Mac Mini - stuck at startup

What an awful experience...all this talk of "Mac works out of the box!" is garbage. Upon finally getting everything set up for use with my Mac Mini I encountered the following:
Upon launching my Mac Mini for the first time, I reached an error of an image of a keyboard and mouse telling me to power them on...which – according to Apple Care – required me to reboot the machine with a hard power-down.
Then, upon re-launching, I reached a second error: I can't use a Mac Mini without a hard-wired keyboard….that's quite different from the information I was given by the Sales team at the store saying "you definitely want this wireless keyboard!"
50 + minutes later I'm still on hold with someone from the Apple Support team telling me "sorry man, it's a known problem"
Is it impossible to use a Mac Mini for the first time with a wireless keyboard?!?!? Am I seriously expected to buy a hard-wired keyboard just to get this thing to boot properly?
Either way this is unacceptable, what a disappointment. If anyone has input please share.
Thanks

Ok dude, basically when you first start a mac you will be prompted to do a set up. The first thing is, too get the Wireless Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard going. You turn the Magic Mouse on and off and on when the mouse picture shows up (it works thro bluetooth). Eventually a small arrow with a circle around it will appear down to the right and you press enter or click it from memory to then proceed to other set up things like Wi Fi etc. The arrow disappears after a certain amount of time too. And there is no instructions in the mouse set up to prompt you to click it. With the Magic Mouse gesture settings remember to do the gestures inside the box template not just anywhere on the screen. and a tap is not a click.

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Hi,
i have my mac mini stuck at a gray screen can you help me

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 boot failure is to secure your 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 your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into 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, boot 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
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
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 4
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 5
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot 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.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 6
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot 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 your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot 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, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot 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 reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 7
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your 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 reboot as usual.
Step 8
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 9
Repeat Step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 10
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 boot 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 11
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.

Mac Mini freezes at startup for both mac and windows. Any Ideas?

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Thanks for getting back so quickly. But, it worked. I did what you said and now it works doing a normal boot to in both Windows and Mac. I wonder what went wrong, as both operating systems didn't boot (I tried numerous times).
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Hold on to your hat . . . .
The issue was the battery. These guys have a Lithium battery that allows them to boot up, a battery that can be purchased anywhere that sells those kinds of thing. I bought 2 for $3.50, it was more time and trouble to get into the case and get at the logic board but once the battery was replaced everything works like a dream.
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Good Luck!
Gail

Mac Mini - stuck at startup

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