Stuck on grey screen and worse...

Hey Guys and Gals
Was updating to latest version of Mavericks, restart my Macbook Pro, and it got stuck on the apple startup screen with the spinning 'working' icon underneath. Tried restarting in safe mode, no luck, and have tried reinstalling Mac OS via recovery but it says that my Macintosh HD disk is "locked". Upon trying to repair it in Disk Utility, it cannot complete repair and says to backup and do a clean install. At this point, my question it how can I backup my drive if it seemingly can't be fixed. Am I screwed? Thanks for any help and let me know any more info you need.
RD

You are screwed unless you already have a backup. Here's how to proceed:
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or 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.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
because it is three times faster than wireless.

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define “an average disk”.
Your question regarding fault is akin to asking “is it my fault or the car maker’s fault that my spark plugs no longer work?” — disks, like spark plugs, don’t last forever, and fault doesn’t come into it. Similarly, the fact that your disk (or spark plugs) worked yesterday and doesn’t work today is not a sudden “breakage” — by their nature, they have a finite, variable amount of time in which they do work. This is why (in the case of disks) making regular backups is important; when the disk stops working, you’ll have an easy way to recover from such a situation.
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Vetaut

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Cheers!
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Message was edited by: Dale Weisshaar

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Unfortunately this means that there is a problem in the boot sector of your hard drive. It might be indicative of a fundamental corruption in the coding that allows your computer to boot your operating system from your hard drive. I had this problem twice and it resulted in me having to get a new hard drive and restore my data.
In other words, your computer can't talk to your operating system so you can't access your data.
Here is my advice: DON'T CALL APPLE TECH SUPPORT though they are kind and usually helpful it will take you an hour just to explain the situation and they will only tell you to do what I'm gonna say here.
First: Shut down your computer completely
Two: boot up while holding down the following keys: command, option, p, and r. The computer will reboot 3 times. This solution will likely fail so if you're frustrated skip to the next step.
Three: Boot up while holding down the option key. Select recovery drive. Select your default language. Select disk utility, click on Macintosh HD, and select "verify and repair volume." Likely the verification will produce some line like "unused node not erased." Or something like that. If anything using the words "node structure" comes up, you need a new hard drive.
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If you have a back up drive bring it to the apple store and they'll do the whole thing right there, it should take around an hour and a half but may take longer.
Hope this helps, it's annoying but it's your safest bet.
All the best.

TS2570 My Mac is stuck on grey screen what's wrong with it and am I going to lose everything

My Mac is stuck on grey screen what's wrong with it and am I going to lose everything

Hopefully you have a backup, but...
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair Disk, (not Repair Permissions). Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)
If perchance you can't find your install Disc, at least try it from the Safe Boot part onward.

I have snow leopard installed as an OS. When trying to reboot a MacBook Pro I am getting stuck on grey screen with apple logo and rotating symbol. What can I do?

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Maybe this might help.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

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See this thread with dominic23’s suggestions: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5783326?tstart=0

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Hmm... try doing this:
1) Force your Mac to shut down by pressing and holding the power button for about 5 sec.
2) Start in Safe Mode. Press the power button to turn it on, and before you hear the Startup "Dummmmm" chime, hold down the Shift key. For a few sec, you won't see the Apple logo. Keep pressing the Shift key until you see it. If you press it after the Apple logo appears, start from Step 1 again.
3) This time, your Mac should take longer to boot. (Like a minute or 2 longer as it is going thru the necessary files to boot from, and not just everything like in Normal Startup mode; which caused it to hang)
4) Does your Mac boot sucessfully to the Login Screen or Desktop? The login Screen should show SAFE MODE in red at the top. The Desktop should have Sound disabled and seems a lot slower. If you see either of these, backup ALL your files (if you have not already done so) on to an External HDD. Create a new User Account in System Preferences>Accounts with about the same info as your current account (The name will have to be different though, if your previous account was John, this time, add your last name as in John Appleseed.) Make sure it is an Admin account. Then, login into the new account and delete your previous account. Copy all your files over to your new account and restart your Mac correctly by going to Apple Menu>Restart.
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Stuck on grey screen and worse...

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