Help - Grey Screen & Apple Logo aft fixing internal DVD Writer

My DVD writer started to play up a few months ago and eventually stopped reading any discs. After routing around the various forums I had a go at fixing it by taking my Powerbook apart, removing the DVD writer and using an air cleaner and optical cloth cleaned the DVD writer out. Full of dust!
I put the DVD writer back leaving the top of the Powerbook loose and started it up. Excellent result, not only did it play a DVD film, but it burnt a disc which I could read in my aging Power Mac. RESULT!
I then preceded to screw it all back together. It went to the grey screen with the Apple Logo and spinning wheel. I have not been able to get it past this.
I have tried resetting the PMU & PRAM by removing the Power and battery and holding the power switch on for 5 secs.
I have tied to restart and then hold down Command-Option-P-R, wait for third chime and release and press the shift screen. But it stays on the grey screen/Apple Logo.
I did get it to go to a blue screen once but it won't go further.
I have tried to pop in Techtool Pro Disc 4.5.1 and Disk Warrior but the DVD writer just spits these out again.
I have taken it apart again to check that all my connections are OK and they do seem OK. I don't understand how I could get it to play/burn and then it goes all awry only after I screw the keyboard back.
Anybody got any ideas short of taking it in for repair!

I would just get it repaired.

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Grey screen /apple logo won't open reinstall 10.6

Grey screen /apple logo won't open reinstall 10.6

The internal hard drive may have failed.
You should be able to boot from the Snow Leopard DVD by inserting it and holding down the c key while it boots. From there you can select the Disk Utility app to check the internal drive.

TS3148 my mackbook air starts up with a persistent grey screen, apple logo and spinning gear

my mackbook air starts up with a persistent grey screen, apple logo and a spinning gear. It will not show the login window

Press and hold the power button down to force a hardware shutdown (emergency use only!)
Next find the Shift key and hold it and press the power button, the machine will boot into Safe Mode.
Next backup your files to a external drive just in case.
Emergency backup procedure
Drag and drop copy your users file folders (music, pictures, documents etc) to a regular external powered drive as soon as possible.
Do not use, setup or trust only TimeMachine at this troubled time as it will copy corrupted data and we need just your users files safe just in case. TimeMachine cannot be used with a Windows PC.
Unmount and Disconnect all external drives once the backup process is completed.
Note:
If you have any over 4GB sized files, those won't copy to a standard formatted FAT32/MSDOS drive from the factory, if you need to save these 4GB+ files use another blank/empty drive and use Disk Utility to format it 1 Partition, Option: GUID, Format: OS X Extended Journaled (or the standard default one for older Mac's).
Mac's cannot copy to nor format a NTFS drive. ExFAT format to be used with a Windows machine must be right click formatted by Windows, not OS X (does it wrong) XP macines can install a free exFAT update from Microsoft. Vista-Win 8 can format exFAT.
Formatting a drive will erase all data on it.
Most commonly used backup methods
Your problem is likely due to a incompatible third part at boot kernel extension file that some program installed into OS X at some time.
If you can recall which programs you installed using your Admin password then that's a good place to start and update or uninstall those programs.
The next solution is a #8 Reinstall Just OS X + Software Update fully, this will replace OS X with a new copy, fix OS X if it's the cause and kick out ALL third party kext files out of OS X.
You also can manually drag and drop the third party kext files (if you know what they are) out of of the System/Library/Extensions folder and reboot.
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Solving at boot kext issues in Snow Leopard

About imac (early 2008 24") stuck on grey screen apple logo spinning wheel

HI all just wondering if any body has experienced the grey screen apple logo spinning wheel and also switches off and back on all by itself after 5-10 minutes in the past or recent.
how did you get on did you sort it?would like to read some feedback on this subject thanks

Generally that indicates a serious problem with the hard drive.
Power down, hold alt key at power on, what shows as boot choices?
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Report what happens or doesn't please.

Help! Stuck on white/grey screen apple logo spinning wheel

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me?
I have a MacBook pro snow leopard 10.6 It won't start up it freezes on the white/grey screen with the apple logo. I have tried it in safe mode it has the bar underneath as it loads up to half way it goes off & the spinning wheel just carries on spinning forever!
I have tried cmd & v typed in a few things that I saw other people do then on the black screen white text the page is full of Disk0s2: I/O Error   tried rebooting but same thing happens doesn't start up.
Then I put my mac os x snow leopard 10.6.3 installation, features and refinements disc in but still nothing! I'm stuck anybody know what to do?
Thanks in advance if you can help me.

If it won't boot with the just the c key held down off the disk, it could mean there is a firmware password set.
If it won't boot off the disk with just the option/alt key held down, that means firmware has been wiped if all you see is a white screen.
If it has a firmware password, it should have asked you for it with a screen with a lock icon on it.
However it also could mean there is a hardware problem or the 10.6 disk is dirty, scratched, defective or not from Apple (warz).
Or your keyboard is bad or your using a external one and not the built in keyboard.
I think you might have to look into the possibility your EFI firmware has been hosed.
See this section of my User Tip here: ..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Need machine/operating system identification help?
Find the serial number, thus the model number and thus gives the operating system that originally came with the machine. However gives not what operating system version the boot drive was later upgraded to. Do not use older OS X verisons to repair newer verisons. It is possible to use the original operating system version installed on another boot drive to recover files from a later operating system non-booting drive.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159#MacBook_Pro   https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1559   http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
If the computer just ignores the at boot key commands (without showing the firmware password request) especially if you boot to a white screen (no initial boot screen), it might be your EFI firmware stored in NVRAM memory has been wiped. EFI is like a powerful operating system type firmware that loads before OS X or Windows in Bootcamp loads, programs can be installed in EFI, even malicious ones. (why it's very important to trust the source of your instaled software)
To restore EFI you need to use the identification links above to find the exact model of your machine. Then use another computer to download the correct EFI firmware from this Apple.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237
Then follow these instructions to burn it to a cd or USB (untested) and apply it to the non-booting Mac. It likley will take 2 reboots for it to take hold and return the at boot key commands.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213
..Step by Step to fix your Mac

Grey screen ,Apple logo and then Prohibited sign

Hope someone can help , when i turn on my macbook pro only get a grey screen with apple logo and then prohibited sign and thats as far as i can get.Have been reading through topics and have tried most things which relate to fixing my problem ,i e tried to boot of install disk but won't let me tried to reset the pram etc but still can't get any futher , last thing i do was to back my macbook pro on a new lacie external hard drive and have no idea weather it backed up everything , macbook pro is 12 months old and have just dropped batterey off as was faulty so have been running direct off power ,i started to back up with the lacie external hard drive when batterey was not in (meaning was running off main power supply ) Would anyone be able to help or give advice on a solution
Thanks for your time
Regards one stressed out mac lover

Try booting off the Installation DVD 1 and once you're past the language selection open Disk Utility (from the menus) and repair your disk permissions.

G4 Powerbook won't boot; grey screen Apple logo only

My G4 Powerbook 17" 1.33 stopped booting. I reinstalled OS 10.4.3 successfully, but on start up only get a grey screen with Apple logo with no spinning gear. I have reverified HDD with Disk Utility from the OS Install DVD, and it confirmed no problems. Any suggestions?

If you have the original OS X disks that came with the system, run the Apple hardware test. Find the disk that says 'AHT Version x.x' in small print on the label, insert it and reboot holding the alt/option key down. Choose the Apple hardware test, and when prompted choose the extended test. You want to see if it finds any hard drive access issues.

Spinning spokes, grey screen, apple logo

I know there are other posts on this but I have done what those suggested and I am getting weird results. This is a co-worker's computer. He ran software updates last night and then this morning he is stuck on this screen. This is what I have done:
1. boot from external drive - it brings up the drive lists and I select my drive and click the arrow under it. Three low tones sound after that, about five seconds apart. Stays at grey screen also.
2. boot from CD - hold down c key with the os disk in it but nothing happens after grey screen
3. boot from 2nd CD - hold down d key to get to hardware check but it goes to a weird different grey then a black screen with a white cursor then to a dialog box that stays there for 1/2 second and then it shuts itself down.
4. reset PRAM
5. hold power button until those quick flashes of light come on
6. took out hard drive, connected it with my usb to ide/sata adapter and plugged it into my own computer. ran a repair disk via disk util and those green letters come up saying the drive is a-ok.
7. hold shift down - a tube at the bottom with the filling grey from left to right starts going (firmware?). it finishes then finally gets to the safe boot screen after like 4-5 minutes, so I went to restart it normally but it just goes back to the grey screen and sticks there again.
8. single user mode - ran the fsck command and it said system appears to be ok. typed reboot and eventually came to login screen; logged in but got stuck before Finder, doc, menu bar, etc. could load.
9. boot into network startup (hold down n): still does grey screen; then put a random used hard drive into the bad computer and did the network boot again and it came right up just fine with our deploy studio setup.

If you can't run the Apple Hardware Test from the disc that came with the machine, with no wired peripherals connected, and the disc is not damaged or dirty, then you have a hardware fault. Take the machine to a service provider for testing.

Grey screen / apple logo / spinning gear

Hi problem as above....
Disconnected all items
Tried the install cd
Nothing
Computer sounds like it is trying to boot but won't
Tried to boot from disc
Currently using my touch to type this?
Help!
Alan (Ireland)

Edit: Oops. I just realized this post was 2 months old. I suspect you have moved on.
This sounds similar to a problem I was having this morning. It would be really useful if you could have a look at the system log (system.log) for any more clues. You can try to boot the machine into Single user mode to do this. I believe the key sequence during boot for this is to hold down the Command and S keys.
Once you find yourself at the "root" prompt, you should find the system.log at
/private/log/system.log
You can easily view the log without having to navigate from where you are with the following command:
cat /private/log/system.log | less
That vertical symbol before the "less" is the "pipe" symbol. You can see it on you backslash key.
Once the log comes up, you can navigate forward and backward through the log with the "F" and "B" keys. To exit, use the "Q" key.
The log can be confusing to read, but in my case I was able to see a section of errors that were repeating over and over.
In the end, for me, it turned out to be a permissions issue. Somehow, the root directory "/" had its permissions corrupted which made it so that one of the boot processes was unable to access a required file.
At this point I really don't want to give you a bunch of commands to try if you're not familiar with the system. I don't have enough information anyway. I'm just offering you another place to look for the problem. One thing that makes me think it's permissions related is that you said you can't reinstall the system. Neither could I, though I was attempting an archive and reinstall, not erase and reinstall. For the erase option, I wouldn't think permissions should come into play.
To reboot from the prompt, type: shutdown -r now
Good luck,
Kevin
Message was edited by: kpowick

I used the internet data recovery because my mac is stuck with the grey screen + apple logo at startup. When I tried to reinstall the OS, it prompted: you can't upgrade to this newer version of mac os x is installed. What do I do? x

I have no backup of my files because my mac suddenly stopped working.
I'm using a macbook air 11" mid-2012 mac os x 10.8.5.
Please help

Try using Internt Recovery.
http://osxdaily.com/2014/12/14/reinstall-os-x-mac-internet-recovery/
When you visit the site page click the 3½ bars gray Reader icon left of the url in the address bar for easy viewing.

My imac won't start up past the grey screen, apple and spinning clock

Hi there. First time posting - usually either apple support website or previous threads solve the problem. Alas, not this time.
I have an intel imac - can't tell you much about the details as I can't get any info out of it. I installed snow leopard about a year ago - no issue since then other than occassionally the screen goes black but nothing major.
Yesterday, I backed up to my usual passport backup and then today, it froze. I couldn't turn it off or restart at all so resorted to the power button. Since then, I can turn it on, it goes to the grey screen (no blue screen) and I get the apple logo and the spinning clock/wheel. For hours and hours....
So, I tried one of the apple support pages and worked through - peripherals, safe boot, NVRAM, PRAM, tried to reboot with mac osx disc (the original not snow leopard) - nothing. Absolutely nothing changes - same old grey screen, apple logo and spinning clock/wheel.
HELP - do I try and reboot with the snow leopard disc? I don't know what to do next - I am no techie so half the threads don't even sound like English to me.
Thanks in advance, hope you geniuses out there can help me out.
abcvic

Thanks for the reply.
I had tried to reboot with the original disc but it never worked. The imac just spits out the disc and eventually, I am back at the grey screen, apple logo and wheel spinning. I tried it one more time following your reply. Same outcome.
My instal disc 1 had the instruction re hardware test which I have also tried with no success. I can't remember if it came with a disc 2 though I seem to have a couple - I also have a macbook and that seems to be still alive even if it is slow.
I tried to reboot with Snow Leopard disc - power on, chime then hold down C key. Same old - grey screen, apple logo and wheel spinning. Disc spat out eventually.
Any other suggestions welcomed or I am off to Apple tomorrow.

Macbook won't start past grey screen/apple; won't start OS disc

I know this issue has probably been talked about a million times, but I still can't seem to find a working answer... and what better to make my first post than this problem?
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If Apple replaced the battery, contact them to check the phone, the battery replacement is covered by a warranty.
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G5 turns on but display stops at gray screen+apple logo

Can someone tell me why my G5 turns on but display stops at gray screen+apple logo. The keyboard and the superdrive not responding. After a minute the fans kick in and grow louder and faster...?? I tried a reset with the P and R but keyboard N/S. USB have power. I do get the start sound then the gray logo+screen.
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G5 dual 2G Mac OS X (10.3.9) 2G RAM, 23" display

I was getting a similar issue yesterday, stuck on the
grey screen, then the G5 turned into mini turbine
engine. I'm not sure what fixed it, i took out the
plastic wind deflector and noticed three leds next to
the RAM slots were lit up.. with some quick googling
bringing me back to apple's support pages, it turned
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place, but that coupled with unplugging the power
cable for some moments seemed to help, and i was able
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but i was still getting intermittent issues, with
startup and programs, and getting plenty of crashes.
So i did the Apple Hardware Test, and after 3hrs it
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machine only a week back, since then i've added new
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Grey Screen w/ logo on startup, crashes in disk utility and FW disc mode

So yesterday I woke my computer from sleep and launched firefox. After a few minutes it crashed and the froze. I restarted and got the grey screen with apple logo. Restarted many more times and would either get the grey screen with logo or if it managed to startup it would again freeze after a few minutes.
Tried starting up from install disc to launch disc utility to check the permissions and verify disk. This also froze several times put i managed to repair permissions and repair disc. Now I am not able to get it to start up unless from the install disk. I have a bootable backup drive with I tried to connect and use as a startup disc. I just got a black screen when I tried that, I also connected the G5 to my
Powerbook G4 in firewire disk mode. It connected and I was going to attempt to copy the Bootable external drive back to the Drive in the tower and try starting from that, but the G5 then froze in Firewire disk mode and had to be restarted.
I'm out of options here, and desperate....any ideas. I thought that grey screens many times meant software or hardware conflicts. could this just be something horribly wrong with my hardware?
Help!
Thanks in Advance!

I've read several response to problems with target disc mode. I'm trying to connect my old computer, G3 tower with OS 8.6, to my new computer, mac book pro. I've called tech support twice and they have no clue as to why it won't work. They suggested this discussion page. I tried what one fella did, which worked for him, but didn't for me. I rebooted with shift button down, then ran verify and repair, then shut down, unplugged for a minute or two, restarted zapping pram (optioncommand(apple) P & R keys. Then restarted with the T key down. Attached firewire to both target computer and disc computer, (did this first), but no jumping firewire icon ever appeared.
One fella out there said it took his computer 5 minutes for the icon to appear. Did he hold the T key down all that time? I let go after my normal desktop icons were up and the computer stopped wiring.
I am calling tech support back...who knows maybe I'll get someone who knows something.
Any ideas?
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Help - Grey Screen & Apple Logo aft fixing internal DVD Writer

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