How to fix grey screen and spinning spiral on MacBook pro

How to fix grey screen and spinning spiral on MacBook Pro

The method described above is too complex.
I found a more easy way to solve the Modern app crash problem.
That is to download the legacy driver 296.10 here
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/beta-legacy
Unfortunately, 296.10 and 19x don't solve all problems on Windows 8:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4370420

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Grey Screen and Spinning Circle When Trying to open a PDF from a website

I tried to view a pdf from a website and a little window popped up. At the time i thought it was to save the pdf but i guess it was in fact asking me to find the adobe acrobat program. I quit out of it and now keep getting the grey screen and spinning circle when i try to download the pdf. How do I get it so i can open pdfs if find on websites? thanks!

themercenary12 wrote:
Found another topic and was helpful
*Hi mercenary, Welcome (Back)* to Apple's Users Help Users Forums.
It would be nice if you could explain or link to the helpful topic.
Good Luck, JP

Start up problem-can't get past Apple grey screen and spinning gear

Upon trying to start up my laptop, got nothing but the apple logo, grey screen and spinning gear. I tried several things to resolve the problem on my own (hardware test said it could not verify the disk/could not start up from the OS X install disk/reset the power mgmt. unit/disconnected all peripherals)and finally went to the Apple store. Genius bar said they were able to start up from their hard drive and suggested that I buy an external hard drive, go home, start up again and back up all files. I bought a My Book. Got home and same thing happened: Apple logo and spinning gear. I am an Apple user of 18 years, but have not had to do much in the way of diagnostics. Have tried fsck routine today that I found on another posting here today. If the Genius guy got it going, I assumed that I could too. I was wrong. Any advice would be appreciated. It looks like this is the end of the road for my Powerbook, but I'd like a shot at recovering data.
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?

Why do I perpetually see a grey screen and spinning wheel?

A few months ago my 2004 iMac froze as I was simply shutting down the power and attempting to restart. I was not installing any new O/S.
Today I attempted two things while booting with the O/S recovery disc-1:
(a) I slid the disc in and held down the "C" key while I attempted to power it on. Nothing happened and I continued to see the grey screen and spinning wheel.
(b) I slid the disc inside and held down the "ALT" key while I attempted to power it on. Three icons showed up: (a) Hard Disk; (b) Recovery Disc; and (c) Test. I clicked on the Test icon and it took me to a new screen with two options: ( i ) Quick Test and ( ii ) Extended Test. I clicked on Quick Test. The first aspect of the Quick Test (I think it was Airport) went through fine and passed. The second aspect of the Quick Test (Logic Board testing) continued to show "In Progress" for a really long time (about 15 mins.). From that I figured something must have gone wrong with the Logic Board.
Can anyone help me as to what could be done? I appreciate everyone's answer in advance. Thank you.

Thanks to anyone who read this. I solved the problem in a convoluted manner. It appears as is if the hard disk had some issues and I ended up formatting and re-installing the O/S. Thankfully I had a back up that wasn't too long ago.
Cheers.

Hello , please tell me whats the price of a screen and casing for a macbook pro 13inch.ty

hello , please tell me whats the price of a screen and casing for a macbook pro 13inch.ty

ds store's opinion will be right in some, but not all cases.
That largely depends on eactly which year and MacBook Pro (e.g., 5,1 ) model you are talking about, as well as whether you are rather "handy" and can do the swap yourself.
On older Macs, used complete screens are available on the secondary from machines that have died. Step-by-step photo-illustrated guides are also available for sources like ifixit.com. [Their motivation for providing these guides for free is that some readers will buy their parts to make the repairs themselves.]
Newer Macs may be valuable enough that having Apple fix them may be cost-effective. A free appointment at the genius Bar (with no obligation to proceed with ANY repairs) can get you a quote to consider.

Help!! - I am faced with the grey screen and spinning gear!!

Hi guys
I have an intel-based imac and when i performed routine updates on it, it took long to switch off so i manually turned it off with the button. Normally this gives no problem, but this time it refuses to go past the grey screen with the apple logo and spinning gear. I have tried many of the fixes but to no avail...does anyone have any step by step instructions/suggestions...I cant get to any of my uni work. I tried disk utility and it said my hard drive is fine, yet when i restart im back to the grey screen!
Please help, I cant access any of my files and cant risk having it wiped!!!
Thanks in advance - sorry if this might be in the wrong section!

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...

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...

My macbook has question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions, my macbook has question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions

Hi
My MacBook has a question mark flashing on a grey screen and no functions, help?

That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the Operating System data on the hard drive is somehow corrupted.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive and reboot. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option key until the Install Disk shows up). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
When it does start up, you'llsee a panel asking you to choose your language. Just press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Macbook air Lion stuck at grey screen and spinning wheel

HI
I have a Macbook air with Lion installed. I pressed the On button, but it gets stuck at grey screen, apple logo and spining wheel. I then managed to get it to startup in Safe Mode.
How can I find out what the problem was?
Please could you let me know if there are some simple steps to fix this?
Thank you in advance.

Please carefully read Gray screen appears during startup, Apple will tell you how to trouble shoot the issue. I suspect your HD has crashed, not a big deal if you have been backing up. However if you haven't then you're probably about to learn a lesson on why backup is critical.

Stuck at grey screen and spinning wheel

I have a IMac that suddenly can't move past the grey screen, apple logos, and spinning wheel. I have used the OS system disk to repair the Macintosh HD, the app stated that the repair of the volume was successful, but in trying to use the HD to restart, I am still stuck with the spinning wheel. What should I do next, or what am I doing wrong?
Vetaut

Please carefully read Gray screen appears during startup, Apple will tell you how to trouble shoot the issue. I suspect your HD has crashed, not a big deal if you have been backing up. However if you haven't then you're probably about to learn a lesson on why backup is critical.

Grey screen and spinning wheel - and very slow iBook?

I have been looking around, and am afraid my sister's beloved (and heavily used ibook may have a common problem. Just now, she was trying to access our myspace page, but it was loading terribly slowly, so she tried to force quit - and it wouldn't quit. So she forced it to quit by holding down apple/option escape and then shut it down. On turning on the machine again, it began booting normally, but very slowly - the grey wheel was spinning a minute or more later, and she could not use force quit to stop the machine from booting.
I advised her to hold down the power button for five seconds to force the machine to shut down, and told her that tomorrow I would come over and run maintenance on it and also post her problem here. From the reading I've been doing, it sounds scarily like the logic board thing, but it's also true she has very little space left on her hard drive, so it could be that - or maybe something else entirely? I intend to start from her system disc, do the hardware test, repair and verify the permissions, and, if necessary, reinstall the system. Is there anything else we should do?
It's an ibook g4 1.2mhz, with at least 640 megs of ram but only a 30 gb hard drive. TIA for your help! Oh - she's running panther, and has had the machine for 3 years with no serious problems, except that hers had one of the defective batteries. Apple sent her a replacement battery two years ago.

Hi Mary.
I ideally you need to keep at least 15% of the HD capacity for the system to run smoothly. On a 30GB drive it's easy to use more than you should. Having less free space would make a big difference to the performance. Sounds like a good time to get rid of/back up unneccesary files that don't need to be on the HD. Also, the HD may have become quite fragmented which would also play a part in slowing things down. Once you have things backed up, could be a good time to reinstall a fresh system. You should notice an improvement.

How to get my Music and videos from my Macbook pro to apple TV

I have some music and videos from my macbook that i have added to itunes from CD's and DVDs. Whenever i try to play music or movies on my apple TV it says that there is no music in the library. Is this because the items were not bought on itunes and were added from my computer??

If the music and video is compatible, it should play from Computers.
The Mac and iTunes must be running, the media files must be accessible on an internal or attached external drive.
I assume you have enabled Home Sharing.

How do you get sound and video from a macbook pro (before 2010) onto a 2010 toshiba 40" tv?

Any help on connecting a macbook pro (late 2009) to a 2010 toshiba 40" for both sound and video? I have the mini-hdmi cable, but have no idea about running sound through the tv. I can use the headphone jack, but don't know where to connect it to on the back of the tv. Am I supposed to change any settings on the tv or computer to allow the sound to go through the tv? thanks for any help.

You need a stereo mini to RCA break out cable.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

My imac will not boot up... only grey screen and spinning wheel?

Can you help me get to the screen where I put in the mame and password?
I only see spinning wheel
boyd

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 3
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 5.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 6
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 7
Repeat Step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 8
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested. If you can't get to an Apple Store, go to another authorized service provider.

G5 Quad won't get passed grey screen and spinning icon

Hi,
I can't seem to get my G5 past the grey start up screen. I hear the drive making a similar noise over and over again. I tried booting from CD and works but disk utility doesn't work on it. I slaved it to my laptop and it shows up but then I get an error of failure and then it's de-highlighted.
Any suggestions is appreciated

Hi, sounds like the HD is dying.
I tried booting from CD and works but disk utility doesn't work on it.
Meaning the HD doesn't show up there, or what?
I slaved it to my laptop and it shows up but then I get an error of failure and then it's de-highlighted.
Do you know what the error said exactly?

How to fix grey screen and spinning spiral on MacBook pro

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