? I should say that I also have trying to use iCloud and it has different IDs and passwords. Also when I try to log in with one account name, I can't enter anything I write,and when I type on the keyboard, nothing appears on the screen, although I can receive emails, I can't send them.
In another account, what I type does appear on the screen, but I think it's an earlier account and doesn't translate aver to the other account. ALTHOUGH i set up iCloud accounts, they don't appear any more.
Very confused. Any Ideas about how I can get the computer to start up again and show a new screen?
Thanks to anyone who has workable suggestions.

If you really believe that your system has been compromised, here's what you do:
Disconnect your Mac from your cable modem;
Back up any documents on your system that are important to you;
Boot your Mac from the system installation disks that came with it (insert the disk, restart your Mac, and hold down the "c" key until you get the "spinning gear" icon);
Choose a language and click the arrow button to continue;
From the Utilities menu, choose Disk Utility;
In Disk Utility, select your computer's hard drive;
Click the "Erase" tab;
Click the "Security Options" button and select to have it overwrite all the data on the hard drive;
Click the "Erase" button and allow it to process;
Once the "erase process has completed (it will take a while), reinstall Mac OS X.
Or, if this is too much for you to accomplish on your own, take your system to an Apple Store and have them help you perform these steps. If your system was indeed compromised, this will remove any such hack. You can then set up a new user account for the computer, reinstall your applications (reinstall only from original disks or downloads from the company making the software) and documents, and reconnect to the Internet.
Note that when you reconnect to the cable modem, you may still get an IP address starting with 198. This is normal with some cable modems and probably not a cause for concern. It will not be an indication that your system is still compromised; that will not be possible if you perform all the above steps.
Regards.

IPod stuck on black reboot screen and won't boot up

I realize I made a mistake now. I went to Disk Utility and formatted my iPod for UNIX file system. I wanted to be able to plug it into a Linux machine and copy some files over.
Now the iPod is stuck on the black reboot screen with the dim Apple logo. I can hear the hard drive in it attempting to boot up every few seconds.
I can't get iTunes to see the iPod when I plug it in the dock. I can't even get my Mac to see the iPod now.
Any suggestions on how I can Restore it? Or did I kill my poor iPod?

I think I found the solution:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61584
Your suggestion is correct but I have to have it in Disk Mode first before I can format it back to HFS+ and then Restore.
Thanks for the help!

HT4848 My old Mac G5 displays "You need to restart your Mac" + gray screen. Won't boot from any disc, no safe start, did PRAM reset... nothing. HELP!

My old iMac G5 won't restart no matter what I try. I get "You must restart your mac" plus grey screen. I've reset PRAM, tried safe start, tried booting from original iMac discs.. all no good. This happened when I was deleting files in preparation for trading in at Best Buy. Anybody know what's going on?

If you are really running a an "old Mac G5", then you have posted in the wrong Forum.. You have posted in the "Intel iMac Forum" by mistake.

My iMac has the No sign at the grey screen and won't boot up.

It's been acting strange lately-- I tried to run DiskWarrior 3 yesterday and it wouldn't boot up from the CD-- I did the hold down the C key as well as going in and clicking off the 'ignore' box. I thought that it was because I needed a newer version of DiskWarrior-- but now I'm thinking maybe it was something bigger?
Is there a safe way to make it boot up? BTW-- I can't remember exactly which OS it has-- I'm 99% sure it's Snow Leopard, if that helps?
Thanks!!

Reinstall Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. (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.
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. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

My MacBook Pro won't boot on the Mac side I get the gray screen and then halfway through the bar loading it turns off?

My MacBook Pro was downloading apps from iTunes and I shut the computer down at my I laws house or so I thought? When I pulled the computer out of my backpack it was still on? I tried to login and it kept spinning so I turned it off and now I only get a gray screen. I can boot it in the windows side and have an external hard drive with time machine backup on it but don't know how to load it without getting onto the Mac side?
Please help!

turn off the mac completely
as soon AS you hit power button press following 4 keys
Option + Command + P + R
that should reset it

TS4009 I have followed the steps above but when I get to the screen to select a downgraded option, the Done button is grayed out and won't let me select a new option. I see a lock up in top right-hand corner, but not sure how to unlock it.

I have followed the steps above for downgrading iCloud storage options, but when I get to the screen to select a downgraded option, the Done button is grayed out and won't let me select a new option. I see a lock in top right-hand corner, but not sure where to go to unlock it.

Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click the iCloud icon.
Click the Manage button.
Click Change Storage Plan.
Click Downgrade Options.
Enter your Apple ID password, then click Manage.
Choose your current plan, then click Done.
(from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5527 )

The screen on my Mac is white with the apple icon and the spinning timer and won't boot up

The screening on my Mac is white with the apple logo and a spinning timer and won't boot up

Take a look here to see if any of the suggestions help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Macbook Pro boots to blank gray screen and cursor

Hello,
I downloaded the "time machine update" and now my macbook pro will not boot, it stops at a gray screen and cursor.
I have tried safe boot, Disk Warrior, clearing NVPRAM or whatever.
Any ideas on anything else?
Question, how long does a time machine restore take?
Thanks

elipsis1 wrote:
I downloaded the "time machine update" and now my macbook pro will not boot, it stops at a gray screen and cursor.
I have tried safe boot, Disk Warrior, clearing NVPRAM or whatever.
Assuming the TimeMachine updte came from Apple correct?
Disconnect the TM drive and any other hardware to return the machine back to factory as possible.
Run through this fix list
Step by Step to fix your Mac

Gray Screen and Won't Boot Up

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