MBP boots to a badly mangled grey screen. Fails to boot the OS and gives me plain colored screens. What to do?, MBP boots to a badly mangled grey screen. Fails to boot the OS and gives me plain colored screens. What to do?

Early 2011 Macbook Pro (2.0 quad core i7 15")
The only mods is aftermarket RAM (installed more than a year ago and with no problems) and I removed the DVD drive and installed an SSD---again, performed year(s) ago with no problems.
Today, developed a very sudden problem. I was working one minute, but the next, I opened the lid and woke from sleep, and instead of seeing my usual desktop, I saw a black screen with red vertical lines. There has been no rough events (dropping MBP, for example) or any unusual events in the last few days. It has literally been working fine for the last few years.
I did a cold shutdown and tried to reboot. It no longer reboots. It looks like the display is having problems---on the screen, I see a badly jumbled Apple logo. The display looks heavily pixelated, with graphical artifacts all over the place. Eventually the Apple logo disappears (as if it's booting into the OS) but then all I see is a plain grey screen.
I have tried to reset PRAM and also SMC. Both of these are unsuccessful (but for the PRAM, it does reboot when you hold down the keys). I have tried to boot into safe mode. Here you see the loading bar.
But once the previous screen disappears, it is replaced by a green screen. I have tried to enter my password blindly to no avail. It seems more than a display problem. I note also that a) the computer does not go to sleep when I close the lid; (b) if it was just the display, I would have expected the OS to boot.
Please see the pictures and description here:
http://imgur.com/a/Ng2py
Can anybody shed some light on this issue?

tsgm,
you might be experiencing the same problem that is the topic of this long discussion.

Similar Messages

Lately, I've been getting a blue screen in the midst of working and have to do a cold reboot to end it. Seems to happen when I'm closing windows or quitting applications. Not always, but sporadically. What causes this? I'm using 10.6.8 on early 2011 MBP.

Lately, I've been getting a blue screen in the midst of working and have to do a cold reboot to end it. Seems to happen when I'm closing windows or quitting applications. Not always, but sporadically. What causes this? I'm using 10.6.8 on early 2011 MBP. Thanks for any help/advice!

You have 10.6 on that machine, I suggest you stick with it for performance, third party hardware and software reasons as long as possible.
Consider 10.8 (not 10.7) when it's released, because 10.7 and 10.8 will require a new investment in software and newer third party hardware as it requires newer drivers the old machines won't have. (forced upgrade because of software, really nice of them)
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
Far as your Safari problem do these things until it's resolved:
1: Software Update fully under the Apple menu.
2: Check the status of your plug-ins and update (works for all browsers) also install Firefox and see if your problems continue. You should always have at least two browsers on the machine just in case one fails.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/
Flash install instructions/problem resolution here if you need it.
How to install Flash, fix problems
3: Install Safari again from Apple's web site
https://www.apple.com/safari/
4: Run through this list of fixes, stopping with #16 and report back before doing #17
Step by Step to fix your Mac

Just brought a new iPod touch and when I set it up (twice now, after resenting to factory settings) there are grey squares on all screens at the top and the apps over these squares won't open. Any suggestions?

Just brought a new iPod touch and when I set it up (twice now, after resenting to factory settings) there are grey squares on all screens at the top and the apps over these squares won't open. Any suggestions?

I can't envision what yo are seeing.
If you restored to factory settings/new iPod via iTunes (Not via Settings>General>Reset>Erase all Content and Setting) and still have the problem that indicates a hardware problem.
Make an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store..
Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar

I am trying to use Find My Friends and I have been through troubleshooting 3 times. Why won't my location work? Everything is on but the 2nd screen in Find My Friends is grayed out, whereas my other family members 2nd screens are active?

I am trying to use Find My Friends and I have been through troubleshooting 3 times. Why won't my location work? Everything is on but the 2nd screen in Find My Friends is grayed out, whereas my other family members 2nd screens are active? I have an iPhone 6 Plus, latest ios8, and yes my location says it is being shared, but it is not.

Pyralus wrote:
I decided to try and boot from the Tiger discs, but when I did, all I got was a screen that looked like a blizzard of pixels.
The firmware was likely changed and it's not compatible anymore or the disk is bad.
I was able to boot using the Snow Leopard disc from both my new MBP and my girlfriends MB, but both said that OS X could not be installed on this computer, and I couldn't even use the disc utility to wipe the drive.
Those disks don't have the hardware drivers your machine needs.
Your going to need to get a Snow Leopard retail install disk from Amazon/elsewhere.
Do I need to have a serial number to reinstall OS X?
Thankfully No.

I have the iPhone 5 and have with 6.0.1 software version. Although I had them when I moved from iPhone 4 to the 5, the latest update has most of my songs on the phone listed in grey (over 95% of them) and I can't play them. They are still listed though.

I have the iPhone 5 and have with 6.0.1 software version. Although I had them when I moved from iPhone 4 to the 5 (could play them), the latest update has most of my songs on the phone listed in grey (over 95% of them) and I can't play them. They are still listed in the iTunes library. When I look in the Summary for the iPhone, it shows Audio as only .16 GB - I have over 5 GB of songs, so what gives?
P.S. When I look at my Playlists most of the songs are greyed out. However, at the bottom of the list there is a cloud icon with a downward facing arrow. When I click on it each song starts to "load" and after a few minutes I have the songs back on in the list. I have to do this to all my playlists (I had over 100) in order to get access to all my songs. Then I did a sync and it happened again!
I use iCloud for documents and some other things (calendar, contact, etc.) but am not aware that I have anything music-wise in the cloud. Any thougnts?

You may have to try deleting all the music from your phone (by going to Settings>General>Usage>Music, swipping All Music and tapping Delete), then sync it all back on with iTunes in order to fix this.

I have been running Firefox on my PowerPC G5 for years and have just tried to install 4.0. When I attempt to start Firefox, a window opens telling me the application cannot be launched. I have installed it twice with the same result. What gives?

I have a PowerPC G5 quad core Mac with a pre-intel chip. I have been running Firefox successfully for over five years and have used every version in operation during that time. Tonight, I received notice that the latest version of 3.6 was ready to install and that I needed to restart. I did that and was taken to a page telling me that 4.0 was available for downloading and use. So I downloaded the new 4.0 and tried to install it in the typical Mac fashion. After clicking on the dmg, I dragged the icon into my applications folder and onto the dock. But when I click on the icon on the dock, I get the message: The application cannot be launched. 10661
When I try to launch by double clicking in the applications folder, I get the message: You cannot open the application Firefox because it is not supported on this system.
I had to go to your site using Safari of all things! I tried re-installing it with another download, and that one misbehaves in the same way. By the way, in case it matters, I still have 42 GB available on my hard drive and 5 GB of RAM.
There is one other funny thing. The Firefox icon from the disk image has a white circle with the slash through it on top of the fox and world symbol. That is what appears in my applications folder and in my dock. It appears to be saying NOT FIREFOX, as it would indicate in a NO U-TURN sign. What is this all about?

I have had a similar problem with my system. I just recently (within a week of this post) built a brand new desktop. I installed Windows 7 64-bit Home and had a clean install, no problems. Using IE downloaded an anti-virus program, and then, because it was the latest version, downloaded and installed Firefox 4.0. As I began to search the internet for other programs to install after about maybe 10-15 minutes my computer crashes. Blank screen (yet monitor was still receiving a signal from computer) and completely frozen (couldn't even change the caps and num lock on keyboard). I thought I perhaps forgot to reboot after an update so I did a manual reboot and it started up fine.
When ever I got on the internet (still using firefox) it would crash after anywhere between 5-15 minutes. Since I've had good experience with FF in the past I thought it must be either the drivers or a hardware problem. So in-between crashes I updated all the drivers. Still had the same problem. Took the computer to a friend who knows more about computers than I do, made sure all the drivers were updated, same problem. We thought that it might be a hardware problem (bad video card, chipset, overheating issues, etc.), but after my friend played around with my computer for a day he found that when he didn't start FF at all it worked fine, even after watching a movie, or going through a playlist on Youtube.
At the time of this posting I'm going to try to uninstall FF 4.0 and download and install FF 3.6.16 which is currently on my laptop and works like a dream. Hopefully that will do the trick, because I love using FF and would hate to have to switch to another browser. Hopefully Mozilla will work out the kinks with FF 4 so I can continue to use it.
I apologize for the lengthy post. Any feedback would be appreciated, but is not necessary. I will try and post back after I try FF 3.16.6.

I am trying to use imovie and i have never had this problem before. All of my videos are completly grey and when you try and play them all i get is a black screen but i still hear audio. Can you please help and tell me what i need to do. Thank you

I am trying to use imovie and i have never had this problem before. All of my videos are completly grey and when you try and play them all i get is a black screen but i still hear audio. Can you please help and tell me what i need to do. Thank you

Make sure all of the videos used in the project that is having that problem are from the same event. If they are from multiple events, move them all into one event.

I have an older Power Mac G5 Quad, and my video card just went out. I am trying to find a video card that will work for my Power Mac. I have duel screens but I can't seem to find the appropriate video card

I have an older Power Mac G5 Quad, and my video card just went out. I am trying to find a video card that will work for my Power Mac. I have duel screens but I can't seem to find the appropriate video card. The serial number on my computer is: RM620603R6W. Apple won't help me because the computer is older than suggested. Please give me the exact video card that will work best for my computer.

Hi Mike, make sure the card has Mac ROM, or is a PC card with Mac ROMs flashed to it...
G5 PCIe options are listed here:
http://www.jcsenterprises.com/Japamacs_Page/Blog/71BBF3EF-9713-4C53-8B80-26771F8 A4087.html

The background behind my pages has turned black, how do i get it to go back to grey? i have switched between preview, normal, bleed, slug and presentation and closed and opened in design and it is still black. I can't imagine layouts with the black backgr

the background behind my pages has turned black, how do i get it to go back to grey? i have switched between preview, normal, bleed, slug and presentation and closed and opened in design and it is still black. I can't imagine layouts with the black background please help!

or maybe the interface has been set to Dark?
Go to Preferences > Interface tab, choose Light from Color Theme dropdown on Apearance section (upper part of the window)

Hey! I don't know if my MacBook Air is frozen, but the screen is gray with the apple logo and an icon below turning round and round as if it's opening, but has been like that for a few days. I've switched it off and then on again several times, still the

Hey
I don't know if my mac book air is frozen, but the screen is gray with the apple logo in the middle of the gray screen, with the 'booting' icon turning round and round. I have switched it off fron both the power and power button on the computer, it goes off, when I put it on, same screen comes on again. Help Please!

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
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
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 4
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 5
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 6
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 corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
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 7
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 8
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 9
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 10
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, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot 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 11
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.

I just got my iPad and the iMessage was working and than all of a sudden it stopped and when I tired to log back in, it said I had a bad connection which I didn't. So it won't let me use my iMessage

I just got my iPad and the iMessage was working and than all of a sudden it stopped and when I tired to log back in, it said I had a bad connection which I didn't. So it won't let me use my iMessage

Check Settings>General>Date & Time>Set Automatically>On. Make sure that the time zone setting is also set correctly.
If that didn't solve the problem, restart your iPad and try again. If that fails, reset your iPad and try again.
Restart the iPad by holding down on the sleep button until the red slider appears and then slide to shut off. To power up hold the sleep button until the Apple logo appears and let go of the button.
Reset the iPad by holding down on the sleep and home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider if it appears on the screen - let go of the buttons. Let the iPad start up.

TS3276 Is there a way to sync POP subfolders and download them for backup in Mail on my MBP? I tried syncing the account with Mail and only the Inbox downloads onto my computer.

Is there a way to sync POP subfolders and download them for backup in Mail on my MBP? I tried syncing the account with Mail and only the Inbox downloads onto my computer. I have Googled enough to find out that the answer is no, but no official answer or recent answer and I am hopeful that there has been a change.

Sure-glad to help you. You will not lose any data by changing synching to MacBook Pro from imac. You have set up Time Machine, right? that's how you'd do your backup, so I was told, and how I do my backup on my mac. You should be able to set a password for it. Save it. Your stuff should be saved there. So if you want to make your MacBook Pro your primary computer, I suppose, back up your stuff with Time machine, turn off Time machine on the iMac, turn it on on the new MacBook Pro, select the hard drive in your Time Capsule, enter your password, and do a backup from there. It might work, and it might take a while, but it should go. As for clogging the hard drive, I can't say. Depends how much stuff you have, and the hard drive's capacity. As for moving syncing from your iMac to your macbook pro, should be the same. Your phone uses iTunes to sync and so that data should be in the cloud. You can move your iTunes Library to your new Macbook pro
you should be able to sync your phone on your new MacBook Pro. Don't know if you can move the older backups yet-maybe try someone else, anyways,
This handy article from Apple explains how
How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Support''
don't forget to de-authorize your iMac if you don't want to play purchased stuff there
and re-authorize your new macBook Pro
time machine is an application, and should be found in the Applications folder. it is built in to OS X, so there is nothing else to buy. double click on it, get it going, choose the Hard drive in your Time capsule/Airport as your backup Time Machine and go for it. You should see a circle with an arrow on the top right hand of your screen (the Desktop), next to the bluetooth icon, and just after the wifi and eject key (looks sorta like a clock face). This will do automatic backups of your stuff.

When I started my Mac the screen was white with the Apple logo and power motion icon running. I attempted to turn off Mac then a message stating "Debugger called: Button SCI . Also "Waiting for remote debugger connection." What is my next step?

When I started my Mac the screen was white with the Apple logo and power motion icon running. I attempted to turn off Mac then a message stating "Debugger called: <Button SCI>. Also "Waiting for remote debugger connection." What is my next step?

Hi , and a warm welcome to the forums!
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 partition & use Disk Utility from there to Repair the Disk, then Repair Permissions.
And sorry to report that OSX is more Widows like than ever, but….
If that doesn't help Reinstall the OS.

Screen saver does not turn on. Have run the disc utility to repair disc permissions. Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.

screen saver does not turn on. Have run the disc utility to repair disc permissions. Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent” has been modified and will not be repaired.
I am running 10.9.1 software
Help Diggs1936

I would try reinstalling.
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. Select Restart from the Apple 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 is three times faster than wireless.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 and I can't download Adobe flash or Adobe acrobat reader, when I try to play my games it says update flash and when I try to download it the screen comes up blank

I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 and I can't download Adobe flash or Adobe acrobat reader, when I try to play my games it says update flash and when I try to download it the screen comes up blank

Try the offline installers:
Flash Player for ActiveX (Internet Explorer)
Flash Player Plug-in (All other browsers)
For Adobe Reader: http://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/

I'm not techinal so please bear with me. I don't have the bar that allows me to type in a website. I did have a few minutes ago. When I make the page full screen and move my cursor to the top of the page, the bar drops down and I can use it. help

I'm not techinal so please bear with me. I don't have the bar that allows me to type in a website. I did have a few minutes ago. When I make the page full screen and move my cursor to the top of the page, the bar drops down and I can use it. I've tried restarting my computer, didn't work. Help!

Well I figured it out, right click the arrow that makes the screen bigger and unclick the Hide Toolbar. I knew it couldn't be that hard.

MBP boots to a badly mangled grey screen. Fails to boot the OS and gives me plain colored screens. What to do?, MBP boots to a badly mangled grey screen. Fails to boot the OS and gives me plain colored screens. What to do?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for