Mac won't boot, starts with white apple screen and spinning wheel. Also has grey loading bar which disappears after loaded then stays at white apple screen.

Mac won't boot, starts with white apple screen and spinning wheel. Also has grey loading bar which disappears after loaded then stays at white apple screen.

Hi cybertoof,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like you're seeing a startup issue with your Mac, it's booting to a gray screen with an Apple logo. Try the suggestions in the article linked below, they will resolve most issues related to starting up your Mac.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
I hope this helps.
-Jason

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    Apple logo and spinning wheel is different than the need to restart your computer message.
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    Work through the suggestions in this article:
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    <Edited by Host>

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    Reset PRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405 and then try a normal boot.
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    If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, and it's not already backed up, 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, you can skip this step.
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  • I cannot start my mac book. Apple logo and spinning wheel on gray screen. Tried pressing shift key on start up nothing happen. Tried shift command V screen is still stuck

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    Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
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    Boot to the Recovery HD:
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      Grey Screen and spinning wheel at startup
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11044
    Repair Disk
    Steps 2 through 8
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
    Reinstall OS X
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763?viewlocale=en_US

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    The following support article is somewhat outdated.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.
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  • I did an auto software update on my iMac, which included a restart. When the machine restarted it's stuck with an Apple logo and spinning wheel. I've tried all of the key strokes that are supposed to work, but nothing has. Any suggestions? Thanks!

    I did an auto software update on my iMac, which included a restart. When the machine restarted it's stuck with an Apple logo and spinning wheel. I've tried all of the key strokes that are supposed to work, but nothing has. Any suggestions?

    Gray screen could be any number of things, bad third party at boot kext file, a bad Apple one, a bad install/upgrade of OS X, drive corruption etc.
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  • Imac has white screen and spinning wheel and will not boot up---after lion install

    imac has white screen and spinning wheel and will not boot up---after lion install

    Please read Gray screen appears during startup.

  • MacBook pro 15" 2008 freezes at apple logo and spinning wheel

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    The startup disk may need repairing.
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  • IMac is stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

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    An invalid node is an error DU cannot repair. If you don't mind spending $100 for Disk Warrior, then I suggest you buy it because it can fix the error. Otherwise, do as the warning says. Backup your files. You will then have to erase the drive and reinstall. The procedure is:
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    Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
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    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.
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          the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
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    My imac intel only restart after running disk utility, otherwise I get a gray screen with apple logo and spinning wheel then after about 2min it shuts off.  this all started after a power outage.  I have tried everything that I have read online to fix this, it seems doing a clean install is last resort. Does anyone have any other options for me?

    nessman wrote:
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  • Please help me! MacBook Pro stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

    Hi I'm really desperate and need help! My MacBook just stopped loading and would stay on the gray screen with the apple logo and spinning wheel.
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    Reboot in recovery mode an possibly repair over the internet.
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