Laptop won't start past grey screen

Hello,
I have a hp Pavilion g6-1d48dx Notebook PC and have recently been unable to get it to start. When I turn the power on, it takes me to the Windows Error Recovery screen and asks me whether I want to launch startup repair or start Windows normally. No matter which option I choose the computer becomes a grey screen (although i can still move my mouse). Anyone else have this problem?
- regards, Josh

Haivdinh,
I understand you ran a few diagnostic tests on your computer and got a failure, is that correct? I will do my best to provide you the best solution for this issue.
That failure Id refers to the hard drive needing to be replaced. If you are still covered under warranty I recommend you contact the HP help desk for the best possible repair. If you reside in the US or Canada the number is 1-800-474-6836, if you reside in another location click on this link and then select your location.
If I have been helpful or if you would like to say thank you for me trying to help, click the white star under my name to give me Kudos. I really appreciate it.
Please respond when you get a chance.
Thanks
Clicking the White Kudos star on the left is a way to say Thanks!
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Macbook won't start past grey screen/apple; won't start OS disc

I know this issue has probably been talked about a million times, but I still can't seem to find a working answer... and what better to make my first post than this problem?
Anyway, I was streaming a movie online on my 13 inch black Macbook (OS: Leopard; Bought: 2007), when I suddenly had to leave... so I closed my computer and left. A while later when I came back, the computer was off. I tried to turn it on, but it only got to the grey screen with the Apple and spinning wheel, which I've let sit for upwards of an hour before giving up. Anyway, I reset the PRAM, and of course even tried to start from the OS disc (Leaopard Disc, original OS dvd that came with it, and even a Snow Leopard disc), but the disc never loads. I have rebooted while pressing Option, and the disc shows up but when I click on the arrow it just goes back to the grey screen/apple logo/spinning wheel for a while before I get frustrated and turn it off.
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or can help me out I would be eternally grateful. I don't want to have to take it to the Apple store (I'm a pretty broke college student), and I have backups of everything on my HD so reinstalling the OS is no issue to me. I'm just willing to do whatever I can to get it working. Thank you, and again sorry for probably repeating what millions have before me.

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My iMac won't boot past grey screen and it didn't come with a os x disk

My iMac won't boot past grey screen with apple. I've tried booting in safemode but that didn't help and my iMac didn't come with a os x disk.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
If the startup process stops at a blank gray screen with no Apple logo or spinning "daisy wheel," then the startup volume may be full. If you had previously seen warnings of low disk space, this is almost certainly the case. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c to mount the internal drive and delete some files. According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation.
Step 3
Sometimes a startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
Step 5
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 6
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
Step 7
If you've started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 10. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 8
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select the startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then restart as usual.
Step 9
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 10
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 11
This step applies only to models that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery: all Mac Pro's and some others (not current models.) Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a startup failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 12
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

My G5 won't start beyond grey screen

Hi Folks,
My G5 won't start beyond grey screen with the logo on it. The fans simply get louder and louder.
It acts as our server and the raid drive on it had been having privileges problems. One person on another forum suggested I run Disc Utility to repair permissions. I did so, there were a couple of minor permissions fixed. After that, the Mac would not re-boot.
I got the DVD door open and ran Disk Warrior on the drive, the files and the hardware. It claimed to repair a few minor issues and there were no problems with the hardware. It still wouldn't boot, so I reset the SMU. ?Still no start, so I reset the PRAM. Still the same.
Any ideas?
G5, OSX 10.5.6, 6 GB ram, approximately 100 GB free on system drive, over 800 GB free on RAID.

I'm having the same problem though I'm running 10.4.11. After getting to about the point you are at did an "Archive and Install" but after about a day of working fine, it had a kernal panic and I couldn't boot past the gray screen again. I took it to my local Apple Store and they ran 2 hours of diagnostics w/o finding anything wrong. They told me to do an "Erase and Install." That is where I am at now because I can't get the machine to boot from my 10.3.5 Install CD--it hangs at the black screen when I try to boot from the CD by holding down "C" at boot. This is the original system software that came with the machine at purchase.
There are many posts out there about bad RAM causing these kinds of problems. You might want to search around for those posts.
Good luck and I'm going to watch this thread hoping that someone will have a suggestion that will help me too.
Cathryn

G5 won't boot past grey screen

G5 2.0 Dual will not boot past grey screen. Running 10.5.8 on an old maxtor 160gb drive, drive is available as a startup disc in StartUp disk in system preferences. But when it is chosen the machine shuts down in the usual manner then switches to the maxtor disk and only gets to the grey screen with the apple log no progress clock appears. Using disk utility from install disk reports that drive is ok, running techtool pro 4.6.2 reports the drive is fine and all file structures, volume structures and directories are fine. So of course i am keen to find out what the issue is and wether it can be resolved without resorting to a clean install. When booted from another internal drive the icon for the errant drive is visible and all files and folders are visible and readily accessable.
It would be great to get back to booting from this drive as it is the main drive I use and has so much more on it than the secondary drive.
Any help will be of immense use
Thank You

I assume you have already tried a PRAM reset. If so, then the following three items may yield a clue.
Number one thing to try is a Safe Boot by holding the shift key down at boot. You may have a something in the non-minimal Apple kext set that is causing the hang. (If it safe boots, you may have a problem in kext caches which can be cleared. See below.)
Second is to disconnect all peripherals except monitor, keyboard and mouse and see if something there is contributing to the hang.
Third is to use verbose boot (hold down cmd-V at boot until you see a black Unix terminal screen come up) and see where the system is hanging.
Clearing the kext Caches (if indicated)
This is probably easiest done booted from the other drive, so I'll describe that method.
Open the Maxtor's System folder, then open the Library folder and drag the following two files to the trash:
Extensions.kextcache
Extensions.mkext
Empty the trash.
Open a Terminal session from the Terminal application in the /Applications/Utilities folder.
Type cd followed by a space in the command line and then drag the icon for the Maxtor into the window, which will put a properly formatted Unix path into the command line, then press the return key. Type the following three commands
cd System <cr>
cd Library <cr>
sudo touch Extensions <cr>
then give your password when requested and close the terminal session. Select the Maxtor as the statrup drive in System Preferences and give it a go.

Won't get past grey screen while starting up....please help

ya my g4 powerbook will get to the grey screen with the spinning gear but won't go no further. If this is a simple fix please let me know.

I had exactly the same problem after updating my pb G4 to 10.4.7 (combo). It crashed and would not restart up past the grey screen. I tried everything for hours...from safe mode, single-user mode, start off cd, target firewire, to reset PMU, PRAM and NVRAM. Nothing worked. The HD wasn't even appearing !
Thinking the HD was dead, I just almost went to buy a new one (or even a new MacBook .
Fortunately some time ago I bought a version of DiskWarrior and started from the CD. After running for 9 hours and freezing several times, it found and repaired hundreds of errors. But still it wouldn't start. At least the HD appeared now in target mode so I backuped my files, started from the OSX CD, deleted my HD and reinstalled OSX, updated 10.4.6 and my Powerbook runs like new... I'll wait a bit before updating to 10.4.7 again !
Hope this helps.
Wycat

Powerbook won;t go past grey screen with apple logo on start up

Hi
I am getting very stressed, my powerbook g4 won;t go past the grey screen with the apple logo when switched on. I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it. I have tried the RAM reboot but nothing, there is not even the spinning loading symbol just a grey screen - which it will stay on until I turn it off. Someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not sure of my OS as I can't turn my comp on, but I am running leopard on it

Welcome!
First, see if you can boot in Safe Mode, holding the Shift key during startup until you see a message about safe mode. Getting a desktop can take longer because Safe Mode forced some disk checking.s
...I am running leopard on it
Then you should have the install disks. They can be used to boot the computer for repair. Insert the DVD and press and hold the "c" key during startup. That will launch the installer BUT you don't want to reinstall yet. Find the install's Utilities menu and launch Disk Utility. From there you can check the hard drive and make some repairs.
I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it
That would require that your compute work enough to start in FireWire Target Disk Mode. FWTDM lets your hard drive show up on another Mac as if it were an external drive. You can test by starting the computer and holding the "t" key until you get a blue screen with a big yellow FireWire symbol. Looks like this:
!http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8uGcDJDrUrECaelR5ash9yA3zuGBakhxrJ9TjfjO_uoCmKQ&t=1&usg=_5RiQv2QkO7UuPLUpiige1MVxdb0=!
I believe FWTDM's code is in firmware and not on the hard drive , so may let yo uaccess the disk form another computer.

Late 2008 MacBook won't start past grey Apple screen

I am currently running a late 2008 13 aluminium MacBook. After I updated to 10.6.7 I started having start up issues. I'd either need to wait a really long time, or I'd need to restart it while sitting on the grey screen with the spinning gear. This morning, nothing will help get it past this screen. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so, what did you do to resolve this? Thanks.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
17" 2.2GHz i7 Quad-Core MacBook Pro  8G RAM  750G HD + OCZ Vertex 3 SSD Boot HD 

Start up won't go past grey screen

Hello,I have the earliest type imac g5, and it has suddenly stopped working. When it starts up it makes the chime sound and then the grey apple logo screen. This screen then gets pixelated and does not progress from here. I have tried loading from the original dvd, but this does not work at all. This computer is about 5 years old now, but if anyone has any ideas...?

WELCOME!http://i29.tinypic.com/2ef7yfn.gif!
"I have tried loading from the original dvd, but this does not work at all."
Need "details." Hard to tell if you are able to boot from your system DVD or you are getting the "grey" screen when booting from your system DVD.
In the meantime, please see Article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301287 My computer stops responding during startup
"This screen then gets pixelated"
Now this does not sound good at all. What's worse is that you missed the +Apple Extended Warranty+ program that addressed this issue. Your only other alternatives are to take your computer to your local Apple Store or AASP for a checkup or go the +"fix it yourself"+ route.

Mac Pro won't start past grey boot screen.

Hi there,
I purchased a new MacPro about 6 days or so ago, and I switched it off last night and tried to turn it on this morning and all that happens is I get the Apple chime then it goes onto the grey Apple screen with the spinning wheel and doesn't go further than that.
I have tried a soft restart (Holding down shift on startup) and I want to put in the install disks to check the drives and repair them in Disk Utility but cannot open CD drawer.
The MacPro has not had any upgrades, it is as stock from Apple stores.
Thanks...

Hiya, and first of all, congrats on buying a great machine! When I got mine, I had nothing but problems, and did a proper erase and install (see below). I think, now, this is ASSUMPTION and not proven(!), that a "conveyor belt" type software install can never be as good as an individual, dedicated and personal install.
And conveyor belt manufacture can go wrong (maybe you got machine 100,031, and every 100,031st machine is faulty - mathematicians I know it does not always work like that!). As you just got it, it might be worth while to get on to Apple in the FIRST INSTANCE, as their apple care will get you through any problems, and can guide you through diagnostics.
Finally, you could turn it off and start in "verbose mode" ("cmd"+"v" keys during start up). This shows what's happening "behind" the grey screen (so instead of the grey screen you'll get the UNIX lines whizzing through, and the writing might give a hint as to what's wrong).
I am sure that either you or Apple WILL sort your machine, and (be patient) you'll love your Mac.

Won't boot past grey screen

So my friends macbook is having some issues, it's the first issue she's really had with it so far. The other night it froze up, she was able to wait for it to unfreeze then she installed the updates on it, which she said took forever, then it said there was an error installing the update, then it restarted and it hasn't gone past the grey boot up screen since then.
I'm guessing it won't start because of that update that messed up. She doesn't have anything plugged into the mac other than the charger, any ideas?

This link is for troubleshooting the 'Gray Screen' problem....
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Hopefully it won't take a clean install

Computer Won't Load Past Grey Screen

So I was using my computer last night and it just died on me. The battery says it is full and all too. But when I go to start it back up again, it won't go past the grey screen. I have tried all the keyboard shortcuts and nothing seems to work. I have had it on and running for about 30 minutes so far and nothing has changed.
This has happened to me once already and I had to have the whole computer restarted and I lost everything. I really don't want to lose everything yet again but I don't know what to do.
I also cant seem to find my OSX startup disk. Of course. I was wondering what are all the options/keyboard shortcuts so I can try everything before I decided to just give it to the tecs to deal with.

!http://i46.tinypic.com/2nvn6f.gif!
"I have tried all the keyboard shortcuts and nothing seems to work."
Which ones? Need details to avoid the +"been there, done that"+ scenarios.
"I also cant seem to find my OSX startup disk."
You will need to locate the Install DVD in order to troubleshoot. Otherwise, you will end up w/a very expensive door stop.;)
You can get replacement System Install & Restore CD/DVDs from Apple's Customer Support - in the US, (800) 767-2775 - for a nominal S&H fee. You'll need to have the model and/or serial number of your Mac available.
!http://i50.tinypic.com/izvwo1.gif!

Macbook won't boot past grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel.

For some reason, after about 1 year and 10 months of owning my Macbook, it decided this morning not to load past the grey screen with the Apple logo and spinning cog/wheel.
I used it for a couple of hours beforehand, and it was working fine. Software Update prompted me of about about 4 or 5 updates; I can't remember exactly what was downloaded, but I think there was a Security Update and iTunes among them. I restarted, left it to install with no errors, but when I logged in, Safari and iTunes were running incredibly slowly. I also noticed that the volume keys weren't responding, as well as the power key to bring up the "Sleep, Restart, Shutdown, etc" dialog box. I forced shutdown, hoping a restart would solve my problem, and that's when my troubles started. I originally just left it, but after about an hour the wretched thing was still spinning.
So far, I have done a number of troubleshooting tips on a variety of websites. I have tried taking the battery out and holding down power for 5 seconds, resetting the PRAM with option, cmd, p & r, and holding down power until the sleep light flashes rapidly and the computer lets out a large "BOOOP".
I have booted off my Leopard install disk with both option and c, repaired the hard drive a number of times, with there being no errors whatsoever. I have tried repairing permissions, but everything seems to freeze up, except the mouse.
For some reason my computer will not boot into safe mode, either, and holding cmd & s at startup doesn't get me to the stage where I can enter commands with the keyboard.
Unfortunately, because of my puny 60GB hard drive, I only have 1GB of free space left and cannot reinstall Leopard without wiping my hard drive.
I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could assist me with this unfortunate dilemma. It's such a shame that my computer has been fantastic for so long and now decides to play up. (Maybe it's just Apple trying to get me to buy a new 2.4Ghz aluminium Macbook sooner than I was planning...)
Thanks very much.

Hi ds,
Sorry to hear you're having such trouble!
Unfortunately, the best thing you can do at this point is reinstall Leopard (and then attempt to install the combo updater, too). If you don't have a backup of your machine, you could boot it into Target Disk Mode (by holding down T at startup) and then attach it via FireWire to another computer to salvage your files.
I recently had to repair a machine with this exact same problem, and after messing around with that for several hours, I'd have to say that I think that an Erase and Install is the way to go. If you then migrate over your user data and start having troubles, you at least know where the problem lies. I suspect, though, that having a clean machine with all of the new updates applied will be the end of the issue.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. There are a few other things you could try first; you could, for example, manually download the relevant combo updater from Apple's website and attempt to install it to your damaged machine while it's in Target Disk Mode. If you have a copy of Disk Warrior, that too is certainly worth a shot (and in some cases may be the saving grace). In my experience, though, a failure of this magnitude isn't easy to resolve.
Hope that helps.
—Hazy

Computer won't load past grey screen with Apple logo, even with OS Disc

I turn on my computer and only gets to the grey screen with the Apple logo and idling circle. After a while, it loads a small box telling me to restart, time and time again, no matter how many times I restart. I've tried holding "shift" to go into safe mode, it won't let me.
I believe it's originally a Tiger platform, and right now I think it's running on Leopard.
I just bought a Snow Leopard OS X Disc, and I inserted it and tried to let it load. It gave me the restart box. I held down "c" while starting up, got the restart box.
Held down "option", and selected the "Mac OS X install Disc"; it went back to the grey Apple logo screen to load, and gave me the restart box after several minutes. Repeated that and held down "c" while loading, still gave me the box.
Nothing I do with or without the OS X Disc is making a difference. I cannot load anything on my computer, period.
Can someone please suggest something for me to try?

Well if you do then turn both computers off. Connect a Firewire cable between them. Boot your computer into Target Disk Mode. After the TDM screen appears boot the other computer normally. If your drive is accessible it will show up as a disk icon on the Desktop of the other Mac. You can then access your files and transfer them to another hard drive.
Then open Disk Utility. Your drive should appear in the sidebar list. Select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the Partition Scheme drop down menu to one. Set the Format type drop down menu to Mac OS Extended, Journaled, then click on the Partition button and wait for the process to complete.
Your drive should now be OK assuming it's not mechanically damaged. Eject the drive from the Desktop as you would eject any removable drive and disconnect the Firewire cable. Shutdown your computer. You can now boot from the installer disc and install OS X.

Macbook won't go past grey screen

ITs mac book a1181 its pretty old I was on it deleting a bunch of random stuff (like an idoit) now I try to trun it on and it won't get past the grey screen the apple turns into a cirle with a cross through it. Tried installing a later mac os x but it wont take it! help pls

Try resetting the PRAM:
#1 turn one computer
#2 hold command, option, P and R until the computer chimes for a 2nd time and then let go.
Hopefully it's running again after that.

Laptop won't start past grey screen

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