Startup freezes on gray apple screen

I've restarted twice and it freezes on the gray apple screen. No kernel panic message, no error message, nothing. No peripheral devices plugged in. No new RAM installed. It just decided to start doing this today.
Any suggestions?
thanks.

Your directory is corrupted. It could be from a bad block on the hard drive, incorrect shutdown procedure, or even hardware issues (possible but not likely).
You will either have to reinstall (not fun) or purchase a utility like Disk Warrior.
I checked further and found this post on another web site:
DiskWarrior and invalid key length on Mac OS X hard drives
I had a problem where a hard disk of mine wasn't mounting -- it just wouldn't appear in the finder. It did show up in Disk Utility, where it reported that it had an "invalid key length", but Disk Utility would not repair it. I tried to use Tech Tool Pro 3 and Tech Tool Deluxe for OS X, but neither of those would even let me select the volume.
Some searching on the web suggested DiskWarrior. It retails for about $100, but I was able to get it on a special for $80. I ran it, it found the volume, and fixed it right up. I highly recommend the program to anyone with an invalid key length error.

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IMac start up freezes on gray apple screen.......

I was re-installing OS X. Part way through the installation the computer froze. Once this happened, I turned off the computer. To my surprise, when I tried to start it up again, the computer wouldn’t get past the opening window of the gray screen with the apple. I’ve tried the holding down “c” thing, and that didn’t work. I’m not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions?

It could be the drive, but it very well could be another hardware component.
At this time, I would try booting up on your Apple Hardware Test disk, that came with your Mac, or Tech Tool Pro ,if you have it, and see if they flag any of your hardware.
I would hate to see you buy a hard drive and then find out it was something else making it freeze. If the AHT disk freezes also, personally I would take it in for repair. Trying to guess which component is bad is an expensive guessing game.
I would try to backup your stuff before going to the shop.
Cheers!
DALE

I have a PB G4 that won't start. It shows the gray apple screen, shows the blue screen, and then the screen goes black, and "sleep" light pulses.

I have a PB G4 that won't start. It shows the gray apple screen, shows the blue screen, and then goes black. The sleep light pulses. From there, I can't turn it off normally. I have tried restarting the PMU. And I have tried unplugging the ac adaptor and removing the battery. From there I have plugged only the ac adaptor in, and it will begin to start but do the same thing once it shows the blue screen.
I tried only using the battery (without plugging in the ac adaptor) and the same thing happens. I tried starting the computer while holding down CTRL, Option, P, and R, waiting to hear the start up chimes 3 times, and then holding Shift as it starts up. But I still get the black screen once I see the blue one, and the computer's sleep light pulses.
I need something very important from this computer. And was able to start it last night. I did not shut down the computer, and was going to take it to a friends to use his printer today. The computer was in sleep mode in the morning.
Thanks for any help!
Gina

What your describing could be a logic board or memory issue.
You did or did not hear 3 startup chimes? If you hear 3 chimes when you start it, that would indicate a memory problem. Try reseating the memory to see if that makes a difference. If you have 2 RAM cards, try one then the other in each slot. If you have 1 RAM card, move it to the other slot. Powerbooks can develop one bad slot.
You may need to pull the hard drive out of the Powerbook, put it into an external case, then read it from another mac.

Powerbook won't get past OSX gray apple screen

powerbook pismo running OSX for years...much joy and happiness,
up to this point.
Upon starting up my powerbook, I get the good chime and then the gray screen with the apple but no spinning wheel at the bottom, it will go no further.
It just sits there with the gray screen and the apple. I've tried the following:
Safe mode
Reset pram
target mode from another mac shows the pismo hard disk. I can run disk utility on it and the drive is ok.
Still no startup.
Reinstalled the OS from the other mac using target mode and it installed ok. Still no further than the gray apple screen.
It will not start from DVD or from a firewire drive with the OS installed on it
It does see the system folder when I tell it to let me choose a system at startup. I choose it and we are back at the gray screen.
Is this a pram or firmware issue maybe a internal battery
I have other macs, and I can move on, but still would like to solve this puzzle.
Thank you very much.

zydeco,
I am not sure if I can help, but here are a few suggestions...
1. If you have the original software, you may still have the Apple Hardware Test CD. Disconnect all peripherals including a USB mouse, then see if you can boot to the CD.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=112433
2. If you have the internal original AirPort card, remove this card and try starting. A bad card can prevent startup.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50028
If neither of the two suggestions help, please post back.

G4 TiBook won't go past gray apple screen with spinning black wheel

Hi,
I am trying to get this machine to boot, and things are very strange.
The latest development, which I'll start with, is that I just finished an install of Tiger on the machine. It gets to the gray Apple screen with the spinning cursor. However, the startup/welcome music to Tiger played in the background, and it started walking me through keyboard commands via Voiceover.
1) It will boot off of a Tiger or Panther startup DVD/CD, and will install without incident.
2) It will actually boot from the hard drive with a fresh install of OS 9.2.
3) Another machine can boot the hard drive while the TiBook is in firewire target mode.
4) I have tried a brand new hard drive, and have tried to boot other machines while they were in Firewire target mode - same behavior.
5) I have tried resetting PMU, PRAM and NVRAM multiple times. Every time I boot into OF, the very top message is "NVRAM Corrupted" and it performs an init-vram command, to which it says "OK".
6) Before all of this happened, the machine underwent an upgrade from Panther to Tiger. Everything was working fine (albeit slowly, since the hard drive was almost totally full) until PRAM and NVRAM were reset. After that, the only thing the machine has been able to do (with OS X on the drive) is boot to this gray splash screen.
7) The hard drive has been wiped completely with a fresh install of Tiger and even Panther several times. Same behavior.
8) Have tried taking out the memory, changing the memory - all resulting in the same startup screen.
I've tried booting up using Verbose mode as well as Safe mode. Doesn't make any difference. The only thing I have not tried is taking out the CMOS battery (which I don't yet know where it's at on this machine).
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks
Erik

Hi Erik,
Every time I boot into OF, the very top message is "NVRAM Corrupted"
Just one thought fwiw: I'm wondering if you have a bad cache. I can't remember if you can access your Apple Menu>About This Mac>More Info while booted to your install disc, but if so, see if your L2 and L3 cache are listed. If that doesn't work, again I don't remember if this will work, but while booted to FWTDM open Applications>Utilities>System Profiler on your Ti HD and see if caches are listed. Which Ti (CPU) do you have btw?
If it does turn out to be a cache issue, not good news, as cache is incorporated into the logic board, and the "repair" is actually replacing the LB.

Gray apple screen - looks like DOS, panic, kernel, etc. Stuck! Can't do anything. Help!

Was trying to update software, running Mountain Lion I'm pretty sure (was not updating to Mavericks, just system updates), and in the process of restarting I am stuck with DOS-looking commands on the gray apple startup screen. Part of the commands are listed below. I can't do anything. I'm not even sure I've been able to reboot, although I've tried holding the power button, holding S+Cmd+power, and holding ctrl+option+cmnd+shift+power. I can get it to go dark like it's rebooting, but the gray apple screen pops back up and about 3 seconds later the codes come back. What should I do? I have owned macs and a macbook pro for a while, and I've never seen anything like this. Thanks in advance!
panic "unable to find driver for this platform..."
Debugger called <panic>
backtrace (CPU0), Frame: Return address
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: unknown
Mac OX version:
Not yet set
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel version 12.2.1: Thu Oct 18...
Kernel UUid:
Kernel slide:
Kernel text base:
System uptime in nanoseconds: 366894169

1. Disconnect all Thunderbolt devices.
2. Connect the power adapter.
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Dr. Smoke...Gray Apple Screen, Keeps Spinning...

My Father's G3 Blue and White 300 MHz machine (10.3.9) started having kernel panics during the boot sequence. (It would boot to the login screen, than panic right when it got there)
I could get the machine to boot into safe mode.
I ran TechTools Deluxe (the latest version) and every test checked out ok.
I attempted to run Archive and Install - It booted of the 10.3 disk fine, and gave me the option to Archive and install.
It started running the Test Disk, and the install failed, and said try installing again.
I read on the xlab to remove the items in the Library > startupItems folder - being that it seems the issue is during the startup sequence.
I dragged the contents to a folder on the desktop, and rebooted. The xlab said if it boots ok, add one startup item at a time and restart, working with process of elimination.
Well, now the machine stays on the gray screen with the Apple - and the spinning circle under it. (I let it try to startup for a few hours like this, no go.)
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Hi, maybe you can help me, since you seem to be very knowledgeable and experienced - like me. I have been a very proud and determined user of macs for about 18 years and never really had any issues with them until recently. I cleaned up my old G3 eMac and gave it to my kids about a year ago and a couple of moths ago I started getting the kernel panic and broken folder blinking icons, so I got Disk Warrior and hoped that would fix it. It didn't. I ran the hardware tests - everything was fine, got on live chat with the guy from Alsoft for three days, trying everythign we could to revive my poor eMac. Reluctantly I decided to erase the volume and re-install everything, which has been done, but now I can't get it to start off the new disk. It just sticks to the gray apple screen with the spinner just having a good time and I am miserable!! I refuse to believe that I am not going to get this one back - it's there, my information, files and pictures are gone, but the computer should be fine. What am I doing wrong?

IPod-video stuck on black/gray apple screen-won't reset

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eMac G4 Mac OS X (10.4.10) iPod video - 60GB

Thank you for your help, although that didn't seem to do anything either. It just started working again today, yay!
But after trying endlessly lots of things I finally gave up and just let it sit, it was on for awhile until the battery totally drained. I had forgotten about it and today I went to plug it in to charge the battery so I could try another round of possible solutions. I plugged in the usb cable, at first it went to the black screen with the logo. Then as I was about to walk away 10 seconds later I saw the screen light up then the menu appeared. I don't know what was wrong but it seems totally find now. So I don't know what I did or what happened but it seems to be working with no problems again.

I was updating my macbook pro and it restarted but didn't boot up. It made it to the gray apple screen with a spinning wheel underneath it. What do I do?

I was updating my macbook pro and it restarted but didn't boot up. It made it to the gray apple screen with a spinning wheel underneath it. What do I do?

This was happening to mine as well and I had to take it in a few times and they had to wipe it completely. If your computer is more that 5 years old, it may be that it is time for a new one. I suggest taking it in so they can diagnose it!

Macbook Pro won't go past gray apple screen

When I turn my macbook on, it makes the chime and the gray apple screen appears. Then a progress bar appears and after it is finished loading, there is just a spinning loading circle thingy under the apple. My laptop never goes past this screen, it was like this all day. What do I do. This my work computer and I have not used it in a few weeks and before that it was FINE....PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Thank you so much for your reply. I am in the processing of doing the safe boot (I chose to see it) and there are a lot of codes on the screen and it was checking all different things. All of that checking seems to have stopped and all the words and codes on the screen are staying the same. How do I know if the process is done and how long does it take? I am not sure what to do right now.

Won't go pass the gray apple screen

I just signed out an apple computer at work and I guess I should of checked it before I left but when I got home and tried to turn it on nothing happened. So I plugged in the power cord and tried again. This time the gray apple screen came up but that was it. I was hoping to work on it this weekend since it had word and pages I was going to convert some files. Any suggestions? Worse comes to worse I can just return it on Monday but really wanted to see if there was a fix I could do.

You can try resetting the SMC. Is the MacBook yours? If so, why don't you take it to the Genius Bar to see if the laptop could get fixed?
Regards,
bettyfromcalifornia

My MacBook freezes on the Apple Screen

My MacBook freezes on the Apple Screen. What should i do?

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

Airport Extreme card installed, eMac stuck on gray Apple screen at start-up

I just installed an Airport Extreme card on my eMac (USB 2.0). When I try to boot, it gets stuck on the gray Apple screen, with the spinning gray "spokes." The card is pushed as far as it will go into the slot, and the antenna is all the way in as well. When I take the card out, the computer boots up fine. I tried installing the software first, but it doesn't appear to be installed after it does the required restart for new software. I'm not sure if I have the software already...
At any rate, the biggest issue is that it won't boot past the gray screen. Any thoughts? (I have a version of Tiger, though I'm not sure exactly which because I'm sick of the un/install process at the moment, and am staring at the gray screen.)

The card is pushed as far as it will go into the
slot, and the antenna is all the way in as well. When
I take the card out, the computer boots up fine. I
tried installing the software first, but it doesn't
appear to be installed after it does the required
restart for new software.
Hi, I have a 1GHz eMac ATI and had a problem installing my Airport Extreme card as well. It would boot fine, but the card would not connect. It turned out that the card was not seated properly and maybe this is something for you to look at.
If you look at the Airport slot with the card and cover removed you will see the end of a black plastic guide bar on the right of the slot when viewed from the front of the machine. (Assuming the ATI eMac and USB 2.0 are the same in this regard) When the card and the aerial are fully seated home, the silver top of the aerial plug should be just about level with the front end of the black plastic bar, just a whisker or 2 sticking out. If it is more than this (more than say 1-2mm - 1/16th inch) then your card is not far enough in to be connected properly. Believe me I found this out through trial and error and there is not much difference between the right position and not.
It is not just a matter of pushing harder, you need to wiggle it slightly up and down and push firmly with 2 fingers, one on each side so that the force is evenly distributed. Mine needed just a smidgeon more force than what it took to slide the machine back - try it a little bit at a time. Put it up against a wall so it doesn't slide back, but don't apply excessive force. Part of the problem is that is hard to get your fingers in there to do the job.
Hope this helps.

G4 Quicksilver stuck on gray Apple Screen

My trusty tower started showing problems with a spinning beach ball of death when I wasn't even using iPhoto 5. It happened with Mail. I had to do a hard shut off a couple or three times because I couldn't even get to the force quit menu by any means.
Now it won't move past the gray Apple screen. I've read about and followed through with checking all my connections, unplugging the power source and resetting PRAM. Prior to the Option, Command, P, R on start up I was able to eject the DVD tray. Now nothing on my keyboard seems to work.
I'm not saavy enough to open up my computer to reset the PMU or take the battery out. I've got an appointment at the Apple store tomorrow. Oh how I wish I had an Apple store in my town!
I hope it's an easy fix and I can bring my computer home with me so I don't have to make another trip.
I want to buy a new computer but not until I get another bill or two paid off.
If anyone has suggestions I should try before I head south, I don't have to be there until early afternoon.

Thanks for the links and your suggestions. The genius at the Apple Genius bar was unable to start my computer either until he hooked up an ex-hard drive. Once he started through his drive and saw all my contents still on my computer, he did the tests and nothing was flagged as a problem. He sent me home with instructions to re-install my Tiger OS.
When I got home and fired it up, it opened right to my desktop like normal. I had to run an errand so I just put it on sleep. When I got back I clicked on System Preferences to change my desktop and I got the spinning beachball of death. I'd already put my Tiger DVD in the tray. I had to do a hard shut down once again. When I powered back up it showed my OS DVD so I refreshed my memory on selecting the "Install and Archive" process.
Reinstalling Tiger is underway right now, then I will do the fsck and other recommended steps before opening or reconnecting anything else.

IMac won't startup - freezes on either white screen or Apple symbol

Got my 24" 2.4GHz iMac on release last year, with Tiger. Installed Leopard on it on release day.
The problem I have is that ever since a botched Boot Camp installation I've had endless problems with certain applications hanging during their startup (notably Image Capture) or refusing to quit (notably iTunes). Force Quit doesn't resolve these issues. Restarting doesn't work because Force Quit can't quit them so I have to pull the plug or otherwise force a shutdown.
Upon restarting I either get the grey screen that instantly appears, or, if I've pulled the plug and left it for a few minutes I can get to the Apple symbol but no spinner or any further start up action. Occasionally I get lucky, get back up and running, and all is well until the next crash.
All this started happening when I decided to try installing Windows on Boot Camp again. I've had it on here a couple of times since Leopard was released but usually end up deleting it eventually because either the Windows installation gets bogged down or I get bored with it and never use it. Anyway, this time, using the same discs I've always used (and yes, it's SP2, so it should be fine and anyway it's worked at least twice before) when I got to the 'restart to continue installing Windows' bit, I got the white screen and nothing happened. After an hour or so of praying and restarting endlessly trying to get a response, I finally got it to recognise my OSX installation and was up and running again. The Boot Camp volume didn't appear to be there and Disk Utility revealed zero problems whatsoever. Everything looked fine until these recurring hangs, refusals to quit apps and screwed up start-ups.
Any ideas? I don't have the expensive Apple support, but it's less than a year old! Of course, I realise that this means nothing to Apple, who seem to think I should pay a premium in order to have my machine warrantied by them for more than 90 days. Grr...
If I get it up and running I'm thinking I should just wipe the ENTIRE system absolutely clean and re-install Leopard and then use my Time Machine backup to put all my data back on (pricelessly valuable as I use the machine to work on my photography with), but I'm concerned that if there's a flaw in the System somewhere, a corruption, that installing the Time Machine backup will just reintroduce the error. On the other hand, if it's a deeply embedded and invisinle partition corruption from the bad Boot Camp installation attempt, that should be fixed by wiping the entire drive to reinstall Leopard, right?
Any ideas? I'm absolutely sick to the back teeth of this now.
Many thanks,
Owen

But service support means dragging my iMac down to an Apple Store after making an appointment that's no doubt a couple of days away. Taking a 24" iMac on public transport in London isn't something I particularly want to do.
It did actually start up eventually. I left it sitting on the Apple logo and after a few minutes it restarted itself and all was fine, until a couple of days later when two apps failed to quit, and force quit wouldn't do anything. Neither would Terminal, or Activity Monitor (it was BBEdit and Photo Mechanic this time).
I was forced to pull the plug and since then nothing whatsoever will get it past the Apple logo. Tried popping the original Tiger DVD in and running the hardware diagnostic and it says everything is fine, but trying to restart from the Tiger DVD, or the Leopard DVD, or any other DVD that's bootable, or the hard drive, or an external hard drive - all of them result in hanging at the Apple screen. Tried safe mode, tried holding Alt to choose a startup drive, everything.
What the heck do I do now?!

Startup freezes on gray apple screen

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