Grey screen and clicking sound at start up

Lately when I start up my mac it takes about 6 tries to get it to start. The first few times before it works there is just a plain grey screen and there is a clicking noise being made. Any ideas on what is going on and how to fix this?

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I hope I am not being overly alarmist but I believe your hard disk is set to fail at any moment. Use the computer as little as possible. Get hold of an external firewire hard disk. Connect to the iMac and then boot the iMac from your OS X install disc. Install a fresh copy of Leopard onto the external drive. You can now use the iMac from the external drive only by setting the External drive as the boot volume in System Preferences > Startup Disk.
Now in order of personal value transfer your documents and files across to the external drive. Once you have good backups you should then take a look at Disk Utility (Utilities folder) and see what SMART status the drive is being reported as.
mrtotes
Message was edited by: mrtotes

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Grey screen and no sound when i play digital copy

i recently bought a copy of "family guy: something, something dark side" andd it came with a digital copy disc so i can put it on my itunes. i followed all the steps and downloaded it but when it came to playing it all i got was a grey screen and no sound, plus when i try to transfer it to my ipod it says my computer is unauthorised when it is... i done some research and it seems a common problem but i have updated my software on my itunes, ipod and quickplayer and still it doesnt work. im pretty fed up of this and i want a solution to this problem that acctuly works...

The solution to your problem should be the following.
As found in the I-tunes help section:
"If you double-click a video in iTunes but it doesn't play, check the following:.......
......To play videos purchased from the iTunes Store, you must have QuickTime 7.1.3 or later. You can download the latest version of QuickTime from the QuickTime website (click the link below) or by choosing Apple menu > Software Update.
You can't edit videos purchased from the iTunes Store. Videos purchased from the store can be viewed only in iTunes and QuickTime Player.
Open
QuickTime website
Was this page helpful? Send feedback."
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ITunes grey screen and no sound TV Show

I bought a Mad Men season pass on iTunes last night and let it download... this morning, I try to play it and all I get is a gray screen and no sound. I have the latest version of Quicktime and iTunes.

I had this very problem: itunes TV gray screen no sound. It seem to be an authorization glitch. After much support back and forth resolved it following these instrtuctions.
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2.Choose Go > Go to Folder.
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Grey screen and questin mark on start up

When I try to start my iMac bought in 2009 ( and always worked perfectly) I get gray screen and flashin question mark. Please help.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
Repair Disk
Steps 1 through 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836?viewlocale=en_US

Imac freezes on startup grey screen and really loud fans

My Imac G5 non intel 20" freezes on startup grey screen and really loud fans start and it won't boot. just have the logo on the grey screen.
I've tried resetting Pram - think that was the right thing to do?
I've tried disk utility, but it won't settle for me to choose the hard drive, it kind of sticks and keeps rotating the wheel.
any ideas anyone?
please help.

Lots of things you can try - first, try resetting the SMU. Next, boot from your install disc, go to Disk Utility and try to verify and repair your hard drive. If that doesn't work, try running the Apple Hardware Test on one of your install discs.
Also, depending on which model you have, you may be eligible for Apple's power supply or video and power issues.
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HT4904 I need to repair my start up disc so I have to start up from installation disc. In doing so, my computer restarts, I hear the mac sound, then a grey screen and then turns off and goes on in this cycle endlessly. Why can't I restart from disc?

I need to repair my start up disc so I have to start up from installation disc. In doing so, my computer restarts, I hear the mac sound, then a grey screen and then turns off and goes on in this cycle endlessly. Why can't I restart from disc?

Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple
logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.

20" imac won't start up-flashes between blank grey screen and black screen

20" imac
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Was running system 10.5.8 just fine. Worked great.
But then I wanted to give the imac to a relative. And so, I tried to boot from the original grey mac install dvd to wipe the hardrive and set the imac back to factory specs.
But it wouldn't boot off the dvd. All It would do at restart was to flash slowly back and forth between blank grey screen and black screen. So, I tried the Leopard update dvd. Same results. So I zapped the pram and tried again. Same results.
If I just pushed the start button tho.. the imac would start right up and run fine. However, I didn't want to give it to someone else with all our information on it.
I finally restarted it and held the "T" key to turn it into a giant firewire drive, hooked it up to our other 20" imac, and used the disk utility from the second imac to erase the drive of the first imac. Then I inserted the grey install dvd into the second imac and selected the drive of the first imac and ran the install process.
Now, the first imac won't start up at all. Just a continual grey screen for a bit, than a couple of buzz sounds in the machine and then the black screen... than back again.
It ran great before I erased the drive and re-installed OS 10.5
What's wrong? How do I get the machine to either boot off the install cd?

So, I've figured out a little more on the first machine. It's a 20" 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.5.8.
It ran great. But, I wanted to erase the hard drive and reinstall the OS system before giving it to a relative.
I found that although the optical drive would read and write to normal cds and dvds, the machine would NOT boot from the grey start-up disks I had on hand. ( I have two imacs, and I tried both sets of dvds without success.)
I zapped the PRAM, and used disk utilities via firewire connection from my other 20" imac to check the hardrive and make repairs. Disk Utilities couldn't find any problems. So, using disk utilities from the other imac, I erased the first imac's harddrive and then used the install dvds on the second imac to install the original OS to the hard drive of the first imac.
(looking on the hard drive of the first imac, I can see all the contents)
However, the first machine will not start up. It just switches from grey....to black..... then grey..... and then black again.... over and over
Why won't it boot from the newly installed OS on it's own hard drive?
And Why won't it boot from the original install dvds?
How can I get it to start up again?

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Message was edited by: Debbie Wach

Hi Debbie/Gregg -
I may have missed something but can't you just put a new hard drive in your laptops? You may not be able to recover your data but it doesn't mean the end for your computer. The same thing happened to my TiBook and I put a new 120Gig hard drive in and it's had a new lease of life.
I bought a new internal hard drive along with an external enclosure and connected it up to my computer and from there cloned it. Then I transferred the external into the TiBook and put the old drive into the external and I use that as an external now. I realise your hard drives are dead but you could use another computer to so the same thing and just install the OS on it.
I bought this -
http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/productinfo.php?productsid=452
Then followed the instructions here -
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Ti-DVI/HD-Replacement/33/6/
Once your new hard drive is installed you may be able to try and repair the old one in the external enclosure?

When starting the computer, I get a grey screen and following status: your startup disk is full. How can I still enter (in order to free-up some space)?

When starting the computer, I get a grey screen and following status: your startup disk is full. How can I still enter (in order to free-up some space)?

Simple way to make HDD free space is delete files you don't need anymore.
Or get bigger drive and external HDD case, then:
1) install bigger HDD in external drive case.
2) connect external drive and format and mount it with Disk Utility.
3) make clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!(source drive is internal HDD, target drive is external one).
4) install external bigger drive into your Macbook Pro.
In the cace if your're using Mac Pro:
1) get bigger HDD and install it in drive bay of Mac Pro.
2) format and mount it with Disk Utility.
3) make clone with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!(source drive is old HDD, target drive is new one).
4) Select boot drive to new bigger one.

I have a new macbook pro, just downloaded some updates and when I clicked to restart it went to a grey screen and is not restarting.

I have a new macbook pro 17". Just downloaded some updates (10.7.1, itunes etc.) and when I clicked to restart, went to grey screen and unit is not responding. It has been about 30 min.

Hi j,
Gray Screen at Startup (try Safe Boot)
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

HT1199 my computer displays grey screen and apple logo for 10 minutes or more during start up and shut down. sometimes it refuses to shut down . this issues started after installing OS lion. what do i do?

my computer displays grey screen and apple logo for 10 minutes or more during start up and shut down. sometimes it refuses to shut down . this issues started after installing OS lion. what do i do?

I don't think it's exactly an incomplete installation brody, but most likely in-correct permissions somewhere along the line that either happened, or became magnified during the upgrade. Also, it could be corruption as well.
First thing to do, is boot up holding down Shift key to do a safe-boot so we an clean up any corrupted OS caches, after that do another reboot, but go to the Lion recovery, and scan the HD for errors, repair any if you find them, and then try to do a Repair Permissions job.
That should fix the issue, if not, we can start doing a PRAM reset and SMC for good measure.

Grey screen and weird click

please can some one help, my macbook just hangs on its grey screen and has this weird click coming from the hard drive area, it just randomly happened, please can anyone offer me any assistance as i'm unable to get to an apple store! i telephoned apple but found them a little unhelpful! i tried rebooting from the install disk and nothing happens, just grey!
if this cant be fixed would i still be able to access my hardrive from another mac using a firewire cable??

Well if you hear a "clic" noise coming from the hard drive ares you could have a problem with the hard drive, when you insert the installation disc do you press letter "C" to boot from the cd?? conecting te hard drive to an other computer maybe will help you to recover all your data but not to fix it. How ever if you dont know how to fix it i will recomend you to take it to a store or techical support to get it fixed, or calling apple if you still have the warranty.

I have a MacBook Pro bought in dec 2009. Currently has mountain lion osx installed. Worked like a dream until today. Randomly froze, so I restarted it. To find I got a grey screen. It wouldn't start. Also note my DVD drive doesn't work, but mountain lion

I have a MacBook Pro bought in dec 2009. Currently has mountain lion osx installed. Worked like a dream until today. Randomly froze, so I restarted it. To find I got a grey screen. It wouldn't start. Also note my DVD drive doesn't work, but mountain lion was installed via App Store anyway.
So here's what I done so far:
tried resetting PRAM - No success
Done disk utility. Disk verified with no errors. I even re formatted disk. - no success starting.
Tried re installing mountain lion via download . It froze halfway installing -no success.
Tried backing up a time machine backup from my USB hard drive. It froze at 1% - no success
Tried booting from safe mode - no success
Tried the command line boot - no success.
Please someone help!

Sounds like the hard dre has left the building, Died, in the Sh*tter, Gone to the hard drive resting place in the sky.
Buy a new drive connect it to the system with a SATA to USB adapter and see if you can install Mt Lion on that drive connected externally. If you can then the drive inside your system has failed.
Oh Wait!!!! You have the 2009 model. They are known for bad drive to logic board cables. So it may not be the drive itself but the cable going from the drive to the logic board. Do the same as above then if the system runs OK with the new drive connected externally install it in the system and see if it boots. If it does you are good to go. If it doesn't then it is more then likely the cable that hs failed.
I would suggest you also SAVE a copy of that download of Mt Lion and create a USB install drive from it using Lion Disk Maker, once you get your system up and running.

My mac shows a grey screen and spinning gear and nothing else. please help! i want my mac to work again :/

My mac needed new updates and after clickign update it soon told me there was an error and it froze. I then let it sit fo about 15 minutes adn nothign changed so I restarted it and ever since then all my computer will show is the grey screen and a spinning gear :/ can anyone help me with this problem?

I had the same issue, and I had recently backed-up my files (mostly because the mac was acting wonky before this even happened), so I did an erase and install. Then I ran through all the software upgrades and installed all of them. When I did a required restart (for the Mac OS X 10.4.11 update) it went BACK to grey screen with spinning ball. Talk about frustrating!
I think there is something weird going on with the iTunes update and the Mac OS X 10.4.11 update. But one can't be used without the other. So I'm not sure how to update everything safely and get an up to date system, without having all the problems I had before. So now I'm using Mac OS X 10.4.7 so I can have a stable system to do my work, but I can't run iTunes 7.0. I'm too scared to update OS b/c I can't waste another day re-installing everything (for like the third time).
I'm a pretty new Mac user (year and half) so this may sound really dumb, but any suggestions would be very welcomed. I may start a new thread instead of hijacking this one...

Ibookg4 will not go past the grey screen and will not accept a disc

my ibook will not go past the grey screen and will not accept a disc

Have you tried starting up in Safe Mode? If not, I suggest that you give it a try. This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard disk.
If this works you will see your normal desktop. Once completely started up in Safe Mode, try to restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click on the top hard drive icon in the left sidebar and note the S.M.A.R.T. status at the bottom right of the pane. What does it say?
Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar, ("Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). What is the hard drive capacity and how much space remains available on it? Repair permissions on it.
See if you are able to do a little hard drive maintenance to help things out.

Grey screen and clicking sound at start up

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