MacBook won't start - gets to grey screen with clicking noise.
I think I know the answer to this one - my hard drive is fried. But before I head to the Apple Store I'd thought I'd see if anyone else had any ideas of what I can try.
I was happily surfing the web when my computer froze. I could move the mouse cursor, but everything else was unresponsive. Opt-Cmd-Esc would not work, so I had to force a restart with the power button.
The computer restarted, I got the Apple chime, but then all I could hear was a clicking. I've tried restarting several times, but to no avail.
I've also tried:
Attempting to boot into a BootCamp partition.
PRAM reset.
Boot into safe mode.
Boot from my Leopard disk (spins up, but then ejects).
Boot from my original MacBook disk (spins up, but then ejects).
Boot into target mode.
The best I've got is a flashing folder with a question mark, mostly I'm just getting a grey screen.
Can anyone else offer any ideas to try?
And, assuming I have to return it (it's under a year old), what is the story? Do I just get a replacement, or is it sent off for repair? Do I need my receipt, or can they verify ownership from my credit card/serial number? Do I need a Genius Bar appointment, or do I just show up?
Sorry for all these questions, this is the first real problem I've had with a Mac and it's come at exactly the time I need to have a laptop!
That happened to my macbook too!!!!
I emptyed my trash can, it had over 1000 items there and it took a really long time to erase all of them. Eventually it was done. I turned it off, went to bed, next morning, my reliable Macbook would not start! Grey screen, apple logo, a spinning wheel. i can hear some clicking mechanical sound.
I loaded my installation cd, pressed C key while starting. It did loaded the cd, followed the screen of installation... It failed the first time, aborted half way. I had to do it again. Second time, it did go through without issue. But now, it always takes WAY long to boot, the system is very slow, very unresponsive, I am very scared to shut down the system, i dont know if next time it will reboot again.
My macbook has been very stable and reliable, compared to my PC and Dell notebooks. It is only 1.5 year old, It is not under warranty anymore. I guess it is hard disk problem most likely. There is not even one Apple Store in Idaho. Should I go out of state to fix it? how much will it cost? I have been a long time PC user and i can fix it myself if it were a PC, I love apple but really have no idea when it has problems.
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Mac mini won't start up. Grey screen with apple just freezes.
Mac mini won't start up. just get a grey screen with the apple and it freezes. Please help.
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.
If 10.7.0 or later...
Bootup holding CMD+r, or the Option/alt key to boot from the Restore partitirion & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions. -
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I need my mac for tomorrow...
Thanks again,
HarryI tried this but it didn't work. I think it is my keyboard because even when I turn the computer on the green led on the caps lock button doesn't light up. I even tried a regular USB keyboard and I had the same result.
I guess I will have to find my leopard CD.
Is it possible to just restore system settings from the leopard cd so that I don't lose all my data? -
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Hello,
I'm a new Apple customer - I bought a new 15" MacBook Pro during the Black Friday sale last week. Since purchase, I've installed the software I needed (Office, CS4) and have used it to browse the web and write emails.
Today when I tried to use it, I simply got to the grey screen with the Apple logo on it and the spinning gear device underneath - got absolutely no further.
I have done the following (running from mains adaptor - but the battery indicator is reporting 7 lights anyhow):
1. Boot from the OSX Install Disc, and run the disc repair utility. It reported no problems found. Restarted... same problem.
2. Boot holding down SHIFT to go into safe mode. Underneath the spinning gears, a progress bar filled up to 100% and then disappeared; leaving the grey screen, logo, and spinning gears. Nothing further.
3. Boot holding Option, P, R as per the manual to reset the PRAM. According to the manual there should have been a chime/beep - there wasn't. It just sits on the grey screen, logo, spinning gears. Nothing further.
Right now I've got a £1300 MacBook Pro less than a week old and it appears to have just packed up.
Am I missing anything here, or should I just return it?
Thanks,
ChrisDefinitely take it back!
My friend bought a new iMac from the Regents St. store a few weeks ago, just before the update to the new models came out, and after a week she couldn't get it to boot. I felt very embarrassed as I had persuaded to her to switch to Mac after years of PC woes, so a broken mac after a week didn't look do me any favours. The genius guys didn't mess around, they took back the dead one and gave her a new one, this time she got the new version, they also threw in iWork free as a good will gesture. New one is running fine.
If you haven't already got Applecare, I highly recommend buying it within the next 12 months. I have needed it on a couple of occasions after the standard warranty ran out and the tech support has been brilliant, got me working again no quibbles. -
How to start up laptop from grey screen with circle and slash through it?
After you installed Yosemite and prior to restoring from the backup, were you able to start the Mac?
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Macbook won't start up, white/grey screen appears folder and question mark.
My macbook was freezing up, so i pressed the power button to shut it down and it won't restart. It just goes to the blank white/grey screen and a picture of a folder with a question mark on it shows up. What should I do?
I am going to try and explain this.
When you purchase a Mac, that machine comes with a license to run the current Mac OS at the time of purchase. The license resides with the computer, not with the installation media. Therefore, if I purchased 3 iMacs, at the exact same time, and they were the same model, I could use the install media from one on any of the other machines (and don't tell me it won't work, because I have done it before). This does not violate the EULA. Do you really think that a company that purchases hundreds or even thousands of computers would keep the install media for each one? The media is not tied to the computer; it's the license for OS X that is bound to the computer. Consider when you purchase a family pack of Mac OS X, you don't get 5 discs, you get 5 licenses, and one disc.
What the EULA is stating, is that you cannot have one license running or installed on two computers. It does not say that you cannot use the same install media on different computers (assuming you have the proper number of licenses). You are also wrong in saying that you can uninstall Mac OS X from one Mac, and then use its restore discs on another computer legally. That is only legal for "Retail" copies of OS X. I believe the restore discs are the equivalent to an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer in the PC world of computing) version of OS X. I am almost positive they are non transferable. -
pls help me need help badlypls help me, need really bad
Look at this support article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Ciao. -
17 MacBook Pro is not booting up. Won't get passed grey screen with Apple wheel spinning below.
17 MacBook Pro is not booting up. Won't get passed grey screen with Apple wheel spinning below.
You may be having a hardware problem that you cannot resolve on your own. Nevertheless...
...hold down the command and R keys whilst booting to try to get to your Recovery partition. If you can, use Disk Utility to try to Verify your boot drive (usually named "Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). If the verification fails, try to repair your hard drive. If everything appears to be OK, restart.
If you can't get into your Recovery partition, your problem is likely hardware related. If so, keep your appointment and see what the Apple techs have to say.
Clinton -
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Unfortunately do not know the operating system since I never updated anything and I can't get in to it.
Thanks for your assistance.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.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is not fully functional. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot from the Recovery partition or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
2. 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.
3. 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. -
My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen.. help!
Today I was having a problem with Safari. For some reason, it kept restarting. This annoyed me, so I restarted my MacBook. Unfortunately, it won't boot past the grey screen, with the thing spinning in the middle. I've been into disk utility and it says my HDD is fine. I restarted from this, and yet it still won't boot. Can anyone suggest what's wrong/what to do?
Thanks in advanceRetrieving data using Target Disk Mode:
1) Shut down both computers
2) Connect the two computers using a Firewire cable
3) Start up the working computer.
4) Once the working computer is ready, startup your MacBook with the T key held down.
5) Your MacBook's hard drive should appear as an external hard drive on the working Mac. Drag & drop any files you want to save.
~Lyssa -
on start up i just get a grey screen with the apple logo-this has suddenly started happenin. Please help?
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 a desktop Mac hangs at a plain gray screen with a movable cursor, the keyboard may not be recognized. Press and hold the button on the side of an Apple wireless keyboard to make it discoverable. If need be, replace or recharge the batteries. If you're using a USB keyboard connected to a hub, connect it to a built-in port.
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 in OS X 10.9 or earlier, 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. -
my macbook pro will not boot. It gets the grey screen with the apple until the bar is half way across and then shuts down. The only screen I can get to is in safe mode and I don't know what to do with that
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support
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What do I do when I power up the computer and get a grey screen with a folder icon and a question mark?
vickyfromosseo wrote:
What do I do when I power up the computer and get a grey screen with a folder icon and a question mark?
Read this: A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac -
My Apple Macbook 13.3" Laptop-Black 2008 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo will not boot up and instead I get a grey screen with a folder and a question mark over it. I've tried Option key, and Control S keys and it still will not boop up. Can anyone help?
If you are running Snow Leopard:
Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
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 Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you are running Lion or later:
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing drive
Boot to the Recovery HD:
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.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it isthree times faster than wireless. -
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