Gray Screen repeating tone

Upon start-up does not proceed beyond repeating tone and gray screen. Will not start in safe mode. Any ideas?

Describe the tones:
Mac computers: About startup tones
Also see the following:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
and
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on

Similar Messages

Repeated Start-Up tone and Gray Screen

So my 15" MacBook Pro froze, and I shut it down, and when I restarted it, it only had the gray screen, and the start-up chime was playing repeatedly. I'm not very technologically savvy, and I'm kind of freaking out. I got this computer in August of 2009, and it uses whatever OS came standard then. Can anyone help?

Ceileen...
Might be a good time to run the Apple Hardware Test just to rule out any hardware isues.
If that doesn't reveal any problems, try here > Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup < for 10.4 / 10.5 / 10.6
And if the startup chime sounds more like beeps it could be the RAM (memory) read here > Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2
and it uses whatever OS came standard then.
It really helps to tell us which Mac OS X you have installed. Sometimes the support links we provide are OS X specific. Help that applies to Snow Leopard may not apply to Lion...
If you aren't sure, click your Apple menu icon then from the drop down menu click About This Mac.
You'll see the version there.

My iMac won't boot, get a black screen with alarm sound, then gray screen with start up sound, then repeats

this problem started last fall after upgrading to Mavericks. If I shut down my computer (or restart) I have problems getting it going again. This is getting progressively worse. I hadn't shut down in over a month, forgot about this issue and shut down (which I used to do daily), so now I can't get my computer to boot. When I hit the power button I hear it starting, then a loud alarm sounds, then a long pause then start up sound with a gray screen with a progress bar. Once the progress bar fills, the screen goes black again for a bit. This whole process will repeat until I get frustrated and force - shut down by holding the power button. I have tried reseting the pram, starting up in safe mode, starting up with the command - R, starting up with my original install disc... none of it works. I'm at a loss! I do have an external hard drive that I have been using for Time Machine, but it's not recent because the disc needs repairs and I hadn't gotten around to buying a new HD to back up to first. Has anyone else had this problem? I really can't afford a big repair/replacement bill.

A long, steady, load tone followed by a progress bar can indicate it is trying to install a Firmware Update. Any other Tones would be multiple beeps and show an error code.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5860
You can also see a progress bar similar to booting into Safe Mode. However, the firmware update bar is thinner vertically than the Safe Mode bar.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
Either way, I would say something is wrong and it would be better evaluated at an Apple Store as Kappy points out.

Repeated gray screen crash!

I'm getting repeated gray screen crashes on startup, sometimes 5 or 6 times in a row. Just started in the last few days. What could be the problem can anyone advise??
Best regareds
Ollie

Safe boot disables much 3rd party software, & loads like Safe Drivers, so it could be either a Hardware problem, or Software problem.
DW is great for Disk problems, & I think every Mac owner should have a copy, but at this point I don't think it'll fix your problem.
BTW, you might enjoy these DiskWarrior review/recommendations...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9645801&#9645801
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10541019#10541019
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11918925&#11918925
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12684129#12684129
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12744794&#12744794
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=12912879#12912879
Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor
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.
Open Console in Application>Utilities, check the system log for Date & time of the last crash for clues.

Repeated Authorization of DRM Video displays gray screen with no sound

I recently loaded the digital copy of Watchmen included with the Blu-Ray package. Every time I attempted to play it, iTunes authorization would be required and a message would indicate the system was already authorized. The movie would "play" with a gray screen and no sound, however the preview screen would show a still of the current scene. The movie could be loaded on my iPhone and plays normally. All my previous DRM purchases now display the same gray screen with no sound.
The problem was caused by /Library/Quicktime/QuickTimeComponents.component
In my case, this was an obsolete 7.2 version
I removed the file, rebooted, and the problem was solved.
Restoring the file, will make the problem return.
The problem could be reproduced on both a G5 and Intel Mac.
There are many posts about similar gray screen (or grey screen) issues, but there seems to be many different causes. A similar issue exists with a 3ivx component which is also stored in /Library/Quicktime/ -- so I systematically removed components until the problem was solved. Some components are also located in /System/Library/Quicktime/

What I had to do was trash my Quicktime application.
Goggled "Quicktime"...Since my operating system was "Lepoard" 10.5.8 - I downloaded and install QuickTime 7.5.5 for Leopard and let the install do its trick...
Once the machine restarted I went back to Apple QuickTime support page and downloaded the update QuickTime 7.7 for Leopard - let the install do its trick and after the restart I opened my movie download file in Quicktime and "BLAM!!!" it worked...THANK YOU!
Funny Apple QuickTime folks didn't know how to solve this issue...its nothing new and they are to be in the "know". The ineptness...wasting over of two weeks of my time emailing back and forth, then waiting a day in between for a response is unforgiveable.
Again THANKS...

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 travails - gray screen

Thanks BDAQUA,
on monday I loaded the latest 10.4.11 security update.
Seemed to work just fine.
restarted, and it took a long long time to restart, apple symbol,
never completed. powered down after an hour,
powered up, and slid the tiger install disk 1 in the slot
gray screen after the startup sound. no apple symbol
rebooted and held the D key
same deal, 30 minutes gray screen.
powered down, reseated memory.
same cycle.
let it sit 36 hours
powered down, removed memory, replaced with known good sticks.
powered up, with keyboard/mouse attached, got the start up
tones, no apple, no beeps, no blinking power led. just gray
screen
power cycled, held the S key right after the tone, same deal, 15 minutes.
same deal with the S key held while powering up, and holding key for 10 minutes
power cycled, held d key, same deal, 15 minutes
power cycled, just letting it sit, 30 minutes so far.
I hear the drive start, fans run, but no other indications.
any suggestions appreciated.
thanks
bob

Hi Bob,
held the S key right after the tone
Did you hold the Command key plus the s key?
Reboot holding down CMD+s, (+s), then when the DOS like prompt shows, type in...
/sbin/fsck -fy
(space between fsck and -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: 
The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: 
*** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
The d key may or may not work, try the Option Key, does anything show up?

Two crashes: one OS crash with gray screen and loading bar- help? (Stuck overseas, so you guys are it!)

Hey everyone.
When firefox crashed last night, I figured it was just firefox being difficult, but when while using firefox my entire computer crashed this afternoon and rebooted with a gray screen, the spinny wait symbol, and a loading bar, I started to get concerned. After looking through console, I'm not sure what's caused it to crash like this so I'm hoping one of you bright people here can tell me what exactly happened. I'm running a mac book pro with 10.6.8, have no real addons on firefox aside from adblock plus, divx, memory restart, a french dictionary, and a skin I've been using forever and have also spoken to the developer in the past about. I'm also using Firefox 17.0.1. After trying to google some of the more unfamiliar/suspicious lines (mostly relating to launch agents), I typed into terminal the command to list all launch agents and received 3 replies naming adobe, divx, and google. I used terminal to delete them all just for safe measure (plus the adobe update window has been irritating me to no end so maybe it'll go away now, haha). I did three things when I tried to boot up again after the crash and the weird launch screen with loading bar came up: 1) I held down the power button again because a) the screen was weirding me out and b) I thought it got hung up again (bar seemed to stall for an unusually long time), 2) I tried to boot again and when the same gray screen came back I just figured I had no choice and had to sit through it. 3) when the bar was at about half way I pulled out my ethernet cord for safe measure in case something shady was going on. These three things are also reflected in the log below.
I currently live overseas and the nearest Apple store is over two hours away with no guarantee of a native english speaker working, so if anyone can let me know what caused the crash and if there's anything I can do about it, I would be extremely grateful. The following is my current console log in its entirety from today, including my attempted system update to see if that would improve things (which also resulted in a gray screen with loading bar later), and a really weird bit at the end that is also confusing (but possibly caused by me tinkering in terminal- not sure).
NAME is replacing my HD name, and my screen name here (caithris) has replaced my computer user name. NUMBER has replaced anything that looks like a serial number of some kind.
Thanks so much ahead of time-- please let me know if there's anything else I can share.
Mar 31 00:30:01 NAME newsyslog[9228]: logfile turned over
Mar 31 01:03:25 NAME firefox[8993]: Mozilla has caught an Obj-C exception [NSRangeException: *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (1) beyond bounds (1)]
Mar 31 01:03:25 NAME [0x0-0x10010].org.mozilla.firefox[0]: 2013-03-31 01:03:25.193 firefox[8993:903] Mozilla has caught an Obj-C exception [NSRangeException: *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (1) beyond bounds (1)]
Mar 31 01:04:06 NAME [0x0-0x10010].org.mozilla.firefox[0]: pure virtual method called
Mar 31 01:04:06 NAME [0x0-0x10010].org.mozilla.firefox[0]: terminate called without an active exception
Mar 31 01:04:20 NAME ReportCrash[9260]: Saved crash report for firefox[8993] version 17.0.1 (1712.11.28) to /Users/Caithris/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2013-03-31-010420_NAME.c rash
Mar 31 01:05:35 NAME SubmitDiagInfo[9280]: Submitted crash report: /Users/Caithris/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/firefox_2013-03-31-010420_NAME.c rash
Mar 31 03:00:27 NAME loginwindow[31]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Mar 31 03:00:28 NAME configd[13]: PMConnection IPConfiguration com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 1120 ms
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME configd[13]: Sleep: Success - AC 97 - Idle Sleep
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME configd[13]: Wake: Success - AC 97 - OHC2
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME configd[13]: Hibernate Statistics
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME loginwindow[31]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:3/31/2013 11:22:53.195 AM - Waketime:3/31/2013 11:22:43.930 AM = Deltatime:9.265338957
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME loginwindow[31]: askForPasswordBuiltIn after makekey, Currenttime:3/31/2013 11:22:53.212 AM - Waketime:3/31/2013 11:22:43.930 AM = Deltatime:9.281565964
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME loginwindow[31]: builtInAuthWindowBecameKey, Currenttime:3/31/2013 11:22:53.243 AM - Waketime:3/31/2013 11:22:43.930 AM = Deltatime:9.312892973
Mar 31 11:22:53 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 11:22:54 NAME configd[13]: PMConnection AirPort configd plug-in com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 9839 ms
Mar 31 11:22:54 NAME configd[13]: PMConnection IPConfiguration com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 9849 ms
Mar 31 11:22:57 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 11:22:57 NAME ntpd[20]: sendto(17.171.4.13) (fd=24): Network is unreachable
Mar 31 11:23:02 NAME loginwindow[31]: in pam_sm_authenticate(): Failed to determine Kerberos principal name.
Mar 31 11:23:02 NAME loginwindow[31]: builtInAuthWindowDidResignKey
Mar 31 11:23:02 NAME loginwindow[31]: handleUnlockResult, Currenttime:3/31/2013 11:23:02.536 AM - Waketime:3/31/2013 11:22:43.930 AM = Deltatime:18.606058955
Mar 31 11:23:32 NAME loginwindow[31]: no spins reported for this wake
Mar 31 11:27:31 NAME SubmitDiagInfo[9444]: Cleaning up expired diagnostic messages database at path: /var/log/DiagnosticMessages/2013.03.01.asl
Mar 31 11:33:29 NAME [0x0-0x3b63b6].org.mozilla.firefox[9264]: NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down
Mar 31 11:36:14 NAME ntpd[20]: time reset -4.060579 s
Mar 31 12:11:05 NAME firefox[9264]: -deltaZ is deprecated for NSEventTypeMagnify. Please use -magnification.
Mar 31 15:19:22 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:28:23 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:28:53: --- last message repeated 7 times ---
Mar 31 15:28:23 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:30:22 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:56:08 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:56:13: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Mar 31 15:56:13 NAME loginwindow[31]: in pam_sm_authenticate(): Failed to determine Kerberos principal name.
Mar 31 15:56:16 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 15:56:46: --- last message repeated 8 times ---
Mar 31 16:00:10 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 16:00:40: --- last message repeated 3 times ---
Mar 31 16:00:44 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 16:01:14: --- last message repeated 5 times ---
Mar 31 16:02:36 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 16:03:06: --- last message repeated 9 times ---
Mar 31 16:03:22 NAME kernel[0]:
Mar 31 16:10:31 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Mar 31 16:17:50 localhost DirectoryService[15]: Improper shutdown detected
Mar 31 16:17:54 localhost fseventsd[33]: event logs in /.fseventsd out of sync with volume. destroying old logs. (707133 444 707763)
Mar 31 16:17:54 localhost bootlog[41]: BOOT_TIME: 1364713830 0
Mar 31 16:17:58 localhost fseventsd[33]: log dir: /.fseventsd getting new uuid: NUMBER
Mar 31 16:17:58 localhost blued[42]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Mar 31 16:18:02 localhost mDNSResponder[28]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Mar 31 16:18:03 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[21]: usbmuxd-296.4 on Dec 21 2012 at 16:11:14, running 64 bit
Mar 31 16:18:04 localhost configd[13]: bootp_session_transmit: bpf_write(en1) failed: Network is down (50)
Mar 31 16:18:04 localhost configd[13]: DHCP en1: INIT transmit failed
Mar 31 16:18:04 localhost configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:18:04 NAME configd[13]: setting hostname to "NAME.local"
Mar 31 16:18:04 NAME /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[29]: Login Window Application Started
Mar 31 16:18:04 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:18:04 NAME mDNSResponder[28]: mDNSPlatformSetDNSConfig: Error: dns_configuration_copy returned NULL
Mar 31 16:18:04 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:18:11 NAME mds[27]: (Normal) DiskStore: Creating index for /
Mar 31 16:18:17 NAME loginwindow[29]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Mar 31 16:18:18 NAME WindowServer[71]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:18:18 NAME com.apple.WindowServer[71]: Sun Mar 31 16:18:18 NAME.local WindowServer[71] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:18:29 NAME SecurityAgent[92]: NSSecureTextFieldCell detected a field editor ((null)) that is not a NSTextView subclass designed to work with the cell. Ignoring...
Mar 31 16:18:30 NAME loginwindow[29]: Login Window - Returned from Security Agent
Mar 31 16:18:30 NAME loginwindow[29]: USER_PROCESS: 29 console
Mar 31 16:18:30 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] (com.divx.agent.postinstall): Unknown key: LimitToSessionType
Mar 31 16:18:30 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] (com.apple.ReportCrash): Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
Mar 31 16:18:36 NAME root[113]: /usr/libexec/ntpd-wrapper: scutil key State:/Network/Global/DNS not present after 30 seconds
Mar 31 16:18:37 NAME root[130]: sntp options: a=2 v=1 e=0.100 E=5.000 P=2147483647.000
Mar 31 16:18:37 NAME root[130]: d=15 c=5 x=0 op=1 l=/var/run/sntp.pid f= time.apple.com
Mar 31 16:18:37 NAME root[130]: sntp: getaddrinfo(hostname, ntp) failed with nodename nor servname provided, or not known
Mar 31 16:18:38 NAME-2 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] (com.apple.mrt.uiagent[123]): Exited with exit code: 255
Mar 31 16:18:38 NAME-2 com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[124]): Exited with exit code: 1
Mar 31 16:19:55 NAME-2 XProtectUpdater[19]: NSURLConnection error: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1009 UserInfo=0x100174890 "This computer’s Internet connection appears to be offline." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1009 UserInfo=0x1001744e0 "This computer’s Internet connection appears to be offline.")
Mar 31 16:19:55 NAME com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.xprotectupdater[19]): Exited with exit code: 255
Mar 31 16:22:04 NAME kextd[10]: updated kernel boot caches
Mar 31 16:25:04 NAME Software Update[178]: SWU: scan found 0 products:
Mar 31 16:25:05 NAME Software Update[178]: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1009 UserInfo=0x10052e600 "This computer’s Internet connection appears to be offline." Underlying Error=(Error Domain=kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork Code=-1009 UserInfo=0x10052f760 "This computer’s Internet connection appears to be offline.")
Mar 31 16:25:14 NAME com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.suhelperd[181]): Exited with exit code: 2
Mar 31 16:25:18 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:26:17 NAME Software Update[188]: SWU: scan found 1 products:\n041-9605
Mar 31 16:26:30 NAME ntpd[18]: time reset +1.140167 s
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.suhelperd[190]): Exited with exit code: 2
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] ([0x0-0xf00f].com.apple.Console[142]): Exited: Killed
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] ([0x0-0x15015].com.apple.SoftwareUpdate[188]): Exited: Killed
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[96] (com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent[126]): Exited: Killed
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME loginwindow[29]: DEAD_PROCESS: 29 console
Mar 31 16:26:57 NAME /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[200]: Login Window Application Started
Mar 31 16:26:58 NAME loginwindow[200]: USER_PROCESS: 200 console
Mar 31 16:26:58 NAME WindowServer[203]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:26:58 NAME com.apple.WindowServer[203]: Sun Mar 31 16:26:58 NAME.local WindowServer[203] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:26:59 NAME Software Update[209]: Looking for products to install
Mar 31 16:27:02 NAME Software Update[209]: Performing preflight
Mar 31 16:27:02 NAME Software Update[209]: Preparing session
Mar 31 16:27:02 NAME Software Update[209]: Starting session
Mar 31 16:27:03 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: extracting "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:03 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: pre-flight scripts for "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:03 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: pre-install scripts for "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:16 NAME Software Update[209]: REQ: moving files into place with shove
Mar 31 16:27:17 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: post-install scripts for "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:17 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: post-flight scripts for "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:17 NAME Software Update[209]: PKG: writing receipt for "com.apple.pkg.MacBookProSMCUpdate"
Mar 31 16:27:17 NAME Software Update[209]: REQ: install succeeded
Mar 31 16:27:18 NAME Software Update[209]: SWU: installing "MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Update, 1.6"
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME [0x0-0x1a01a].com.apple.SoftwareUpdate[209]: /: no supported helper partitions to update.
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME kextd[10]: updated kernel boot caches
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME Software Update[209]: kextcache returned 0
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME Software Update[209]: Running /sbin/reboot
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME reboot[242]: rebooted by Caithris
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME reboot[242]: BOOT_TIME: 1364714840 524942
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME mDNSResponder[28]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) stopping
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME DirectoryService[15]: BUG in libdispatch: 10K549 - 1960 - 0x10004004
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME WindowServer[203]: hidd died. Reestablishing connection.
Mar 31 16:27:20 NAME WindowServer[203]: Unable to create event queue via hidd: (0x10000003)
Mar 31 16:28:03 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
Mar 31 16:29:52 localhost bootlog[47]: BOOT_TIME: 1364714882 0
Mar 31 16:29:53 localhost mDNSResponder[34]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-258.21 (May 26 2011 14:40:13) starting
Mar 31 16:29:54 localhost configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:29:54 NAME configd[13]: setting hostname to "NAME.local"
Mar 31 16:29:54 NAME com.apple.usbmuxd[27]: usbmuxd-296.4 on Dec 21 2012 at 16:11:14, running 64 bit
Mar 31 16:29:56 NAME blued[17]: Apple Bluetooth daemon started
Mar 31 16:29:57 NAME /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/loginwindow[35]: Login Window Application Started
Mar 31 16:29:59 NAME configd[13]: network configuration changed.
Mar 31 16:30:12: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Mar 31 16:30:12 NAME ntpd[24]: time reset +0.227711 s
Mar 31 16:30:13 NAME loginwindow[35]: Login Window Started Security Agent
Mar 31 16:30:14 NAME WindowServer[61]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:30:14 NAME com.apple.WindowServer[61]: Sun Mar 31 16:30:14 NAME.local WindowServer[61] <Error>: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:30:21 NAME SecurityAgent[96]: NSSecureTextFieldCell detected a field editor ((null)) that is not a NSTextView subclass designed to work with the cell. Ignoring...
Mar 31 16:30:22 NAME loginwindow[35]: Login Window - Returned from Security Agent
Mar 31 16:30:22 NAME loginwindow[35]: USER_PROCESS: 35 console
Mar 31 16:30:22 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[99] (com.divx.agent.postinstall): Unknown key: LimitToSessionType
Mar 31 16:30:22 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[99] (com.apple.ReportCrash): Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self
Mar 31 16:30:32 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[99] (com.apple.mrt.uiagent[124]): Exited with exit code: 255
Mar 31 16:30:35 NAME com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[99] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[125]): Exited with exit code: 1
Mar 31 16:30:47 NAME mdworker[81]: (Error) SyncInfo: Catalog changed during searchfs too many times -- falling back to fsw search /
Mar 31 16:36:05 NAME mdworker32[158]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:36:22 NAME mdworker32[161]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:36:29 NAME [0x0-0x10010].org.mozilla.firefox[149]: NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down
Mar 31 16:39:07 NAME mdworker[157]: Warning: unknown JFIF revision number 0.01
Mar 31 16:39:22 NAME login[182]: USER_PROCESS: 182 ttys000
Mar 31 16:40:34 NAME /System/Library/CoreServices/CCacheServer.app/Contents/MacOS/CCacheServer[132]: No valid tickets, timing out
Mar 31 16:40:35 NAME mdworker[157]: Error, could not create MachMessagePort for com.apple.AddressBook.abd
Mar 31 16:40:37 NAME mdworker[157]: Unable to parse date (<XHTML-STRIPONREPLY>
</XHTML-STRIPONREPLY>)
Mar 31 16:40:38 NAME mdworker[157]: Unable to parse date ( S<XHTML-STRIPONREPLY>
</XHTML-STRIPONREPLY>him to any)
Mar 31 16:40:41: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 1
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 2
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 3
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 4
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 5
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 6
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 7
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 8
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 9
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 10
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 11
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 12
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 13
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 14
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 15
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 16
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 17
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 18
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 19
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 20
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 21
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 22
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 23
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 24
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 25
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char ^M for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char ^M for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:41 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 1
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 2
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 3
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 4
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 5
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 6
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 7
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 8
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 9
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 10
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 11
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 12
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 13
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 14
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 15
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 16
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 17
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 18
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 19
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 20
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 21
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 22
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 23
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 24
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 25
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char ^M for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char ^M for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char ^M for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:40:43 NAME mdworker[157]: Invalid char \n for PropertyName in line 26
Mar 31 16:41:27 NAME mdworker[157]: Corrupt JPEG data: 1 extraneous bytes before marker 0xd9
Mar 31 16:41:27 NAME mdworker[157]: JPEG datastream contains no image
Mar 31 16:41:33: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Mar 31 16:41:33 NAME login[182]: DEAD_PROCESS: 182 ttys000
Mar 31 16:41:50 NAME mdworker[156]: iCal.mdimporter: could not parse ICS file: /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/OutlookCore.framework/Versions/14/Resources/en.lproj/Timezones.ics
Mar 31 16:41:51 NAME mdworker32[204]: kCGErrorFailure: Set a breakpoint @ CGErrorBreakpoint() to catch errors as they are logged.
Mar 31 16:43:41 NAME [0x0-0x10010].org.mozilla.firefox[149]: NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down
Mar 31 17:07:10 NAME firefox[149]: -deltaZ is deprecated for NSEventTypeMagnify. Please use -magnification.
Thanks again- I mean it. It's lousy being stuck away from home when crazy thing happen to your main line of communication!
-Caithris

The gray screen with loading bar issue is a at boot fsck (file system check) that has discovered something wrong with your boot drive/partition and was attempting to fix it.
OS X is booting but can't complete, so that means your hard drive is good, just likely has been either subjected to shock which damaged data on the platters, or bad sectors (the drive is dying if after fixing it, problems occurs again), or something messed something up in the file structure.
Firefox is currently at 19.02, so it appears your background auto-update has not been occurring, which makes me suspect the machine's data is broken in some manner or you have malware on the machine blocking the updates.
Your problems are multiple, in your case I advise a complete erase and install.
1: If you have a backup of your user data on a external storage drive (not TimeMachine as it might be corrupted and compromised with malware it's just going to restore back) then your good, else you have to do this.
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
Copy your data to a blank plain jane external storage drive as you want no executable files on it when you connect to the cleaned machine later.
2: Once your data is safely copied (copy visible files manually and what you know is good, not folders that can contain invisible malware programs!) then disconnect the drive(s)
3: Next assume all writeable media is contaminated with malware and treat as so. Even if you erased it.
4: Stick in your 10.6 install disk and reboot holding the c or option key down. You want Disk Utility and you want to select the ENTIRE internal drive and MUST USE the Security Option > Zero All Data (unless your in the military then use 7x erase, do not use 35x as it will take weeks and is unnecessary)
The Zero/7x erase will do two things, do a low level format and erradicate everything (including hidden stuff and deleted files) also will map off any failing sectors on the hard drive.
5: Follow the procedure here to install 10.6
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
6: Reboot the machine twice, then once you set up the machine (using a alias of course and not allowing registration), use a secured network and IMMEDIATLY Software update to 10.6.8, if you can download the 10.6.8 Combo update on another secure machine to a (new) USB thumb drive and install it on the clean Mac, do that instead.
WiFi security issues, at home and WiFi hotspots
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399
Still run Software update afterwards as Apple might not have fully updated the combo update yet.
7: Once you machine is secure, download the free ClamXav and run a scan on the external storage drive with just your files, perhaps one or more PDF's or other files are not what they seem to be.
8: Make sure to install fresh copies of software from original sources and not from rewriteable media, update them to be current. Malware can be hidden in copies of programs.
9: Trash all your rewritable media, or use a Linux PC or Linux Mint in a virtual machine (VirtualBox) on another computer like Windows to scrub and reformat all the rewritable media before attaching them to the clean Mac. You have to make sure it's getting the entire media.
10: Once your machine is set back up, then make clones and time and date them.
Most commonly used backup methods
If your still having problems with the machine, it's likley a failing hard drive and you will have to replace it and repeat the steps above pretty much.
Really it's best to replace the drive in the interest of security.
Install/upgrade RAM or storage drive in Mac's
For performance of Snow Leopard, check out this tip
For Snow Leopard Speed Freaks
Your overseas, if your in a foriegn country you have to assume FinSpy is being installed on your machine (uses a older iTunes verison "update" to get on) or there is other tricks via the ISP to install something on your machine. So mix things up and don't stick any old USB you see laying around into your Mac.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/

MacBook Pro mid 2010, gray screen at start up, boot from dvd not working.

Backstory:
I was in the process of installing Windows 7 using boot camp, but I was a little bit low on HD space. So, I deleted the user account that had a ton of stuff, and did some other crap that messed up my hard drive. So my computer just won't boot. It shows a gray screen 24/7, going into safe boot/safe boot + verbose doesn't fix the problem. I tried booting from an OSX Leopard dvd, but it won't work when I hold down C, and when I choose the Mac OS X Install DVD option after holding the option key, when I click the arrow button it freezes and doesn't boot. I have Lion installed, and apple says not to boot with an older version of OSX DVD, but there is no Lion DVD.
What do I do?
PS: I'm trying to boot using the DVD so I can reformat my hard drive, trying to do so in Recovery HD doesn't work because it says it 'Can't unmount drive'.

Rockswim,
did it do that only once, or does it do that every time you restart it?

Macbook Pro takes long to boot up, Freezes easily, Gets Gray Screen saying restart

I've had my Macbook Pro 13 since November 2010, I am still running Snow Leopard, never upgraded or anything. Since last March, my computer takes a long time to turn on, get to the screen where I log in. If I click anything when it gets to the screen right away, I can't click anything, the mouse moves, but nothing responds. I have to wait a good 15-20 minutes before I can click anything. I usually turn my computer on, and leave, come back 25-30 minutes later, and log in. When I have over 3 applications open, ex Firefox, MS Word, Spotify, my computer lags, and sometimes freezes. The freezes last from 30 seconds, to me having to restart the computer. Sometimes the computer freezes randomly when I'm just browsing. Around 70-80% of the time, when I play a video, using flash player like youtube, my computer lags, and after watching a video or 2, the computer freezes. Most of the time, the freeze stays frozen, and around 10 minutes later my mouse can move, but the screen is frozen, and the rainbow loading symbol starts. I just restart the computer. Sometimes, around once every 2 days, or sometimes it happens around 10 times in a couple of hours of me using the computer, my computer gets a gray screen that descends down the screen, it says in multiple languages that I have to immediately restart my computer by pressing the power button down and then pressing it again. Oh, and the bottom of my computer always gets really really hot when I use it.
It is a huge hassle, I can still use the computer, but I would love it if my computer was fixed.

I am still running Snow Leopard, never upgraded or anything.
What about updates? Check software update.
How large is your hard drive and how much hard drive space do you have left?
Shut down your computer and disconnect all peripherals (keyboard & mouse if pertinent) from your computer. Now reboot.
If the Mac starts up normally, shut it down again and then plug in one of the peripherals (keyboard or mouse first) and start up your computer again. If it does so successfully repeat the process, adding one peripheral at a time until your Mac acts up. At that point, disconnect the last peripheral you added, reboot your Mac and search the peripheral vendor's website for an updated driver.
If no driver exists or the problem remain after installing the new driver, try a different cable or a different port on your Mac.
If none of the above works, again disconnect all peripherals from your Mac, hold down the "shift" key to start up in "Safe Boot" mode.
If the Mac starts up correctly, restart without pressing the "shift" key.
If your computer still does not start up properly, shut it down and restart it while holding down the Apple+Option-P-R keys; keep holding "all 4 keys" down until you hear the startup sound "twice."
If none of the above work Disconnect all peripherals from your computer. Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.
Select your language.
Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.
Click Repair Disk.
(If Disk Utility cannot repair, you will need a stronger utility (3rd party) - Diskwarrior or Techtool PRO)
Restart your computer when done.
Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 and restart your computer.
Remove any 3rd party ram.
Reinstall Snow Leopard - This will install a "fresh" copy of Snow Leopard without archiving old system files but leaves the rest of your files in place.
Oh, and the bottom of my computer always gets really really hot when I use it.
User Tip: How to deal with MacBook Pro and MacBook heat?
Per your user manual: Do not operate your MacBook Pro on a pillow or other soft material, as the material can block the airflow vents. Never place anything over the keyboard when operating your MacBook Pro. Never push objects into the ventilation openings.
From MacBook Pro: Care, Use, and Safety Information
For prolonged use, place your MacBook Pro on a flat, stable surface. Do not place your MacBook Pro on your lap or other body surface for extended periods of time. Prolonged body contact can cause discomfort and potentially a burn.

Mac Pro stuck on gray screen after installing software for a new keyboard

I am having a huge issue with my very important work computer! For a few weeks, my Mac has been freezing on the gray screen during start up. Since I had two external hard drives plugged in, I would unplug one of them and the Mac would always restart correctly once one was unplugged. Well today I was installing software for a new keyboard and the mac prompted me to restart. Once I restarted, the gray screen came up again and no matter what I did it would not start up correctly again. I tried unplugging everything except the keyboard and monitor and nothing works. I tried ejecting the crash-causing CD with the keyboard using all of the commands I found on this forum board and nothing worked. I saw forums about manually ejecting the CD by pushing a pin-hole but I cannot find that pinhole anywhere! Then again, the CD might not even be the problem but since the computer gave me the gray screen of death right after using the CD I am thinking that it is the problem. I use this computer for editing a TV show and creating websites so there is a ton of files on it and I need to get it up and running again ASAP. Any suggestions would be appreciated and I am sure by now you can tell that I am not a Mac expert so please dumb it down for me. Thank you!!

I would start by breaking your thoughts and sentences out from one long paragraph.
Start at the basics.
Always have backups.
One at least that is a spare boot system you can use.
Clone your system. SuperDuper does a great job for only $29
Boot from another hard drive or last OS X DVD
Repair your drive with Apple Disk Utility along with 3rd party disk maintenance and repair
Hold Option key until the boot manager, then hold mouse to open optical drive.
You can hold mouse on startup and it will eject also.
Hold and continue to hold Shift key during startup to repair the boot drive in minimal fashion.
What device and driver? hint: never use CD, just go online as the CD is usually out of date anyway.
Fill in Mac OS X version and more about hardware would help in posts and in your profile signature.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/harddrives/index.html#d12aug2010
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior

Mac mini mid 2011 boot stops at gray screen

I have a mid 2011 mini running 10.9.5 that's stopping at a gray screen. Waiting for it hasn't worked yet
On start up I get the apple logo, the wriggling worm and after a bit the screen goes black for a few seconds then comes up gray and is completely unresponsive,\.
I tried to restart, for some reason I no longer remember and Moneydance repeatedly cancelled the restart. I held the power button to take it down and now I got nothin A hard take down is the only thing that works
While I was writing this I got a flag that says it's looking for a bluetooth keyboard. It had it until I turned the laptop on. I unlocked the keyboard laptop link and it connected to the mini, but still no other response
I want to scream

Thanks for answering.
I haven't tried it with a wired keyboard yet. I don't have one and won't before tomorrow.
The apple bluetooth keyboard will put this laptop in safe mode without a hitch. One problem is I normally have the speaker off and as a result I don't hear the chime.
I clicked on the link you posted and read the page you recommended. It's helpful, but there's a problem. If I can't get it into safe mode, I won't be able to get it into target mode either, will I?
It's not an emergency and I'm not desperate. I have two terabyte disks running in tandem on time machine so I haven't lost anything but a little more hair. Everything else is in the cloud.
If there's an answer to this short of a trip to the genius temple I'd like to know what it is.
Thanks again. All thoughts are valuable.
chas

Gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang at start up

after a lengthy round of "bejeweled", i let my imac fall into screen saver mode. when i tried to log back in, i tapped the mouse and the imac flashed as it does when actuated outside a dialogue without clicking the okay button, and immediately returned to screen saver. i then manually shut down and restarted to the gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang. i then inserted the leopard install dvd, manually shut down and restarted pressing the option key and selected the install disc. it booted as usual. i selected the language preferred, used the utility drop down menu and selected DU, then selected the hard drive and verify permissions to reveal a pop up "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. Permissions verification complete." i immediately selected repair disc, and breathed a sigh of relief with the notification "appears to be ok". then utilities/start up disc/macintosh hd/restart. still get the hang. i have repeated this process several times, also resetting the PRAM as well to the infinite hang. as a matter of fact, the gear has been spinning the entire time creating this post. needless to say, i am truly at a loss. SOS!!!!!!! Please!!!!! SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY!!!!

i have perused some of the threads posted per this topic and decided to attempt an "archive and install." i also have a 620gig acomdata external drive with close to a carbon copy of my internal. a few short minutes into the install, the imac reveals a pop up stating it cannot install some files on the hard drive, contact the software manufacturer or restart and try to install again. the internal drive is a 160gig with only about 60gigs of room, so i tried to archive and install to the acomdata instead as it has 180 gig of free space. i get the exact same dialogue once again. restart and a third attempt only archive and install will not highlight, only first time and/or erase and install. further, start up disc shows only the install disc and network as choices. so i attempt first time install on both drives and get the same pop up message again. DU recognizes both drives although verify/repair permissions does not highlight, but not start up disc.
i'm trying not to become frantic, but my patience is threadbare. i am in desperate need of sound advice as to what i need to do.
thanks again in advance,
bradley

My computer has been acting weird lately. Shuts itself off, the mouse goes off in all angles, does not go into sleep mode sometimes and instead shows on a gray screen definitions of words in 3" letters! Do I have a virus?

My computer has been acting weird lately. Shuts itself off, the mouse goes off in all directions, does not go into sleep mode sometimes, instead shows a gray screen with word definitions in large 3" letters that continuosly flows across the screen. Do I have a virus?

Doesn't really sound like a virus.
See if the Disk is issuing any S.M.A.R.T errors in Disk Utility...
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7029
How many of these you can answer...
Open Activity Monitor in Applications>Utilities, select All Processes & sort on CPU%, any indications there?
How much RAM & free space do you have also, click on the Memory & Disk Usage Tabs.
Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.
In the Memory tab, are there a lot of Pageouts?

Power Mac G5 (OS X 10.4 I believe) won't start-up, goes to gray screen with ? in a folder.... ideas??

I moved a bunch of music from my external hard drive to my Mac's hard drive, I practically filled up the hard drive on the Mac. Then my Firefox crashed so I shut the computer down. When I try to restart It stops at a gray screen with a folder in the middle. The folder alternates between having a "?" in it and the "Finder" picture.
I read this link http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1440 but it doesn't help. I can't select a drive or anything because I'm just stuck at this gray screen. Is there a way to boot this up in "safe mode" or something so I can do something to it? I am worried that some of the music I moved from my external hard drive had a virus or something and it killed my computer.
I got this Mac 2nd hand so I don't have a manual or any startup disks or anything..... What do I do????

Yikes, no startup Disc!
You don't want to have less the 10-20 GBG free space on your boot drive, OSX will be slow and/or start trashing files/data due to corruption.
Reboot, 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, reboot when complete.
If that doesn't work...
Tough without the Tiger Disk problems, but try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
(SPACE between fsck AND -fy important)
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK
If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Gray Screen repeating tone

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