Just the gray screen with logo and spinning wheel

Hello
my computer acted up funny while typing every 10sec or so i got the spinning wheel. i tried to restart but everything just stopped and just got the spinning wheel so i shut down the computer with the power button and now I am just in the grey screen. I used the installation disc and used disc utility I was able to use disk repair and it did something but i can not do anything on the permission they are grayed out. After the disk repair no change the computer just sits in the gray screen and nothing happens . any idea

You need to reinstall OS X. Do this:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If the drive was OK continue with the reinstallation. It's automatic and none of your files will be erased.

Similar Messages

My imac wont get past the white screen with logo and rotating wheel

i was trying to turn on my imac when suddenly ot took forever on the white screen
i tried taking off everything connected to it-no change
i tried a safe mode after a few minuted a heard the second chime then a blinkin
question mark folder showed up so i turned it off again and tried a nvram/pram reset but it still stuck on the white screen
is it time to visit the apple store or is there something else i should try?

A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang at start up

after a lengthy round of "bejeweled", i let my imac fall into screen saver mode. when i tried to log back in, i tapped the mouse and the imac flashed as it does when actuated outside a dialogue without clicking the okay button, and immediately returned to screen saver. i then manually shut down and restarted to the gray screen, apple logo and spinning gear hang. i then inserted the leopard install dvd, manually shut down and restarted pressing the option key and selected the install disc. it booted as usual. i selected the language preferred, used the utility drop down menu and selected DU, then selected the hard drive and verify permissions to reveal a pop up "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. Permissions verification complete." i immediately selected repair disc, and breathed a sigh of relief with the notification "appears to be ok". then utilities/start up disc/macintosh hd/restart. still get the hang. i have repeated this process several times, also resetting the PRAM as well to the infinite hang. as a matter of fact, the gear has been spinning the entire time creating this post. needless to say, i am truly at a loss. SOS!!!!!!! Please!!!!! SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY!!!!

i have perused some of the threads posted per this topic and decided to attempt an "archive and install." i also have a 620gig acomdata external drive with close to a carbon copy of my internal. a few short minutes into the install, the imac reveals a pop up stating it cannot install some files on the hard drive, contact the software manufacturer or restart and try to install again. the internal drive is a 160gig with only about 60gigs of room, so i tried to archive and install to the acomdata instead as it has 180 gig of free space. i get the exact same dialogue once again. restart and a third attempt only archive and install will not highlight, only first time and/or erase and install. further, start up disc shows only the install disc and network as choices. so i attempt first time install on both drives and get the same pop up message again. DU recognizes both drives although verify/repair permissions does not highlight, but not start up disc.
i'm trying not to become frantic, but my patience is threadbare. i am in desperate need of sound advice as to what i need to do.
thanks again in advance,
bradley

Start Up Issue-Gray Screen, Apple Logo And Cognition Wheel-Blue screen before start up at times but no longer starting up beyond gray screen and cognition wheel

Power button pressed.
Start up light okay
Chimes okay
Gray screen, apple logo and cognition wheel spinning and the loading bar underneath loading 1/10th of the way.
Loading bar doesnt load fully and then disappears.
Gray screen remains with apple logo and cognition wheel only.
No start up to desktop. Before start up to desk top which is not happening any more a blue screen appeared before the desktop appeared. When start up complete the ' Finder' had no responded and did not work' Multi coloured loading pointer continually turned. ' Network' could not be loaded in 'System Prefrences'.
Ive tried reading and following propts...Results NVRAM/PRAM - Logic board battery replacement. How much will this cost?
Hardware test - No problem found
Safe Boot - ' volume Machintosh HD could not be repaired.'
' Run time corruption detected on Machintosh HD device'
What do you suggest aside from taking it to a apple store?
Thanks Stephen

Lion or Snow Leopard? If Lion, boot into your Recovery partition (hold down the Command and R keys whilst booting) and use Disk Utility to verify and, if needed, repair the boot volume.
If Snow Leopard, use the installation disc and use Disk Utility in the same manner.
Clinton

Downloaded iTunes update. Clicked to restart but am stuck on gray screen with an endlessly spinning wheel.

Downloaded iTunes update to my Mac mini (2007). Pressed restart but computer is hung up on a gray screen with a spinning wheel. Doesn't respond to power switch. Disconnected but returns to same screen when plugged back in.

FWIW, have a look at this user tip.

White screen, apple logo and spinning wheel on startup

I Have a MacBook Pro mid-2012 and suddenly it froze, so I tried shutting it down, but when I turned it on there was this grey screen at first with the apple logo and a spinning wheel. After a few times I shut it down and turned it on, the screen turned white, but the apple logo and the spinning wheel remained. I tried Safe Boot, reseting the NVRAM/PRAM and Internet Recovery. None of them worked. On internet recovery, the bar is stuck at the beginning and after an hour there is an error that says apple.com/support -5010f. Why is there an error on Internet Recovery and what can I do to fix my MacBook?

I hope you have a backup (preferably a bootable one).
Here’s a reference, read this first: Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
You don’t mention booting to your recovery partition, you can try that.
There is also single user mode: (restart, hold down ⌘S until you see a black screen with white text) and repair your hard drive. Here's a reference with directions: Repair Your Hard Disk in Single User Mode | Everything Macintosh
If you have a bootable backup (like a clone that you made with Carbon Copy Cloner) you could try to boot from that and then use it to either
repair your usual boot drive
erase your usual boot drive and restore from the backup
If you have a bootable installer (like a thumb drive that you made with Diskmaker X (DiskMaker X (formerly Lion DiskMaker) then you could boot from that and see if you can repair your HD or erase and reinstall.
If you have a third party utility like Techtool Pro (Techtool Pro 7) that is on another partition of your drive or on a separate disk you could try to boot from that and see if you can repair your HD.
If none of that works then maybe your HD has a mechanical failure and needs to be replaced.

Macbook not loading past white screen with logo and spinnning wheel?

ok, so basically i have a macbook 10.6.4 Snow Lepoard that is making me want to literally bash its brains out but, unfortunatly i cant because it is owened by the school...
As mentioned in previous posts, my school It dept are incredibly slow and their idea of fixing something is to wipe everthing and reinstall all the programs once again. if that dosent work their other way of fixing something is to send it off to apple. for obveous reasons i want to avoid that.
it ONLY started today, (last night i was happily doing last minuite homework) when its was lagging so much that i did the inevitable, i quit tetris and restarted my computer...
This led to me sitting infront of a white screen and a spinning wheel for the whole lesson. The next lesson i got fed up with waiting and restarted. nothing. I have also notied that my macbook seems to heat up REALLY FAST toward the bottom of the screen (where is says macbook).
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,
Favvi

well i went to hand it in today but the fails that we call 'the qualified IT deptarment' (even though they are only two), decided to take the day off. they were supposed to be there recess and lunch but the room was pitch black.
When you say that "you do not need admin rights to perform the different solution", i actually am the admin of the laptop but there is another hidden admin so that they can change any settings in the computer without our passwords.
i have previously tried that whole command letter thing for various other things such as safe mode and starting from the disk and have had no sucess. i dont know if my timing is off or something but it never works. however, i have been able to retrive a disk from the disk drive by pressing the mouse button when it turns on.
this is an exerpt from a previous post:
favvi wrote:
so im really starting to get annoyed now. I have tried that single user mode start up thing (command + s) after the chime, before the chime, hold it down for a second, hold it down forever BUT IT ALWAYS JUST GOES INTO MY LOGIN SCREEN!!! i cant seem to get around this. I cant get into the 'utilities' from my install disk because it asks for an admin name and password. i am literally tearing my hair out…
Barney-15E:
That doesn't make any sense. When it boots to the install disk, there is no user to authenticate.
Does it have an Open Firmware password set?
i assumed that this was set. but to be honest i have no freaking idea.
also i was talking to a friend today and she said that she had the same issue and they had to replace the battery. although i have no idead on how the battery could be affecting this?

PB Won't start--grey screen with logo--no spinning wheel

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!
HD disconnected it starts from a CD. HD re-connected it now displays the spinning geary thing but doesn't get any further. Disk First Aid found and fixed many problems but it still won't go past the spinning thingy. It passed Apple's hardware tests. So--a new HD is likely in order but I want to try a more comprehensive disk repair program and recommendations for that and for a new HD are welcome!

Gray Screen, Mac Logo and Gears after Leopard Install

I installed Leopard, restarted the computer and am now stuck at the gray screen, MAC logo and gears turning. On the phone with Apple Support, had me hold down the C key upon restart, Repair Permissions, all checked out OK, restarted, but am still stuck at the same place. I'm on hold for the "portables" department. PowerBook is 45 days old. Any advice? Thanks,

any luck? i just received a brand new imac. it came with the leopard disc. i went through the install and it stuck at the grey screen. i tried a reboot holding down the c key and reinstalled the software a second time. same grey screen.

HT204347 Hi my serial number on bottom of my mac is W8*******66E when l try to try the computer on it is just going to grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel i have tried starting in safe mode and a few other suggested solutions and they have not

Hi my serial number on bottom of my mac is W8******66E when l try to turn the computer on it is just going to grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel i have tried starting in safe mode and a few other suggested solutions and they have not worked?
<Edited by Host>

What other solutions have you tried?
This may help you:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Ciao.

My MacBook Pro stated that it needed to be updated. I clicked yes to restart the computer and update but when it restarted it stays on the gray screen with the apple logo and then pops up, stating "unable to find driver for this platform." What do I do?

My MacBook Pro stated that it needed to be updated. I clicked yes to restart the computer and update but when it restarted it stays on the gray screen with the apple logo and then pops up, stating "unable to find driver for this platform." What do I do?

Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with networks that require any kind of authentication other than a WPA or WPA2 Personal password.
When the Mac OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the Mac OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac didn’t ship with Lion, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.
Don't install the Thunderbolt update -- it's defective.

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.

Hello, I can't turn my iphone 4s on, it just broke down and now there's just the black screen with the apple logo on it. So I connected it to itunes and tried to restore it, but than always the errors 1603

Hello, I can't turn my iphone 4s on, it just broke down and now there's just the black screen with the apple logo on it. So I connected it to itunes and tried to restore it, but than always the errors 1603 & 1611 appeared! please help me!!

You may have a faulty USB cable. Try another.
Make sure you are following the instructions in this procedure to the letter. Here they are, with emphasis on some easily overlooked requirements:
Disconnect the USB cable from the iPhone, but leave the other end of the cable connected to your computer's USB port.
Turn off the device: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds until the red slider appears, then slide the slider. Wait for the device to turn off.If you cannot turn off the device using the slider, press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time. When the device turns off, release only the Sleep/Wake button.
Continue pressing and holding the Home button while you reconnect the USB cable to the device. The device should turn on.Note: If you see the "low battery" screen, let the device charge for at least ten minutes to ensure that the battery has some charge, and then start with step 2 again.
Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen. When this screen appears (iTunes icon and USB connector) release the Home button.
If necessary, open iTunes. You should see the "recovery mode" alert ("iTunes has detected a phone in recovery mode").
Use iTunes to restore the iPhone.
If you do not see the "Connect to iTunes" screen, try these steps again. If you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen but the device does not appear in iTunes, see this article and its related links.
Select the device in iTunes and choose "restore from backup".
If you still can't get it to work, you have done all you can and only Apple will be able to help.

HT1338 I downloaded upgrades available. The installation of those took a long time after re- initiatin the system and had to off. After this I could not get it to turn on again. Just stays in the gray screen with apple in the middle. What's wrong?

I downloaded upgrades available. The installation of those took a long time after re- initiatin the system and had to off. After this I could not get it to turn on again. Just stays in the gray screen with apple in the middle. What's wrong?

Sorry to hear of your problem, but any hardware in a computer can fail - that includes the hard drive, the logic board, etc, etc. Fortunately, it usually doesn't happen that soon; however, I've read of hard drives failing within 6 months.
So, since you did not purchase the extended Applecare Protection Plan (3 years coverage), you will need to make a decision to repair or sell it as is. I would always purchase 3 year coverage for an all in one or a laptop because repairs are expensive and at least I'd be covered for 3 years.
We can't speculate on whether there should be a recall or not; these forums are for user to user assistance with technical problems. In your case, there is nothing we can help with since you've already gotten a diagnosis.

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

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

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

Just the gray screen with logo and spinning wheel

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for