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

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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 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.

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#/

After updating to Lion my macbook pro does not startup, it is stuck to the grey apple screen

After updating to Lion my macbook pro does not startup, it is stuck to the grey apple screen

See Here for Troubleshooting Grey Screen on Startup:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

My 13" MacBook Pro freezes at startup

While using Firefox, my Macbook pro frooze about 2 days ago. The screen was only showing the multi-colour spinning circle.
Pressed [Command + Option + Esc] to force quit. No response
Pressed Power Button for 10 sec.Power OFF
Again Pressed Power Button, the MacBook Pro freezes at startup, the MAC makes the startup music, enters a white Screen and is stuck there. There is a light clicking noise continously heard.
Followed instructions to RESET SMC.
1. Power OFF.
2. Press [Shift + CNT + OPT + Power Key] and release at same time.
3. Power ON.
There was no response.
Attempted multiple times to switch-ON and OFF MAC-Book. No response
Attempted RESET SMC multiple times. No response.
Then suddenly when I gave up, it unfreeze after 15 minutes and enters the login screen.
Did a normal shut-down and power up. It was OK.
Then, ran the Firefox in debug mode and disabled the plug-ins.
It was stable for a 2 hours.
Then again, got the spinning colour circle.
So, took it to the service center last afternoon here at North Point, Hong Kong. The engineer there instructed me to backup the hard-disk and recover the CD.
Brough the machine back to my home.
Since the spinning colour circle would not stop, powered OFF the device.
On POWER ON, the screen freeze. Just like the first time.
Tried RESET SMC, Nor esult. Left the device power-on for an hour. No result.
Then, inserted the recovery CD. Powered OFF the Macbook Pro. Powered ON and pressed "C" immediately. No response. The CD is now stuck inside the MACBook Pro.
Still have the white Screen at Power-On.
Advice how to solve this problem

Disconnect all peripherals from your computer.
Troubleshoot the spinning beach ball
Common symptoms of a dying hard drive
Hard drive is making a clicking, whirring, grinding, ping pong ball noise or any other type of unusual noises.
Hard drive is not spinning.
Computer is not recognizing the hard drive.
Sluggish loading of applications.
System freezes and hangs.
An interesting site - Hard Drive Sounds by drive manufacturer.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode
Apple Portables: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive

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.

TS1365 My MacBook Pro will not startup. At all. The suggestions from Apple Support are not helping. At all. Someone help?!?

My MacBook Pro will not startup. Its not responding at all. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can correct this?

HI Catherine,
First, make sure it it shut down by holding down the power button for 5-10 seconds. Plug in the power adapter. Press the power button and hold down the shift key to see if you can start in Safe Mode.
If the power adapter and/or battery are known good, the next thing I'd check would be the RAM to make sure it is securely seated. If batt and/or power adapter are questionable, then you'll want to find one or both and try them out; if you don't know someone with a similar MBP, this might be most easily accomplished by making a free appointment at an Apple Store "genius" bar.

My macbook pro will not startup, startup disc is full

my macbook pro will not startup, startup disc is full

Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.
If you are no longer able to boot your computer, then the drive is too full and has become corrupted. You may be able to repair it using Disk Utility on your Installer DVD:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Tiger 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.
If this doesn't work, then you will have to erase the drive and install OS X from scratch. From the Tiger installer disc you will choose the Erase and Install install option.

MacBook Pro will not startup, cursor spins forever

MacBook Pro refuses to startup no matter how long I wait for the spinning cursor to finish. I suspect hardware, because the last successful startup generated some strange bursts of static as it started up.
I've tried a few successive startups all with the same result. The very last time I held down the "D" key but no diagnostics ever appeared to run.

If I bought OS from apple store, can I just reload onto the new disk, plug it into bad machine and then select it with opt/alt key at power on?
Yes.
The Mac will boot just as easily from an external drive, so if you have an enclosure, you could put your spare drive there initially, or swap drives immediately if you prefer.
The rub is: if your MacBook is older than about 2011, it needs a Recovery_HD to get the re-download.

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen ??

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen and no any controls while i restart last time..3 days before i found many solutions but no one is perfect like PRAM/SCM format command option+p+r and other many but no any perfect solution which can fixed my issue..please help me asap i am so much upset for that coz i am developer and there is many of the data , i also run windows on it win 7 so now i am running with that i have latest 2011 mac OSX 10.7.5 with Core i5 ,4GB, 320 GB so please help me to resolve this issue i am waiting thanks in advan
Regards,
Muneeb
Developer
<Email Edited by Host>

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen and no any controls while i restart last time..3 days before i found many solutions but no one is perfect like PRAM/SCM format command option+p+r and other many but no any perfect solution which can fixed my issue..please help me asap i am so much upset for that coz i am developer and there is many of the data , i also run windows on it win 7 so now i am running with that i have latest 2011 mac OSX 10.7.5 with Core i5 ,4GB, 320 GB so please help me to resolve this issue i am waiting thanks in advan
Regards,
Muneeb
Developer
<Email Edited by Host>

Help~My 2012 macbook pro won't startup

Help~My 2012 macbook pro won't startup, it just the black screen. I tried to reset the SMC,but doesn't work.
I still in the warranty, if I need to replace the parts, do I need to charge for the replace? Thank you~!

Warranty repairs are ALL FREE!

Macbook pro stuck on apple

macbook pro stuck on apple

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 Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Macbook pro won't startup. Stuck on apple logo with spinning wheel.

When I start up my 15 inch Macbook pro, it gets to the apple logo screen with the spinning gear underneath and it just stays there and does not startup. I have let it sit that way for up to an hour and it juts stays on that screen. Please help!

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
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 3
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 damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.
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 4
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 5
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 6
Boot into Recovery again. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to 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.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
Step 7
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 backup.
Step 8
A dead logic-board battery in a Mac Pro can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions.
Step 9
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

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.

Macbook Pro Stuck at Startup

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