Please help me! MacBook Pro stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

Hi I'm really desperate and need help! My MacBook just stopped loading and would stay on the gray screen with the apple logo and spinning wheel.
I have tried safe mode and it would load a little and stop and then the loading bar would be blank and it would stay like that forever!!
I also have tried doing the single user mode and when I type the fsck - fy it will do a couple more lines then it will say error like a hundred times :(
I did verbose mode and it would just give me stuff that I have no idea what it saying I left on verbose mode for like 5 hours and it would just give me lines of stuff I have no idea what it's saying!
I downloaded lion through apple store so I don't have the disk I only have my snow leopard disk
Please please someone tell me a solution it's my moms laptop and I don't want to get in trouble!

Reboot in recovery mode an possibly repair over the internet.
Command-R to the rescue.
Just hold down Command-R during startup and OS X Recovery springs into action. It lets you choose from common utilities: You can run Disk Utility to check or repair your hard drive, erase your hard drive and reinstall a fresh copy of OS X, or restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. You can even use Safari to get help from Apple Support online. And if OS X Recovery encounters problems, it will automatically connect to Apple over the Internet.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

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Macbook Pro Stuck at Apple Logo and Spinning Wheel

I Have ML. Just did the most recent update. There seemed to be a bundled group of updates. Once all was updated, my computer froze. I shutdown and restarted and it was stuck on the Apple Logo and spinning wheel. I have tried everything. Safe Mode, Command R, Command/Alt/R/P....it does nothing. Any advice out there?

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.

My macbook pro only shows apple logo and spinning wheel

guys i forgot my macbook pro admin password i tried to give it a certain password but all set incorrect then it start showing hint but that also not worked then i tried shuting it down but the opyions below password column dint responded then i force shut downed it after that i us showing only apple logo and that spinng wheel for unlimited time.then i reseted the password by those command lines but it still giving the same response.
can anyone help me out 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
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. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to boot from an external drive, or else to 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 boot 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 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.
Step 7
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.
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 8
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 9
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 10
Repeat Step 9, 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 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 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 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 Air stuck on Apple Logo and spinning wheel

I have no clue what is going on. I turned on my macbook and it was like this, I thought it just needed some time loading but after 20 minutes I decided to look for ways to fix this. I tried holding the shift key right after I restarted it but the loading bar disappeared when it hit halfway.
What can I do?
I don't have the lion nor the snow leopard. but I do update when my mac tells me to.
Other info, I haven't used my macbook air for approx 3 weeks but it was all ok the last time I saw it. I dunno if that helps you help me with this.

To clone the drive you need to boot from the USB stick. After the installer loads click on your language then click on the Continue button. After the menubar appears select Disk Utility from the Utility menu.
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
If you are not able to clone the drive this way then most likely the drive's directory is corrupted.

IMac is stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

My wife did a software update and them it asked for a restart, she click restart but the computer got stuck in apple logo and spinning wheel. Won't go past that now. Just keeps spinning! Help for I know not what to do!!!! Please any idea?

An invalid node is an error DU cannot repair. If you don't mind spending $100 for Disk Warrior, then I suggest you buy it because it can fix the error. Otherwise, do as the warning says. Backup your files. You will then have to erase the drive and reinstall. The procedure is:
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard 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.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

MacBook Pro - just get apple logo and spinning icon

Reinstalled the OS wirelessly, trying to restore Time Machine backup from a Seagate USB drive. Goes OK for about 45 minutes, then progress bar disappears, leaving only apple logo and spinner. What to do?

Reinstalled the OS wirelessly, trying to restore Time Machine backup from a Seagate USB drive. Goes OK for about 45 minutes, then progress bar disappears, leaving only apple logo and spinner. What to do?

IMac is stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel stop spinning

Hello everyone, I have iMac 9,1, somehow i lost my OS X partition and i left with just a Windows. So now i tried to clean install new OS X Yorshmite, i boot a new installation and a apple logo is spinning and after 2 minutes it stuck and usb driver stop reading, 5 minutes after iMac just shut down and that's it. I can't access recovery mode.
I tried with replacing old with new Hard Drive, removing RAMs, diferent versions of OS X and still nothing. A can't boot in SAFE MODE or Recovery Mode.
Windows 7 working fine and i can boot it without problems.
Please help?

Startup - Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
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Mac won't boot: stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

My MacBook pro 13 inch(mid 2010) won't boot. It just gets stuck on the apple logo with the spinning wheel under it. I have done the following but they have not solved the issue:
Zap pram
Attempt to boot in safe mode
Try to access windows partition( resulted in flashing folder with question mark)
I am dying to try to insert the Mac os x install disc and use disk utility, but it is not going into the drive. This all started when I had to turn off my Mac because it had completely froze. Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially if there is a way to insert the install disk.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Try this:
Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
If you have a problem with the above, then try:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
3. Wait for the boot manager screen to appear, then insert the installer disc into the optical drive.
4. Wait until the disc is recognized and appears in the boot manager screen.
5. After the disc appears select it then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.
If you are running Snow Leopard, then reinstall it. Your HDD will not be erased, and all your data will be preserved.
If you are running Leopard then do this:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
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. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Mac pro running OS 10.5.8 won't boot. Apple logo and spinning wheel shows then Apple logo turns into Forbidden signage while spinning wheel continue. It happenened right after I installed a firmware. Had to restart.Please help. What can I do?

Mac pro running OS 10.5.8 won't boot. Apple logo and spinning wheel shows then Apple logo turns into Forbidden signage while spinning wheel continue. It happenened right after I installed a firmware. Had to restart.Please help. What can I do?

Work through the suggestions in this article:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup

Macbook Pro (2011) froze while working, forced shut down, now won't turn on. Grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel for hours. Help?

Macbook Pro (2011) froze while working, forced shut down, now won't turn on. Grey screen with apple logo and spinning wheel for hours. Help?
Unfortunately do not know the operating system since I never updated anything and I can't get in to it.
Thanks for your assistance.

If you want to preserve the data on the boot drive, and it's not already backed up, 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 not fully functional. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
1. Boot from the Recovery partition or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) Launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
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. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
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.

MacBook pro 15" 2008 freezes at apple logo and spinning wheel

Have a MacBook pro early 2008 have installed lion but recently started to have problems. Started to freeze a lot so I would restart and most of the time it would work untill it froze again , now it's got worst every time I restart my Mac it won't go past apple logo and spinning wheel just freezes have been trying and trying but same thing freezes. Tried to start in save mode but no still freezes
Please has anyone got any suggestions thanks

The startup disk may need repairing.
Use Lion Recovery
Not enough free space on the startup disk can cause the system to freeze.
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure there's a minimum of 15% free disk space.

My macbook wont reboot apple logo and spinning wheel thats it.

I watched youtube videos and tried command r and now it keeps popping up you need to restart your computer. Everytime I restart it, it pops back up! HELP!!

Apple logo and spinning wheel is different than the need to restart your computer message.
See this Apple note on the spinning wheel at boot. If you are running OS X 10.7 or later, then rebooting with the command and r keys will get you into recovery mode, where you can use Disk Utility to repair the hard drive.
FYI, the need to restart your computer message in multiple languages is called a kernel panic, which is usually, but not always, caused by a hardware issue. If you have OS X 10.7 or later, you should be able to run the Apple hardware test. Prior to that, you need the disks that came with the system to run it. If you can run it, run the extended test when prompted, which can take over an hour to run.

I cannot start my mac book. Apple logo and spinning wheel on gray screen. Tried pressing shift key on start up nothing happen. Tried shift command V screen is still stuck

I cannot start my mac book. Apple logo and spinning wheel on gray screen. Tried pressing shift key on start up nothing happen. Tried shift+command+V screen is still stuck

Reinstall OS X 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.
=======================================
Reinstall - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
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
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is
three times faster than wireless.

I did an auto software update on my iMac, which included a restart. When the machine restarted it's stuck with an Apple logo and spinning wheel. I've tried all of the key strokes that are supposed to work, but nothing has. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I did an auto software update on my iMac, which included a restart. When the machine restarted it's stuck with an Apple logo and spinning wheel. I've tried all of the key strokes that are supposed to work, but nothing has. Any suggestions?

Gray screen could be any number of things, bad third party at boot kext file, a bad Apple one, a bad install/upgrade of OS X, drive corruption etc.
Run through this list of fixes
Step by Step to fix your Mac

Apple logo and spinning wheel after hard drive replacement and restore

Hi, need some help!
I replaced my hard drive at the weekend in a mid 2010 MacBook Pro with a Samsung/Seagate 1TB 2.5 inch 5400RPM SATA II Hard Disk Drive. The install of the hardware went fine, and the computer recognised it no problem. I went through the process of formatting which again went ok, then I moved on to the restore of the old image from my time machine.
After the 4 hours or so it said restore successful and a restart was required - after the restart I am presented with the apple logo and spinning wheel and can make no progress beyond this point.
I have tried 3 restores now - all of which were 'successful' and have the same issue. I have checked the disk using the repair tool and there are no recoded issues so I'm at a loss.
Can anyone help!!
Thanks in advance

Hey andrew1878,
Thanks for the question. I understand that you are experiencing issues with your MacBook not loading up past the Apple Logo and spinning gear. The following resource may provide a solution:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Thanks,
Matt M.

Please help me! MacBook Pro stuck on apple logo and spinning wheel

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