The apple on the gray start-up screen turns into a circle with a slash.
My G5 has been pretty reliable for the past three (?) years. Lately it's been a bit squirrely booting up--once it went into kernel panic during boot, but powering down and restarting seemed to fix that. Lately, too, when I let the machine run and it goes to sleep I'll come back after a couple of hours to find the fan running at top speed and the machine unresponsive. Yesterday it seemed to have problems booting so I reset the PRAM and NVRAM and ran Onyx and it worked fine all day. This morning when I went to boot, I got the usual gray screen with the whirling gear. After about a minute, the apple in the center of the screen turned into a circle with a slash while the gear continued to whirl. How do I fix this?
I've subsequently tried a number of things. I reset the SMU, which didn't help until I also reset the PRAM. Computer booted normally. I rebooted from the Tiger DVD and repaired the start up disk; there were only two small errors to be fixed. The machine booted normally (and pretty quickly) for about a week before the problem resurfaced. I again went through the first two steps and got things working once more.
Lately the problem has returned. First, resetting the PRAM didn't help; only resetting the SMU worked. At the last event I needed to reset the PRAM without resetting the SMU. When I get home tonight I'll try booting from the DVD and repairing the permissions on the start up drive.
At first, I thought I'd leave it running all night, but when I got to the office in the morning the fans were running at full throttle and the machine was in a coma. All I could do was reboot--which it did, immediately going into kernel panic. I shut it down and rebooted, resetting the PRAM in the process. The computer booted and ran fine all day, although it seems slow (I did have Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom running simultaneously, but I do have 5 GB of RAM).
It's been suggested I may have a corrupt RAM chip (computer doesn't chirp at me, as I'm told it would) or, more terrifying, a processor is about to check out. I also have an ATTO SCSI card in this to run a legacy scanner. Could that be a problem?
Any advice?
JP
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Ibook that will not boot (apple turns into a circle with....
my ibook was clicking the other night. it has already been through the logic board recall. this appears to be the hard drive. after tech tool pro, the disk utilities, etc., and all of the alternate startup sequences, i now have an apple that turned into a circle with a slash through it (a do not allow type of symbol). i bought a new drive today and after reading many forums today, i am wondering if there is a recall, warranty or if i should send it in the my local store to get fixed or just do it myself tonight. any advice anyone?
Well, since I don't know your level of expertise, it's hard to advise you. Take a look at the online instructions:
http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/50.12.0.html
http://www.powerbooktech.com/knowledge,name-Hard-Drive,type-6.htm
and see if you think you are up to the task. -
I have a 2011 mini that won't power up. The apple on screen comes onn then turns into a circle with a line in it. Any way to fix it? It is running Mavericks on a 1T drive.
First thing, see if it will boot into the Recovery Partition: Hold down Command R at restart.
If it boots up there, then it's likely that the hard drive has failed, or simply doesn't have a working system.
If it doesn't boot up there, then it's likely to be some other part of the hardware.
If it is the hard drive, then this can be replaced. You can find videos showing you how to do this on sites like ifixit.com.
Then you can just restore all your data from your backup. You do have a backup, right? -
Gray Start Up Screen Circle With Line Through It
so i am starting up my macbook, and on the gray start up screen there is a circle with a line through it, and i dont have any idea what that means...
i recently got a new hard drive put in it, and since then its been pretty darn slow, and i cant do certain things like use safari because it is too slow and freezes up.... and then when i restarted it this happened...
i dont know what to do and what this means.
Thanks
Randiwell that kinda helps... but after i try everything that i can do at the moment, the its says to go to the apple menu, but there is no apple menu that i can get to.. so this only helps to a point... i guess i will have to go waste my money at best buy with the geek squad lol...
if anyone has any help...
pleasseee help me!!! -
My mac doesnt start. All i get is the gray screen with the apple and the loading icon but nothing more happens. I tried to start it in safe mode but it doesnt help. What can i do?
If you have a external USB enclosure - trying installing your hard drive in that enclosure and connect it to your usb port - restart your macbook while holding down the options key. If you Macbook boots to your desktop then you have a faulty cable. If you get the same error, then your hard drive just died on you.
good luck. -
My iMac doesn't start. Get the apple on the screen, nothing more happens. Any clues?
Rebooted - get the apple on the screen - but nothing more happens. What to do?
Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
To restart an unresponsive computer, press and hold the power button for a few seconds until the power shuts off, then release, wait a few more seconds, and press it again briefly.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a startup failure is to secure the 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 the last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to start. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Start up from 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.” The article refers to starting up from a DVD, but the procedure in Recovery mode is the same. You don't need a DVD if you're running OS X 10.7 or later.
b. If Step 1a fails because of disk errors, and no other Mac is available, then you may be able to salvage some of your files by copying them in the Finder. If you already have an external drive with OS X installed, start up from it. Otherwise, if you have Internet access, follow the instructions on this page to prepare the external drive and install OS X on it. You'll use the Recovery installer, rather than downloading it from the App Store.
c. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, start 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.
d. 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. You might be able to start up in safe mode even though you can't start up normally. Otherwise, start up from an external drive, or else use the technique in Step 1b, 1c, or 1d 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 startup failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If a desktop Mac hangs at a plain gray screen with a movable cursor, the keyboard may not be recognized. Press and hold the button on the side of an Apple wireless keyboard to make it discoverable. If need be, replace or recharge the batteries. If you're using a USB keyboard connected to a hub, connect it to a built-in port.
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 start up, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can start up 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 started from an external storage device, make sure that the internal startup volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Start up in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to start 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 the login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you start up 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, the startup volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 11. If you ever have another problem with the drive, replace it immediately.
If you can start and log in in safe mode, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on the startup 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 restart as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the startup 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 the 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 restart as usual.
Step 9
If the startup device is an aftermarket SSD, it may need a firmware update and/or a forced "garbage collection." Instructions for doing this with a Crucial-branded SSD were posted here. Some of those instructions may apply to other brands of SSD, but you should check with the vendor's tech support.
Step 10
Reinstall the OS. If the Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 11
Do as in Step 9, but this time erase the startup volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically restart into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer the data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 12
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 startup 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 13
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. -
While trying to restore os x and erase content on my MacBook pro, some problem about voice software came up and the computer asked me to restart and try again by clicking restart button. When I did this, the machine went to a gray start up screen with an apple and will not progress. I've waited more than 30 minutes and tried restarting again by holding the power button. Also, restore cd 1 will not eject so the computer will no longer move past the gray screen with spinning circle. Restore CDs had never beeused and were still in packaging in the original box. Ran hardware test just to check, and it came back as normal. Now what? I live nowhere near a genius bar :(
computer asked me to restart and try again by clicking restart button.
That's called a kernel panic...
Since the install disc won't eject, try starting up while holding down the C key. If the Mac won't boot while holding down the C key, try ejecting disc by either holding down the mouse while starting up or holding down the Eject key while starting up.
Try booting from your install disc so you can run Disk Utility in case the startup disk needs repairing.
Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
(In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first from the installer menu)
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your startup disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window. Where you see Capacity and Available. Make sure there is always 15% free space.
What is a kernel panic
Mac OS X Kernel Panic FAQ
Resolving Kernel Panics -
Hello i have reset my iphone 4 .3.3 and till now not start again i have the apple on the screen and nothing else what i want to do thank you
Try resetting the device by pressing the Home and Sleep/Wake button for several seconds, the device should then boot up.
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my MacBook Pro is crashing and Mac OS stops working sometimes so I have to restart it. And sometimes it stays on the first white-ish screen with the Apple and won't start further.
What to do?
Does that mean that the is the end of my Mac Book 5bought in the summer of 2009) ? Or is there someting to do to fix it?
Thanks
VTry 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. -
Every time I started my Imac, loks like If It is the sistem downloading again, with yhe white screen, the apple and the filling up bar. Its that normal???
It is for Yosemite. Not for Mavericks or earlier.
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When I turn on computer I can't see the apple logo the screen is just a gray screen
When I turn on computer I can't see the apple logo the screen is just a gray screen? I know a person presses "alt" to switch people apple and windows using bootcamp, but I just don't see the apple logo anymore. What is wrong with this thing?
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Your boot drive is damaged in some way. If you have an original installation disc, you can boot from that and run Disk Utility. From DU you can select your internal hard drive ("Macintosh HD" is the name Apple puts on it - you may have renamed yours) and select "Verify Disk". If errors come up, try "Repair Disk". If it repairs, then you should be able to restart and boot from it. If it doesn't show up or won't repair, your drive is probably hosed.
Clinton -
I upgraded iphone 4s to iOS6. Now phone just keeps rebooting with the apple sign showing on a black screen. It does not completely start up.
Hi Lisa 1952,
What have you done so far to try to fix it? I've tried rebooting several times and it did not work. Tried connecting to iTines but it does not recognize the iPhone.
My other iPhone 4s restarted successfully after the updgrade but some apps don't function properly. It automatically closes while in use.
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I was reading slides on powerpoint and my macbook froze so I restarted it and it stuck in the start screen with the apple and the loading wheel and it would not go any further. How can I restart my computer?
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The screen stays on the apple icon when i start up!!!!!!!!!!!!
....for some reason..when i press the power button...the laptop makes a loud fan kind of noise...eventually the screen will light up and the apple icon will appear...whats weird is that the icon moves down from its original position slighty..its almost not noticeable but with all the restarting ive been doing its become more apparent....after that...its a pretty much a backlit preview of the apple icon. When i try to use the Mac OSX install disc to run the hardware tests (quick or/and extended) ...it comes up with no diagnostic problem....
Ive also tried holding down the option key as i turn the power on and when i choose the the HD icon and press on the right arrow icon ...the apple icon comes up again..and then in a few miliseconds the applen icon changes to a small circle with a line through it...kind of like a barred symbol ..(similar to when an ipod is connected and it tells you not to disconnect)...i have a feeling it may have been a file in prefs or reciepts that i shouldve not erased...
Is there anyway at all to salvage what i have on HD?..and what can i do ..as its so frustrating knowing ive just upgraded my Pro-Tools with so many plug-ins i havent got to use yet....
any help and advice would be appreciated
JoshuaI thought I would add more to my story in case it triggered someone's memory. The thing that brought me to this thread is that the screen icon did that little hitch thing then stops. It moves about 1/4 inch to the right then gets something like artifacts on the top and left edge. Other things I have tried: booting into target mode, running disk verify, which is fine, disk repair won't work because it won't unmount, booting from the apple hardware cd, which only gets me into open firmware, it won't run the program, reset the open firmware and vram to defaults. The part that almost disturbs me most is that I couldn't get the OS install discs to run, it just gave me a circle with a line across it, and that I had to format the drive while in target disc mode, then install the same way. It rebooted after the install and showed the "bad" computers desktop on the main machine just fine. I just don't get it.
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