Startup Issues - computer won't go past gray screen

PLEASE HELP! I have a Power Mac G4. I installed OS X Tiger on it. Then I tried to install Quark 5, which is a Classic program. The computer said there was no longer Classic support on it. I mistakenly thought I would try to boot the computer in OS 9 to install Quark, so I changed my startup disk. Now the computer won't go past the gray screen at startup, because apparently there is no more OS 9. How do I boot up the computer to OS X again?
Power Mac G4 Mac OS X (10.4)

Hi, KHickey -
Will I have to back up my files?
Not usually. You should be able to re-install OS 9 (Classic) on that model via a Clean Install with no loss of any files.
That machine originally came with a model-specific version of OS 9.0.4. You can use the original OS 9 Install CD that came with it to install that version, and update via download updaters to v. 9.1 or later in order to use it as Classic (the OS 9 install must be at least v. 9.1 in order for it to be used as Classic by OSX; OS 9.2.x provides better compatibilty in that mode). Or, you can use a retail OS 9.1 or retail OS 9.2.1 Install CD.
In either case, a Clean Install would be the method to use. A Clean Install of OS 9 removes nothing, and gives you a new, uncomprimised System Folder.
Article #58176 - Mac OS 8, Mac OS 9: Performing a Clean Installation
<hr>
There is a situation where the OS 9 install can be good, but the machine is still not able to boot to it. This can happen when the hard drive was last initialized using OSX's Disk Utility, and the option to install OS 9 drivers was not selected. IN the absence of those drivers the volume can not be mounted by OS 9, including an OS 9 on the volume - hence it can't boot to it.
An easy way to tell - while in OSX, do a Get Info on the drive; I believe one of the pieces of info given about the drive is whether it has OS 9 drivers installed.
Or, boot the machine to an appropriate version OS 9 Install CD - if the drive has OS 9 drivers, the volume will appear on the desktop; if it does not, it won't.
More info about that, including a small possibility of recovering from the situation, can be found in this Apple KBase article -
Article #106849 - Disk Is Available in Mac OS X But Not in Mac OS 9
If you do have to re-initialize the drive in order to get OS 9 drivers on it, then you will need to back up all your files - initializing a drive will erase everything on it.

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Computer won't boot past gray screen

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you need to provide more vcore to the cpu
first try to enable 1 core (core number 3) (disable core number 2 and 4) and increase some vcore. If booted then you have a good core.
Then try this with other core (core number 4) (disable core number 2 and 3), if booted then your both cores are unlockable and are good core (i.e, not defective)
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Computer doesn't load past gray screen...but it's more complicated....

Hi to those reading my question.....
I'm not sure what to do. I have a MacBook Pro, OS X (10.5.8). About 4 weeks ago (3 weeks after my apple care protection plan expired), my super drive stopped accepting discs. It made a low eh-eh sound and then spit out whatever I (lightly) pushed in. About a week after that, my computer wouldn't start past the gray start-up screen (gear turning). I went through the (apple-)suggested steps on how to restart the computer. Didn't work. Since I had just backed-up, I decided to just erase and install.
Computer seemed to be working fine. I deleted about 35 gigs from the hard drive, so that there was 39 gigs free. (I thought the problem was because my hard drive was almost full.)
I also noticed that the super drive started to work again.
2 weeks later, the computer again won't load past the gray screen. And the super drive again doesn't accept disks. I did a repair disk in Disk Utility: "The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK." I did a repair permissions disk: "Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit. Permissions repair complete."
And now I'm not sure what to do because I don't know what the problem is. Is there any way to find out on my own? And fix it?
Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help out!

!http://i46.tinypic.com/2nvn6f.gif!
Drive cleaner can do wonders for your drive. Your drive may need cleaning. Cleaning kits can be purchased from any store that sells CD/DVDs.
==========
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801 *Apple Portables: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive*
=========
Make sure the DVDs are not dirty, smudged and/or scratched.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50448 *How to Handle and Clean CD and DVD Discs*
=========
Another help source (if you haven't already done so).
Go to your OS Help Menu. In the search field type dvd
Click on all the troubleshooting topics & Support Articles that pertain to your issue.
You can also do the same in Disk Utility. Open same up.
At the bottom left of the window, click on the purple button w/the "?" in the middle.
This will bring up the Help Menu.
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G4 Power Mac won't boot past gray screen

I have a mirror door g4 power pc that had been having some issues with not turning on, and after testing the power supply, it failed miserably. We placed a refurbished power supply in it from a company in New York and the computer was working wonderfully. I went on a cruise last week and went to turn the computer on for the first time in a week and a few days. The CPU turns on, the unit chimes, the fan turns on and the computer starts to boot up, but it won't boot past the gray apple logo screen.
Actually, the first few attempts to boot it resulted in a blue screen with gaint apple logo and spinner; it wouldn't advance further. After several restarts and resets, I got it to come up into the normal gray screen. On several attempts it wouldn't boot further than this. On two occasions now though, it has moved past the gray screen to normal operation (it takes about an hour for it to get to that point though) but with some kind of errors. I get the side bar, but the gray panel on to with "file" ect is gone and my HD icon never comes up. The icons on the sidebar do not respond when clicked.
The computer will not boot from the OS X disc.
What's going on, hard drive? Virus? Something else?

You likely have hard drive directory issues or worse.
Virus is just a hopeful whimsy.
No virus.
I hope that you have a backup of your data.
Try a Safe Mode boot. This forces system repair of the directory (if possible).
Hold Shift while starting to enter Safe mode. Be patient, as it can take several minutes to complete.
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Disconnect your boot drive and try booting to the OS X disc.

Desperately Seeking Genius: iBook G4 won't go past gray screen w/ apple...

Hi AppleHeads. I am looking for some assistance from a nice mac genius. I am trying to fix my sister's computer and am not sure exactly what to do here. Her laptop is an iBook g4 with 1.33GHz Power PC, G4 processor, 512 MB and 40 GB hard drive. She had noticed her computer getting really slow and crashing frequently. She ran some updates this morning and then the computer crashed. Now, it will not turn on past a gray screen with the apple logo. I attempted to trouble-shoot the issue using the guide the computer came with and also ran the Apple Hardware Test. Everything passed -- see the results below. What is my next option? I would like to try and save all of the data as she has not backed up recently (tsk tsk). I'm sure a lot of people post this kind of request, so if there is a solution out there that you know of, please share the information or links. I know that one option is to wipe out the computer and reinstall Mac OS X but I'd like to only do that as a last resort until I can pull the files. Thanks!
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Extended Test
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Hi Doley and welcome to Apple Discussions,
is an iBook g4 with 1.33GHz Power PC, G4 processor, 512 MB and 40 GB hard drive. She had noticed her computer getting really slow and crashing frequently.
Was she aware of how full the hard drive was? That can often lead to problems.
Uh oh just noticed this:
Mac OS X (10.0.x)
Is that right?
the 14.1" 1.33 ran Mac OS X 10.3
the 12.1" 1.33 Mac OS X 10.4
Saving Data:
Does she have the original install disks?
See if it can boot from them or an appropriate installer for the size.
If so then save to an external drive or another Mac in target mode.
If her iBook will go into target mode it would then act like a big expensive external hard drive:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
After saving data:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
or use disk utility. Depends on what OSshe was running.
She ran some updates this morning and then the computer crashed.
If it happened while the computer was updating after downloading them that would really mess up the OS.
If that's the case it might take a program like Data Rescue II to retrieve data off that hard drive.
Richard

Won't boot past gray screen

I recently tried to upgrade RAM from 2x256 MB to 2x512 MB (PNY PC133 SODIMM 133Mhz). This worked at first and checking "About this Mac" indicated 1GB of RAM. But trying to use Safari or Firefox would freeze the computer and I'd have to hold the power button to reset. I put the original RAM back and now I can't get past the Gray Screen with spinning gear. I'm stuck at this screen with either set of RAM in. I tried to boot with the Apple Hardware Test disc, which worked and showed that everything was working fine (Logic Board, HD, & Memory included). Any suggestions?

thunderable and fantast1cdan
It sounds like both of your PowerBooks are suffering from a failed internal hard drive. If you have a cloned, fully bootable, backup on an external FireWire hard drive then try starting up from that. If that works then it suggests the PB's logic board is alright and the problem is most likely to be the hard drive.
If the failure is due, perhaps, to a software corruption then DiskWarrior might be able to resurrect it by repairing the directory.
On the other hand a complete erase and 'zero all data' might sometimes help as it will map out any bad blacks that are on the drive. Obviously to do this you need to be able to startup using the original installer disc - but that does not seem possible at the moment.
Alternatively if you have access to another FW-equipped Mac then try using FireWire Target Disk Mode to see if the drive can be accessed.
thunderable
Unable to eject properly, I unplugged the external drive and was able to reboot and get almost to the logon screen, but it wouldn't go any further. Since then I cannot get past the gray screen with the Apple logo and spinning circle.
Are you referring to the internal hard drive when you say that you were able to reboot almost to the login screen? Or were you trying to reboot from the external drive?
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So I was using my computer last night and it just died on me. The battery says it is full and all too. But when I go to start it back up again, it won't go past the grey screen. I have tried all the keyboard shortcuts and nothing seems to work. I have had it on and running for about 30 minutes so far and nothing has changed.
This has happened to me once already and I had to have the whole computer restarted and I lost everything. I really don't want to lose everything yet again but I don't know what to do.
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"I have tried all the keyboard shortcuts and nothing seems to work."
Which ones? Need details to avoid the +"been there, done that"+ scenarios.
"I also cant seem to find my OSX startup disk."
You will need to locate the Install DVD in order to troubleshoot. Otherwise, you will end up w/a very expensive door stop.;)
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Ibook g4 won't go past gray screen, hard drive making whirirng noises

I think I'm in pretty serious trouble here...
I left my 2-yr old ibook g4 running last night downloading a couple of torrents, and woke up in the middle of the night because it was making a loud whirring noise. I tried to close everything, but found that it was frozen. So I just powered it off. I've never had it freeze on me, or otherwise had any problems with it before.
When I turned it on this morning, it would make the initial startup chime, but would not go past the grey screen with the apple. I tried several times, with a couple of slightly different results. The first time I got the apple with the circle underneath. The second time, I got no apple, but the circle with a line through it. And the final time, its just been the apple. And all the while, the hard drive is making a really ill sounding whirr.
I read another post about trying to boot from the install CD, so I inserted the CD & pressed c, but nothing happens, and now the CD won't eject.
Is it possible that it overheated? I got an e-mail about the battery recall, but according to my serial number, mine wasn't one that was being recalled.
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Haven't had any replies yet, but I do have some progress to report...
I was able to eject the Panther Install CD1 after all (pressed the eject button immediately after I powered on). Have tried booting from it a couple of times, to no avail. I was, however, able to boot it from my friend's Tiger Install DVD. I went into Disk Utility, as I have read elsewhere and tried to repair my hard disk using that, but got the following error:
"Repair disk failed. Could not unmount disk"
Probably a stupid question, but is it because its not the correct operating system?
I still don't know why it won't boot from my Panther CD.
I have tried to boot in Safe Mode, but all I get is a little folder icon that alternately flashes the finder icon & a question mark.
I purchased my ibook online when I was still living in Canada, but its no longer under warranty and I didn't purchase the protection plan. I am currently living in rural Japan, with absolutely no Apple Stores anywhere remotely close to where I am.
I've also seen elsewhere that I could probably just get a new hard drive, which is fine as I could use the extra space anyway, but does this mean I lose everything that's on my current hard drive??
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Macbook Pro 2.16 15" won't go past gray screen

My MBP 2.16 15" that was running on Snow Leopard stop loading past the gray screen.
I was able to recover the data via connected to my imac. So I can see the orginal hard drive just fine. So my first guess was a bad hard drive so I bought a SSD and put it in. The Snow Leopard DVD install disk shows up when you hold the "option" button at startup, but when you choose the Install DVD disk, it doesn't get past the gray screen. I even tried with the DVD install disk the MBP came with 10.4.8 I think, but the same results.
It will boot in safe mode, with the cursor looking like it has small bars underneath it.
I've tried numerous things including
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The Mac "Genius" said the hardware test ran fine on everything, but it wouldn't boot up with the network startup, a USB startup or Firewire startup.
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Ok. I think I got it.
I reset the NVRAM.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

I need Help! Power Mac g5 computer won't load past grey screen.

Tonight my old power mac g5 computer (that I had for 8 years) has finally decided not to boot anymore. What happend was I was on my computer, and looking up something on spotlight until it froze over, (i am assuming its a kernal panic) It then crashed. I turned it off and tried to reboot it. At first, only the apple symbol appeared and no loading bar and then I turned it off again, but now I have a continuious loading bar. I've turned it off several times and rebooted but to no success (my cd drive is also broken) I fear I may have to get rid of it but I cant afford another tower right now..they're too expensive....What can I do?
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OK, a number of things, sort of in order:
1. Does it boot from an install disc? You may need to hold the left button of a wired mouse down at boot to get the optical tray to open, or you can use open firmware to open and close the tray. (see below) Can you run Disk Utility from the install disk to check and/or repair your boot volume?
2. How about the PRAM battery? How new is it? If it is the original, you need to replace it for sure. If it if more than a couple of years old, it should be replaced preemptively as it is likely weak enough by now to have caused some mischief (more so if the machine has been off power and unplugged for any significant amount of time).
3. Have you tried a PRAM reset? (Hold down cmd-option-P-R key combination at boot until you hear the boot tone a second time).
4. Have you tried a PMU reset?
So what is happening is that something is getting hosed early on in the boot process. You might be able to see what is going on by doing a verbose boot (hold down cmd-V at startup until you get to the gray screen with Apple embossment) and hopefully getting the Unix terminal screen with its output detailing the boot process. Were I a betting man, I would have to guess a problem with the boot volume's directory structure. That's why I listed the booting from the install disc first. If it boots from the install disc, then most of the system is probably in good shape but there may be problems with the boot volume's directory.
Opening the disc tray using open firmware:
You boot into open firmware by holding down the cmd-option-O-F keys until you get the white open firmware terminal screen. You are not really using the hard disc or any really advanced capabilities of the system. Now, type the following command to open the optical drive tray:
eject cd <enter>
Repeat the command after inserting the install disc and the tray should close. Then enter the following command:
reset-all <enter>
and the machine should restart. You can either hold down the option key at boot to bring up startup manager to select the optical, or more simply, hold down the C key as the machine restarts and keep it held down until you see the system loading.

Macbook won't boot past gray screen.

Macbook will not boot past the gray screen with the Apple logo. I tried booting in Safe Mode... tried booting to the Leopard install DVD (can hear it spin)... tried resetting the PRAM... all to no avail (hangs on the gray Apple screen... no progress indicator). I am able to connect to the hard drive via Firewire from my MacPro no problem. Just to make sure, I also tried swapping the hard drive for the original hard drive that it came with (upgraded hard drive 2 yrs ago) but it did not make a difference, still did not boot.
Not sure what else to try, any suggestions?

Thanks for all the replies. I do think it is probably the logic board. Unfortunately the nearest Apple store is about 3.5 hours away from me and from what I've read online the price to put a new logic board in by them is around $700... that's about $300 shy of a NEW 13" Macbook! I am finding used or new logic boards for sale online for around $350 to $450.
The reason it seems that it is the logic board is like I previously said in the opening thread that it would not boot to two different hard drives that I put in the Macbook, nor would it boot to the install disc that I put in the Superdrive.... "tried booting in Safe Mode... tried booting to the Leopard install DVD (can hear it spin)... tried resetting the PRAM". Being able to connect to the Macbook's hard drive from a MacPro via a Firewire gives me reason to believe the hard drives are not the problem.
Now I guess I'll have to make a decision as to whether or not to shell out cash during this weak economy for a new Macbook or scrounge for components for a 4yr old laptop.
Any final last words for me?

Computer won't load past grey screen with Apple logo, even with OS Disc

I turn on my computer and only gets to the grey screen with the Apple logo and idling circle. After a while, it loads a small box telling me to restart, time and time again, no matter how many times I restart. I've tried holding "shift" to go into safe mode, it won't let me.
I believe it's originally a Tiger platform, and right now I think it's running on Leopard.
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Nothing I do with or without the OS X Disc is making a difference. I cannot load anything on my computer, period.
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Well if you do then turn both computers off. Connect a Firewire cable between them. Boot your computer into Target Disk Mode. After the TDM screen appears boot the other computer normally. If your drive is accessible it will show up as a disk icon on the Desktop of the other Mac. You can then access your files and transfer them to another hard drive.
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My Toshiba Satellite had this problem awhile ago, but because I had a friend who thought he could fix it and an older computer that still worked for what I needed it to, I didn't really pay much attention to getting it fixed. That computer pretty much died last night. My problem I'd that when the comp turns on, it gives me the option for starting a system repair in windows or starting windows normally. System repair leads to a black screen where I can still see the cursor and starting windows normally leads to the screen being stuck on the starting windows screen although it still send like the starting part is functioning as the glimmer around the flash fades in and out.
I've tried to start in all versions of safe mode and repair my computer, but still only see the mouse on a black screen and the same happened when I tried to start with the Toshiba Recovery.
The computer is only two years old and the problem started after right months or so after I got it. Are there any other suggestions for fixing this?

Which computer? There is a label on the bottom.
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Startup Issues - computer won't go past gray screen

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