My G5 won't start beyond grey screen

Hi Folks,
My G5 won't start beyond grey screen with the logo on it. The fans simply get louder and louder.
It acts as our server and the raid drive on it had been having privileges problems. One person on another forum suggested I run Disc Utility to repair permissions. I did so, there were a couple of minor permissions fixed. After that, the Mac would not re-boot.
I got the DVD door open and ran Disk Warrior on the drive, the files and the hardware. It claimed to repair a few minor issues and there were no problems with the hardware. It still wouldn't boot, so I reset the SMU. ?Still no start, so I reset the PRAM. Still the same.
Any ideas?
G5, OSX 10.5.6, 6 GB ram, approximately 100 GB free on system drive, over 800 GB free on RAID.

I'm having the same problem though I'm running 10.4.11. After getting to about the point you are at did an "Archive and Install" but after about a day of working fine, it had a kernal panic and I couldn't boot past the gray screen again. I took it to my local Apple Store and they ran 2 hours of diagnostics w/o finding anything wrong. They told me to do an "Erase and Install." That is where I am at now because I can't get the machine to boot from my 10.3.5 Install CD--it hangs at the black screen when I try to boot from the CD by holding down "C" at boot. This is the original system software that came with the machine at purchase.
There are many posts out there about bad RAM causing these kinds of problems. You might want to search around for those posts.
Good luck and I'm going to watch this thread hoping that someone will have a suggestion that will help me too.
Cathryn

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Follow the steps at > Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

Won't boot beyond grey screen. Gear just spins.

I have a MacBook Pro. I recently updated to OS X 10.8.2. Once this update was completed I updated my iPhone 4S to OS 6 followed by my iPad. This was done over successive days. My problem started one morning sending an email reply via Mail. I was also checking some Internet news sights. Suddenly I lost my connection and noticed the email had not been sent. I closed Safari and re- opened it only to see the message that I was not connected to the Internet. The other laptop in the household could connect but not mine. I choose to restart it but it never would get beyond the grey screen. Sometimes the gear freezes or just keeps spinning. I have tried everything, rebooting holding down command S to do an fsck -y check, holding down the shift key, and holding down the option key to select the recovery disk. Still nothing. I tried using a FireWire connection to my desk top. I used Disk Utilities to perform First Aid on the volume. I backed up the volume also this way. I then tried booting from the last OS X disk I had (Snow Leopard). I can hear the disk working but then the laptop freezes and the error message tells me that I must shut down and reboot. It restarts but it continues to reboot on its own over and over until I shut it down. I was hoping that I could do a clean install and start over but I can't get the laptop to boot from a disk I have in my possession.
What can I do?

This link is for troubleshooting the 'Gray Screen' problem....
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
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Mac mini won't start - no grey screen

Hi, my mac mini mode A1176 has stopped working. One night it was fine and the next morning it wouldn't talk to me!
The power light was still on but no video output and screen sharing has stoped - I'd left it being controlled from another mac.
It doesn't respond to the keyboard or trackpad but does turn off if you hold the power button down. Pressing the power button again makes the power light come on and the external firewire drive boots up. I can't hear the internal drive start, there is no startup bleep or grey screen with spinny gear. It won't take a cd or dvd either.
I've tried reseting the SMC and the monitor works fine with another computer.
I've searched this and other support sites but can't find a match for these symptoms.
Anyone got any ideas before I start pulling it apart?
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Depending on the age of your Mac mini it might be able to be repaired if you want to spend the money.
At work we had a first generation Intel Mac Mini, and I had a similar issue. Couldn't do anything with it. I cracked the case, wiggled the connectors, the RAM DIMMs, etc. Eventually just gave up on it, pulled out the hard drive and mounted that in an external USB hard drive chassis. Then migrated that disk to an iMac that ordered shortly thereafter. We got that machine back in 2006, so there was no chance of getting an approval to have it repaired and I wanted to run Lion on my desktop. That first gen Intel iMac was a Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo) and could not be upgraded to Lion. So it worked out for the best.

Macbook won't start past grey screen/apple; won't start OS disc

I know this issue has probably been talked about a million times, but I still can't seem to find a working answer... and what better to make my first post than this problem?
Anyway, I was streaming a movie online on my 13 inch black Macbook (OS: Leopard; Bought: 2007), when I suddenly had to leave... so I closed my computer and left. A while later when I came back, the computer was off. I tried to turn it on, but it only got to the grey screen with the Apple and spinning wheel, which I've let sit for upwards of an hour before giving up. Anyway, I reset the PRAM, and of course even tried to start from the OS disc (Leaopard Disc, original OS dvd that came with it, and even a Snow Leopard disc), but the disc never loads. I have rebooted while pressing Option, and the disc shows up but when I click on the arrow it just goes back to the grey screen/apple logo/spinning wheel for a while before I get frustrated and turn it off.
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or can help me out I would be eternally grateful. I don't want to have to take it to the Apple store (I'm a pretty broke college student), and I have backups of everything on my HD so reinstalling the OS is no issue to me. I'm just willing to do whatever I can to get it working. Thank you, and again sorry for probably repeating what millions have before me.

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Laptop won't start past grey screen

Hello,
I have a hp Pavilion g6-1d48dx Notebook PC and have recently been unable to get it to start. When I turn the power on, it takes me to the Windows Error Recovery screen and asks me whether I want to launch startup repair or start Windows normally. No matter which option I choose the computer becomes a grey screen (although i can still move my mouse). Anyone else have this problem?
- regards, Josh

Haivdinh,
I understand you ran a few diagnostic tests on your computer and got a failure, is that correct? I will do my best to provide you the best solution for this issue.
That failure Id refers to the hard drive needing to be replaced. If you are still covered under warranty I recommend you contact the HP help desk for the best possible repair. If you reside in the US or Canada the number is 1-800-474-6836, if you reside in another location click on this link and then select your location.
If I have been helpful or if you would like to say thank you for me trying to help, click the white star under my name to give me Kudos. I really appreciate it.
Please respond when you get a chance.
Thanks
Clicking the White Kudos star on the left is a way to say Thanks!
Clicking the 'Accept as Solution' button is a way to let others know which steps helped solve the problem!

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).
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MacBook Pro won't go beyond grey screen with wheel

My problem:
I don't know if it's related, but i erase essentials files on windows bootcamp that has access to my Macintosh HD partition with software enablinf hfs+.
I repaired my Windows partition, but since then my Macintosh HD crashed.
At first, it wasn't even mountable, but I finally plugged it as an external harddrive on another mac and I recover data with Data rescue 3, I repaired it with DiskWarrior, repaired permission, and repair with disk utility.
I don't know why but journalisation wasn't on anymore so i turned it back on with Recovery partition.
I would like to know if it's possible to repair this last problem.
In verbose:
dyld: Library not Loaded: /usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
     Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/versions/R/CoreFoundation
     Reason: image not found
com.apple.launchd 1     com.apple.launchctl.System 2     The system bootstrapper has crashed: Trace/BPT trap:5
And nothing else after.

To be honest, I don't remember exactly what did the trick, but after repairing my drive in diskwarior, i was finally able to see it from the lion recovery partition, so I did a reinstall (like update Mac OS X) and I didn't lost too much finally but i had a little older time machine backup, so i recombined my backup for files that I lost and the files that were still on the computer.
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My iMac won't boot past grey screen and it didn't come with a os x disk

My iMac won't boot past grey screen with apple. I've tried booting in safemode but that didn't help and my iMac didn't come with a os x disk.

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 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.”
b. 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.
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
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 either of the techniques in Steps 1b and 1c 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 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 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, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a Fusion Drive or 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 10. 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
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 10
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 11
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 12
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.

Macbook pro will not advance beyond grey screen at beginning of boot

macbook pro will not advance beyond grey screen at beginning of boot

Try performing an SMC reset. I am having this problem also.
To perform an smc reset:
1. Shut down your Mac, leave the MagSafe charging in.
2. Push three buttons: shift + control + option and the power button. Push and release together.
3. Wait a few seconds then turn on your Mac as normal.
Hope that works out for you!

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

Brand new OS X Mountain Lion starts in grey screen login window doesn't know me verify passwords all jacked up says to get external hard drive recovery so I have to spend more moneyon my brand new computer or can I fix and safe boot

brand new OS X Mountain Lion Bought in November 2012 starts in grey screen login window doesn't know me, went to utility dIsk ,verify passwords all jacked up, I Engaged repair passwords then press verified Macintosh HD it said Macintosh HD is OK but repair disk button was still lit up and wanted me to make a recovery disk external hard drive and such,please tell me I can fix in safe boot..

The repair button is always clickable when you are on your Recovery partition, it's nothing to worry about. Do this instead.
Then start in single user mode (Command-S)
Type fsck -fy to check your disk first (it wont let you start working on a disk until you have checked it)
Then type mount -uw / (dont forget the slash) to mount your Macintosh HDD
Then type passwd username with username being the username of your admin account
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MacBook Pro Won't Boot Beyond Grey Apple Screen - Mystery Partition Found

My MacBook Pro, which suffers from appalling overheating (94 degrees C in each core last week) won't boot beyond the grey apple splash screen. I booted from a Developer's disk and ran Repair Disk/Disk Permissions. Both verified AND said the repairs failed. The drive (as opposed to the volumes) said it had no valid files and thus couldn't be repaired even though it verified. I target-disked it to one of my G4s and took off a bunch of apps and lightened its load, waited a while and tried again--it's been grey screen gear turning for 20 minutes now. I have Remote Desktop but it won't respond to that. Of course, Windows XP boots up perfectly normally on its Boot Camp-created partition, dumbly unaware of the general chaos on the other side.
While I had the Disk Utility from the boot disk on, I noticed my partition scheme had changed somehow. The big partition with the system was now in position #2, set between #3 (Windows--formerly #2 of 2) and a new one of only 200MB called #1 which is formatted OS X Journaled. I didn't make that partition and it couldn't be erased. I think the cpmputer is looking in the #1 spot for a system and can't find it because some renegade partition with no brain has pushed its way to the front. How do I annihilate that thing and get on with it? How did it get there?
Has anyone tried that alter the Apple Blower/Fan hack said to turn the fans on permanently?
For the record, I'm in L.A. and the ground has been rocking and rolling for the past 3 minutes on and off.
MacBook Pro 2.0/2GB/100GB Mac OS X (10.4.8) TiBookG4 1.0/512K/60; PowerMacG4 Quicksilver 933/1G/160; PowerMacG4 450/512K/30

I called Apple's Tech Support and they had me do perform sevral procedures I had done already, none of which worked. They suggested that the mystery partition (which has since ceased to reappear in the Disk Utility's view of the partition scheme) was an anomaly caused by the still-Beta Boot Camp--nothing was said about Windows XP booting, but I think you're right because whenever installing Windows, it always reserves a small "free space" on the PC's drive for its own purposes. Anyway, I'mre-installing now but very unhappy to hear I have suspected all along--the overheating is killing the computer. I know this from experience because Ihad a Powerbook G4 with a at-that-time-not-yet-recalled battery that overheated to such an extent that it fried the logic board and the harddrive. After a year of arguing with Apple, they replaced the computer with this MacBookPro--and overheating laptop that also had its battery recalled, has already been sent back to Texas for over heating (they replaced the superdrive which of course had no effect on the heat issue) and now has hard drive problems. I have two old PowerMac G4s sitting here plugging along--maybe I'm over laptops. Thanks
MacBook Pro 2.0/2GB/100GB Mac OS X (10.4.8) TiBookG4 1.0/512K/60; PowerMacG4 Quicksilver 933/1G/160; PowerMacG4 450/1GB/100

Won't get past grey screen while starting up....please help

ya my g4 powerbook will get to the grey screen with the spinning gear but won't go no further. If this is a simple fix please let me know.

I had exactly the same problem after updating my pb G4 to 10.4.7 (combo). It crashed and would not restart up past the grey screen. I tried everything for hours...from safe mode, single-user mode, start off cd, target firewire, to reset PMU, PRAM and NVRAM. Nothing worked. The HD wasn't even appearing !
Thinking the HD was dead, I just almost went to buy a new one (or even a new MacBook .
Fortunately some time ago I bought a version of DiskWarrior and started from the CD. After running for 9 hours and freezing several times, it found and repaired hundreds of errors. But still it wouldn't start. At least the HD appeared now in target mode so I backuped my files, started from the OSX CD, deleted my HD and reinstalled OSX, updated 10.4.6 and my Powerbook runs like new... I'll wait a bit before updating to 10.4.7 again !
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Powerbook won;t go past grey screen with apple logo on start up

Hi
I am getting very stressed, my powerbook g4 won;t go past the grey screen with the apple logo when switched on. I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it. I have tried the RAM reboot but nothing, there is not even the spinning loading symbol just a grey screen - which it will stay on until I turn it off. Someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not sure of my OS as I can't turn my comp on, but I am running leopard on it

Welcome!
First, see if you can boot in Safe Mode, holding the Shift key during startup until you see a message about safe mode. Getting a desktop can take longer because Safe Mode forced some disk checking.s
...I am running leopard on it
Then you should have the install disks. They can be used to boot the computer for repair. Insert the DVD and press and hold the "c" key during startup. That will launch the installer BUT you don't want to reinstall yet. Find the install's Utilities menu and launch Disk Utility. From there you can check the hard drive and make some repairs.
I need to sort it ideally without another computer to go through but if that is necessary then I will do it
That would require that your compute work enough to start in FireWire Target Disk Mode. FWTDM lets your hard drive show up on another Mac as if it were an external drive. You can test by starting the computer and holding the "t" key until you get a blue screen with a big yellow FireWire symbol. Looks like this:
!http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT8uGcDJDrUrECaelR5ash9yA3zuGBakhxrJ9TjfjO_uoCmKQ&t=1&usg=_5RiQv2QkO7UuPLUpiige1MVxdb0=!
I believe FWTDM's code is in firmware and not on the hard drive , so may let yo uaccess the disk form another computer.

My G5 won't start beyond grey screen

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