My late 2006 Black MacBook has a gray screen and won't boot.

My late 2006 Black MacBook has a gray screen, folder icon, and flashing question mark.  I replaced the HD with a Western Digital 500 GB and had no change.  What's wrong with my MacBook?

That folder with the question mark icon means that the MacBook can't find the boot directory. That can either mean it can't find the hard drive or the hard drive Operating System data is somehow corrupted.
Put your install DVD into the optical drive and reboot. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option key until the Install Disk shows up). That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
Once it has finished booting and you Choose Your Language and you are at the Install screen launch Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. Is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is then select the First Aid Tab run Repair Disk and if that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Similar Messages

  • Gray Screen and Won't Boot Up

    I posted this problem several weeks ago. Then there was an update. Everything went away until yesterday. Now I when I turn on the IMac 20" I get either a gray screen followed by the loud fan after a few minutes, or, I get folder with a question mark icon flashing on a gray screen. I have rebooted over and over and nothing changes. ANy one have any recommendations how to fix this - this time. Previously, this problem seem to coincide with an Apple update.

    The only thing I can think of short of a hardware or software problem is go into:
    System Preferences > Startup Disk, from here make sure you have the correct location selected, "on Macintosh HD"
    Also, which version of the iMac G5 do you own? Rev A, B, etc. You can go here: http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/ check to see if your machine falls into any of the repair programs...
    Rick
    iMac G5 iSight 20" - 30G iPOD in Slimming Black -   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   - HP Pav 15" WS and Toshiba Sat 17" WS LP's - Canon 20D & A620 Kodak P880

  • My Mac Book Pro 17" has a blank screen and won't boot up?

    My Mac book Pro 17" the screen started to scramble and I restarted the computer....I then got a grey screen and the computer never booted up again....Any ideas?

    Hey Julius62,
    Thanks for the question. After reviewing your post, it sounds like you have a gray screen during startup. I would recommend that you read this article, it may be able to help you resolve or isolate the issue.
    Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
    Have a nice day,
    Mario

  • When I start MacBook Pro13 shows gray Screen and flashing file Image with question mark

    When I start MacBook Pro13 shows gray Screen and flashing file Image with question mark , it's brand new I just receive it from Apple Store .

    Startup Manager to select Startup disk.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1310
    Repair Disk
    Steps 2 through 8
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836

  • My iPhone 5c has a broken screen and won't let me swipe. I got a new iPhone 5c, but want my stuff to backup to it. I haven't backed my old one up in over a year because the storage is full. How would I back it up to iCloud on a Dell or Toshiba computer?

    My iPhone 5c has a broken screen and won't let me swipe. I got a new iPhone 5c, but want my stuff to back up onto it. I haven't backed up my old one in over a year because there's not enough storage. How would I back up on iCloud to a Dell or Toshiba computer?

    Hi Linda Loo Loo,
    If you have backed up previously to iTunes on a specific computer, even if it has been a while, you may be able to still backup even if you are unable enter the passcode on your iPhone due to a damaged screen. You may find the following article helpful:
    If you have previously synced your device with iTunes, you may be able to reset the passcode by restoring the device:
    Connect the device to the computer with which you normally sync and open iTunes.
    Note: If iTunes asks you to enter the passcode, try another computer that you have synced with. Otherwise, go to "If you have never synced your device with iTunes, or you do not have access to a computer" section below.
    If the device is still disabled, or if iTunes does not automatically sync your device, sync the device with iTunes.
    When the backup and sync is complete, restore your device.
    When iOS Setup Assistant asks to set up your device, choose "Restore from iTunes backup".
    Select your device in iTunes and choose the most recent backup of your device.
    iOS: Forgotten passcode or device disabled after entering wrong passcode
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1212
    Regards,
    - Brenden

  • My husband(less technologically inclined than I am), decided to delete programs from our iMac, now it has a grey screen and won't get past it. If I insert the Application Install DVD, to repair the disk, will I loose all my pictures and music?

    My husband(less technologically inclined than I am), decided to delete programs from our iMac, he turned it off and now it has a grey screen and won't get past it. It won't start in safe mode and when I  If I insert the Application Install DVD, to repair the disk, will I loose all my pictures and music?

    With a corrupt disk, the install procedure is most likely going to fail.
    How old it the disk?
    You might be able to reformat it to fix the problem. Of course that means you lose all of your data.
    The other alternative is to get a new disk drive and put that in your Mac and install OS X
    Then put the old disk drive in an enclosure and see what can be recovered from it.
    Allan

  • My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

    My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

    Grey Screen
    https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

  • My 2012, 17" macbook pro starts, gray screen and shuts down.

    Anybody knows why my 2012, 17" macbook pro is starting with gray screen and mac logo and shuts down after?
    I have Mavrick on. Last night i tried to use itunes and got an error for the first time. It said " itunes was corrupted or not installed correctly" . There is no reason because i listened to music just day before. After working on some docs i shut down the laptop. This morning when i tried to start up it didnt happened. Tried all shortcuts to do recorvery. It said " mac HD and Recorvery HD" both are blocked and not accessible.
    Ran another doagnoses, checked hard drive and got errors.
    I cant see why hard drive might be damaged.
    Plz help me out. I didnt do any backup and dont ant to reformat it.
    Thanks
    -Soleil

    Well, i tried different things. First tried Recorvery start. It showed mac HD and Recovery HD but i couldnt choose any, said it was locked.
    When i diagnosed the hard drive, dont remember exactly but it ran the HD test and on red showed Hard Drive damaged.
    Tonight after putting this questions here i tried again Online Help option, i could see all my folders, files, applications but couldnt open any. It was using Safari.
    Not sure whats going on. All started with getting slow and i didnt turn the laptop off "was on sleep" for few days till last night.
    Like i said before, last night i couldnt start iTunes, but didnt pay attention to it and shut off laptop. Only if i knew it wont start up again.. :-(

  • My iMac won't boot up it has a gray screen and makes a steady beeping sound

    My iMac won't boot up it makes a steady beeping sound and has a gray screen, occasionally it shows a picture of a file with a question mark blinking in the center, can anyone help

    The blinking question mark indicates that the firmware could not find a valid Operating System on your machine.
    Your harddrive may have failed. Your filesystem may have bcome corrupted.

  • My imac has a gray screen and spinning wheel and will not start up

    my imac has a gray screen with a spinning wheel but will not start what does this mean?

    Probably a damaged or failed HD. Please read Gray screen appears during startup on how to troubleshoot and what to do.

  • IPod has a blank screen and won't do anything?

    I took out my iPod 5th gen to check the time and it was fine. Then I took it out 5 minutes later and it had a black screen so i clicked the home button. Nothing happened. I've tried the power button, the home button, holding down the power button, and plugging it into a charger and nothing has helped. It's still on a black screen and won't respond to anything I do. What should I do?

    Try:
    - iOS: Not responding or does not turn on
    - Also try DFU mode after try recovery mode
    How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
    - If not successful and you can't fully turn the iOS device fully off, let the battery fully drain. After charging for an least an hour try the above again.
    - Try on another computer
    - If still not successful that usually indicates a hardware problem and an appointment at the Genius Bar of an Apple store is in order.
    Apple Retail Store - Genius Bar       

  • Gray Screen - Mac Won't boot from DVD, Please Help!

    Hello all
    I have an issue. A big issue in fact. I made a fatal mistake of not reading whether my Mac Pro (1,1 1st Gen, 2006) supported Windows 7 64-bit. So I installed via the Bootcamp installer on a separate internal HD and ever since my Mac Pro will not boot up, it just boots into a gray screen and I get the spinning wheel of death. I can however, boot into Safe Mode.
    Throughout the years and many moving of houses has meant I have lost my original install disks, so I purchased a retail copy of Snow Leopard (10.6.3 / MC573Z/A). My thinking here was that something is obviously screwed and perhaps a good ol' fresh installation of OSX would do the trick. My Mac originally came with a version of OSX older than Snow Leopard so I'm not violating the can't-install-using-an-older-version-that-what-your-Mac-came-with rule.
    Cutting a long story short nothing I do can get the Mac to boot from the install DVD. I've tried the following:
    1. Holding down 'c' at start up
    2. Selecting the startup disk to be the DVD from Settings within Safe Mode
    3. Holding down alt + option key then selecting the DVD
    4. Holding down apple + option + shift + delete (read somewhere this forces the Mac to ignore it's desire to boot from the main partition and boot from next available device)
    5. Tried resetting the NVRAM
    6. Repaired disk permissions from within Safe Mode
    All unnecessary periphals have been removed. I have yet to remove 3rd party RAM admittedly.
    Really struggling for ideas now.
    Is there any hope for me and my beloved Mac Pro?
    Many thanks for your suggestions.

    Right, another update. This coffee stuff really works!
    Did a bit more digging around and found the following forum threads:
    http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1241149.html
    http://osx86.wikidot.com/known-issues
    Anyway, turns out the chap in the first forum link had the exact same problem as me. He temporarily got around this by removing the following files from the following location whilst in Safe Mode:
    Location: /System/Library/Extensions
    Files:
    NVDANV40Hal.kext
    NVDANV50Hal.kext
    NVDAResman.kext
    NVSMU.kext
    GeForce.kext
    GeForce7xxxGLDriver.bundle
    GeForceGA.plugin
    GeForceGLDriver.bundle
    GeForceVADriver.bundle
    I decided what the heck and moved these files into a new folder on my desktop and deleted the originals.
    Sure enough my mac now boots up normally!
    So it seems that the graphics card was the issue. I have read about the NVIDA 7300 GT only supporting 32-bit, but my tekkie understanding is not enough to know 32-bit what? I thought OSX was a 64-bit OS? If so, then why had it worked all this time? Only when I mistakenly installed Windons 7 64-bit did all my problems start.
    Anyway, looks like I'll need to find a suitable replacement.

  • My Macbook has blank white screen and beeps an alarm- what is happening?

    Macbook crashed to white screen with beeping alarm (repeats 3 beeps at a time)- what is happening?

    Usually signals memory problem.

  • My mac book pro has a white screen and won't start up

    My Mac book pro has been running slow, so I thought I would shut down and reboot. It wouldn't reboot past a white screen and an apple logo. I have rebooted several times and after an hour or so it still won't go any further. Any suggestions?

    Howdy Lowana42,
    Welcome to Apple Support Communities. 
    It sounds like your MacBook Pro has a startup issue that is causing it to only display an Apple logo. Try the suggestions in the article below, they will resolve most issues like this one. 
    How to Troubleshoot iSight
    I hope this helps, 
    -Jason

  • Gray Screen and won't start up

    I shut down my mac last night because we were expecting storms. I tried to start up this morning and it chimes and then the screen goes a light gray. It is not showing anything on the screen - no icons, no little weird folder - nothing, just a blank gray screen.
    I have pushed the power button and it goes black (like asleep) then push the button again... it chimes again and then the screen goes gray. I have done this several times. Then I turned it off, unplugged it from the outlet, plugged it back in and tried again with the same result - blank gray screen.
    I am freaking out because I am in the middle of several major projects and I need to be able to use the computer today. Right now I am emailing from an older mac that I have in my office.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thank you.

    Your welcome!
    Now look at: *System Preferences > Startup Disk* and select the 10.5.6 on Macintosh HD then lock the preference.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Adobe ESP 5210 incompatible with OSx 10.6.6

    I have a new printer Kodak ESP 5210. It prints text files, Jpegs etc. perfectly. I have Adobe Web Suite CS4 installed. I try to print PDFs, .PSD files and even .PDF files saved from Pages but I get a driver failed error. I have the latest Kodak drive

  • BestPractices Error - Set Decimal Notation and Date Format

    Hello everyone, first of all, I don't know, if this is the right forum for my question, but I hope so We're trying to implement the Best Practices Scenarios to a new SAP ERP System. We did the steps of the following url, where everything worked fine:

  • How do you shuffle genre with iOS7 on iPhone5?

    How do you shuffle genre with iOS7 on iPhone5?

  • How to catch SQL Exceptions in JSP

    Hi, I wanted to know how do we catch the correct SQL return code in a JSP page ? Based on the return code I wanted to display customised Error messages. But I could'nt figure out a way to get the error message returned by the underlying DB2 database.

  • Position of message container

    Is there a possibility to change the position of the message container? I would like to have the container bottom.