Mac will not boot past Grey Screen

Hello;
My 2007 iMac won't boot past the grey screen, not even with the Apple logo in the centre of the screen. I've tried booting into the Boot Manager, tried using the recovery partition, tried booting from an external USB and FireWire drive, reset the NVRAM, reset the SMC, tried booting with a DIskWarrior boot disk (can't even eject the disk now... i've tried holding onto the mouse to force eject), changed the RAM back to the original...
Anyone else have any suggestions? I can't really figure it out and i need this machine up and running. I appreciate the help!

Please make a Genius Appointment and take it in for service.

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Will not boot past Grey Screen of Death

I was using Safari. Got the spinning beachball. Then it quit, followed by Text Edit, and Quicktime player which were running in the backround.
I was able to restart through the Apple menu, and got the Grey Screen of Death(GSoD), with the apple, and no spinning gear.
I had to shut it down using the power button and restarted holding Command-S so that I could run fsck in the Command Line, but it wouldnt go to the command line and all I got was the GSoD.
So, I started the computer from an external firewire drive, (using the option button on startup, which worked), and it booted fine and mounted my internal drive. (All my files appear to be there and are accessible. The good News...)
I ran disk utility, and it said that the internal drive was fine, no repairs needed.
I shut it down,unplugged the power cord and battery, reset the PMU, restarted, zapped the pram, and let it try to load, only to get the GSoD.
Then I booted from the firewire again, ran Techtool Pro (TTP), everything passed. I rebuilt the directory using TTP, restarted and still got the ole GSoD.
Telephone Tech Support made me use the Install disk to restart, and run disk utility, (no problems), and upon rebooting still the GSoD. They said I could take it to the Apple store, or run an archive and install.
I can't do an archive and install, (from home), because my original disk was Panther, and I can't find it, and my Tiger disk is only an upgrade disk. I don't want to do this anyway, and my last resort would be to clone my firewire disk back to my laptop, which I also do not want to do if I don't have to.
I was considering buying Diskwarrior (DW). It used to do miracles for me with OS9, but that was always when the drive wouldn't mount. I don't know how DW does with the ole GSoD, and a disk that mounts, or whether it can be reccomended to deal in this situation.
Any help would be appreciated, as well as anyone who cannot help, but can tell me what is wrong when the computer can't get past the GSoD.
Thanks in advance.
Powerbook G4 1.67mhz 1gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I wanted to add to my post that I have no third party hardware attached, (RAM, etc.), and disconnected all peripheral devices, only connecting the firewire external to boot the thing.
I also made no recent software installations. The last was the 10.4.8 update on 11/22.
Austin
I looked at that article for <10.3.9
The closest symptom was the blank grey screen. Though it did not mention the addition of the apple like my case. It suggests disk utility, and PMU reset, which I did and didn't help.
I looked at some of the other symptoms fixes for the blue-screen, -OS9 is not installed on the computer, and single user and safe modes also don't work.
I have an appointment at the Apple Store for this afternoon. I have the AppleCare protection plan. What in your opinion can they do, that telephone tech support couldn't suggest, besides performing the archive and install, that I can't do at home, and don't want to do anyway?
Also, seeing as the internal drive does mount, and I can access the data, why do you think that DW might fix it? I know they have a proprietary method, but I did replace the directory with TTP.
DW did perform miracles for me in the past, but then only when the disk wouldn't mount.
Right now my plan is to see the Genius this afternoon, if he's got nothing new to offer, I can buy DW rev 39 at the Apple Store, and run it there.
I guess barring any other advice, if you feel that DW can do the trick, I could buy it before seeing the Genius, and if it works, cancel my appointment.<br>
Powerbook G4 1.67mhz 1gb RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen

Intel iMac will not boot past gray screen
my system:
new (month old) 24" intel imac, 2.8 ghz, 4 gb ram.
running: leopard (upgraded from tiger, which was pre-installed at purchase), installed 10.5.1 update right before this huge problem occurred.
install discs on-hand: two-disc tiget set, single leopard upgrade disc.
what led to this:
i wanted to install windows using bootcamp on a 50 gb partition.
at this point i was running leopard 10.5
i followed all bootcamp instructions, printing out the guide, as well. once i got into the windows setup, i was prompted to choose a partition to install windows. unlike the bootcamp guide, which showed three partitions, one clearly labeled "bootcamp", i saw only one partition. not wanting to risk writing over my mac partition, i quit the setup and rebooted the mac os. after some googling around, i looked for firmware updates (didn't need any), and then software updates. i decided to try updating to 10.5.1.
i then ran through boot camp again, deleting my previous windows partition, creating a new one, and moving forward as before. once again, i was only shown one partition to choose from in the windows setup. i exited the setup again to reboot through the mac os, but this time, i was only given a blank gray screen.
here's what i have tried so far:
booting from a CD, holding down the C or D keys: no response (in fact, i have to restart the computer holding down the mouse button to be able to eject the CD)
booting with option key held down: gray screen
booting with option key held down with external bootable firewire drive attached: the firewire drive appears as a boot icon, and i can click on it within a five second window, but then the screen freezes after that time period, and nothing changes
booting into target mode while attached to another mac: gray screen (no firewire icon, and drive never shows up on other mac)
resetting NVRAM: i'm able to hear the boot chimes, but no difference in performance. gray screen every time
Safe boot: nothing but a gray screen
Verbose mode: gray screen
Single user mode: gray screen
Single user mode with firewire drive attached: occasionally (not every time), i am able to get the white on black terminal to show up. from here, i'm able to run fsck, but it appears to only be checking the firewire drive. i have tried several times to boot from here, and once it took me to a blue screen with movable arrow cursor, but it never went beyond this.
is there anything else left to try before taking it to apple?
any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Casey Burns
Casey Burns Illustration and Design
http://CaseyBurns.com

I'd call Apple support at this point. You'll need
to put this issue on the record.
Call U.S. iPod and Mac technical support: 1-800-APL-CARE (1-800-275-2273)
The wait may be long for an agent to come on the line
so expect that and have some other stuff to do in the meantime.
If you have the applecare protection plan, I'd ask about "onsite"
service.
I like your work ! Good luck !
Slim
Message was edited by: slimpikkunz

Mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

mac will not boot up, white screen with turning gear for hours on end

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
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. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to 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 boot 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 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.
Step 7
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.
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 8
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 9
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 10
Repeat Step 9, 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 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 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 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.

Will not boot past blue screen

The present status is that my ibook g4 will no boot past the spinning wheel screen which hangs for a few minutes and then goes to the "Mac OS X" screen with the progress bar.
My first goal is to back up all of the data. I have a second IMac. Plus, I just purchased an external 500 gig hard drive just prior to when the error started. FYI the error started when I was going through the install process of the backup program supplied with the external hard drive. The program just asked me to restart the computer and that is where we are now.
The second goal of course is to fix the start-up issue. I have tried a number of the suggestions in previous posts including the following the install disk utilities to repair the disk.

I am having the exact same problem. I was just surfing the Internet this weekend and it completely froze and now it won't boot up. I no longer get a grey screen, at boot up, it goes from black to blue and then it hangs at the blue screen.
I have a TimeMachine and a Retrospect back up of my data but I can't boot to the Leopard Install CD which would let me restore my data.
I have tried just about everything, including booting in firewire target disk mode and connected to my old clamshell iBook G3. I was able to access my files, and I even reinstalled Tiger (couldn't use Leopard because it's not compatible with the G3). So there is a fresh copy of 10.4 running on my iBook G4 but it still will not boot up on its own.
No idea what to do at this point, but I would suggest not reformatting as it really didn't seem to help.

Macbook Pro will not boot beyond grey screen. System freezes.

My Macbook Pro will not boot-up or get beyond the grey screen (with spinning gear wheel.) I've tried all the recommended actions: resetting PRAM, disk repair, permissions repair, re-boot in safe mode etc but still the problem persists. When viewing the safe-boot in verbose mode, the system seems to hang at the stage when it's checking the Airport & Ethernet - the last line on the page reads: "AppleBCOM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?"
Any ideas how to fix this without doing an Archive & Install?
I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them.
Any help gratefully received. Many thanks.

jfromplymouth wrote: ...I'm assuming that if I do an "Archive & Install" then I will lose all my Applications (VLC, Handbrake, MS Office for Mac etc.) Will this actually be the case? Will I lose them...
Archive and Install just affects the System files, so any apps you have should still be available afterwards. The Installer on the disk that came with your Mac, when you bought it, will tell you this before you proceed. Of course, you can always back out of the Installer if you feel chicken.
Notwithstanding it is still necessary to backup everything. You need to check that Time Machine is set to also backup your Applications folder. It might be set not to do this.
It may not be necessary to worry about this if you have the original installer disc(s). I think any stuff downloaded from iTunes etc can be re-downloaded. However, it's probably quicker to get Time Machine to backup your apps if you can afford the HDD space. It's bound to be quicker than re-downloading the stuff plus any updates. And of course there's those Apps that you have but forgotten about. What about them?

G5 acting very strange and now will not get past grey screen with Apple log

Hi I have had my iMac G5 for a few years and it was working perfectly up until today ! When I switched it on and it started playing up. Every application I opened would randomly shut down. For instance, Safari would crash and mail would crash, as well as the finder refreshing itself. This settled after a short while. Therefore I thought things were fine until I pressed the < or > buttons in finder and the system would refresh itself ! Weird ! Fortunately I backed up all of my iTunes.
I can see the hard drive when I hook it up via firewire to my MacBook Pro.
The problem I have now is that the machine will not boot up ! It gets stuck on the grey screen and after a short while the fans kick in like the thing is ready for take off !
Any ideas ?????
Thanking you in advance !

Apple Discussions!
Which model G5 iMac do you have?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301724-en How to identify your iMac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh355.html Getting information about your computer
Depending on your model, try one of the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301733 (Ambient Light Sensor), iMac G5 (iSight): How to Reset the SMU
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341 How to reset the SMU on a Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) or Power Mac G5 (Late 2005)
If the above does not work, see if you qualify for one of the following:
iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Video and Power Issues
The 20-inch iMac G5 Repair Extension Program for Power Supply Issues (Rev B)
**WARNING: DUE TO SECURITY REASONS, PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR COMPUTER'S SERIAL NUMBER ON THESE MESSAGE BOARDS.**
If you do not qualify for any of the above programs hopefully, you have AppleCare and/or your computer is still under warranty & you should contact Apple and/or your local AASP.
Good luck!

10.5.8 Both hard drives OK, tested - will not boot past startup screen

Okay, I have an early 2008 MacPro, and everything has been running fine, but I was trying to search for something in Finder, and it wouldn't show up, so I checked my other hard drive's permission options - it displayed "Custom" for all users, when I know I had them all set to "Read & Write" previously, so i changed my main user's (on my newer HD on 10.5.8) permission to Read & Write on the original HD with 10.6.8, so I could search its contents, then these error messages poppped up, everytime i hit OK, a new one popped up immediately in its place, with some "Apple AUD" OR "HD" messages (can't remember the exact messsages), so I restarted my computer and now I cannot get past the apple logo screen.
- Attempted selecting both hard drives as startup discs and still hangs at the white apple logo screen.
- I tried booting into Safe Mode and it loads the status bar, and when it's done loading, it simply goes back to the spinning gear.
- Tried booting from my 10.5.8 installation disc and it works, both of my HD's tested "OK" when I verified them.
- Tried resetting PRAM, and even reset SMC, and the problem persists.
One last note: the original HD that came with my Mac Pro, which has 10.6.8 on it as of last year, has a tiny lock icon on the left of the little hard drive graphic.
I'm stressed because I use LOGIC a lot, and I have all of my music projects on these hard drives, and over a million files between both of them. I'd pull my hair out, if I hadn't just shaved my head for summer
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Your hard drives may be OK, but the installed systems are not. You need to reinstall OS X on your startup volume. Doing this with Leopard requires your Leopard DVD:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
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.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

My Macbook will not load past grey screen with progress bar?

When I start up my computer the grey screen with the Apple and spinning wheel appear, then underneath a progress bar. once the progress bar is full it shuts down? Help!

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
That bar appears when OS X checks your hard drive, and it's not a good sign that your Mac turns off, because the hard drive is damaged.
Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is to take the Mac to an Apple Store or AASP to get the hard drive repaired. If you didn't make a backup, try DiskWarrior to recover data, and buy an external disk to make backups. All hard drives fail, but we don't know when they are going to fail

IMac G5 will not boot past gray screen

After successfully upgrading from Tiger to Leopard my computer won't get past the gray screen and the turning circle. How do I get my computer to turn on? Can anyone help!!!!!!

One more solution. The older base iMacs came with 256MB of RAM. Leopard requires a minimum of 512 MB to boot. Check how much RAM you have, and get at least 512MB more. It's cheap at Crucial or Kingston sites. Don't buy cheap RAM, it will give you headaches.

IMac Will not boot up grey screen, apple, and spinning wheel

Help. Tax time is a good time for this.

The following support article is somewhat outdated. Where it refers to booting from an installation disc, you should boot from your recovery partition (if running 10.7 or later) by holding down the key combination command-R at the chime.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

B500 0887-1FU Will not boot past logo screen

I get the Lenovo logo, the "Press Enter to bypass normal startup" message and that's it. The fans run at full tilt and I can hear the hard drive spinning, but no activity. I can turn the light below the screen on and off, but nothing else. I have disconnected everything, swapped memory cards and pulled the CMOS battery. Incidentally, the fans did go to normal speed after a second or 2 before I pulled the CMOS battery, but after that they stay on high all the time. I can still power down by holding the power button for a few seconds. Doen anyone have any suggestions on what to try next? This system is just ocer 2 years old and shouldn't be dead yet. I know that's ancient in PC years, but still...

That would be my assumption as well on the sim card. I don't know exactly how old the iPad is - but you can enter the serial number on one of these sites and you can find out if it is still under warranty. If so, you at least have that to fall back on. The serial number should be printed on the box and it is printed on the back of the device as well.
https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do
https://selfsolve.apple.com/GetWarranty.do
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
One other thought - you had activated the iPad and you did use it successfully for a period of time? ....just to be sure ...
Message was edited by: Demo

I've just loaded snow leopard and mac won't boot past grey screen.

Please help me

Try booting in Safe Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455
Or...
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
FYI... you need to hold down the C key when booting from the install disc until you see the Apple logo.

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.

Macbook pro will not advance beyond grey screen at beginning of boot

macbook pro will not advance beyond grey screen at beginning of boot

Try performing an SMC reset. I am having this problem also.
To perform an smc reset:
1. Shut down your Mac, leave the MagSafe charging in.
2. Push three buttons: shift + control + option and the power button. Push and release together.
3. Wait a few seconds then turn on your Mac as normal.
Hope that works out for you!

Mac will not boot past Grey Screen

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