IMac G5 Power PC won't boot past the grey apple and pinwheel

After everything froze and having to shut down (holding the power button), it won't boot past the grey apple and pinwheel. After a few seconds, the fans speed up and then nothing else.
*it won't boot into safe mode (holding shift)
*booting to OS on DVD works but then freezes after select language and hit "continue"
*disk utility shows the actual hard drive name but no disk image/partition is listed for me to repair or change
*running the system hardware diagnostic CD returns a list of "passed" for all hardware
I did have the logic board replaced during the extended warranty period a few years back and have not had any issues at all since.
Any thoughts, suggestions, tricks/tips?

Perfect diagnosis. I replaced the HD and reinstalled the OS. Back in business! Thanks!

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Leopard won't go past the grey apple and the paddle wheel.

*Problem with start up on Leopard 10.5*
This Imac only goes to the grey screen with the apple logo and the spinning paddle wheel and no further. What can I do?
Last night the screen froze over and I couldn’t force quit, so I switched off. Was only running safari, after installing some graphics upgrade from Apple.
Today I’ve tried switching on with :=
1. D. Hardware diagnostics. No problems found.
2. Shift - Start in Safe mode. No effect. Grey apple and paddle wheel.
3. Command + S. Provides a text screen which end with
CSRHIDTransitionDriver: start booting in single user … will wait for window Server
and nothing happens however long it's left
3a. Command + V. Verbose mode? as above but, after the reference to firewire Lucent the CSRHIDTransitionDriver has 4 lines:
CSRHIDTransitionDriver::start [-v]
CSRHIDTransitionDriver::switchToHCIMode legacy
USBF 2.517 CSRHIDTransitionDriver etc etc
CSRHIDTransitionDriver ... done
4. C to start from CD. Repaired disk and disk permissions.
5. Command Option P R. Reset the PRAM
6. Shift. Safe boot again. No effect again. Grey apple and paddle wheel.
7. Command Option O F to open firmware. Well, it didn’t work. Nothing happened and I did not reset nvram.
8. Tried to restart from 10.4 cd but this didn’t help.
9. Command + S. Again. Provides a text screen which end with CSRHIDTransitionDriver: start booting in single user … will wait for window Server
Any suggestion how to cure this will be greatly appreciated.
Or, how to set about reinstalling Leopard while preserving as much data as poss.

Are you calling Single User Mode what I understand to be Single User Mode?
What happens if you restart the machine holding the command (Apple logo, cloverleaf) key together with the S key? Do you get a command line? If you do, you should be able to use
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306857
If you don't get a command line, are you using an Apple wired keyboard to hit the shortcut? Non-Apple keyboards and wireless keyboards may not be able to activate the keyboard sequence.
If you are getting the command line without results, the spacing fo the command is critical. I will show you with the underscore as in: _ where to put the space:
/sbin/fsck_-fy
/sbin/mount-uw/
rm-rf/System/Library/SystemConfiguration/ApplicationEnhancer.bundle
It is important you observe the upper/lowercase spellings above.

My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen.. help!

Today I was having a problem with Safari. For some reason, it kept restarting. This annoyed me, so I restarted my MacBook. Unfortunately, it won't boot past the grey screen, with the thing spinning in the middle. I've been into disk utility and it says my HDD is fine. I restarted from this, and yet it still won't boot. Can anyone suggest what's wrong/what to do?
Thanks in advance

Retrieving data using Target Disk Mode:
1) Shut down both computers
2) Connect the two computers using a Firewire cable
3) Start up the working computer.
4) Once the working computer is ready, startup your MacBook with the T key held down.
5) Your MacBook's hard drive should appear as an external hard drive on the working Mac. Drag & drop any files you want to save.
~Lyssa

My powerbook won't load past the grey apple logo screen

I had been away on business for a few weeks and yesterday I decided to run the latest updates for my powerbook. In the middle of it the computer froze for what I think is the first time since I bought it 2 years ago. I ended up having to shut the computer down with the power button. When I turned it on it wouldn't and still won't advance past the grey apple logo screen with the progress indicator. It just sits there for hours on end if I let it.
So far I've tried the following, all to no avail.
Booting in safe mode I get the same result.
Zapping the Ram
Resetting the PMU
Reinstalling OS X, during which the computer either randomly shuts down or goes to sleep and then shuts down and requires me to reset the PMU in order to start again.
Running the hardware diagnosis. I did this once and it froze during the logic board test, 1 minute 6 seconds in to it.
Anyone have any ideas that don't involve spending 900 dollars on a logic board? Thanks a lot for any help.

joeuu, thanks for the reply. i checked the airport and the ram and both seem to be seated properly.
i ran the quick hardware diagnosis and it came back showing everything was fine.
when i ran the extended one i got more progress than i did the first time. it got to the RAM diagnosis (about 6:45 seconds in) and then froze - i let it sit like this for an hour and a half to make sure it was actually frozen.
i also tried to run the disc utility from the installation disc and it just sits there with the progress wheel spinning, but nothing else is going on.

My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark, My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark, My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen showing a folder sign with question mark

Hi, I need some serious help immediately. I have been using an external hard disc to watch movies and stuff on my MacBook. However last night I removed the external hard disc accidentally without closing the programs that were still using the data from the hard disk and hence the complete MacBook got hanged and nothing responded. I tried using command Q to shut down the program buy it didn't help either. So finally I gave up and shut down the MacBook manually by pressing the power on/off button.
However when I tried restarting my MacBook I faced a serious problem. The start up won't boot beyond the grey screen showing a folder sign with a question mark sign in it .. I just don't know what to do. Somebody please help me and guide me through this problem
Awaiting quick response
Gratitude in advance
Regards
AJ

If you try booting your Mac holding down the Option key, you should see the icon for Macintosh HD. Try selecting that to boot. If you can get in that way, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and select your Mac HD, then click Restart.
If you can't see the Mac HD, the volume may indeed need repair as Niel said.

My G5 shut down + when it restarted it won't go past the grey apple screen

here's a general rundown of how I got to this point...
last yr the hard drive on my '05 G5 went, so i had it replaced (6-7 months ago) and for the last 2-3 months i've had problems with involuntary shut downs (cut to black) it started happening once a day and then there were days where it would happen more often and then less often and eventually got to a point where it was happening every 5-20 minutes, so i brought it in to get looked at and was told that it was the power supply that was malfunctioning. I mentioned that I would likely be buying a new mac in the coming weeks ( i did yesterday) and was told that I should be ok between now and then without having it fixed and then when i did get my new computer they would transfer all of my old data onto the new computer and would be installing the new power supply before selling it to a local school. then, 3 days before I was going to get my new mac, it shut off yet again, but when it rebooted it never went past the grey apple screen. after 4 or 5 minutes the fan comes on and is amazingly loud and this is where it stays until i shut it off. i'm not sure if this is simply the power supply finally going going gone or if this has something to do with the very new hard drive or who knows what else; i just want to get my info from the old computer onto the new and hopefully get the couple hundred dollars that i was told my g5 was worth. is there something i can do to get past the grey screen before i bring it in?
thanks in advance,
Jeremiah

I doubt that your data have been lost, the hard drive should be fine. Too bad that you're going to sell it, you could have used the hard drive in an enclosure to back up your new computer to. Please remember to make frequent backups/clones, I use SuperDuper! and it works perfectly. I have used it to re-clone a drive from the external when things have gone bad, you can also boot from a SuperDuper! clone.
Anyway, let us know how things go, I'm pretty sure your drive will be fine.

My G-5 Won't go past the Grey Apple Screen......HELP HELP HELP

I have a G-5 PowerMac.
Its about a year old.
I have used it more than sparingly. I bought it for video editing and have no other programs installed on it that didn't come with the computer besides Final Cut Pro
I tried to turn it on this morning to edit a project i'm working on and the thing just wont get past the Grey Apple Screen.
I really need help here. My hardware warranty runs out on December 31st and I dont have money for the Applecare $250 is really steep.
Help me turn the thing back on and get my editing going please
Email me at [email protected] if you can help me out
thanks
Chris
Power Mac G5 Dual Processor Mac OS X (10.4)

Hey Cris
I just got thru the same problem. My G5 was only 30 days old. I contacted Apple and after many phone calls I ended up purchasing the Applecare.
The parts were on back order for two weeks and they ended up replacing the logic board and the processor.
Good Luck!!!

My Imac won't go past the grey screen and apple logo! How do I fix the start up in my Imac?

I really need help with this one!
My Imac is stuck on the grey screen with the apple Logo, and it wont go past that.
It does listen to certain keyboard commands to start it up (ive tried fixing it by reading other's posts.) But it will only listen to some commands,
It doesn't start on Shift (safe mode) but it does start on command+shift+(other button) which is safemode viewed so you can see whats going on.
As the letters on the screen type on, it says it's loading something but stays stuck there.
I've heard about a way where you can use terminal from another computer and boot it that way, or using firewire cables.
Please help! and take in mind I'm not really tech-savy with computers, so guides would be helpful!
If there is any way to save the files in the computer that would be great. If it can't be done, it's fine, I just want it working again .
Thanks,
Gian Varela

I really need help with this one!
My Imac is stuck on the grey screen with the apple Logo, and it wont go past that.
It does listen to certain keyboard commands to start it up (ive tried fixing it by reading other's posts.) But it will only listen to some commands,
It doesn't start on Shift (safe mode) but it does start on command+shift+(other button) which is safemode viewed so you can see whats going on.
As the letters on the screen type on, it says it's loading something but stays stuck there.
I've heard about a way where you can use terminal from another computer and boot it that way, or using firewire cables.
Please help! and take in mind I'm not really tech-savy with computers, so guides would be helpful!
If there is any way to save the files in the computer that would be great. If it can't be done, it's fine, I just want it working again .
Thanks,
Gian Varela

G5 Power Mac won't boot past the white screen w/ the grey Apple logo

Ok trying this again. Thank you in advance for any help. My dual 2 gig proc power Mac froze during a movie. I shut it down restarted it but it hangs at the apple logo and the fans slowly build speed until it sounds like the box is take off for flight
What I've done:
No single user mode. I restart with cmd+s and it it hangs on the black screen w/ white lettering. The last thing it says is Dart enabled. There is a cursor box but it won't allow my to type anything
I can get into the open firmware mode and it works
I reset the nvram and the pram. I removed the battery and put it back in
I pulled all hard drives and attempted single user mode again nothing
I ran an apple diagnostic disc. All hard ware checks out fine. When I try to run the os diagnostic on the disc it hangs at the apple logo still
I rearranged the ram nothing going. Pulled all the ram and replaced one set at a time still nothing
Any ideas?

See if you can get it to run long enough to get/install some of these...
Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor
iStat Menus...
http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/
And/or iStat Pro...
http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/
If you have any temps in the 70°C/160°F range, that's likely it.

11-04-2008, 08:55 AM Hello all, Hoping someone can offer me some help. My macbook won't boot past the grey screen with the apple logo with the spinning disc. I've left it for around an hour and nothing happens.

pls help me need help badlypls help me, need really bad

Look at this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Ciao.

G4 Power Mac won't boot past gray screen

I have a mirror door g4 power pc that had been having some issues with not turning on, and after testing the power supply, it failed miserably. We placed a refurbished power supply in it from a company in New York and the computer was working wonderfully. I went on a cruise last week and went to turn the computer on for the first time in a week and a few days. The CPU turns on, the unit chimes, the fan turns on and the computer starts to boot up, but it won't boot past the gray apple logo screen.
Actually, the first few attempts to boot it resulted in a blue screen with gaint apple logo and spinner; it wouldn't advance further. After several restarts and resets, I got it to come up into the normal gray screen. On several attempts it wouldn't boot further than this. On two occasions now though, it has moved past the gray screen to normal operation (it takes about an hour for it to get to that point though) but with some kind of errors. I get the side bar, but the gray panel on to with "file" ect is gone and my HD icon never comes up. The icons on the sidebar do not respond when clicked.
The computer will not boot from the OS X disc.
What's going on, hard drive? Virus? Something else?

You likely have hard drive directory issues or worse.
Virus is just a hopeful whimsy.
No virus.
I hope that you have a backup of your data.
Try a Safe Mode boot. This forces system repair of the directory (if possible).
Hold Shift while starting to enter Safe mode. Be patient, as it can take several minutes to complete.
Failure to boot to the OS X disc is not good. A severely damaged drive can prevent boot while connected.
Disconnect your boot drive and try booting to the OS X disc.

MacBook won't load past the gray apple screen, what do I do?

A few months ago my cat peed on my computer and despite the battery no longer working the computer its self continued working fine after letting it sit a few days.
A few weeks ago I accidentally unplugged it form the wall forcefully turning it off, when I tried to turn it back on it wouldn't go past the gray apple logo with the spinning pinwheel.
I've tried to troubleshooting it numerous times but even after letting it safe boot all night I came to no avail.
All the suggestions I've gotten on other sites say I sould re-install the OSX server, the problem being I don't know how, or which OSX I have, they also say the memory will probably be erased, I can't have this happen because I have many things I wrote on there that I have no where else. I bought this laptop in the first few days of 2009.
What do I do without erasing the memory?

Hello,
Could someone help me, please? I apologize for the long message but I want to be as detailed as possible.
My MacBook (purchased early 2006, white 13", upgraded to Leopard about a year ago with no problems until now) will not boot past the grey screen and spinning wheel.
Here' are the list of 6 steps I've followed so far and still is not working. Oh, and I do not have any peripherals attached to my MacBook:
1. Reboot in Safe Mode: tried pressing down the Shift key before the powering up sound AND after the sound. Could not get into Safe Mode. Did this several times, holding the Shift key for as much as a minute or two. Nothing but grey screen and spinning wheel.
2. Reset NVRAM/PRAM: CMDR+POption: Computer restarted but still goes into Grey Screen, spinning wheel and stays there forever.
3. CMD +S: I read this online. Gave me a black screen with a lot of information, but I don't know how to read the computer jargon, let alone know what to do with said info.
4. Disk Utility Repair Disk : Inserted my Leopard install disk. Went to Utility Disk. Performed a Repair Disk and I did get two error messages, something related to id 70000452 should be id 70000450 ( I'm sorry to say I cannot remember the exact error messages). But it showed as repaired. When I did a 2nd Repair Disk, I got the message that the volume appears to be OK. Turned off and on again, nothing but grey screen and wheel.
5. Disk Utility Repair Disk Permissions: got several error messages and this time some could not be repaired:
-Permissions differ on system/library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents.... should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are lrw-rw-r--
I got this about 4 times.
-Permissions differ on System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/a/Resources/ DiskManagementTool has been modified and will not be repaired.
-Permissions differ on System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Resou rces/Locum has been modified and will not be repaired.
-SIUD file has been modified and cannot be repaired also shows twice.
I've read that these messages can be ignored. Is this true? I verified permissions after that, rebooted and still the same grey screen and wheel.
6. FINALLY: I tried to hook a FireWire from my notebook to my sis, iMac, and see if my HD shows up on hers so I can try to copy and save my pics and music. I was then planning to Erase and Reinstall. But my HD doesn't show up. I turned off both Macs and turned on, pressing T on my Notebook so it acts as a drive, but nothing shows up on my sis iMac. What am I doing wrong here?
And if it cannot be repaired, what do I do?
I'm an amateur photographer and would like to save all my pics, as well as my iTunes music. Much of everything else is just docs, and I think I backed the docs up, but not iTunes or the pics lately (not enough memory available in my flash drive). It also means I do not have a lot of RAM available (I know, I should've bought an external hard drive :o) to perform an Archive and Install.
Can I save my pics and music? Is it all lost? Help please?
Thanks
Andy

PowerBook Won't Boot Past the Apple and Spinning Flower Screen...

I've been reading a lot of these forums, but still haven't figured out how to fix it on my laptop. So, I made my own topic.
Anyways. My dad gave me this laptop since he got a new one, so it's a hand-me-down which means I don't have this startup disk that I keep seeing talked about. I've tried Safe Boot, but when I do it with Command + V, it says all sorts of things that I just don't understand, and there is a lot of talk about the Apple Power Management? Such as:
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement isn't a valid mach-o (magic is cefaedfe)
error mapping module file com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement
can't map com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement in preparation for loading
couldn't alloc class "AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement"
Etc, etc. And then the last lines that it ends with say:
BSD root: disk0s3, major 14, minor 2
[HCIController][configurePM] power parent ready after 1 tries
And it just stays there and doesn't boot up.
I honestly don't know what any of this means, or if it is even relevant to why my PowerBook won't boot past the Apple screen. If you have any information on how I could fix it, that'd be great. Also, if you have any questions that would help you figure it out, ask away and I will answer them.
Thanks a lot.
Message was edited by: MixtapeChick

MixtapeChick:
Welcome to Apple Discussions. Congratulations on your "new" PowerBook. I suggest that you begin with this combination procedure:
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously later.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys immediately after the startup chime.
• Hold keys down until you hear the startup chime for the third time.
• Release the keys and immediately hold down Shift key to start up in Safe Mode.
• Log in and empty Trash.
• Restart normally and log in.
Let us know how it goes.
cornelius

Reset PMU and Powerbook won't boot past the blue screen with "Mac OSX" box

Hi-
Problem: I tried to reset my PMU, and now when my computer restarts it won't go past the blue screen with the "Mac OSX" logo in the box (and progress bar, that never fills up). I then also tried to reset PRAM, but it still won't boot properly.
Backstory--
I've had my 12-inch Powerbook G4 for about 3.5 years already, so things are starting to get a bit out of whack. I replaced my battery about 3 months ago, which has been great, but recently my power-cord has been wonky (having to unplug it and replug it in to make sure it actually charges the computer, the light flickers on and off, etc). Today it actually started producing SPARKS at the place where the thin white wire meets the white plastic power brick, so I decided it was time to get a new one. Brought it home, plugged it in, and since it seemed like the battery indication icon on the menu bar was all out of sync with the powercord colored-light, I tried restarting it a few times, but still the same. Then, I decided to reset the PMU, which may have been a huge mistake. And now it won't boot past the blue screen... Any advice? I'm going to try restarting it in "safe" mode, but I'd be so grateful for any recommendations. Hope I haven't done something irreversibly stupid with the PMU reset.
Thanks,
Samantha

Hello all,
Thanks for all of your great suggestions and info-- here are a few responses.
1) The disk I just borrowed from my friend appears to be the full retail version-- it looks just like the links that Ali B sent, and is in a large box saying "Mac OSX Tiger, version 10.4"... will this be the proper disk to do an Erase and Install? The only other disks I have came with my Powerbook when it was originally purchased, when it came Panther (I think, 10.3?). Would I use both sets of these disks to do erase and install? Or only the Tiger OSX disks?
2) I get the sense that Disk Warrior or Tech Tool might be necessary, but does it make sense to TRY to do erase-install before buying them? Also, are there any downloadable (for pay) versions of this, or would I need to track down the actual physical disks in Hong Kong or wait for them to be shipped?
3) I haven't yet tried the S.M.A.R.T. test, should I do that first? What is the procedure? Are there any results or ways to know if the drive is too far gone (so that I might instead replace the internal hard-drive) instead of pay 100 USD first to do the disk repair?
4) Cornelius said: "An alternative would be to completely reformat and erase the entire HDD, then re-install and restore your data from backup. If your backup is in the form of a bootable clone of the entire HDD, you can just clone it back." I use Super-Duper to back-up and the most recent one copied the whole thing-- what would be the later procedure of "cloning it back"?
5) As I'm able to use my computer pretty normally right now, but does it still mean that it might crash/die at any moment? Is there any way to tell?
Thanks so much!

IBook G4 suddenly won't boot past the "booting OSX" screen.

My iBook G4 suddenly died and now won't boot past the "Starting OSX" screen. The blue bar goes all the way across but never moves to the next screen. I have my original disks, containing OS 10.4.5. I am trying to boot from the disk, but just keep getting the Installer program. When I try to choose a startup disk, it still won't start. Any help or ideas? This is urgent.
BTW, I am a photographer and was workig in PhotoShop7 -- a program I use all day, every day.

Start from the install disc again and choose Disk Utility from the menu. Highlight the drive on the left and click Repair Disk. If it reports errors and repairs made, repeat the process until no errors are reported.
John

IMac G5 Power PC won't boot past the grey apple and pinwheel

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