Intel iMac - won't start - grey screen & progress bar

I have a 2006 Intel iMac - 20" model, Intel Core Duo, 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, etc. It was one of the very earliest Intel iMacs. Kept updated, running OS 10.6, etc.
It has worked extremely well for over 5 years - apart from the Superdrive being temperamental sometimes - but has suddenly gone wrong.
Last week the machine completely froze for no apparent reason. I had to force a reboot. This failed - grey screen and the grey spinning wheel (if that's what it's called), indefinitely.
Forced reboot again and this time held down the shift key to go into safe boot mode. This time it was successful, and I was able to get to the logon screen & log myself in. I opened Disk Utility & attempted to do some diagnostics but the machine froze again.
Looking around various other forum postings...I rebooted the machine in single user mode and was able to get to the command line to type 'fsck -fy' to attempt to fix disk problems. This failed repeatedly, with an error message 'invalid node structure'.
I tried to boot my machine from the OS X disc but my Superdrive refused to play ball - it would not read the disc (or any other disc for that matter, including a copy of DiskWarrior that I have).
I have now got hold of an external DVD drive in the hope that this would show up as a boot device when I switch the machine on while holding the option key down. No such luck - the drive powers up ok (power via USB) but I'm not given the option to boot from it - in fact that screen doesn't appear at all.
All that happens now on powering up - regardless of what I do - is the grey apple symbol appears and a progress bar beneath it. The progress bar gets stuck about 5% of the way along, and then after about 10 minutes it disappears and is replaced with the grey spinning wheel thingy. And then it just gets stuck - nothing else happens.
HELP!
All my important data is backed up on an external drive via Time Machine, so that should be safe, but I'm desperate to get the machine running again.
One thing that occurred to me is that I've had a program called ReFit installed on the machine which allowed me to run the machine as dual boot etc. (and I do have a couple of other small partitions on the drive, not currently used) but the ReFit welcome screen stopped appearing a couple of weeks ago for some reason. I'm wondering if this has somehow messed things up...?
Grateful for any suggestions...
Thanks,
Alan.

For the drive, you should be OK with any SATA 2 at 3 MB/s transfer speed. You could also use a SATA 1, no jumpers needed. (Not SATA 3 - can't be jumpered down.) The early 2006 Intels were 1.5 MB/s -- at least the drives were, so I'm assuming the SATA controller on the logic board was also. Might just be SATA 2 hadn't yet been introduced and can run the faster SATA 3 without jumpers. My guess is not. You should be able to set jumpers on the drive for backwards compatibility. You'll have to contact the drive manufacturer or go to their website for that info.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac-core-2-duo-2.16-20-inch-sp ecs.html
As for the superdrive, I'd contact the manufacturer to check on compatibility.
Glad I'm able to help. BTW, in case you haven't noticed, maybe you want to have a look here.

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Intel iMac won't start - HELP!

My iMac won't start this morning. I get the white screen with the grey apple,
and the swirling progress thing, then after a few seconds I can hear
the sound you hear when the system shuts down. like a soft switch
going off, then it just continues swirling, still with the white
screen and grey apple, then it restarts by itself. Then we go through
the same routine. Tried booting up by holding C with the Leopard disc inside but nothing happens.I have just reinstalled Leopard as Snow Leopard left too many printers and programs lifeless, so I did an erase and install a few days ago. Since then I have used the Mac fine, switched down normally last night, but this morning it doesn't want to play.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in anticipation
Chris
Message was edited by: ChrisRR

Have you reset PRAM and SMC?
Do this first
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and then do this, if the PRAM does not help
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543
The second one is basically disconnecting your iMac from power (and all cables), then reconnecting following a precise procedure.
If that does not help, I would restart with the Snow Leopard installation disc (insert disc and start up with the C key held down). You probably did an installation of Snow Leopard over your existing Leopard system the first time. This time, erase it completely first, then install Snow Leopard. I assume you backed up your data already.
When you get to the Installer screen (after selecting language), go up to the menu bar. Under Utilities, select to run Disk Utility. In the sidebar, select the internal DRIVE, not the volume indented under the drive. Go to the Erase tab. Name the volume +Macintosh HD+ and set the format to +Mac OS Extended (Journaled)+. Erase the drive. Since you have the drive selected in the sidebar (not the volume), it will also re-partition the drive.
It should take less than on minute to complete the process. Quit Disk Utility to go back to Installer. Run the standard installation onto the blank internal drive. Hopefully, a fresh Snow Leopard install on a reformatted/re-partitioned drive will work better for you.

Imac won't start white screen apple icon spinning gear

imac won't start. when turn on, I just get a white screen with apple icon and a spinning gear below the apple icon. what should I do to get it started and fix the problem? Thanks.

See if any of the suggestions in this link help:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

Intel iMac won't start up after update of OS... anyone w/similar prob?

Help! I recently did installs through "software update" and now my iMac won't go beyond the flat blue screen. To be more specific, it starts up, takes a long time on the grey screen with the rotating pinned circle and apple logo, then stays on the flat blue screen forever. I can move the mouse but nothing else happens.
I'm trying to remember what the software update installed... I think it was the most recent security update, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto and Quicktime update.
I'd appreciate any advice or experiences you can offer. Thanks in advance.
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Hi, hajime7. Welcome to the Discussions.
1. As a general check, run the procedure specified in my "Resolving Disk, Permission, and Cache Corruption" FAQ. Perform the steps therein in the order specified.
2. An errant Startup or Login Item maybe the cause. My "Troubleshooting Startup and Login Items" FAQ can help you pin that down if such an item is causing the problem.
FYI: Before installing software updates, you may wish to consider the advice in my "Installing Software Updates" FAQ. Taking the steps therein before installing an update often helps avert problems.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Intel Imac Won't Start Up

Hello all, this is my first post here. Any help gratefully received!
My Intel Core Duo Imac (bought march 2006) is having some recurring problems with starting up (and sometimes awaking from sleep). It's a 17" Rev A, 1.83GHZ, 160GB, with an extra 512mb of Ram added by me, running OSX 10.4.8.
It has worked without problems for nearly a year but recently it just wouldn't start up. The power light would come on at the front of the machine, and just stay on with a blank/black screen for as long as I left it, until I force shut it down by holding the power button for 5 seconds.
I can keep going through this process in the hope that it will eventually start ok on its own, but it never does. When I take the ram stick out that I added about 9 months ago it will then start up ok. I can then put the ram back in and it will work ok for another few weeks before going weird again. In System Profiler it says that both Ram sticks are ok. So I'm not sure if it's bad Ram, and removing it makes the system work ok, or if just the act of removing Ram helps to get it going through the start-up process ok.
I have done all firmware updates for Rev.A Intel Imacs. Though I only did the IFE firmware update recently after the problem started in the hope that it would help. Before I did the firmware update and was trying to sort it out it once got a grey screen and made a high pitched electronic sound, as well as not starting up and just getting a black screen
I've also done a complete clean install of the OS, re-formatting the hard disk first. The machine worked fine for about a day after this but then I had to resort to removing the Ram again to get it to start up ok. So at the moment I'm running ok for a couple of days on the original 512mb module
Has anyone else experienced this or similar problems with their Intel Imacs?
Can bad Ram work sometimes and then act up?
Imac CoreDuo 1.83ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1GB RAM , 160GB. And Powerbook G3 Kanga, Powerbook G3 Lombard.

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions.
My advice would be to contact AppleCare now. As you have only days left on your included AppleCare best to start the ball rolling now.
Cheap RAM can manifest all kinds of issues, so running without it in the meantime may be a way head. What brand/spec is the RAM?
mrtotes

Intel iMac won't start! 17"

have the intel imac for 3 months now, no problems besiedes freezing 2-3 times in past few weeks or so.
Today, it froze again, only had mail & quicksilver ON, so I powered off.
Since then it won't start...
everytime it stucks with 'the ambient light' (white/sleep light static), the screen has nothing on it, tried pressing all recommeded key combinations, C, or option and many more,
nothing worked,
removed the 1 gb OWC RAM i had, still the same problem, won't start. Then inserted the install disc 1, that won't boot either!! same light & blank screen!
have powered down 4-5 times, restarted, nothing!!!
unfortunately I haven't recently backed up the hard disk, i know if i send it in, then its all gone!
Any ideas, suggestions...anything!!
HELP
SM
1.83 Intel Core Duo 17" inch - 512 RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6)

This problem occurred with my first iMac 20", albeit while I was using iDVD. When you turn on your computer, does it make a sound? Mine almost sounded like it was "groaning," you could hear the hard drive spinning and the processor starting up, but the screen stayed black. Tried all the different combinations also, and then got on the phone with AppleCare. Apple replaced my iMac as I had only had it a little over a week, citing a "hardware problem."
For you Apple probably won't replace the iMac (they told me they only do it within 14 days of purchase), but I would suggest you contact your local Apple Store/Apple Center/Apple Authorized Service Provider for reapir options if the symptoms you have are the same as mine.

Imac won't boot (grey screen, prohibit sign, folder with ? mark)

Before I bring my iMac to a store (which I can barely lift on my own!), I thought I'd give one last shot in the forums. I've already spoken with Apple Care who, after two rounds of phone support, said it's time to bring it in.
My computer was working fine but I had to force quit a few programs. Finally I had to shut it down, and when trying to reboot, I get stuck on the grey screen with the progress wheel spinning. I tried holding the C button, used the Install disc to try "Disk Utility". What came up with Disk Utility was it said it was rebuilding a B-tree, and then just hung. I tried that again (all with Apple Care on the phone) and then it couldn't find the hard drive.
So... any other ideas? Let me know if you need more information; I am desperate for help before I have to find a babysitter for my child so I can get this computer out the door for some (gasp!) data recovery!

Ouch....Time machine would mean moving on to 10.5...
If you decide to stay with 10.4 may I recommend SuperDuper! for cloning/backing up...30 bucks and easy to use....
I run 3 different external drives 2 for clones of my system and one for storage of various folders...cuts down on worries
Again I also suggest going with one or both of the Utilities I mentioned when the time is right....
Personally I don't have anything on my Mac's that is worth $1200....don't hold your breath on Apple doing anything about your Mac's ultimate demise
dave

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Did an update that required a restart--got grey screen with the apple logo and that's all. Tried resetting the Pram and the PMU, no luck. Won't start in safe mode or from another DVD (tried both the original and my Tiger disks). It was working normally before the update (iTunes and I think an Airport update and a couple of other things). I've removed and re-installed the RAM with no change.

Thanks!
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Computer won't start, grey screen with Apple logo only. Ideas?

Last night my wife's G5 froze. It is a G5 2.0 running OS X 10.4.11. I shut it down (had to use the power button) and tried to restart. No luck, just made it to the grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel. After a few seconds the Apple logo disappeared and a black box took its place, then the wheel stopped spinning. It was late, decided top wait until morning before trying again.
This morning I tried to start up again. This time got a warning(?) in upper left that a Firmtek item had already started. I'm sorry I didn't write this all down at the time, so I don't remember the entire message. Since there is a Firmtek card installed in one of the PCI slots I thought that might be the problem, and I pulled the card, as well as another Adaptec card that was also installed. Tried to start again, got to grey screen with Apple but this time no spinning wheel.
Opened media slot manually and inserted Diskwarrior. Tried to start with Diskwarrior but again only reached grey screen. Let run for ~5 minutes, until fans started to run and were begining to get noisy.
Next I reset the PRAM. No luck, still stuck on grey screen. Tried Diskwarrior again, this time got another message in upper left. Here is most of it -
System Failure : cpu=1; code=60000009 (Invalid pmap)
Lateset crash info for cpu1;
Exception state (sv=0x609bb280)
PC=0x000a4ad0; MSR=0x02003000 followed by more similar strings, then
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address; 0xfc088891
So what's the diagnosis? I've had various issues with my G5s in the past, but have never had one refuse to boot with Diskwarrior before.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Whew, could be many things, from RAM, (or RAM slots/solder issue), to CPU #1 being bad, (CPU#1 is actually the second one.
Does it boot into any of these modes?
Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
We might get clues with verbose mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

Mac won't start grey screen appearing

My power mac g5 that is running leopard wont boot up.
Everytime I try to start it, shows a grey screen telling me to restart the computer (appearing in english, french, spanish, and chineese i think). I accidentaly deleted a folder on the root menu of the HDD entitled "usr". How can i fix this.

I tried this but it didn't work. I think it is my keyboard because even when I turn the computer on the green led on the caps lock button doesn't light up. I even tried a regular USB keyboard and I had the same result.
I guess I will have to find my leopard CD.
Is it possible to just restore system settings from the leopard cd so that I don't lose all my data?

IMac won't start, gray screen, beeping sound

Computer crashed while using Safari. Restarted with gray screen and beeping sound

Not good, sounds like a hardware failure. Navigate to Apple Gray Screen and closely follow the troubleshooting steps, if none work the final step says to take ht machine in for service. Here is the link to the page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Good luck!

IMac won't start up passed the grey screen

Last friday my iMac (late 2006, 24", 2.33 duo core Intel, OS 10.6.8) gave me the spinning beach ball.
Restarting resulted in: first the apple screen with the progress indicator, followed by grey screen..
That was it. It hangs at the grey screen.
I've been busy this weekend testing all kinds of ideas to get my imac to fully start up again.
I checked the RAM, it's fine.
I flushed NVRAM, wild guess, but nothing changed.
Starting up in safe mode doesn't work.
Starting up in recovery mode doesn't work.
On the upside, I was able to start my imac up in Target mode. Using the host computer and Disk Utlity I can see there's nothing wrong with the HD. All the data is still there!, so later today I'll make a copy of the complete HD, hoping/thinking that I won't copy whatever is wrong.
I had Disk Utility repair all the permissions.
I've used the host computer to reinstall the OS on my imac.
But on start up my beloved iMac still won't get passed the grey screen.
I'm thinking something goes wrong before my Mac even gets to the HD. Maybe it's the firmware, but I'm not really sure that firmware matters in this case. And I wouldn't know how to reinstall the latest version of firmware because my imac won't start up from it's disk drive
I'm thinking maybe something could be wrong with the graphic card's RAM, though on start up I can see the apple logo just fine.
I'm not able to start up from CD, I've tried that because I wanted to reinstall my OS (before I figured out how to do that in Target Mode) by putting the OS disk in my imac's own disk drive. Staring up with the C key still gets me the grey screen. Staring up with Option key shows no other option but the HD.
So is there anybody out there who has an idea that could help me further along?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Frank

Hi Jan,
If you have another firewire Mac you can check if the HD of your Mac is OK by connecting them with a firewire cable and use target-mode. That way I found out my HD was just fine.
It also offers you the chance to run a diagnostic program to check if anything else is fine. I used TechTool to do that. But everything checked out fine.
In the end I decided the problem is probably hardware. Some electronic part that broke. Very frustrating that some small transistor or so is keeping me from using my otherwise fine iMac.
I contacted a repairshop that also works for the local Mac retailer. They told me my iMac was concidered 'classic' and therefor it wasn't economically not worth the trouble trying to repair it.
I gave up, took two weeks to mourn the loss of my beloved iMac, and bought a Mac mini.
FrankV
Judging by your name I'm guessing I could've anwered this in Dutch.

20" imac won't start up-flashes between blank grey screen and black screen

20" imac
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Was running system 10.5.8 just fine. Worked great.
But then I wanted to give the imac to a relative. And so, I tried to boot from the original grey mac install dvd to wipe the hardrive and set the imac back to factory specs.
But it wouldn't boot off the dvd. All It would do at restart was to flash slowly back and forth between blank grey screen and black screen. So, I tried the Leopard update dvd. Same results. So I zapped the pram and tried again. Same results.
If I just pushed the start button tho.. the imac would start right up and run fine. However, I didn't want to give it to someone else with all our information on it.
I finally restarted it and held the "T" key to turn it into a giant firewire drive, hooked it up to our other 20" imac, and used the disk utility from the second imac to erase the drive of the first imac. Then I inserted the grey install dvd into the second imac and selected the drive of the first imac and ran the install process.
Now, the first imac won't start up at all. Just a continual grey screen for a bit, than a couple of buzz sounds in the machine and then the black screen... than back again.
It ran great before I erased the drive and re-installed OS 10.5
What's wrong? How do I get the machine to either boot off the install cd?

So, I've figured out a little more on the first machine. It's a 20" 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.5.8.
It ran great. But, I wanted to erase the hard drive and reinstall the OS system before giving it to a relative.
I found that although the optical drive would read and write to normal cds and dvds, the machine would NOT boot from the grey start-up disks I had on hand. ( I have two imacs, and I tried both sets of dvds without success.)
I zapped the PRAM, and used disk utilities via firewire connection from my other 20" imac to check the hardrive and make repairs. Disk Utilities couldn't find any problems. So, using disk utilities from the other imac, I erased the first imac's harddrive and then used the install dvds on the second imac to install the original OS to the hard drive of the first imac.
(looking on the hard drive of the first imac, I can see all the contents)
However, the first machine will not start up. It just switches from grey....to black..... then grey..... and then black again.... over and over
Why won't it boot from the newly installed OS on it's own hard drive?
And Why won't it boot from the original install dvds?
How can I get it to start up again?

IMac won't boot, dark screen after normal grey start up screen

Quite perplexed with this problem, have tried everything I can think of.
Computer: iMac 2.16 gHz 24" mid 2006, 4 gig RAM
OS: 10.6.8
Froze and required hard shutdown. Subsequent to this, has behaved consistently:
Normal grey screen with Apple logo and spinning timer, can hear disk activity. Then the screen goes dark and nothing else happens (although the computer is still on). Have to perform hard shutdown.
Have tried:
1. Booting into single user mode (multiple times) and performed fsck, no errors noted
2. after using 'exit' command in single user mode, computer attempts to reboot but then freezes after noting 'panic'
3. Reset PRAM (no change)
4. Tried safe mode boot, progress bar on grey screen progresses, then spinning timers comes on, then same crash with dark screen
4. Disassembled computer, removed hard drive, mounted normally in external SATA enclosure. I backed up critical data, ran Disk Utility Repair, no errors noted.
5. Reinstalled HD, reassembled computer, rebooted, same issue
6. Attmepted to boot with Snow Leopard Install disc to perform a fresh Achive and Install - after prolonged grey screen with spinning timer and audible DVD drive access, same switch to dark screen and no further progress
7. Same panic message and stalled boot attempt noted when booting into single user mod
I'm stumped. My assumption is that there is a courrpt file that is causing a kernel panic during boot and I assumed that I'd be able to perform an archive and install but when this failed I'm guessing all I can do is replace the hard drive with a new one and then go through the hassle of transferring all the data over manually.
I would welcome hearing any other observations, similar experiences or other ideas. MTIA.

One update ... when I boot the computer and get the 'dark screen', I hear disc activity. So I started hitting the return key and I get the chime with each return as if I'm on the log in screen and hitting the return to log in without entering any text.
That would argue there is a problem with the screen.
However, it does not explain why the computer display works normally during single user mode and hangs (without the screen going dark) when trying to reboot from this mode.

Imac won't start beyond white screen apple logo and circle

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Intel iMac - won't start - grey screen & progress bar

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