Macbook wont start up, stuck on grey screen

I need some help, I woke my computer from sleep then decided to restart it because it wasnt restarted for a while and now when I try to turn it on it just loads a grey screen and nothing else.
I need someone to help me asap, I have a few assignments due tomorrow that are on this computer.
Thanks in advance
Oh I also dont have the Mac OS X CDs so I cant do anything that involves those, they are in a different country at the moment so its not an option...
EDIT: If I leave it on it seems to get REALLY hot
EDIT2: followed this: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Turns out one of my peripheral devices is making it happen....which is extremely odd since I use the same devices daily and I have never had a problem
Oh well I guess I just have to look into getting a new laptop
Message was edited by: Jamilv

Without the Software Restore discs there's nothing you can do but take it in for service. The problem requires reinstalling OS X, and that requires the installer disc.

Similar Messages

Macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no

macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no hash key appears that will allow me to type in: fsck -fy
have my trials for IB in one week and my history notes are all on my hard drive, that has not been backed up. help please =(

macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no hash key appears that will allow me to type in: fsck -fy
have my trials for IB in one week and my history notes are all on my hard drive, that has not been backed up. help please =(

Macbook pro model A1278 wont boot osx stuck at grey screen

I have had my mbp for about 3 years now and has worked great. Just today i got home from work and when i opened the macbook which was already running I was in OSX but it was frozen with colored wheel spinning. I had never experiened this before but I didnt think too much of it and held down the power button to reset it. Now i am stuck at the grey screen with the Apple Logo and spinning wheel and cant get back into OSX at all. So i started googling (on another computer obviously) and tried:
1. boot in safe mode. Didnt work, still stuck at grey screen
2. boot in safe mode with "commd-shift-v" to see info. stuck in "dos" looking screen. see pic at bottom.
3. tried resetting VRAM w/ "commd-opt-p-r". did not work, still stuck at grey screen.
4. got original OSX install DVD. Was able to boot to disc and make it to disk utilities. went to repair and got error "unable to unmount disk"
5. ran "repair permissions" and completed that. ran "verify disk" and got green "disk ok" message. then re-ran repair and got same "unable to unmount disk"
so know i am worried. my main concern is the 80 GB of music I have on this computer (and dont currently have backed-up {que back-up lectures}) and my pictures. Does it sound possible to recover music and pics based on this little bit of info? Im willing to take it to the Apple store and pay the price if it sounds like I can recover it. I am pretty computer savy but am reluctanct to just start trying anything that could lose my music/pics. I cant try just deleteing and restoring OSX to factory settings and losing all that music/pics.
so...what is best approach to access and back up these files myself? I do have another macbook with a firewire connection but am not familiar with that process. I will get a external HD immediatly (now ofcourse)...can I backup my files from disc utility?
Thanks for any help.

Sorry about specs...i entered in drop box menu but realize doesnt show on thread:
MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.53 13" (SD/FW)
2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo (P8700)
Intro Date:
June 8, 2009
Disc Date:
April 13, 2010
Order No:
MB991LL/A
Model No:
A1278 (EMC 2326*)
Subfamily:
Mid-2009 13"
Model ID:
MacBookPro5,5
Std RAM:
4 GB
Std VRAM:
256 MB
Std Storage:
250 GB (5400 RPM)
Std Optical:
8X DL "SuperDrive"
I was running the last vesion of snow leopard (10.6.8 i think).
I picked up a firewire today and am going to attempt to make "broken" macbook target and pull files onto other macbook. Will give an update tomorrow after attempt. Thank you for fast response.

Help, Mac Pro wouldn't start now stuck on grey screen

Hi,
My Mac Pro computer wouldn't start up properly. Sometimes I would press the button 30 times and still it wouldn't start.
I have taken it to a Authorised Apple shop and first of all had a new graphics board replaced.
A week later the same problem, it wouldn't start up, some times switch itself off so I took it back to the Apple shop where it turned on perfectly and the tests showed nothing wrong.
Week and a half later it happened again so I took it back and they gave me a new hard drive and memory cage.
Three weeks later, same problem took it back to the store and they found nothing wrong with it so I had to bring it back home.
Worked again for another week and then it wouldn't start a few times so I left it on and it turned itself off.
Today it is starts but gets stuck on the grey screen with spinning wheel and then turns itself off.
Please, please can anybody help. The Authorised Apple shop doesn't know what the problem is so has given up..
Best Regards..

If you unplug it from all power & peripherals like taking it in would do, wait a few hours & plug it back in does it work?
Is there an Uninterruptible Power Supply involved?

Macbook wont show any startup disk, grey screen

Hey there! Here is what I did, and what I get.(Sorry for my bad English) I wanted to have 3 partitions for my macbook, one for msc osx, one for windows, and one for shared data. I've started with bootcamp. I've created partition, then canceled installation of windows 8. then I've added third partition from disk utility, then I've restarted computer, started installation of windows 8. I've noticed that third partition is showing as unlocated memory,(but it's shown in mac os x) during installation of windows 8. After finishing installation of win 8, I've gone through disk managment from control panel, and created local disk from that third unlocated memory, then from my computer I saw that my third partition isnt accessable.. then I've removed it from disk managment, so its again unlocated memory. Then I've restarted computer, but computer didnt started anumore.. it's shows grey screen, then after about 15 seconds, it's showing black screen, then trying to start windows 8, then it's shows blue screen with icon, then restart again, and again.. on start when I'm pressing option key, nothing happens, also nothing happens when I'm pressing option + s. I've tried to start recovery mode, by option + r. that one worked, in disc recovery left part I can see my 3 partitions.. but I cant do nothing with them, I've tried to erase third partition, but I got error, about partition map.. I've tried to use reinstall os x, but when I need to select partition to install, there is no any partition, also when I'm trying to select startup disk, it didnt show anything,( mac os x, windows..). Any idea what to do? It's my first time using mac, and soooo disapointed.. any help? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried Internet recovery?
Hold the command and option and r keys down on a wired or built in keyboard. Boot the machine and you will see a globe spinning as IR loads.
Next select Disk Utility and the disk0. Click Erase and if there is a slider, move it one or two spots to the right for a 0-3x secure erase and mapping off of bad/damaged sectors on the boot hard drive (SSD no need).
Once finished, check Partition that Option:GUID and Format is OS X Extended Journaled and the name is MacintoshHD or else make it so and click Apply.
Quit and install the OS X version that is provided with Internet Recovery, it depends upon what originally came on the machine.
(taken from advice of ds store. Thanks)
You can then migrate your data back from your backup.
Pete

Macbook not starting up, spinning on grey screen

Hi,
Before Christmas, I was entitled to a free battery from Apple. They told me to take my laptop to one of their external mechanics and they'd fit it for me while I wait. I did that and when I got home that day, I turned on the laptop but I was unable to get past the initial grey screen with the apple logo. The wheel would come up and just start spinning and spinning forever. I left it on for hours but still nothing.
Eventually, I discovered my hard drive may have got corrupted. How, I don't know, I'm inclined to blame the people who changed the battery as the minute they gave it back to me, it stopped working, but they're refusing to take any responsibility, neither are Apple.
I backed up the hard drive using disk utility and making a dmg of it but I'd left my laptop down in London for a few months so I didn't get around it sorting it until now. I've deleted the hard drive and re-installed OS Lion and the laptop began as if I'd just bought it. So I restored the dmg and now I'm back to square one, the spinning wheel and only being able to access disk utility by pressing CMD + R on startup.
I have so much stuff that I can't afford to lose on that dmg, what can I do to ensure I can get my laptop back to the way it was? If it's a lost cause, is there a way I can access the files and back them up one by one instead of as a dmg?
I have an appointment at the Apple Store on Wednesday but ideally I'd like to get this sorted myself so any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
EDIT: Should also add, I'm trying to load it up in safe mode by holding shift but when I do this, the spinning wheel doesn't even appear, instead, the laptop just turns off after about 20 seconds.

Just an update on this...
The guy at the Apple store felt it could have been a corrupt file on the hard drive that triggered after the battery swap. Personally, I don't buy this as it was working fine before and I did regular checks and scans on all my files to ensure nothing like this would happen but there you go.
Anyway, somehow he made it so I could access my files, something to do with partioning the hard drive and whatnot. So I dragged the files onto my external, restarted everything (i.e, clean OS reinstall) and dragged them back on. Not the most ideal way as I have to install all my apps again but it could be worse.
Moral of the story is: when all else fails, complain to Apple in-store and don't take no for an answer!

G4 Won't start. Stuck at Grey Screen with Spinning wheel

It won't make it past this screen.
I have a Dual G4 867Mhz with 2GB ram. (3) harddrives.
Any Help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
The last thing that happened was last night I left my computer on downloading some stuff. When I woke up my dad had unplugged the ethernet cable and It had locked up some programs with the spinning beachball. I proceeded by trying to shut the program with apple+q. It shut down the Finder window. I then was forced to just shut down the computer by holding down the power button. I didn't try starting up again at that time, but now about 3 hours later I tried to start up again, and it's stuck at this screen.

Install OS X on one of your disk drives. Or get a FW case and drive, then update to 10.3.9.
Buy a copy of Disk Warrior 4.
Ask Dad.

MacBook Pro mid 2012 stuck on grey screen on startup

Hey guys.!
I need an advice from you guys.
I updated my Mbp few hours ago... It asked for a restart , I did after sometime but now while starting up I can't get passed through the grey screen with an apple logo and circle loading sign. Before this showed a loading bar also with it.
I can't figure out is there a problem with it or just takes time to finalise the updating or something .
Would love to get replies ASAP
Thanks,
A fellow MBP user
Aakash

Did you try Repair Disk instead of Verify Disk? The latter does nothing.
It is possible the drive has failed. It's also possible the drive just needs to be reformatted which you would do were you to try my second suggestion:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
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.
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.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Magic Computar Machine wont start. (Stalls at Grey Screen)

A friend of mine is having trouble with a "beloved" 12-inch G4.
On startup computer makes chime noise, displays apple logo and grey screen and then forgets what its doing. There is no loading spinner, or further action. It just sits there.
We've tried reseting PRAM, booting in Safe Mode and booting as a FireWire drive. None of these seemed to work.
Additionally, the PowerBook's internal DVD-ROM drive does not work. We are trying to obtain a boot disk to see if it will work through an external FireWire DVD drive, but after reading all the warnings about disconnecting peripherals, we're not sure if this is even an option.
Aside from relegating this device from "laptop" to "doorstop" are there any other suggestions?

Additionally, the PowerBook's internal DVD-ROM drive does not work. We are trying to obtain a boot disk to see if it will work through an external FireWire DVD drive, but after reading all the warnings about disconnecting peripherals, we're not sure if this is even an option.
This is an option. You just need to be sure to disconnect it after it powers off. You'll know when it has powered off.

Macbook Pro wont start up past the grey screen

The computer is only four months old, fans sound like they are working, and the screen stays on when the power cord is out. I put in the Mac Os X disk today so that I could reset the admin password and as the computer restart for the program it's been stuck on the grey apple screen. If you have anything I can try and do that would be great

I had the same issue. I would start up my MacPro Desktop, and nothing happened but for the startup chime and the screen going blank. No Apple, no Beachball, no Nothing. I even tried booting from my DVD, and that would not work. So... it was dead, dead, dead and I could not do a thing about it. I tried all the rubber chicken procedures such as booting with the shift key, disconnecting everything, even the keyboard in the end, and taking out two of my four hard drives, doing all the things that the Mac Tech Support (on the phone) advised me to do.
Mac Tech support tried their best and booked an appointment for me at the Bondi Genius Bar, and I sat on the stool fully expecting to hear the worst. It turned out that the culprit was a corrupt internal eSATA disk, and when it was removed, the computer started up beautiully and recognised my other system disks.
Funny, I had removed the disk with Snow Leopard on it, thinking that it was a corrupt System disk, but no, it was another disk which I had fortunately up the night before this happened! I noted that the Mac was taking an inordinately lengthy time to shut down after that, which made me rather nervous about the next start up.
The defective disk had no system on it, and therefore, I never even thought of taking it out. It seemed to an illogical thing to do at the time, as I did not believe that a disk with no system could cause any problem.
Now I am sitting at my trusty Mac Pro and it is working Better than Ever, and I replaced the faulty 280GB disk with a Samsung 500GB disk I took out of my slow as a wet week LaCie Big Disk Network Attatched Storage. I re-initiallised this disk and it is now working flawlessly as I have been copying data to the SamSung disk now.
So, the upshot of all this is, is that nowhere is there any reference to a single disk in a bay that can cause the whole Mac not to start up properly! My advice is to those with that problem, remove your disks out of the bays, one at a time to find out if it is a disk causing the problem.

MacBook Pro wont start up passing the grey screen, MacBook Pro wont start up passing the grey screen, MacBook Pro wont start up passing the grey screen

; my macbook pro is a 15" . i believe its a 2010 model , i left it on by standby last night . and this morning the internet wasnt working , so then i decided to restart my laptop . and so right now , i start it up . and it gets to the white apple screen when it first load , then all of a sudden it shuts down on me . before it shut down by it self it was on the apple screen , loading and loading . couple of people had said it was the battery but im not sure . i hope theres any help , i appreciated . thanks .

I found this link.
http://techtips.salon.com/create-mac-recovery-disc-2797.html
It explains that you must install Snow Leopard to an external drive or LARGE USB Thumb drive, at least 16GBs in size, and then boot the system from that external media and run disk utilities from there on the internal drive.
So if you have a LARGE USB thumb drive or a external hard drive you can continue this to see if the internal hard drive has failed. If not you could buy one tomorrow or take the system into a Apple repair center.
Wishing you the best of luck.

My macbook pro will not start up. stuck on grey loading screen and spinning dial. HELP

my macbook pro will not start up. stuck on grey loading screen and spinning dial. i shut it down last night and now when i try to turn it on it will not get past this page. lights and sounds work but nothing happens. please help

Power it down by holding the power button down. Then try to power it up again. Post back. It would help if we knew what OS you are running, the model MBP...

Macbook wont start up, Grey screen etc

Hi, My macbook wont start up, I get the grey screen with a flashing question mark, And a clicking noise, Any idea's , Thank you in advance

Tobyhead....the symptoms you describe would indicate a dead hard drive....this tutorial should explain everything you need to know/do to replace..
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/130
Do a 'Search Discussions' here using your topic title for more posts like yours..

Macbook pro retina 2012 mid year stuck on grey screen

Hi everyone.
I've just update for the lastest mac os x mountain lion update, when half way the progress and it goes stucked. All the function are unable to function, so i've force shut it down. After mac shutted down and i tried to boots it back it stuck on grey screen which below apple logo forever loading icon. i've tried Reset the PRAM, but it still not working for me. Also, i tried when when start up hold with cmd + r to reinstall the os x , but it just won't let me to reinstall it , it wrote you can't upgrade this version of OS X because a newer version is installed?
Help please! need a solution that wont delete all my files at the same time

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 on some models, 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 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
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 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 Time Machine or other backup.
Step 8
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery 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. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
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. If you can't get to an Apple Store, go to another authorized service provider.

Downloaded OSX Mountain Lion on MacBook now stuck on grey screen with spinning wheel HELP?!?!

Downloaded OSX Mountain Lion on MacBook now stuck on grey screen with spinning wheel. What can I do, will I loose everything on my laptop?

ashg23 wrote:
Thank you, I have restarted but it is still stuck at the grey page with the spinning wheel? Any idea?
Have you started up holding down Command + R and attempted to install again?
Pete

Macbook wont start up, stuck on grey screen

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for