My iMac (w/Snow Leaperd) during start-up sits on the white screen with the great wheel spinning for at least 10 minutes... Any fixes?
When starting the computer just site there for at least 10 minutes sometimes longer.
Sounds like a good time to make sure you have backups on any critical files.
Try starting in Safe Mode. This may fix it or it may push it over the brink.
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
Safe Boot takes longer than normal startup - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1884
Similar Messages
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I have a iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009). On start up It will sit at the white screen with the logo and the wheel that spins under it. It will not go past this point? Any ideas?
Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by one or more of these:
a. Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
b. Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
c. Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
d. The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
Note that the information I have provided is what Apple recommends, If other users suggest different solutions than found here, then be sure what they recommend does not impact on your warranty, if any, or ability to get continuing Apple service.
Please don't start removing drives or changing cables unless you know what you are doing and have exhausted other non-invasive alternatives outlined here. If you perform any work yourself that is unapproved by Apple, then you will void any warranty you may have and lose all further Apple Support.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD. Simply boot from the Recovery HD to perform the above.
Reinstall Snow Leopard Without Erasing The drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing The 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 the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless. -
Hello. When I connect my imac Start, as usual, comes the start signal and then the white screen with the load signal then nothing happens. What could be the problem?
Presuming you get the chime, most of your Mac hardware is working and has passed the first part of the power-on self-test.
If the screen comes on, basic graphics is working.
The dark gray Apple is not present inside the Mac -- it must be loaded from a boot device. If the dark gray Apple appears, at least one of your boot devices has some capabilities. The flower petal/gear moves while Darwin is initializing and loading. If it stops immediately, something is terribly wrong.
When the screen turns blue, Mac OS X has loaded and your graphics card transitions to Interrupt-driven operation. LoginWindow task draws the login screen, and Mac OS X is ready for login.
What could be the problem depends on where in the process it stops, and whether the power light is blinking. -
MacBook Air won't start up even though it's fully powered. The white screen with the apple logo appears when I turn it on, then it shuts right back down. Can someone help me?
Hey Msazama30,
First, I would start off your troubleshooting by following the steps in this link:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Then, if that doesn't work, try out the information in here:
Step by Step to fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353
Welcome to Apple Support Communities!
All the best,
Delgadoh -
My imac won't load from the white screen with the logo on? What shall I do?
My imac won't load from the white screen with the apple logo and buffering sign? What shall I do..
Try any of the steps suggested in this article that you haven't already tried:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US -
My Macbook starts up, goes to the white screen with the gray apple, the little loading sign loads, and color wheel appears, and DOES NOT STOP PEIROD!
Even when I restart, shut it down; or when it runs down to no battery, when I plug in the power cord for a while, it loads up to the same stinking screen!
PLEASE HELP ME!Restart the computer and immediately hold the option key down.
If the computer boots and you see two hard drive icons, use the arrow key to select the Recovery drive, and press Return.
You will get to a screen that looks like the image here:
http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/
Select the fourth item and press Return.
In Disk Utility, select the hard drive in the left column, then First Aid, then click on Repair Disk.
When that is done, quit DU and restart the computer. -
My computer MacBook pro want turn on it started when input the lion ultimate versión it straus in the white screen with the Apple and the circle ten it goes off
Try starting your computer by holding down the command + R keys, then run disk utility on your hard drive to verify/repair it. Take a look at his link, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1782
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Can anyone help?
That's a really bad thing to do. See if it will Safe Boot. Hold the Shift key down at startup. Give it lots of time; it's checking and repairing the drive, if possible. If that won't work, try booting from the Install DVD holding down the C key, open Disk Utility and repair the drive.
For instructions, see "Try Disk Utility" here.
If neither of those works, it's time to restore from a clone or Time Machine, or to use the Install DVD for a reinstall (NOT erase and install.) This will give you new system files while preserving everything else. When you are finished, bring the OS back to 10.6.7 using the Combo Update. Also, check in Software Update for anything else that needs updating. This shouldn't be all that painful.
My procedure for a major OS or Security update
I never run a major update right away. I always wait at least a week or so to see what develops. Most problems I see here are the result either of a specific incompatibility with a third party application or plug-in, or some pre-existing software or hardware issue related to that unique user, which only comes to light due to the stress an update writing many thousands of new files causes. Then, there are occasionally, presumably, as in the instance of font and PDF problems with the 10.6.7 update, bugs in the update itself, which affect the majority of users.
External drives are not that expensive these days. I have two clones on externals and if I'm concerned enough about an update, I can install it on one of these and test it first.
Here's my own updating procedure. Major updates don't come along that often. It's worth going to the trouble to do this.
1. Have a backup so if something does go wrong, you won't be left in big trouble.
2. Verify and if necessary repair the drive from Disk Utility. (To repair, you must be booted from the Install Disc or an external clone.)
3. Disconnect all peripherals except the keyboard and mouse.
4. Download the Combo Update from Apple Downloads. It's generally more reliable to update from the standalone Combo than from Software Update, and the Combo, as it includes all updates from 10.6 onwards, may correct any files that have been corrupted or somehow gone missing.
5. Boot in Safe Boot. Hold the Shift key down at start up. Give it time, it will take longer. (The Safe Boot will also actually check and repair the drive if necessary--and if possible.) Safe Boot loads a stripped down system which may reduce any chance of incompatibility while the update is running. Keep all Applications closed.
6. Repair Permissions from Disk Utility while booted in Safe Boot.
7. Install the update from Safe Boot. Keep all Applications closed.
8. Restart when prompted and give the system up to five minutes to finish the final touches of the update with all Applications closed.
9. Verify the Drive and Repair Permissions again.
10. And then I like to restart again.
One other caution. If you are running updates from Software Update, run them one at a time, never all at once. This gives the system a chance to assimilate each one, especially if restarts are involved, and not choke on them.
I also prefer to get "non-major" updates as standalones from Apple Downloads, rather than from Software Update. -
Does anyone have a suggestion as to the fix?
iMac G5: Fails to startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2173?viewlocale=en_US -
Power Mac G5 on start up it repetedly has white screen with circling icon then just switches off
Power Mac G5... Pleas Help!!! i'm not sure if my hard drive is broken but on start up it repetedly has white screen with the circling (doing somthing) icon then just switches off. If i press alt when switching on i get a grey screen with 3 icons, 1st is like a refresh arrow button & last is a straight arrow button on pressing either of these mac just starts the white screen thing again, the middle icon is a picture of a hard drive with a blue cross in the corner & written under neath it says macintosh HD. Does this mean my hard drive has gone?
Been there, done that. Try a Safe Boot (holding down the shift key at boot) and see if it boots. If it boots, then you may be having problems with either the power supply or the video card. What video card is in the machine?
If it does a safe boot OK, then we can troubleshoot using a verbose boot. Verbose boot puts up a Unix Console screen and displays text output during the boot process. When I had these symptoms, verbose boot showed me that the power supply was clicking off right after the kext to drive the GeForce 6800 card loaded. I replaced the power supply and the problem went away.
To initiate a verbose boot, hold down the cmd-V combination until you see the console screen come up. Watch the output and pay attention, because you need to remember what is being said when the machine shuts down. You may need to repeat this two or three times.
As an aside, often times power supplies exhibit this behavior when they have become choked with dust. This is pretty universal after five or six years, requiring that the power supply be removed and the dust blown out with clean shop air. -
My iMac does not move beyond the white screen with apple logo?
When the iMac turns on it does not advance it's start up beyond the 'White Screen' with the apple logo at the center.
the following article addresses the mac booting to gray screen issue you described:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
you should get resolution from this, good luck! -
On start up of my new iMac it locks on the grey screen with the apple logo and the progress wheel spins. Boot up in safe and this is where it stopped at "BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/bootcache.playlist: 2 no such file or directory. "
Reinstalling MacOS does NOT fix the problem for me. I'm still searching a solution !
Bernard -
I have a Macbook and I left it unplugged. It started up slowly when I plugged it in again, but it seemed fine. Once it started charging I shut it down so it would be easier, but now it will not go past the grey screen with the apple. What do I do?
I have Snow leopard on my computer, and I tried to do a hard restart as an article suggested, but it did not work. I also tried cleaning out the PRAM.
The only things I did last night:
-cleaned the history of Firefox out, including cookies
-let it unplugged all night
-plugged it back in the morning, it took a long time to figure itself out, but eventually the time was correct and I got on the internet for a bit
-shutdown the computer since I was going out and thought it would help the computer charge
-came back, tried to turn it on, and found that it would not go past the grey screen the apple on it and the spinning wheel even though I left it for 20 minutes or more
-tried turning it off and on to no availBefore doing a reinstall, which may not be needed at this point,
Try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.
You could have some directory corruption. Let us know what errors Disk Repair reports and if DU was able to repair them. This could just be a start in repairs and you may need a better utility to finish the job.
Then Repair Permissions.
No need to report any Permissions errors........we all get them.
DALE -
My computer will not start up. It powers up, I get the gray screen with the apple, then the loading progress bar starts loading to about 25% the the screen goes black. what can I try to get my computer up and running?
Carolyn Samit wrote:
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
Use Command + R for Lion Recovery
Try restarting, when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key. Then choose the Recovery Partition. -
My imac won't boot up. I get a white screen with the apple logo and the spinning spiral--any ideas?
my imac won't boot up. I get a white screen with the apple logo and the spinning spiral--any ideas?
I have started having trouble since i had to upgrade OS the latest in July 12.http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570 Follow this article and when it gets to the part where you go into disk utility using your install disc, you'll actually boot up holding down Command and R
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