Macbook Pro stuck at startup screen.

I've ran Disk Utility, there were problems that were fixed, but it's fine now (I've ran it again to double check), and I've ran Apple HHardware Test and I received" no trouble found".
But everytime I try to start up it gets stuck on the grey startup screen with the apple and the oration under it. So I'm at a loss at this point.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

System files are missing or damaged so you need to reinstall OS X:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair 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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.
If you have an earlier version of OS X installed then do this instead:
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.

Similar Messages

Brand New MacBook Pro stuck on startup screen after Lion os X update

I literally got it an hour ago and when it was updating it got stuck on the startup screen. I've tried turning it off and on but it still wont load. Help

I'm not going to read that huge rambling post, sorry.
But you can look through my user tips here
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents#/

My macbook pro went from startup screen to grey vertical stripes

my macbook pro went from startup screen to grey vertical stripes with a bit of flashing. Force quit twice and it is still doing it. Had a bit of problem last time I started it with flashing screen, but it settled. After leaving it on screen went black (as usual) and on waking had desktop up but continued to flash. Any suggestions?

Hi there Lochside,
You may find the troubleshooting steps in the article below helpful.
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displayshttp://support.apple.com/kb/ht1573
-Griff W.

Macbook Pro stuck at white screen on startup. HELP!

Right when i turn on my macbook pro, it plays the startup sound and gets stuck on the white screen. I can hear it running my cd right when the computer starts up. no matter what i do, i cannot get out of the white screen. it just stays there. same thing every reboot. Whats going on???
HELP ME!

Hi, I had this exact same problem with my 15in mbp just before Christmas. I shut it down one afternoon, and then later in the day switched it back on. It wouldn't boot past the white/grey screen. It wouldn't even get as far as the apple symbol. I tried to start it up several times, but to no avail.
I called up apple support, and they had me run through various keyboard combinations at start up. Nothing worked. According to my observations and the apple telephone operator's knowledge, it was as if the keyboard wasn't booting up at all during the startup sequence, hence it was not responding to the key combinations. There was no fix available over the phone and the advice given to me was to take it to an Apple Store to have the keyboard replaced. Living in Prague Czech Rep, as I am, there is no apple store, only one reseller, which I resolved to take my mbp to the next day.
However, before the night was up, I decided to to do one more thing. According to my (less-than-Vulcan) logic, since I was taking it to be opened up, and knowing that since the dawn of time, hitting machines has seemed to give them a new lease of life, I decided to see what a sharp thump to the side of the computer might do. It wasn't overly forceful, just enough to make me feel satisfied. Would you believe it, the **** thing started up the next second I pushed the power button!
Well, I had many weeks of uninterrupted, blissful computer use until a few days ago. If you haven't heard, quite a few mbp users have been reporting cases of unresponsive keyboards and trackpads whilst running leopard, leading to kernel panics and I have now unwillingly joined their ranks. I am in no way an authority on computers (I think that's rather obvious from my repair technique mentioned above) but I have a suspicion that my little episode last Christmas is related to the current issue of the internal keyboard and trackpad becoming unresponsive, so I'd watch out for that in the future once you're able to get your laptop up and running again. There doesn't seem to be much information as to why this is happening, but for my part, I've found that it's more frequent if pressure is placed underneath the battery, and less frequent under Tiger than Leopard.
I really hope, you're able to get your mbp up and running again. I know how utterly frustrating it is when it's not working and you have no idea why.

My 2014 MacBook Pro stuck on grey screen since trying to update software over an hour ago

My 2012 MacBook Pro has been stuck on the grey screen for more than hour since I tried updating the software.

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
To restart an unresponsive computer, press and hold the power button for a few seconds until the power shuts off, then release, wait a few more seconds, and press it again briefly.
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.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. 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.
d. 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 the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d 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 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 11. 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
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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.

Macbook Pro Stuck at Startup

My Macbook Pro that isn't even a year old (got it last June) has recently broke down on me for some reason (still aludes me how). The problem is whenever I try to turn it on it is stuck on the grey startup screen with the Apple logo and spinning dial. Desperately trying to seek advice I searched this site and did everything it told me to:
- Command + S then FSCK Method
- Command +Alt + P + R Reset RAM method
- Disk Utility clean up method (At first it was unable to mount the drive but when it could it didn't help install the OS or let me access my HD)
- Erase HD and re-install via the DVD. (The problem with this is when I went to erase it kept saying there was an error with erasing the drive and then when I installed it the task would fail right as it finished saying it could not be installed.)
If there's anything at all that I'm forgetting to do or I'm just doing this whole thing wrong please let me know because at this point I'm just wanting to get my Macbook working again! I am desperetaly scrambling to fix this as soon as possible and any help would be much appreciated.

I'd suspect you could have some bad sectors on the hard drive
Reboot from the install DVD and run Disc Utility
Select the hard drive and hit the Erase tab across right
Click on Security Options and select Zero Out Data then OK
Wait a while it's going to write zeros to the disc and erase everything, if it finds a bad sector it will map that out
When that's done click the First Aid tab and run Repair Disc to be sure it returns an "OK" report
When that's all done re-install the OS again and hopefully this time it will complete

2011 17" Macbook pro stuck at startup

I bought the 2011 2.2ghz i7 17" Macbook Pro about 2 weeks ago, everything was working perfectly untill sunday when it started sometimes getting stuck on the startup screen. By monday it would not boot up at all.
It gets to the point with the grey screen, the apple logo and the spinning circle (not the beach ball), once there it stays and the loading circle just continues to spin.
It does however startup in safe mode and after a safe mode start up it boots just fine for a while ( so its not a hard drive problem, I don't think) but if I leave it off over night then it gets stuck again when I try turn it on in the morning.
I heard this this a common issue with the 17" (something about a script problem) but i don't know how true that is?

It looks like your harddisk partition is damaged. Since it is 2 weeks old, take it to the AppleStore and have it checked. Otherwie, there are tools to repair this kind of issue like DiskWarrior.

Macbook pro stuck at white screen.

My macbook pro is stuck at a white screen and doesnt boot. I tried resetting, tried to safe boot by pressing shift, nothing works,. It is stuck in white screen. Pls help.

If you cannot select Recovery HD at startup, problem is serious enough to take the MBP
to the nearest Apple store. They will help to resolve the issue.
Have you tried pressing option key down while starting the MBP?
Probably that has been tried already.
Best.

Macbook Pro stuck at loading screen

Hi ,
My Macbook Pro is stuck at the loading screen with the apple logo and a spinning wheel!
I Have tried CMD and R
i have also tried the Option button
PLEASE HELP!!!!

Hi there lukeoli10,
I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps found in the article below if your computer is unable to boot past the Apple logo.
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
-Griff W.

MacBook Pro Stuck on Gray Screen

My MacBook Pro is stuck on the grey screen and won't move past it. I have tried safe startup, resetting the NAVRAM, I am currently in the disk utility and when I verify disk permissions, it says this:
- user differs on .ds_store, should be 0; user is 501
- group differs on .ds_store; should be 80; group is 20
- permissions differ in .ds_store; should be -rw-rw-r-- ; they are -rw-r--r--
- unable to set owner and group on .ds_store; error 22: invalid argument
- unable to set permissions on .ds_store; error 22: invalid argument
- user differs on Applications/.DS_store; should be 0; user is 501
Specs:
System Version: 10.8.5
System Build: 12F45
I honestly don't remember the year.
Also, no backups at all. I checked my box for original install disks and don't see any so I assume they don't come with any, anymore. Any help is appreciated!

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

MacBook Pro frozen on startup screen with progress bar and then it turns off

Hello, I have a MacBook Pro 15" of early 2012 with a i5 Intel, 4GB of RAM and a 500 GB HD.
I was installing the new suit of Adobe, when suddenly my Mac got frozen, vertical coloured lines appeared and the image on screen went distorted. I had to reboot the Mac by holding the power button until the screen turned off and when I turned it on, the lines appeared again and it itself automatically rebooted. Then the screen (now with no vertical lines) got frozen on the startup grey screen with the apple logo and the spinning wheel for hours with no response.
I tried to follow the steps of the official mac forums like verifying the HD with CMD+R and then Disk Utility, it says everything's fine; the same happens with CMD+S, no errors. I reinstalled Mavericks with the same CMD+R. I already reset the PRAM, SMC and performed a Safe Boot staring up in Single user mode and Verbose Mode and nothing, the same startup screen. I made too thins thing of holding shift until the progress bar appeared. Three days later (Today) I repeated the steps again and finally the verbose mode. Now, when I turn it on, the startup screen appears again (Apple Log and spinning wheel) with a progress bar. When it completes, the Mac turn itself off.
if you can help me, please. I don't know what else to do. The last thing is technical service.

Hi again ggt15,
You can find some more information about the Recovery Partition of your hard drive here:
OS X: About OS X Recovery
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
It sounds like you might be trying to reinstall your copy of the operating system. If that's the case, you may also find some helpful information here:
OS X Lion: Reinstall Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH3878
Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://expresslane.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.
Cheers,
Braden

2011 Macbook Pro Stuck on White Screen and Won't Shut Down

Greetings,
I just received a 15 inch Macbook Pro with a 2.2 i7 processor earlier today. On my previous computer, a 2009 MB P with a Core2Duo, I've had a shutdown issue on it for the past week or so: when I click the power button, and confirm the shutdown, the computer would start shutting down as normal, however once it reached the white screen with the spinning loading symbol at the bottom, it just got stuck on that. As I've transfered my old data to my brand new computer, I'm still having the same issue with it. I was wondering if this was due to a worm, or some software incompliancy? If anyone could shed any light, I'd be greatful.
Thanks.

thecloakedone wrote:
I'm running the old Final Cut Studio (2) (still have to enter my serial), and am also running these apps which could be considered out of the ordinary: *VLC
                                                  *Audacity
                                                  *CleanMyMac
                                                  *Mirage
                                                  *Handbrake
                                                  *MiroVideoConverter
                                                  *RecBoot
                                                  *SuperDocker
                                                  *PlistEditPro
That's all. Everything else is either from Apple, Adobe, or is downloaded from the app store.
Were you using any of them when the issue occurred (or just prior to it)?
Have you looked for updates on all of them?
If you want to do some digging, open Console and look at the logs at, and just prior to, the time of the issue.

Macbook Pro Stuck at Gray Screen When Entering Boot Options

Hello apple community,
I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro 2008, and I decided recently to replace the 250 Gb hard drive with a new WD Black 500 Gb hard drive. I backed up all the data onto my external hard drive and replaced the hard drive. Now I am trying to enter the disk utility to boot from the disk utility by holding the option key. When I turn on the computer and hold the option key it gets stuck on the gray screen. Does anybody have any idea why this is happening? Thanks.

OK. When you say it doesn't work does that mean you cannot see the drive in Disk Utility? Of course that means you need to boot from another drive such as your external backup. If you happen to have a Snow Leopard DVD to boot your computer then you could try with that. But there isn't much you can do if you don't have another bootable drive in an external enclosure or other form of hookup like a universal drive adaptor.
Your model is not new enough to use Internet Recovery. I don't know what more to offer. You cannot even verify that the new HDD is OK by putting it in an external enclosure.

MacBook Pro Stuck At Login Screen Showing White Screen.

Hello.
I recently got a MacBook Pro 13" with Mac OS X Lion.
After I installed some updates and software, i rebooted and now its stuck
at the login screen with a white screen. I can still move the mouse but nothing happens.
I tried to restore my Mac, but it requires an internet connection. My network
is setup as non-DHCP. I have to setup a manual IP address, but there aren`t any settings to do that.
Is there any way to restore Mac OS X without an internet connection?
Thank you for your answers.

The only way to use Lion Recovery is with an internet connection.

MacBook Pro stuck on white screen with apple logo. HELP!!

For the past few days my MacBook Pro has been stuck on a white screen with the apple logo and I have tried everything. Does anybody know what I can to to get it to work normally again ?

Read over these articles for possible solutions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5282
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Ciao.

Macbook Pro stuck at startup screen.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for