My computer won't start it's loads the logo but than shuts off before the login part

Hello Tara-louise,
I would be concerned too if my MacBook Pro was booting just to the gray screen with the Apple logo on it. I recommend following the steps in the article below for the issue you are experiencing:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

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IMac 24 won't start up, grey screen with progress bar, then shuts off

My computer froze all my applications yesterday. When I went to restart it a grey screen came up with the progress bar at the bottom. It would advance about 1/3 and then the progress bar would start over. It would advance about 1/3 again then the computer shuts off. It does the same thing trying to start it up in safe mode. I started it with my snow leopard disk and it will allow me to restore the computer with time machine (which we have), but I wasn't sure if I should try something else before that. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Hello:
I would try restoring as an approach to eliminating some software glitch. However, you might also have a hardware problem (not good news).
Barry

Computer won't start up, stuck on gray logo screen.

Hey I have been having this problem for about 2 days now. When I try to turn on my computer, it won't fully start up, it gets stuck on the grey screen with the apple logo and stays like that forever. I tried to fix the problem using single user mode, typing "/sbin/fsck -fy" as well as trying to go on recovery mode and pressing "repair" on disk utility, MacHD ect. Now I have a backup from a month ago but is there any way to fix the problem? The error is: incorrect number of thread records. Oh and I have bootcamp, windows on Mac that run fine, I'm guessing that might have messed with my computer a bit though. Please let me know how to fix this soon. Thanks!

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, 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 unable to fully boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot into Recovery (command-R at startup) or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in the support article linked below, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
How to back up and restore your files
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 by holding down the key combination command-T at the startup chime. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire or Thunderbolt cable. The internal drive of the machine running in target mode will mount as an external drive on the other machine. Copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode
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.

Computer won't start, grey screen with Apple logo only. Ideas?

Last night my wife's G5 froze. It is a G5 2.0 running OS X 10.4.11. I shut it down (had to use the power button) and tried to restart. No luck, just made it to the grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel. After a few seconds the Apple logo disappeared and a black box took its place, then the wheel stopped spinning. It was late, decided top wait until morning before trying again.
This morning I tried to start up again. This time got a warning(?) in upper left that a Firmtek item had already started. I'm sorry I didn't write this all down at the time, so I don't remember the entire message. Since there is a Firmtek card installed in one of the PCI slots I thought that might be the problem, and I pulled the card, as well as another Adaptec card that was also installed. Tried to start again, got to grey screen with Apple but this time no spinning wheel.
Opened media slot manually and inserted Diskwarrior. Tried to start with Diskwarrior but again only reached grey screen. Let run for ~5 minutes, until fans started to run and were begining to get noisy.
Next I reset the PRAM. No luck, still stuck on grey screen. Tried Diskwarrior again, this time got another message in upper left. Here is most of it -
System Failure : cpu=1; code=60000009 (Invalid pmap)
Lateset crash info for cpu1;
Exception state (sv=0x609bb280)
PC=0x000a4ad0; MSR=0x02003000 followed by more similar strings, then
backtrace terminated - unaligned frame address; 0xfc088891
So what's the diagnosis? I've had various issues with my G5s in the past, but have never had one refuse to boot with Diskwarrior before.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Whew, could be many things, from RAM, (or RAM slots/solder issue), to CPU #1 being bad, (CPU#1 is actually the second one.
Does it boot into any of these modes?
Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Does it boot to Single User Mode, CMD+s keys at bootup, if so try...
/sbin/fsck -fy
Repeat until it shows no errors fixed.
(Space between fsck AND -fy important).
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
We might get clues with verbose mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

HT3964 MacBook 2007 won't start up all of the way it gets the loading circle thing then it just keeps going and a bar thing pops up to load but doesn't and about a few minutes and it shut off. I don't have a disk for the computer or another Mac so what do

need help MacBook 2007 won't start up all of the way it gets the loading circle thing then it just keeps going and a bar thing pops up to load but doesn't and about a few minutes and it shut off. I don't have a disk for the computer or another Mac so what do I do?

I don't have the disk and i tried the shift key and it didn't do anything, i have tried like everything but it won't work and i was givin this computer with a charger and that is all nothing came with it and i don't think that it had the lion thing on it either i never got to that it just won't turn on and i have another mac that was a family members but it won't turn on either at all it won't load anything the screen stays black. so i don't really know at all what to do is there anything else? i don't want to take it anywhere because i have no money for that, and i need this computer for school. Any sugestions?

Firmware update progress bar appears and computer won't start up

Hi,
I am on OS X 10.6 (the latest developer build, whose build number I can't remember and can't look up because my computer won't start up) and this morning when I tried to start up my computer, it chimed, the apple appeared but then a grey progress bar (like the one that appears during a firmware update) appeared at the bottom of the screen along with the customary spinner. This progress bar didn't update and after 10-ish seconds, it disappeared and left just the spinner. I left the computer in this state for 4 hours and nothing happened. It still starts up in single user mode (but I can't seem to get Open Firmware mode to load) and it starts Windows XP on another partition of my main HD.
When I start it in verbose mode, it says that my catalog B-tree has keys out of order and it is unable to repair them. Also, I get an error message from launchctl: "Bug: launchctl.c:2033 (23930):17: auditquickstart() == 0". Then later on it tells me to convert a few system plist files to launchd (all in the /etc/mach_init.d/ folder). The very last line says "launch_msg(): Socket is not connected".
I would rather not re-install the system, but if I have to, I guess I will. I appreciate any light that anyone can shed on this problem.
Thanks,
Kyle

Yes, they (the third-party utilities) both come on bootable DVD's. As I mentioned, since Snow Leopard was just released in its final version, the developers may be in the process of releasing updates.
Your situation is likely to be a case where the data corruption issue already existed before installing Snow Leopard, and the installation process made the problem more apparent (because something critical was installed where it was affected by the data issue).
It is a good idea to run +Repair Disk+ in Disk Utility on the startup volume before installing a major system update. Actually, I do it before any system-level update.
You should also have a backup (at least of your personal data if not the entire volume), in case something bad happens during a major system upgrade. If you were using Time Machine, the easiest recovery would be to reformat the internal drive and use the Time Machine complete volume restore utility to restore the volume back to the date/time state just before you installed Snow Leopard. Then, after restarting from that restored volume to make sure everything is working, start up from the Snow Leopard installation disc, run Disk Utility and use +Repair Disk+ (just to be sure), and run the upgrade to Snow Leopard again.
If you have a backup of at least your personal data, you may want to reformat the internal drive, install Snow Leopard and bundled apps, install your third-party apps from their original sources, update everything that needs updating, and restore your personal data.
If you don't have a backup, the best bet is to try either DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro. DiskWarrior is very specialized into repairing this type of data problem. TechTool Pro has similar capability, but it is a more general tool with other features.

My computer won't start up after i tried to install updates

last night my computer told me there were 5 new updates available and i tried to install them, and my computer froze so i manually turned it off. now my computer won't start up. i get to the gray screen with the apple and the circular icon that swirls around which makes you think it's doing something but nothing happens. in the hopes that my computer was loading the updates, i let it run all night, and 8 hours later it was still doing the same thing. now my computer won't start at all, and i know there's power to it.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chiae:
am i looking for the Leopard installer or the disc that came with my Powerbook all those years ago?
You are looking for the installer disk for the system which is currently installed on your computer, which is Leopard according to your profile.
Will doing these steps erase my hard drive?
No. Running Repair Disk will not in any way affect your data or any contents of your HDD. However, if there are serious directory issues your data might be jeopardized even without running Repair Disk.
Your question suggests that you may not have an up-to-date backup, if any backup at all. That is one of the most dangerous things you can do. I suggest that you take steps to secure your data even before you do much more. If you need ideas on how best to accomplish this, please post back and ask.
While you are waiting to locate your install disk, here is something you can do right now, and it will not in any way endanger the contents of your HDD:
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously later.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys immediately after the startup chime.
• Hold keys down until you hear the startup chime for the third time.
• Release the keys and immediately hold down Shift key to start up in Safe Mode.
• Log in and empty Trash.
• Restart normally and log in.
Please do post back with an update or with further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius

Computer won't start if ipod is connected

My computer won't start when my ipod (nano) is connected. He stucks in the post screen of the motherboard. Before the pc will check what the boot drive is. So, changes in boot devices in bios won't work. What can be the problem?
AMD Windows XP Pro

mardymar: Windows may be seeing the iPod as a bootable disk....the following link talks about confusion as a network drive and could be cuaisng the same.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93499
Did you change your BIOS boot order - I think you might try that if the above link fails to help.

What does a file folder with a question mark in it mean when the computer won't start?

What does a file folder with a question mark in it mean when the computer won't start?

There are four general causes of this issue:
1. The computer's PRAM no longer contains a valid startup disk setting when there aren't any problems with the disk itself. This can be checked for by pressing the Option key and seeing if the drive appears.
2. The internal drive's directory structure has become damaged. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to perform the repair.
3. Critical system files have been deleted. This requires usage of an alternate bootable system to reinstall them.
4. The internal drive has died or become unplugged. This is the most likely case if the computer took a sharp impact or there are unusual sounds coming from the hard drive's location.
(68976)

My mac desktop computer won't start and just beebs

My mac desktop computer won't start it just beens loudly. I don't have any lights showing on the keyboard but can hear the drive switching on. I have unplugged the computer, waited and replugged and waited and then turned it on again without and results. Please help.

Use this tip to identify your Mac:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6413
If indeed it has a PowerPC processor (the PowerMacs use that, and have been around since early 2006 simultaneously with some of the Intels), see this tip on beeps:
Power On Self-Test Beep Definition - Part 2
If it is Intel, see this tip:
Mac computers: About startup tones

Mountain Lion update, and now computer won't start up?

Writing this for a friend, as his computer is inop at the moment. Hence this message.
He has a new 27" iMac. He upgraded to Mountain Lion a few weeks ago, and then had intermittent problems with apps unexpectantly shutting down.
Now he did a ML update this morning, and his computer won't start up. It gets to the point of the Apple logo coming up, a progress bar, and then the spinning wheel, but then shuts itself down right afterwards.
A safe boot yields the exact same result.
Any thoughts out there on what he could try to get it up and running again?
Thanks much for any and all help.

Thank you for the fast response.
He was able to get into Disk Utility with the Command and R keys, but when he tried verifying the disk, in red it said 'Invalid Node Structure, volume could not be verified completely'.
He went ahead and verified it anyway, then proceeded to repair it. Howver, it stopped repairing, said it cannot repair, and that he should back up files and reformat the disk.
How can he back up his files? He cannot see a way to do it. Is there anything else he can do besides having to reformat the disk?
This is his first Mac (after much prompting from me to go Mac), and he's afraid he's now lost everything on there.

HELP PLEASE!!! Computer won't start up

Help Please!
My computer won't start up, when I click the start up button the light comes only once, sounds click (once) and that's it, no power up.
Because of the age, I knew that the battery could be the reason, so I ordered the exact same battery and replaced it today (following the instructions very carefully). Nothing changed. Then I read about the button for resetting the power management (the one below the ram memory), did that too...and nothing.
I read the manual, it talks about recently installed components (which I have not) and explains the meaning of the numbers of blinks the power light makes with this type of failure, 2 blinks=ram memory, 3 blinks...4 blinks..more than 5 blinks= take it to service.
If somebody could please help me, I would really appreciate
All the best,
Veronica

I had similar problems with my G5 2ghz dual PPC. Mine would turn on, sometimes the startup chime would sound, sometimes not. The fans would run and continue to run faster and faster until I shut it off.
The red light comes on by the way, when the internal plastic shield is not installed or seated correctly.
Anyway, I determined after fooling with the machine for several hours that the symptoms pointed to the video card so, on a hunch, I grabbed a hair drier, pulled the video card and warmed up the video card with the drier. Then reinstalled the video card, hooked up the monitor and hit the power button. Bingo, the machine booted normally. BUT, it would intermittently hang or act odd while running so, I ordered a replacement video card. Installed it and the problem never returned. Sadly someone stole the machine last month but it was in perfect working order at the time:(

Computer won't start up after changing permissions.

I accidentally changed the permissions for all of the files on my hard drive. Now, Leopard won't start up. And to top it all off I conveniently can not find my Leopard disk. I did, however, locate my Tiger disk but the computer won't start from the CD drive either.
I also thought that I could install Tiger on an external Hard Drive using my sisters computer but Tiger would not install on the USB Hard Drive because it said Mac OS X could not start from the external hard drive.
It won't start up in "Safe Mode (holding the SHIFT key)".
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You can, in addition to Barry's excellent suggestions, reset the SMU.

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My battery drained completely...and I went to charge it. When I plug the power cord in, it shows "green" not "red." When I remove the battery and just plug in the power cord, the computer won't start either.
Anyone encounter this before after a full battery drain? It's very odd.

I had the same green light non-charging problem. Turns out, I had to replace my wall adaptor. A dealer will have a good power supply you can try.
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Help, computer won't start up

Help, my computer won't start-up now. I downloaded one of those free .swf converter softwares from the net and now I think in the restart process, which should've completed the download like it said, instead it's like I don't have any OS on my computer anymore. And if that doesn't make things worse I was trying to reinstall OS X and it wants to go the net to do that but when i try to it asked my to login to the apple store with the ID i purshased it with and I didn't buy it I downloaded it from a P2P site, so of course the apple store tells me when i login to login with the ID I bought it with so now what, I don't want to lose my file's what should I do anybody got any suggestion. This is what I tried so far.
When it starts up I see the OS X Utilities window
I clicked the the Disk Utility, and clicked my HD and clicked repair.
When it was done it said
The volume appears to be ok.
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Now what, also I did it again after I held CMD + R
Still when I start up I don't see my hard drive just the OS X Utilities window.
Also when I downloaded the OS X 10.8.5 I saved it on an external but its plugged to my only computer and thats the one I'm having the trouble with, sorry about all the miss spelled words if you can read this and help please do...

Try booting from your system CD, run Disk First Aid from your Disk Utility and repair your permissions.
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
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My computer won't start it's loads the logo but than shuts off before the login part

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