IMac won't boot...goes to gray screen

I have an iMac 27...think it's a 2011. I'm running 10.10.1. Last week the machine crashed a couple times and after the last one, wouldn't boot to the login screen. It went to the gray screen And then rebooted itself. Took it in to the local Apple Store where they ran diagnostics for a couple days. Long story short, they reinstalled 10.10.1. Brought the machine home and it worked for about 4 hours before it crashed again, and I'm now back to the incomplete boot to gray screen. This sound familiar to anyone?

Yes Mike, I followed all the recommended trouble-shooting steps when this first happened, and then took the machine to the Apple Store where they reinstalled the OS and sent me on my way. The problem has returned.
Anyone else?

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My iMac won't boot, get a black screen with alarm sound, then gray screen with start up sound, then repeats

this problem started last fall after upgrading to Mavericks. If I shut down my computer (or restart) I have problems getting it going again. This is getting progressively worse. I hadn't shut down in over a month, forgot about this issue and shut down (which I used to do daily), so now I can't get my computer to boot. When I hit the power button I hear it starting, then a loud alarm sounds, then a long pause then start up sound with a gray screen with a progress bar. Once the progress bar fills, the screen goes black again for a bit. This whole process will repeat until I get frustrated and force - shut down by holding the power button. I have tried reseting the pram, starting up in safe mode, starting up with the command - R, starting up with my original install disc... none of it works. I'm at a loss! I do have an external hard drive that I have been using for Time Machine, but it's not recent because the disc needs repairs and I hadn't gotten around to buying a new HD to back up to first. Has anyone else had this problem? I really can't afford a big repair/replacement bill.

A long, steady, load tone followed by a progress bar can indicate it is trying to install a Firmware Update. Any other Tones would be multiple beeps and show an error code.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5860
You can also see a progress bar similar to booting into Safe Mode. However, the firmware update bar is thinner vertically than the Safe Mode bar.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
Either way, I would say something is wrong and it would be better evaluated at an Apple Store as Kappy points out.

MacBook Pro won't boot up past gray screen?

Okay, so I was running chrome and iTunes and spotify. Spotify was playing and Avast! Detected an infection and moved it to the chest. I quit chrome and opened up a Steam game called Garry's Mod, but it wouldn't open no matter how many times I tried it. So I tried to open chrome again and it bounced but didn't open. Tried to open system preferences and it opened but didn't show a window and wasn't responding. So I tried to restart but it wouldn't restart, so I force shut it down. Then it wouldn't go past the gray screen.
So I restarted the PRAM. Didn't work. Tried booting into safe mode. Didn't work. When into single user and checked the directories I think. Didn't work. Called apple and repaired permissions and that didn't work. Then I downloaded OS Mavericks and reinstalled it. Didn't work. So I'm redownloading to see if it might work if i do it again. Otherwise, he said I'd have to completely restore and lose my data, which would suck. I don't have a backup unfortunately.
What I'm wondering is if there's anything you think I could do that just might fix this?
Or, is there anyway to save my data if it won't boot up and I don't have a backup? I have lots of writing and music I really would not like to lose.

Your disk may be sick or dying. As you surmised the top priority at this point is to make a copy of your data.
First, check the health of the disk. Boot in Recovery Mode (Boot, Command-R). Run Disk Utility. Click on the upper left disk icon. Does the S.M.A.R.T. status say “Verified”? If not the disk/SSD is unhealthy and needs to be replaced. Click on the icon indented below, usually called “Macintosh HD” and Verify Disk. If it finishes with a green “OK” message then all is well with the disk. If it shows errors in red then you have found a problem to address once the system is backed up. Do not attempt software repairs until you have secured the data. Post back with the results of this test.
If the disk will not show up at all in Disk Utility to run these simple testes then it is probably already dead. A trip to an Apple store to confirm that would be in order.
If you have an external disk drive you can use as a backup drive then do so. If not I’m going to council you to purchase a drive you can use to replace your internal drive if need be. The silver lining is this new drive will be much faster than the old one. Google “Seagate 1 TB SSHD”. You should find a drive for about $100. Google “USB 3.0 enclosure”. That should cost $10 to $20. When they arrive plug the drive into the enclosure.
Assuming it is still breathing you can recover the data without booting from the sick disk.
Reformat the external disk Boot in Recovery Mode. Start Disk Utility. Plug in the new disk. Select it’s disk Icon (the second one down, left justified). Select the Partition tab.
Partition Layout > Single Partition
Name: Emergency Recovery 1 (or whatever name you wish to use)
Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Options… > GUID Partition Table > OK
Apply
Select the Restore tab.
Drag the old system volume (Macintosh HD) to Source.
Drag the new disk volume (Emergency Recovery 1) to Destination.
Click on Restore.
If that will not complete post back for another emergency data recovery method.
If the backup succeeds use the First Aid tab in Disk Utility to select the old volume (Macintosh HD) and Repair Disk. If it repairs with a green OK message, will it boot normally?
Post back for further instructions. How to proceed will depend on what has transpired to that point.

Help: iMac won't boot past Grey logo screen with spinning lines

My fiance's iMac (intel based) running snow leopard (upgraded from Leopard a couple months ago) will not boot past the logo and spinning lines. This started after at attempting to restart after installing updates to Safari and iTunes.
When booting in verbose mode I get these lines:
Launchctl: Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /Library/LaunchDaemons
Launchctl: Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
Launchctl: Dubious permissions on file (skipping): /etc/mach_inid.d
AppleYukon2: Marvel Yukon Gigabit Adapter 88E8055 Singleport Copper SA
AppleYukon2: RxRingSize <= 1024, TxRingSize 256. RXMAXLE 1024, TXMAXLE 768, STMAXLE 3328
Then it just stops and does nothing.
I've unplugged everything except the apple keyboard and mouse. Ethernet is not connected.
She doesn't seem to have the original disc that came with the computer, but I do have the Snow Leopard upgrade disc.
What do I do? It won't boot in Safe Mode either, freezes at the same spot.
I'm not a particularly savvy Mac user as I recently embraced them when we moved in together.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Repairing permission is not the first answer. Should try to run fsck and reset the PRAM
Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt type:
/sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found:
** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OKIf fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
When fsck reports that your volume is OK, typerebootat the prompt and then press Return.
Your computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.
Resetting PRAM and NVRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Your computer's PRAM and the NVRAM are reset to the default values. The clock settings may be reset to a default date on some models.

IBook won't boot, stops at gray screen--HELP

I couldn't find this exact topic at first glance and I am hoping someone can help me. My ibook is about 5 years old and has only really crashed on my once 2 years ago but I was able to reinstall the OS and go on my way. This time, however, nothing works. I tried to boot up yesterday and the gray screen appeared and that was it along with a strange buzzing sound. I tried Disk Warrior, wouldn't even boot off that. Also tried booting off system disk 1 and didn't get past the language screen, just hung up with that buzz again.
Does this sound like a logic board issue? Can it be rescued?
Thanks in advance for any help!

I'm not sure if the computer can be checked out at home in such a way
in its present state, to see if there is a logic board failure behind it, now,
or not. There could be a hard disk drive failure, or ATA controller failure;
and a short list of other possibilities, best checked over by a specialist.
Certain keyboard commands and things could be tried (and I usually
assume they'd been tried before asking here, but that's often not so)
just to see if one or more of them could get a rise out of the dead Mac.
Be sure, if you can get the installer disc to boot the Mac, that you
try and use the Disk Utility to repair disc; maybe more than once;
and do not try to just reinstall an Archive and Install. The HDD may
have corruption issues and it may need low-level zero-data and re-
formatting before a new system could go on there, if it worked at all.
{Even trying to reset PRAM/NVRAM and then seeing if you can get
the bootable OSX installer disc to start up the Mac could be OK.
Maybe that PMU reset, as a last resort? It probably won't hurt...}
A system on an external bootable enclosed hard disk drive could be
used by a tech or a prepared home-tech owner, and a clone of the
machine's system then attempted to be used to boot the ailing Mac.
If the optical drive and other components relying on the logic board
are dysfunctional due to a defect on that main board, most external
devices may also have a hard time trying to use these methods of
outside efforts to troubleshoot be nominally successful.
There may be a way a tech can use an second computer to get
data off the drive in your iBook, should it come to that, by using
the FireWire Target Disk mode and see if your iBook can start
and act like an external hard disk drive. A copy of the drive's
content or parts of it may be made by the second healthy Mac.
A clone (perhaps not bootable if data on it is damaged and not
recoverable) could be made if the second healthy computer has
a clone utility and also an external drive it can copy/clone the
iBook's drive content over to. This may be asking too much;
but the home user who has stuff on hand could do it shortly.
Anyway, there are some ideas online, if you can search google
and choose appropriate words; I looked but you may need to
read through several different source links to see if anything
sounds like it may work. re: iBook won't start past grey screen
Some users have tried resetting the PMU, others tried NVRAM
and PRAM; a few tried SafeBoot to see if the system was OK
enough to load in a reduced startup mode; maybe where the
system's own Disk Utility could be ran to at least fix permissions.
And of these, if it is truly a logic board or a failed hard disk drive,
they won't really do much. Probably no harm; and that is part
of what troubleshooting is all about, working with zeros and ones!
Good luck & happy computing!
edited to add a chapter.

Macbook Pro won't boot and getting gray screen, help!

I have a Macbook Pro 15" from mid2011. The warranty just expired one week ago.
I was normally using it without any problem, when suddenly the screen started to freeze and get some horizontal line. I had to force shut down with the power button couple times. The next day, my MBP wasn't booting during the startup.
When I turn on, I can hear the chime, the Apple logo show up and the little wheel turns, but after those things the screen remaing gray without any thing happens.
I have tried some steps that I found on discussion, forums, and websites like:
- PRAM
- cmd-s (to verify and clean the HD)
- hold option and restore using a flash drive with Mountain Lion (after I choose the drive, I get a "blue" screen)
- Remove the RAM and put back
All those things weren't successful.
What do you guys think I should do now?
What are the main causes of gray screen or blue screen?
Should I replace my RAM or HD?
I'm avoiding to take to a technichian or a geek, because I have a lot of confidential work inside. Luckly, I have a backup of everything.
I appreciate every reply made.
Thanks!!

Hi Eric,
Thanks for your fast reply.
Yes, I've tried cmd-R. I get a "blue screen" with vertical lines. Pretty weird.
I'm unable to access the Disk Utility.
Do you think the HD is damaged?

POWER MAC G5 WON'T BOOT UP AFTER GRAY SCREEN!!!!!!!

My wife was on my G5 one day and then came and told me it was messed up. When i turned my G5 on, the fans came on and it appeared that it was booting up. The computer got to the gray screen, had the little working icon under the apple logo came on, then it appeared to black out right around the the icon. The screen went black and then the screed said no connection.
Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi foleypopo, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"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. (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
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
See if it will boot up to a screen by holding the Option/alt key down at bootup.
Any results?

IMac does not boot, stuck on gray screen

Hi all,
Need some troubleshooting assistance.
Attempted to install a CAC card reader, with the ActiveGold software on my iMac.
Reboot when prompted, and now the iMac will not boot at all (even will not boot in safe mode).
Have removed all external devices, and no dice.
I used Disk Utility from the OS X CD to confirm the volume is ok.
Was able to access the drive from the bootcamp Vista using MacDrive and have copied the content I needed to grab - the volume appears to be otherwise ok.
Before I Archive and Install, wanted to get some suggestions.
Thanks

Ok, maybe with iMacs that come pre-installed w/Leopard it's on Disk 1. Did you check?
My MBP model, the HT is on Disk 2.
Anywho, try the following:
Except for the keyboard & mouse, disconnect all devices from your computer.
Repairing permissions from the Tiger/Leopard DVD
Boot up from your Tiger Install DVD while holding down the "c" key.
Select the language you wish to use, and then choose "Disk Utility" from the menu bar.
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 restart your computer.
See Knowlege Base Article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature

Another G5 iMac won't boot past grey Apple screen!! HELP!!!

Last night I tried to put my iMac to sleep. it took about 3 times, and it finally went to sleep. Today I tried to wake it up but I got the little spinning disk, and it would not wake up. I could not restart it from the screen, so I pulled out the power cord as I have had to do a few times in the past with no problems. Today when I plugged it back in it got to the grey Apple screen, but no little progress circle. I waited & waited, nothing happened so I cycled power again. This time I got the progress timer circle, but again after about 20 minutes nothing happened. I then put the install disc in and booted from that. Tried verify disc, but it failed saying it could not un-mount the volume. Tried verifying permissions, but it seemed to get stuck with just a fraction left on the progress bar, so I quit & tried again (basically where I'm at now). I have also noticed that if I choose the "start up disc" (while running from the disc) the only thing that shows in a network icon. My HD does not show up as an option. For about the past 5 months I have noticed my HD has been a bit noisy. Kind of a whirling sound that seems to get louder then quiet down & repeat....not real loud, but loud enough so I have noticed it. I have been worried that something like this might happen.
update: while repairing permissions I just got a "Disc utility error" says Disc utility has lost it's connection with the disc management tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disc Utility. This is the same message I got the last time I tried to run it. I also have an OSX Leopard install DVD...should I be starting from that disc, or the install disc that came with it? If I should be using the newer disc, how would I get the other disc out of the machine?
So....am I up the creek with out a paddle, or is there anything I could try?
any advise would be greatly appreciate as ALL my data is on my iMac and not this POS PC I have to use now.
Thanks,
Jeff

Using Target Disk Mode is an excellent, idea, you should be able to drag your data on to the new machine.
Let us know how you made out,

IMac won't boot after log-in screen. wheel keeps spinning or blue screen

Hi there!
I have a problem with my 2009 iMac running on Leopard. It all worked fine over years until last week when I was doing some work and the screen just froze and the wheel didnt stop spinning. So i turned it off and back on. Then all i got was a blue screen and it didnt boot. Tried again to start in safe mode. Nothing. Then using my install dvd doing the HD check and repair. Said no damage. But still didnt boot. So i tried to reinstall the OS. Still didnt boot. At least now i'm seeing the log in screen again instead of just the blue or grey screen. But once i try to type my username in, the wheel starts spinning and it freezes again.
I'm lost! I dont know what else to do. Can someone please help and give some advice if there are any other options to get it bak to normal??
Thanks.

I have the exact same problem. IMac worked great until I installed the latest security update two days ago. I got a message that the download was not successful. After restarting the use, computer acts exactly as described above. Can't get it to complete startup. It acts like its trying to update firmware, but turns of in the middle of it.

IMac won't boot past grey startup screen

It's a 2008 intel iMac running ML and bootcamp with Win7
It was working fine yesterday then I tried to start Aperture. It bounced on the dock but wouldn't open.
I tried a restart and it just gets to the grey startup screen with the Apple logo and spinner
I can start it from an external drive and I just tried to start from Bootcamp and it starts and runs fine
I have repaired and verified the disc and it says it is fine
Something is stopping it booting into ML
Any ideas?
Allan

Thanks, I already tried most of those. I followed the other suggestions ( already failed safe boot) and when it got to " take it to Apple" I just restored it from Time Machine and it all works perfectly.
It would have been nice to fugure out why it wouldnt boot, something must have been corrupted.
I dont know if its anything to do with it, but when I got the restored system booted up and downloaded all my emails, there was an email in my outbox with no recipient field filled in but a link to some iffy website in the message field.( Something like burnt gate)
I deleted it.
Maybe my first Mac virus?
Allan

IMac won't boot past grey logo screen

20" iMac was acting very slow, to the point where I would get the rainbow ball if I opened the HArd Drive icon.
Revolted but couldn't get past the grey logo screen and spinning wheel. Tried a Disk Repair from the Snow Lep disc but it just froze up.
I restored from my Time Machine drive and 24 hours later it's still the same. Getting ready to bring it to the genius bar unless anyone has an idea!

HI Rob,
Check to see how much space is available on the startup disk. Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure you always have a *minimum of 10% to 15% free disk space at all times.*
If your iMac freezes before you can view that information, boot from your install disc like you did with disk repair only this time look at the bottom of the Disk Utility window. You'll see Capacity and Available.
Since you can't boot from the install disc, you could try booting in Safe Mode
If you can boot into Safe Mode, launch Disk Utility from the Applications/Utilities folder. You can verify the startup disk in Safe Mode, but you can't repair in Safe Mode but at least you'll know if there's a problem with the startup disk.
Carolyn

MBP won't boot up past gray screen

Stays at the gray on gray apple logo screen with the rotating dial. Tried resetting PRAM, etc. Saw a similar post but it had no response. Hopefully I'll do better.
thanks

Boot from your system CD, run Disk First Aid from your Disk Utility and repair your permissions. If that does not work, try an Archive and Install.
Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature >>
-Bmer
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MacBook Pro model A1150 that won't boot past the gray screen.

I have tried to boot in Safe and Single User modes with no luck. I just need this to boot one more time so I can get my class notes off of it. Any Suggestions? It has Snow Leopard on it but I no longer have the installation disc and I do not have a FireWire that will fit into it.

If you cannot get the MBP to boot, then it is a Firewire (assuming it will power up and can be put into Target Disk Mode) or an enclosure. Those are the only two choices you have.
Ciao.

My iMac won't boot up it has a gray screen and makes a steady beeping sound

My iMac won't boot up it makes a steady beeping sound and has a gray screen, occasionally it shows a picture of a file with a question mark blinking in the center, can anyone help

The blinking question mark indicates that the firmware could not find a valid Operating System on your machine.
Your harddrive may have failed. Your filesystem may have bcome corrupted.

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.

IMac won't boot...goes to gray screen

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