I'm stuck on the gray screen on start up

Tried all the tips I can find but no joy. Able to boot in safe mode but nothing else. Can't use Lion Recovery and unable install Snow Leopard from disk as it gets stuck on the gray screen again. Any suggestions?

It appears you may have a bad Recovery HD partition. By any chance did you create a USB Recovery HD for emergency uses? If not, then I think you may have to first reinstall Snow Leopard then re-download and install Lion. Since you can boot into safe mode you can create a backup of your files because reinstalling Snow Leopard requires erasing the drive:
Downgrade Lion to Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.1.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

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My iMac won't boot up fully. It stays stuck in the gray screen with the pinwheel spinning, then after about 5 minutes just shuts itself off.

My iMac won't boot up fully. It stays stuck in the gray screen with the pinwheel spinning, then after about 5 minutes just shuts itself off.

Try SMC Reset (unplug it from the back of the computer for 10 seconds then plug it back. in)
Try PRAM Reset Cmd + OPtion + P + R on start up.
Try safe boot - hold down shift on start up.
Try booting to install dvd (C on start up) or recovery hd (CMD + R) and using disk utility to run a verify and repair. If you still can't boot after that reinstall the operating system. If you can't find the disc or it wont boot to the disc.
Try single mode which is cmd+S on start up. It will open with a terminal looking window in the terminal. type in /sbin/fsck -TL. If it returns *system has been modified* continue to type that command in until it comes back with macintosh hd seems to be ok. If after 5 tries it still gives you system has been modified. You may have to replace the hard drive.

I have an iMac G5 stuck on the gray screen with spinning gear. I woke up to it being stuck on a blue screen, then force quit and now it's stuck on gray with spinning gear.

I have an iMac G5 stuck on the gray screen with spinning gear. I woke up to it being stuck on a blue screen, then force quit and now it's stuck on gray with spinning gear. Please advise.

If you have a G5 then it's a PPC (Power PC) based iMac, this is an Intel iMac forum. Try the Gray screen appears during startup link for troubleshooting steps. I suspect the HD has crashed.

My apple wont turn on. it gets stuck on the gray screen with the spinning wheel and the apple on the screen

My macbook air turns on but not completely, it gets stuck on the grays screen.   It shows an apple an a spinning wheel and that is as far as it gets. sometimes I can get to an screen that shows macintosh hd and i clicked on it and the computer turned off.

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 startup failure is to secure the 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 the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
     a. Start up from 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.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start 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.
d. 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
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up 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.
Step 7
If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start 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 the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up 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, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup 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 restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the 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 restart as usual.
Step 9
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 11
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 12
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 13
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Hi i am having a big trouble. MY mac wont start past the gray screen. I tried starting on safe boot, single user user mode , recovery mode. Everything it gets stuck on the gray screen i even tried reinstalling it , same thing what should i do?

MY mac wont start past the gray screen. I tried starting on safe boot, single user user mode , recovery mode. Everything it gets stuck on the gray screen i even tried reinstalling it , same thing what should i do? it lets me reinstall sometimes Sometimes.... it is weird.

orshikhfromsc,
boot from the Mac OS X Install DVD that originally came in the box with your MacBook Pro (by holding down the C key as it starts up). When the desktop appears, select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and erase your internal disk. After it’s been erased, reformat it. After it’s been reformatted, exit Disk Utility and reïnstall the version of Mac OS X from that DVD onto your internal disk. After that version of Mac OS X has been reïnstalled, boot from your internal disk and run Software Update to get it up-to-date within that version; that should allow you to redownload and reïnstall Mavericks, if desired. If Mavericks is reïnstalled, run Software Update again to get it up to date.
If you no longer have the two grey installation DVDs, you can purchase a replacement set from either Apple or iFixit.

Macbook getting stuck on the gray screen with the apple

Please help!
I had to turn off my computer this morning manually becuase it froze and when I went to turn it back on, it just gets stuck on the gray screen at the beginning. It will have the apple logo on it for a while and then switch to a "folder" with a questions mark in the middle, then to circle with a line through it and will never actually boot up. Please, any thoughts would be wonderful!

Do you have your install discs with you? If so, insert Install Disc 1 into the optical drive and boot the computer while holding the C key. The OS X Installer should load. Choose a language to proceed. Once that window is gone, menus should appear at the top of the screen. From the Utilities menu choose *Disk Utility*. In the left-hand column, highlight your hard drive's icon--the one that lists the xx.x GB capacity/manufacturer. If you have installed Windows via BootCamp, choose the *Macintosh HD* icon. Choose the *Repair Disk* button. If anything cannot be repaired, post the error here. If nothing needs to be repaired, click the *Repair Permissions* button. Also check the *S.M.A.R.T. status* of the drive in the lower-right corner.
Best of luck!
~Lyssa

I tried to eject a cd, didn't work so I turned off the computer and now it keeps getting stuck at the gray screen. How do I fix it?

Here are a few more details. I put in a game cd for a windows computer, once I opened the folder on the desktop I noticed the install application was .exe so I tried to eject the cd but no matter what I tried on the computer it wouldn't come out. I will say though that I didn't try the manual cd eject cause I didn't have anything small to hit the button in the cd drive with. It was getting late so we decided to just turn off the computer and leave it for the next day. I can't remember if we turned the computer off with apple shut down or by holding down the power button but we walked away pretty quickly before it was fully shut down. The next day the computer won't turn on. When I walked into the room I was the computer stuck with a grey background with the apple logo showing and the circular thing under it frozen. Since no one was in the room I held down the power button and turned the computer off. We tried to start the computer again later but again it keeps getting stuck at the same spot. Now when we hold the power button down to turn it off I'm not sure if it's really turning off all the way. The screen goes dark but it sounds like the fan is still going. I tried disconnecting everything but the keyboard and mouse but when I started it up again it got stuck on the grey screen with just the apple logo. I'd really apprechiate help on this cause I live in Germany right now and support call centers work so much worse when you don't speak the language well... Thanks for any help you can give!

Restart your computer while holding down left mouse key. That will eject the CD and your Mac will start as normal.
Lupunus

Why is my macbook pro stuck on the gray screen?

I turned on my macbook today and tried to turn it on, only to find out that it decided to stay on the gray screen for quite a while. I have tried to re-boot the system quite a few times, but nothing has helped. I then googled my situation to find a solution. I came across a post from someone who recommended holding down command + V and the power button. A black screen then appeared with a bunch of white writing. I haven't touched it because i dont want to mess it up any more that i already have. PLEASEEE HELP ME!!! Thank you!!!!

Just take it to the apple store. Same thing happened to me and they fixed it by going on the black screen but dont mess up with that screen let them fix it.

Mac Mini is stuck in the gray screen

My daughter has an early Mac Mini. She tells me that she was working away yesterday and all of a sudden the screen turned gray. A short time later a message appeared on the screen and told us that we needed to turn off the power and re-start the computer. Since yesterday, we have tried restarting the computer several times with the same result.
I have no idea if there's anything I can do at this point. Is there anything we can try or do I need to take the Mac Mini to the Genius Bar at my local Apple store?
Thanks for any suggestions and guidance.
John

Solution - we bought a new iMac. Daughter's thrilled; I'm not. Oh well, at least one of us is happy.

My macbook pro is stuck at the white screen at start up...

my mac is a 2011 13 inch macbook pro.
i tried holding command+option+p+r and it kept on playing the chime and it was still stuck on a white screen
please help!!

Try a Safe Boot: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
If not use the Recovery: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

My Macbook is stuck on the Gray screen again when it starts up:

My Back drvie that I all my stuff saved to I'm out of space on and when I tried to back up my Mac last time it said the backup failed- since the backup was to big.
I do not want to reinstall the OS since I have I have a alot of webpages in iWeb and my iTunes stuff & all of my Documents and photos & my mail, that I do not want to loose.
Do you think Apple work try and recover the things on the hard if I ask them nicely?
What should I do.
Message was edited by: blark
Message was edited by: blark

Few minutes ago i was answering nearly same question. This happened to me either. Try reinstalling the os. If you have a dvd ten with the dvd but if you have lion shut off, turn on and immidietly hold the option key and click recovery hd or whatever its called. I hope this works for you. Try reading https://discussions.apple.com/message/20088037#20088037. I answered how to do it. I hope this helps you.

WHY IS MY MACBOOKPRO 13INCH THAT I GOT LAST YEAR STUCK ON THE GREY SCREEN AT START UP?

looking to solve the startup issue with my macbook pro

Try booting while holding down command and R keys. Further directions here:
http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
When you get to the screen shown on the page, select Disk Utility, then Continue.
In DU, select the hard drive on the left, the First Aid tab on the right, and click Repair Disk.
If the repair works, quit DU and restart.

MacBook stuck at gray screen during start up

Lately my 2008 model MacBook has been freezing up. When I shut it down, it starts up just fine, however, the last two times I've shut it down, it gets stuck at the gray screen during start up. The first time, I was unsuccessful with a Safe Boot, however I was successful using CommandOption+PR to reset my NVRAM/PRAM. It has been working fine for the past two days, but it froze again this evening. I tried Safe Booting, removing peripherals, resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and I even was able to repair the disk and the permissions, but still, I am unsuccessful during a start up.
When I did try to "Perform an Archive and Install installation of Mac OS X", it said my computer was not able to install 10.5 (I run 10.6) because it did not meet the system requirements.
As a final effort, I tried doing another SafeBoot, this time viewing the status. It has been stuck at a console screen that reads "disk0s2: media is not present...." for about ten minutes now, if that helps at all.
Any advice on how to fix this would be highly appreciated. And yes, I have read the Gray screen article
Zach Irwin

Your hard drive may be damaged or requires reformatting. You might try this to start:
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.
If you still are unable to restart or if DU cannot repair the drive or the SMART status is not "verified" then you can try reformatting the drive to see if that fixes the problem, otherwise you will have to replace the drive.
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. 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.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
And, you cannot do an Archive and Install of Leopard over a Snow Leopard installation. You have to reinstall using the Snow Leopard installer.

Occasionly stuck at the gray start up screen...

About two weeks ago my G5 got stuck at the gray screen and the fans started up, full blast. I attempted to reboot, but still the same issue. I unplugged the machine for about 24 hours and luckily it turned on as it should upon my next attempt, however the issue has reoccured twice since that day. After powering the machine on, I can tell when the CPU is not going to boot up because once the gray screen is shown, the loading icon beneath the Apple logo will not be displayed. I have also noticed that when I am able to get around this issue that my Mac has been "acting strange" such as Safari having unexpected shut downs more often than ever before. Any suggestions?

You sound as if you are having thermal problems - go to User>Applications>Utilities>Console and look in your system log for any temperature related items. You may either have bad caps or your power supply unit it failing.
You can try to reset the SMU
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
4. Release the power button.
5. Attach the computers power cable.
6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Let us know if that helps. Also, make sure your vents are free of dust and empty Safari's cache.

My MacBook pro won't start. It is frozen on the gray screen with the apple. Please help?

My MacBook pro won't start. It's stuck on the gray screen with the apple logo.

Reinstall OS X:
Reinstall Snow Leopard without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
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. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.
Reinstalling Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You can also re-download the Lion installer by opening the App Store application. Hold down the OPTION key and click on the Purchases icon in the toolbar. You should now see an active Install button to the right of your Lion purchase entry. There are situations in which this will not work. For example, if you are already booted into the Lion you originally purchased with your Apple ID or if an instance of the Lion installer is located anywhere on your computer.

I'm stuck on the gray screen on start up

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