Grey apple at start up

Hello
I updated my Itunes and quicktime, then restarted and my computer will not resart - All I have on screen is the grey apple - Can anyone help?

Try starting it up in safe mode and see if that helps. To do so just hold down the shift key while booting. This type of start will take 2-3 times longer than a normal startup so be patient. If it does then from there you should run the disk utility and check the disk permissions. You also might want to disable all startup items while in safe mode as one of them could be causing the problem. Once that is done, try restarting from the system DVD and using the included copy of disk Utility on it check your drive for issues.

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MAC PRO FREEZES ON GREY APPLE LOGO START UP SCREEN.

My computer was acting funny for the last couple of weeks. It was slugish and slow to respond. When I was using it yesterday it froze up. I forced quit it and tried repeatedly to reboot. It makes the startup chime sound and gets to the grey apple logo screen then the spinning gear stops and it freezes.
My Specs:
2008 Mac Pro
OS X Lion 10.7.4
2 x 2.8 GHZ Quad-Core Intel Xeon
10 GB DDR2 Ram
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
1) Tried starting from the Lion Recovery HD partition. Received the same result (freeze on grey logo).
2) Confirmed the OS Startup Drive works. I removed the OS Drive and tried it in a HD Dock on my Maybook Pro. The drive runs normally. I'm able to navigate and open files.
3) Tied starting from Lion Startup Thumb Drive. Received the same results (freeze on grey logo).
4) Confirmed the Lion Thumb Drive works. Booted Laptop from this same device with no problems.
Now I'm scared. I'm running out of ideas. I'm guessing it is probably something on the logicboard. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to what it could be? Is there a way I can test the logicboard myself?
Thanks for any help in advance.

The array and the OS drive are not "linked."
Nor are the drives fixed to the drive bay order. One of the drives in the array is "master" that knows what is on each sybling by the ID of the drives.
Clone the OS and keep handy. Never a need to do an OS install.
Backup the array as often as needed so the data is current and have two sets there also, ie TimeMachine for hourly or something and cloned.
What does matter is the OS version the array was created with as there are changes even during the life of the OS like Lion and not usually backward - so an array created with Leo had to be recreated with Snow, and same with Lion, only Lion 10.7.0 and 10.7.4 one was buggy, the 2nd changed the rules for 32 vs 64-bit mode drivers.
Take away: keep the last OS around, hold back on updates, make sure that you keep 10.7.3 around after 10.7.4 is out and working.
You can boot off any drive, SSD or something else and still mount and access the array.

Grey Apple Logo when trying to Start Up Mac-OS. Halted.

So far I have been very satisfied with my Mac. This is my first one, so I am learning the ins and outs. A few days ago, my Mac suddenly started going to sleep on it's own. I think, hindsight, that it was due to the lightning storm. So I reset my PRAM and also that thing where you remove the battery and hold the POWER button for 5+ seconds. Now, my Mac chimes and shows the grey apple logo but nothing more. I put in the install disc and ran a disk utility a few times and it says A-OK. Also ran the Hardware Test a few times with no problems flagged. I Upgraded the OS from the disc (not a total reformat, so I hopefully don't lose data) and still the same persistant grey apple logo abides. I have left it on for an hour and still it doesn't advance past this screen. I am willing to Reformat as a last resort (my files were backed up less than a month ago, but I would still lose a few important files). Thank you for your help.

This thread posted elsewhere; under Power and Battery section. Please do not reply to this posting. I appologize for any confusion.

Non operational USB ports and stuck on grey apple start up screen

Two problems
1. USB ports are non operational. I believe I fried them by accident. When hooking up an external USB hub, I may have connected an incorrect power supply. Now the USB ports on the front and back of my tower are non operational/do not work. As a work around, I bought a USB pci card and installed it. This has been working for my keyboard, mouse and external hard drives but my iPhone will not sync. My ilok is recognized in system profiler but I cannot download anything to it.
Anyone know how to fix this? Is it possible I fried my main USB port?
2. I was reading different threads and a possible solution to the USB port problem was to reset my PMU. I have no clue why or if this would fix it but I gave it a try. Disconnected power supply and everything else after shutting down the computer. Found the pmu button on logic (or is it the motherboard or is it the same thing?). Pressed it, waited 20 seconds, put computer back together, connected power supply mouse and keyboard and tried to power up. The computer would not power up and the front power light was on but would not power up/boot. In a dumb panic, I opened up the tower and pressed the pmu button again without disconnecting the power. This seemed to work bcause my computer powered up! A red light on the logic board turned on and I got to the grey apple screen. This is where it froze. Hard reset, powered up, same problem. Unplugged power supply and tried again. Same problem. Tried pmu reset (unpluged power this time) and a repeat of the first pmu attempt. I tried starting up with cmd opt o p (I forget the exact letters but it was a reset with starting chimes), then I tried reinstalling with boot DVDs. It would get through the first DVD then restart and get stuck. Finally, I got it to accept second Boot DVD and finish installing and tried starting in safe mode. Got to safe mode and went to disk utility and checked first aid. No reported repairs necessary. Copied all files needed from HD and shut down. The computer did not shut down properly (this has been an ongoing problem before all these current problems and it has had problems booting fulling with hard resets needed once and a while). From here I tried restarting, pulling power supply, staring again and it keeps gettin stuck on grey apple loafing screen. The spinning wheel spins and then gets stuck, fans increase in speed and nothing. I can get back to safe mode either.
I'm very wordy I guess but more info the better, right?
The tower is very very very dusty. I will compress air it to clean it and attempt to clean connectors with alcohol. I will let it sit over night disconnected an then try powering it up.
What could the possible problems be? What can i do? Any suggestions on proper cleaning. I know how to ground properly and not to use a vacuum. I might have pressed the pmu button more than once. I'd the battery dead? Could it be a power supply problem. ****, I'm out of ideas and I really tried solving without posting but I'm poor and need my computer! Help!

Welcome to the forums. Lots of good information and help to be had here.
OK, first, let us know more specifically which of five flavors of Power Mac G5 you have. Find the serial number on the build plate on the inner bottom panel just below the CPUs and use this site to get the exact configuration:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
In the meantime, assuming that you haven't replaced the PRAM battery in quite a while or ever, that would be a good thing to do.
Getting dust out of the system is a must. The power supply is especially prone to dust buildup. You might want to deal with that by taking the machine outside, as it can get pretty thick coming out.

Why is my G5 is stopping on the grey+apple logo screen when starting up?

My G5 is stopping on the grey+apple logo screen when starting up and fans run faster than usual after a couple minutes. I have read many of the posts related here, but it seems none are exactly what I am experiencing. Here is what I have done:
+Disconnected all peripheral devices (except for keyboard and mouse).
+Unplugged power cord and plugged back in.
+Unplugged ethernet cable.
+Removed added memory.
+Reset the SMU button on the logic board.
+Reset the PRAM by pressing Command-Option-P-R keys. It makes its second start up chime but I still get the grey screen.
+After opening the disc door with a paper clip, started up while pressing "C" with Hardware Test CD which found no problems.
+However, also started up with Systemworks disc and ran Disc Doctor, but I get an "unexpected problem, Error found: disk error" while "Checking Directories: Catalog Structure". When trying to run Speed Disc, my hard drive doesn't even show up in the window to select it. Nor does it show up in Disk Viewer.
I have not tried to start up from the original Mac Startup or installation disc that came with the computer. I am not at my G5 right now (having to use the internet at work). If I start up with that disc, will I loose any work (if I haven't already) that I haven't backed up?
Also, the G5 manual suggests replacing the lithium battery inside the tower if I am having problems starting up. I have not read to do this anywhere else except in the manual. It mentions having problems with the date and time which I haven't so I doubt it's the battery.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tony
G5 Power Mac Mac OS X (10.0.x)

First and foremost you should never use Norton Utilities Disk Doctor or Speed Disk. They will corrupt your hard drive. NUM is not compatible with modern Macs and is no longer supported by Symantec. I highly recommend you uninstall it. You will find instructions here.
You should do the following:
Boot from your Tiger DVD. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button, then select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu . After DU loads select your OS X volume from the list on the left, click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (3.0.3 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.1.1 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If this does not fix the problem, then it's possible your system files have been damaged in which case you may need to reinstall OS X. You can do this by an Archive and Install which does not require erasing the hard drive. However, the hard drive must be verified as OK per the preceeding intructions.

HT1455 I have started my computer in safe mode as recommended but not long after the grey Apple icon appears with the spinning gear it automatically shuts down! any suggestions?

I have started my computer in safe mode as recommended but not long after the grey Apple icon appears with the spinning gear it automatically shuts down! any suggestions?

Try these options:
Credit Kappy.
This support article addresses a 'blue scree';
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH7212
Ciao.

IMAC starts up w/ tone, then white screen , then 1 min later grey apple - nothing else. When I boot up holding shift, no tone, white screen, grey apple, then 1 min later prohibitory sign and pinwheel ...

IMAC starts up w/ tone, then white screen, then 1 min later grey apple - nothing else.
When I boot up holding shift, no tone, white screen, grey apple, then 1 min later prohibitory sign and pinwheel ... nothing else ?

Tried disabling everything USB and FireWire and the Likes

G5 starts and then doesn't go further than the grey apple on the screen

Dear all,
My G5 (2*2 GHz) starts and as soon as the apple appears on the grey screen, it doesn't go further anymore. The screen remains unchanged and nothing happens.
Is it the hard drive ? How can I check what is going wrong (connect it to a second Mac ??) ? What can I do ?
I thank you in advance for your help
Didier

Okay so I was able to get back into my system and the computer starts up fine, although now a set of partitioned drives I had access to are locked and I can't seem to understand how to gain access.
BUT first here is what I did to get the system to start up without hanging on the Grey Apple Screen.
1. Shut down computer...NOTE: Leopard 10.5 DVD Install disc was left in computer. Because previous re-starts my computer automatically ejects the disc I'd do a hard shutdown and restart and it would still eject the disc even though I was holding down C and trying to get system to start from disc. Difference is I had not done step 2 - 4 yet...
2. Unplugged power directly to computer and all peripherals
3. Changed out my keyboard to Apple Keyboard model A1048 and an optic mouse model M5769, instead of FCP keyboard and WACOM notepad/mouse
4. waited about 10 - 15 mins (about the time I was cruising the forums for answers)
5. Restarted computer holding down "C" this time disc did not eject! After Grey Apple Screen appeared, I waited 10secs while holding down the C key then let go.
The grey bar pinwheel showed up and the computer re-booted from DVD!!
6. After settling with install screen I went up to top bar drop down menues and opened Disc Utilities from the Install disc screen. NOTE: My main hard drive was accessible, all the partition drives had a LOCK icon on them. I believe this is because they are from an external drive. Ignored the lock icon....
7. Ran a "Repair Disc" on main hard drive. It spun through that request quickly stating everything was okay.
8. Obviously with a permissions issue for my situation, I ran a Verify Permissions. It was taking a long while before differences appeared. After a slew of them rolled by and a 7 hour verification time showed up I canceled the verification and went straight to "Repair Permissions"
9. Repair Permissions began and I let it run it's course taking about 2.5 hours.
10. Quit Disc Utilities. Quit install disc and restarted from my startup disc.
11. Computer restarted and opened to my desktop successfully!
12. Shutdown from menu.
13. Plugged in all peripheral drives and devices.
14. Computer has restarted to my desktop!! BUT...even after plugging in all peripheral drives the partitioned drives are still locked and I can't seem to move any items on my desktop!
I'm going to try starting up with the Install Disc again with all the peripheral drives plugged in. And hopefully see if I can run Disc Utilities from install disc on those drives. Again, they were unplugged with the first attempt to re-boot from disc.
I also know I have some issues here with access and permisssions. And even though I am the Administrator of this computer and have authority to regulate permissions I do not know how it works to successfully have access to the media and content drives myself and some co-workers need access too.
thanks for your attention to this message I hope some of it was helpful to you.
peace
GGD

My macbook from 2008 which I bought used worked fine for 3 weeks and then suddenly it started restarting and now it restarts, goes to grey apple screen and a code saying something about a kernel panic appears and it restarts again and again. Help?

My macbook from 2008 which I bought used worked fine for 3 weeks and then suddenly it started restarting and now it restarts, goes to grey apple screen and a code saying something about a kernel panic appears and it restarts again and again. Help?

Restart the computer and immediately hold the Option key down.
Select the Recovery partition and continue.
On the next pane, select Disk Utility and continue.
When DU opens, select your hard drive in the left column, click the First Aid tab, the click Repair Disk.
When that is done, quit DU and restart in the usual way.

The Macbook Pro will not start past the grey Apple logo screen? Any help will be most welcome?

The Macbook Pro 13, late 2009 will not start past the grey Apple Logo screen? Any help will be most welcome? Thanks

Have you tried booting with the install disc that came with your computer?
Find it and then run Disk Utility to verify your hard drive. If errors are found, try to repair the disk.
It sounds as if the hard drive might be failing.
Clinton

Grey apple start up screen

when I try to start up my macbook i get a grey apple screen that starts to switch between that and a folder and a circle with a line through it

It means system files needed for startup are damaged or missing. You will need to reinstall OS X. Try the following:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) 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, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Desperate for help - stuck on grey apple screen, can't start from dvd

Hi, any help would be very much appreciated. My computer locked up a few times so I restarted and tried to repair permissions but got the message repair failed. I did a restart several times and it would immediately freeze, tried zapping pram but not luck. I was able to boot from the install dvd to try to repair disk but got the error first aid failed.
I was going to resintall the system but now it won't even let me start up from the dvd, it just gets stuck on the grey apple logo screen and the fan seems to be very loud. I tried doing the reset open firmware and also the fscky reset and even tried loggin in as single user but it locked up there also.
Any other ideas? I tried starting by holding Command-Option-Shift-Delete" to bypass booting from the harddrive no luck there either.
I'm a bit panicked since I'm a freelancer on a deadline tommorrow and am really stuck. I do have a time machine backup but can't even start up from dvd to try to do an install.
Thanks in advance!!
JEff

I got it to start up from the DVD finally, but it gave me an error while trying to install the system. I tried disk repair and repair permissions but they are both greyed out. When I click verify disk it gives this error: "filesystem verify or repair failed."
Since its booting from the disk now, i'm guessing its not a power supply issue but I can't think of what else to try at this point. I'm pretty desperate to get this baby going asap so any help would be great, thanks!!

Grey Apple Start Screen with Grey 'bar' above, half thick, half thin

Hi
iMac G5 1.8 20" crashed, restarted holding power button.
Restarts with Grey Apple start screen and a 1/2 thick 1/2 thin bar above the Apple logo, fans on maximum, no further progress.
Any thoughts people ?
Thanks
Simon

HI Simon,
Have you tried booting from your install disk?
Insert the installer disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu (Panther and earlier) or Utilities menu (Tiger and later) and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
*(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)*
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
If you cannot boot from your install disk, try booting in Safe Mode
Carolyn
Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

Upgraded to osx lion via bootable USB stick but start up now just hangs on the grey apple screen

Hi. I've just recently upgraded from snow leopard to osx lion 10.7.3 on my laptop and it works perfectly! However I then tried installing on desktop and problems......
1. I got the 'the error can't install message' so after researching' I made a bootable USB stick with lion on it.
2. Installed on start up from bootable USB stick, no problems their.
3. Restarted and it just hangs in the grey apple screen.
I've reset the PRAM, started in safe mode, fixed disk permission etc, Even done this (http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070204093925888).
I'm going to leave the grey screen over night to see if it does start up, but then we have the problem of an extremely slow start up.
So.... I am posting this to find out if anyone else has this problem and fixed it without having to do a full clean install as some data like email lists etc I never backed up (I know stupid).
Hope someone can help as i am lost on what else to try.
HELP!?!?!?
Dan.

Update 01.03.12
Computer is starting now but.... It takes 10 minutes and that is without my sound card, hardware and external hard drives plugged in, gonna test that now.
Are their and fixes for slow start ups?
Dan.

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

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

Reinstall OS X:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Grey apple at start up

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