IMac starts up with grey screen, shows logo, then the fans blast on

My iMac won't fully boot up. When I start it, I get a grey screen, then the logo appears. Then the fans start blowing full blast and keep going. It never gets past that.
I ran disk utility on it from an OSX boot disc. I'm running Drive Genius on it now and so far, nothing major has been found. I tried zapping PRAM, nothing. I've had problems with the fans in the past and Apple had to replace the logic board.
Any ideas?

In addition to the PRAM reset that you mentioned, try using the PMU reset procedure.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1712
You can also try starting up in Safe Mode (hold down Shift key at startup).
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
If it starts up in Safe Mode, you should back up your personal data (in case your drive is becoming faulty). Then try a normal boot again, to see if the Safe Boot fixed anything.

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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

Can't turn on my MacBook Air. Grey screen shows but instead of Apple logo a folder with a "?" appears. Help

Hello,
As I was using my laptop it suddenly died on me. I tried turning it on several times but I couldn't get passed the grey screen with the Apple logo on it and a loading bar underneath. At this time I could access the Recovery Disc Assistant or the Mac OS X utilities (not sure what it is called). I partintioned the Hard Drive into one partition and ran a disc check. Everything was OK so i rebooted the laptop. The grey screen showed up, but this time instead of getting an Apple logo i got a blinking folder with a question mark on it. I could no longer access the Recovery Disc Assistant and I'm stuck. What really ***** is that I have IB exams tomorrow and some of my crucial notes are on this laptop... Please help.

If you partitioned the drive, you deleted all the data on it. Restore from your most recent backup.

HT1455 imac wont start up and grey screen with spinning wheel appears

imac wont start up and grey screen with spinning wheel appears

See this Apple note on steps to take.

MacBook won't start - gets to grey screen with clicking noise.

I think I know the answer to this one - my hard drive is fried. But before I head to the Apple Store I'd thought I'd see if anyone else had any ideas of what I can try.
I was happily surfing the web when my computer froze. I could move the mouse cursor, but everything else was unresponsive. Opt-Cmd-Esc would not work, so I had to force a restart with the power button.
The computer restarted, I got the Apple chime, but then all I could hear was a clicking. I've tried restarting several times, but to no avail.
I've also tried:
Attempting to boot into a BootCamp partition.
PRAM reset.
Boot into safe mode.
Boot from my Leopard disk (spins up, but then ejects).
Boot from my original MacBook disk (spins up, but then ejects).
Boot into target mode.
The best I've got is a flashing folder with a question mark, mostly I'm just getting a grey screen.
Can anyone else offer any ideas to try?
And, assuming I have to return it (it's under a year old), what is the story? Do I just get a replacement, or is it sent off for repair? Do I need my receipt, or can they verify ownership from my credit card/serial number? Do I need a Genius Bar appointment, or do I just show up?
Sorry for all these questions, this is the first real problem I've had with a Mac and it's come at exactly the time I need to have a laptop!

That happened to my macbook too!!!!
I emptyed my trash can, it had over 1000 items there and it took a really long time to erase all of them. Eventually it was done. I turned it off, went to bed, next morning, my reliable Macbook would not start! Grey screen, apple logo, a spinning wheel. i can hear some clicking mechanical sound.
I loaded my installation cd, pressed C key while starting. It did loaded the cd, followed the screen of installation... It failed the first time, aborted half way. I had to do it again. Second time, it did go through without issue. But now, it always takes WAY long to boot, the system is very slow, very unresponsive, I am very scared to shut down the system, i dont know if next time it will reboot again.
My macbook has been very stable and reliable, compared to my PC and Dell notebooks. It is only 1.5 year old, It is not under warranty anymore. I guess it is hard disk problem most likely. There is not even one Apple Store in Idaho. Should I go out of state to fix it? how much will it cost? I have been a long time PC user and i can fix it myself if it were a PC, I love apple but really have no idea when it has problems.

IMac wont boot Past Grey Screen, finder folder with blinking question mark

iMac G5 won't boot Past Grey Screen. The G5 froze and i restarted, It will not go past the grey screen and it has the finder folder with blinking question mark, also the fans kick on wide open. As it atempts to boot a sound plays "beepda beepda beepda beep" that starts quiet and gets louder and repeats a couple of times. I ran a hardware check on the startup disk and all hardware passed. I thought it might be the RAM any suggestions?
I have restarted using the troubleshooting methods in the guide.

Sorry for the late reply. The drive shows up when booting to disk, but it will not allow you to verify disk or repair. Also it will not allow you to select the hard drive to reinstall the software. Under disk utility Maxtor sabre shows up with total capacity:0 bytes.
I've taking the Mac to the Apple store to get looked at, and its probly the hard drive. Now Im trying to see if theres a way to recover the data myself. I've used software like "Data Rescue" the hard drive shows up "Maxtor Sabre" totally capacity: 0 bytes, and it will not recover anything.
Did this test just to see if it was power problem.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173
Thats when noticed the beeps are coming from the hard drive. So its getting power.
Now just wondering how to recover data.
Any suggestions?

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.

Imac G5 1.8 Grey Screen, Start Up Problem, Any Help Appreciated.

Hello,
I've been having start up issues for about four days. Never had any problems before. Here's what happens:
During start up the start up the usual tone is heard. A grey screen appears and the start up process stops. I am forced to restart and try again. After several attempts the computer start up makes it to the grey apple logo and then the fans max out. I then restart the computer again and it finally starts up. The computer works perfectly once it is finally on all of the way. I have tried the follwing techniques to fix the problem:
Tech Tool Pro: Optimize and Maintenance, program worked fine, fully optimized, but did not fix the start up issue.
Utility Disk from CD: verify disk and permissions, permmisions were corrected, disk repair does not work-error message.
Started in Safe Mode: Checked for extra Login items, none found.
I'm not sure what else I can do. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Greg Sayles
Imac G5 1.8 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You say 'disk repair doesn't work - error message'. It's not clear, but have you tried booting up from your Panther install disk and running Disk Utility from there? Perhaps running DiskWarrior might help (if you have it of course). Failing that you may be looking at an Archive & Install to replace your existing OS with a fresh new one while keeping your apps & files intact.

Shuts down after start tone and grey screen with pin wheel...!???

Hi all, first time here so please bear with me,
even though i have had my imac for so long now, i have only in the last three to four months started playing around with it, i really am a newcomer to macs, and pc's come to that! so far i have only connected up to the internet and put a couple of home video's onto dvd, and play music.
i have been reading a lot of the other posts and frankly i'm lost!
it is about 20 months old and was bought in the uk, i live in cyprus and for that reason i did not purchase an apple plan.
we do not have an apple store here although there is an apple dealer, however they are not soley apple and over here service leaves a lot to be desired! so i am reluctant to take it to them as they are likely to just keep replacing parts and eventually present me with a huge bill!!
anyhow this is the problem:
several times the screen went dim and froze, with a message saying to "push the power button to switch off and and then switch on again", it seems this happened each time when i opened azureus? after this happened a few times it would no longer open the desk top, it would load normally,ie. grey screen with pin wheel followed by blue progress bar and then just a blank blue screen, the blue tooth mouse however was still connected as the cursor would move. it has now changed again! start up tone and grey apple screen with pin wheel for about 30secs or so, then the fan seems to go into turbo mode for a few secs before switching off....i feel sick!! i was really getting to like my mac.
i did recently install tiger, but there were no problems at all with that and it is running on a friends apple with no problems at all, more recently i added more memory which coincided with when i started using torrentspy and azureus,
i did read in another forum something about possible memory probs, so i followed the tip to remove the memory and the back up battery and leave the computer unplugged for 24hrs, i replaced the battery but not the memory, i'm still getting exactly the same shut down result.....
can anyone shed some light on this pleeease? i'm feeling rather desperate right now.....thanks.
imac G5 20inch Mac OS X (10.4) airport card fitted, 1.25gig mem.

Hi ino,
My suspicion is that you have serious hard drive directory corruption caused by the crashes when using azureus.
First step is to see whether you can boot up from your Mac OS X DVD . Put it in the drive while its on, and start up the computer again while holding down the "c" key. The computer should now start up from the DVD.
Select the language you wish to use, and then choose "Disk Utility" from the menu bar (which menu it is in depends on which version of OSX you are using).
Your HD should appear in a panel on the left hand side of the window which opens. Select it and then click on the "repair disk" button in the right hand section of the window.
If Disk First aid is able to complete the repair now click on the "Repair permissions" button.
Once this process has been completed try restarting the computer.
If it still doesn't work, you may have to try an "archive and install", while booted from the OSX DVD.
Be very wary with software like "azureus".
Cheers
Rod

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.

I made A restor with erase from my IPad sitting and it's start and appear on screen apple logo with bar under it but noyhing happened still from 2 hour on this stution

I made A restor with erase from my IPad sitting and it's start and appear on screen apple logo with bar under it but noyhing happened still from 2 hour on this stution,,what can i do?

See if this page helps : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4097 - it mentions 'showing the Apple logo with no progress bar or a stopped progress bar, for over ten minutes.'

My Macbook Pro won't start up. All I get is a grey screen showing a grey folder bearing a question mark. Help please!

My Macbook Pro won't start up. All I get is a grey screen showing a grey folder bearing a question mark. Help please!

The folder with the question mark indicates that the machine is unable to find a bootable volume on startup. This is typically caused by one of three things:
1.) The internal HD has failed or is failing and needs to be replaced
2.) There is significant directory damage to the volume that requires repairing in order to boot
3.) Some other internal component failure between the HD and logic board
I'd ranked them in the order that is most common (from my personal experience). Boot to the OS X Recovery tool and attempt to repair the startup volume. If that fails or the drive is not detected it's usually a tell tale sign of a failed HD.

My iMac starts up with vertical stripes on the screen

My iMac starts up with vertical stripes on the screen, does anyone know what it could be?

My issue is Blue Strips on start up and its frozen at Grey screen forever > I only successfully log-in on SafeBoot mode only actually while I'm typing this
been looking for solutions until came through your posted , ITS HELP! :-) Thanks to you!
so turn out mine was the LCD or Cable like you said,
What should i do from now ? already been tried many solutions :
Clean installed , PRAM , AHT ,
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)
Please, Any suggestion ?

My imac starts up with a white screen, gray apple and spinning gear and is frozen on that screen. What can I do?

my imac starts up with a white screen, gray apple and spinning gear and is frozen on that screen. What can I do?

Start your iMac with the original DVD that camera with the system. Then open disk utility and repair your hard drive, also repair your permissions.

HT1379 Guys please help? My MacBook Pro won't start up. I have tried the resetting Mac's PRAM and NVRAM procedure with no success. All I see is just the black or grey screen although I hear the drive running.

Guys please help? My MacBook Pro won't start up. I have tried the resetting Mac's PRAM and NVRAM procedure with no success. All I see is just the black or grey screen although I hear the drive running.

Hold shift key down while booting should get you in
go through this list and get back with me
Step by Step to fix your Mac

IMac starts up with grey screen, shows logo, then the fans blast on

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