ThinkPad hangs on boot - stuck at Thinkpad screen

QuestionI have a type 2714-CTO R500 and I am not able to get past the Thinkpad logo or splash screen. It just hangs. Pressing the blue thinkvantage button does nothing. F12 likewise. Not able to get any sort of boot menu. Bootable CD in drive lights flash, no boot.
Have tried:
Reseating hard drive
Reseating Dimms, swapping and plugging in one at a time
Removed battery and held power switch down to discharge
Upon examining the system, I found a broken USB socket - the orientation tab is missing and the contacts were pushed to the bottom of the socket shorting out each other. I was able to separate them everything then worked just fine when I rebooted.
AnswerThis is a somewhat unlikely cause for a hung boot issue, and might also be circumvented by changing the boot order in BIOS to ensure USB was at the end of the list, although depending on which of the 4 pins on the USB connector were shorted out. This can occur on ThinkPad T400, T500, R400 or R500 and potentially other models if the USB ports are damaged, causing pins to be shorted as in the photos below.
So if you get stuck on this screen->
Here is an example of a damaged USB port where the tab on the port in the lower portion of the photo has been broken. If a USB cable or device were inserted, it is likely the pins will be bent and might short out, causing the boot hang symptoms described above.
To resolve, you can carefully straighten the pins after powering off the system, removing the AC adapter and battery. Use a small flat blade screw driver, tweezers or micro needle nose pliers to carefully seperate and reform the contacts so they do not touch. The system can then be restarted and should boot properly.
This is a work around, as this port can no longer be used. A complete solution requires replacement of they system board, which may or may not be covered under normal warranty terms, depending upon how the connector was broken.

Thanks for this post We had 3x T400 Laptops (out of warranty) come in at the same time with the same problem, had us stumped for a while until we found this post. Exactly our problem on all 3 machines. Kind Regards,
Richard

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Re: ThinkPad hangs on boot - stuck at Thinkpad screen

I have the same problem, ThinkPad hungs at ThinkPad logo screen. I checked the USB which seems to be ok!
I cant enter the bios by pressing F1. I tried removing internal/external batteries and boot with no success. Everytime stucks on Welcome screen. Any suggestions?

I'm curious, what model is your TP and the BIOS version you're running? Some suggestions...
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ThinkPad hangs on boot - stuck at Lenovo boot screen

I'm experiencing random boot issues with a brank new thinkpad yoga 20CD0038PB win 8.1 pro. Once the system stalls on the boot screen the fn light stays on and I cannot even access bios. Powering down and keeping power button pressed for several second doesn't help either, However If I leave the computer powered down for and hour or longer it usually boots like nothing happened. Then the issue comes back intermittently with a restart or sometimes a preceeding blue screen.
Sometimes when the issue occures it also reports hdd0 error, and lenovo sent me a new hdd which I replaced that this has not fixed the issue.
I have the latest BIOS GQET29WW 1.09. I've run memory and disk tests using Lenovo Solution Center and memory tests in bios and they were ok.
On the BIOS download page I've found references to some issues regarding boot hangs with earlier versions of bios (1.7).
At this point I'm stuck. Anyone experiencing similar issues?

I am also experiencing this problem Like the OP, it seems random and has occured from day one.
Boots to Lenovo Screen
Fails to show spinning circle
F1 light stays on
Nothing further happens (longest I have left it for is ~ 5 min).
If I hold the power button down for several seconds, I can switch the machine off. Usually waiting 30-60 seconds and re-starting is sufficient for a normal boot and start up. On occassion, I have to go through the shut down cycle twice before I can successfully start the computer.
Unlike the OP, I have not seen any error messages, or blue screen.
System Info:
20CDCT01WW
Windows 8.1 Pro
256gb/8gb
Emdedded Controller Version 1.09

Macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no

macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no hash key appears that will allow me to type in: fsck -fy
have my trials for IB in one week and my history notes are all on my hard drive, that has not been backed up. help please =(

macbook does not boot. stuck at grey screen. have tried single user mode, but text stops at AppleIntelCPUPPowerManagement: initialization complete, without anymore prompts. no hash key appears that will allow me to type in: fsck -fy
have my trials for IB in one week and my history notes are all on my hard drive, that has not been backed up. help please =(

Imac 8,1 does not boot stuck on blue screen

imac8,1 mid (2008) 20" stuck on blue screen after boot ,It starts in safemode, below is a list of thing i have check so far
1 Apple hardware test (says every thing is ok)
2 Disk utility repair (was successfull)
3 reset PRAM ,SMC
3 Boot for OSX dvd and reinstalled (still only starts in safe mode )
4 boot in single user mode and used fsck ( said every thing was ok)
Yet when i boot i get stuck on a grey/blue screen . it starts in safe mode though, Is there some EFI , firmware restore file that i can install ???
What else can it try????

Please closely follow Apple's advice in Gray screen appears during startup. There are a number of steps to take, be methodical and follow the directions closely.

Mac won't boot, stuck on grey screen if the external hdd plugged in

as the title.
if i plug my external drive, via usb port, the mac won't boot and stuck at grey screen.
unplugging it, the boot process will continue.
the hdd is a LaCie mobile hdd
any help?

Hello jason(?)
It's a LaCie external mobiel hdd, formatted as exFAT. without adapter. take power directly from usb port.
i tested it on my iMac and it works fine. boot up as normal. the only difference is my iMac is on 10.6.8 and my Air is on 10.7.2
I tested on both USB port on my Air and the problem still persist.
the read/write speed is normal (bought it like a day ago).
another thing is I don't have this problem with my external WD drive.
One thing to notice is that, I accidentally left like for like 2-3 mins and it boots. So why the question now is why it's taking so long to boot? normally it just takes <20 seconds. Seems like it tried to boot from the external hdd, doesn't it?

10.6 won't boot; stuck on grey screen

I know this is covered here to some degree, at least, but I haven't been able to find a complete solution/answer, so here goes:
(Please, redirect me to the right source of information, if you know where to look, but not before reading through my post. Thanks! Oh, and I'm no computer expert, so, please, bear with me.)
First of all, my equipment: 17" iMac (serial #: w86262cru2n, emc #: 2104), running (ran?) 10.6 (w/updates)
So, as my title says, my iMac won't boot up and gets stuck on the grey startup screen with the  and the spinning wheel. I can wait and wait, but it never gets past this point.
Here are some things I've tried (nothing has worked so far; "no success" = stuck on grey screen). These steps are also laid out here.
- Tried normal startup (no success)
- Tried Safe Boot (no success)
- Tried booting without connected peripherals (no success)
- Tried alternate outlet (power source) (no success)
- Tried resetting PRAM & NVRAM (no success)
- Tried boot from 10.6 Install Disk (no success)
- Tried replacing original RAM (no success)
- Tried mounting internal drive as Target Disk on my 10.5 MacBook (mounts fine; used 10.6 install disk to verify, says disk is "ok")
- Tried booting to MacBook via Target Disk (i.e. iMac is external drive connected by FireWire) (no success)
- Tried booting from cloned copy of 10.6 disk on an external USB drive (yes, this can be done; I've done it before). This drive was verified "ok" in the same way the internal disk was (see above). (no success)
My next step appears to be to erase the original internal HD and reinstall 10.6. This is where my my ignorance begins to rear it's head. Since I can seem to boot from the iMac, can I do this through my MacBook, viz. mount the original, internal, 10.6 disk on my MacBook and erase it and install 10.6 from there (e.g. through Disk Utility on the 10.5 MacBook)?
Assuming this is possible, can someone step me through the process?
Assuming this last step isn't possible, does this all point to a faulty logic board (sounds like a 'worst case' to me)?
Any ideas? Suggestions?
Many, many thanks, BTW, to all who have posted here and whose help I've availed myself of anonymously many times. And thanks in advance to anyone with helpful ideas.

Try a SMC reset and follow the steps again in the support doc for grey screen
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Your 10.6 install disk seems unreadable if it won't "hold c or option" boot.
Clean the bottom with a alcohol and a very soft cloth and lightly polish until there is no streaks.
Don't touch the bottom or place the disk onto something that will mar the bottom.
If the disk still fails to work, get a replacement, as your going to need it. Get a jeweled plastic case for it.
To make copies of your Snow Leopard install disk, follow these directions.
http://www.walterjessen.com/make-a-bootable-backup-snow-leopard-install-disc/
Once you can hold c and boot off a working 10.6 install disk, simply reinstall OS X without using Disk Utility to Erase and Format the drive, this will replace the OS X installed (and bundled programs) with the disk versions, then reboot and immediately use Software Update to get current.
Your user files, third party programs will remain untouched, except for ones installed in OS X/root system files, those will have to be reinstalled with updated copies.
All else fails:
Grab a copy of your recent user file folders via FireWire target disk mode first or from a hold option bootable clone on a external drive
If you have to completely erase and reformat the drive, reinstall 10.6, there are some things you need to know.
1: The free iLife that came with your 10.5 install disks are not on the 10.6 retail disks
So to get that you need to select the drive makers name in Disk Utility, erase and install with the 10.5 disks first (warning, wipe entire drive)
2: Name the boot drive the same name as before in Disk Utility when formatting.
3: When you go through inital "Welcome to Mac" setup, use the same username as before, (different password)
4: Once in OS X 10.5 stick a working 10.6 installer disk in and upgrade. Once rebooted, immediately Software Update to current version.
5: Install programs from fresh sources next and update.
6: Finally, return the backup copies of your user file folders (Music, Documents, Pictures, etc., not Library) to their respective folders on the new configuration. Because you used the same hard drive and user name as before you should have little complications with things like iTunes song locations/playlists and other hard references to files on your drive.
By installing the OS first, then upgrading, then programs, then finally user files last, keeps the drive optimized as the drive is faster on the data installed first than data installed later. Since users files change size often, having them towards the end where they can grow or shrink keeps the performance of the computer up as much as possible for the OS and applicaitons. Eventually though with OS X updates it can get a bit more defragmented, but not much.

Boot stuck at gray screen

I have a 24" silver iMac. Boot gets stuck at gray screen with gray apple showing and wheel continuously spinning. Never gets to blue screen. I have tried booting from system CD and running disk repair and repair permissions. They are fine. I have tried zapping PRAM. I have tried booting with everything disconnected except keyboard. (all recommended elsewhere in these discussions.) So, for the THIRD time in the 5 months I have had this iMac, I am in the process of reinstalling the system from the CDs. THEN, as you know, I'll have to do all the updates. I AM GETTING TIRED OF THIS! (My G4 and MBP don't have these problems (I shouldn't have said that.)) Anyone else having these problems or have any other ways to deal with this? I wonder if it has anything to do with my trying to install, via software update, the latest update for QT. It wouldn't install, saying I didn't have permission or authority or something.

I hate to disagree, but I have had this happen at
least 4-5 times.
1. Happened (Before) I had an external HD attached, as Well as (After.)
(so HD not the issue.)
2. I had only the bare essentials installed on Tiger OS 4.10, B4 buying leopard.
(No other Software Installed, and NOTHING from 2nd install disk. No Optional Programs)
(Makes me rule out Quicktime.
3. I also Had same Grey Screen, Tried Disk Utility from cold boot (DVD)
Removed 1 Simm Chip And reset Pram. (Yes, I waited for 2nd chime.)
No Other OS or ANY Windows Products on this system.
Tried Cold Boot With DVD,
(made sure Active Boot Drive was DVD, NOT HD)
In Addition, Booted While Holding;
a. Shift Key - (Safe Boot)
b. Opt Key - ( I've forgotten )
c. C - Key (Password Change - No Help)
d. D - Key (verify/repair disk or permissions useless.)
Two recurring questions seem to be raised by level 2 Phone Support
to help me recover access, Without Formatting. I refused to do it, and insisted
they walk me out of this problem.
One suggested the Parse file was corrupted. Another Seems to feel that having
once forgotten firmware & or Master Password was the problem.
I disagree, I was able to recover that time by dropping to unix prompt, once I
got in, created root user, deleted My User Account,
then Recreated it, using Same Name ) Then deleting Root Account. (for Safety)
I no longer set Firmware or Master Password, It HAS Happened since.
I'm inclinrd to believe the corrupted Parse image, for all the reasons above.
It can be recovered, without Format Or Time Machine Restore. However several different
methods were used by different tech support people, so I have Messy notes on
what the actual steps were. Due to so much back tracking & Holding, And Different
methods used by different Phone Guys. NEVER attempt to try with level 1, INSIST
on level 2 support or you will not recover. Solution seems to have been successful
Most often, after working at unix prompt, and executing various commands.
If I find the Most Efficient notes, I kept from the 1st guy, who was Very Good.
I will post them. Sorry I couldn't be more specific on the recovery steps.
I remember running: fsck -?? & mount -???? , navigating to root, and not mush else.
Good Luck
PantherSherry

Mac pro won't boot: stuck on white screen, HD is new

My HD crashed (I think). Mac pro stuck on white screen for a while, then it goes to a black dos-like screen that says "no disc to boot.
I switched out my HD (I tested on different laptops and it works) and inserted the Mac OSX DVD but now it's just stuck on the white screen. I can't eject my disc either.
I hear 3 VERY small beeps (not the same beeps that states ram is missing/corrupt, which are louder. My beeps are VERY silent).
Fan works
No apple logo, just all white
CMD + R doesn't work, C doesn't work, option doesn't work, shift + ctrl + option doesn't work either
I'm at a loss
Help?
Thanks!
Macbook Pro Mid 2010, stock OSX (not sure which one that is)

Hey jlee12489,
Thanks for the question, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
The following article provides troubleshooting steps for a computer that is not starting as expected. It may help to resolve your issue:
Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Some of the steps included:
- Perform a Safe Boot
- Reset the NVRAM / PRAM
- Start from your Mac OS X Install disc; use Disk Utility
- Check your cables and power source
- Remove third-party RAM and internal hardware
- Perform an Archive and Install installation of Mac OS X
- Perform an Erase and Install installation of Mac OS X as a last resort
Thanks,
Matt M.

Won't boot stuck on white screen

I got an apple question for u before I schedule an appointment at the genius bar...my mid 2007 24" 2.8GHz intel core 2 duo 4 GB 1067 DDR3 iMac running 10.7.2 will not boot passed the white screen. It just keeps on spinning. I had to do a full erase and install and restored from Time Capsule backup. I can boot while holding the option key and it will allow me to boot to the Recovery HD which I ran disk utility and repaired permissions and verified disk, everything came back repaired and "Ok", I reset pram...All that is good but when I try to restart to the Macintosh HD it just spins on the white screen...any suggestions before I bring it in?
thanx

If you can get it to boot once the first thing you should do is backup all your data using Time Machine or better yet create a Bootable Clone using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner. What Apple says to do to trouble shoot is in Gray screen appears during startup.
I would also recommend running Apple Hardware Test in Extended Mode, if no errors appear the first time run the test 2-3 more times. Each Extended Mode test will take 30-60 minutes.

Mac mini unable to boot, stuck in grey screen.

Hi,
i have a Mac Mini which I have kept up to date with current version of OS X (Mountain Lion)
After a recent reboot the system won't come up, it just hangs displaying a grey screen.
I have tried:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
I can boot up the system in single user mode.( https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1492 )
I have done a /sbin/fsck -fy and this works fine. I can browse the file system, the only
strange thing I notice is "BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist: 2 No such file or directory".
I have googled quite a lot but I have not managed to find a solution for this, though it is frequently mentioned.
I have tried the normal diagnostics and no hardware error is reported.
I have tried to boot into local recovery, this starts but after a while I end up with the grey screen.
I have tried a Internet recovery and this starts, the screen flashes for a second and I end up with the gray screen
I have tried the different reset methods, such as NVRAM ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379 )
I have tried to reset the SMC ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964 )
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Even if I leave my Mac mini on for 12+ hours the internet recovery never finishes, nor am I presented with any options, just the grey screen.
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Kind Regards

Whew,
Great work so far, is it still covered unfer AppleCare? I think you'd done all you can do & it needs to be taken in.

Computer doesn't boot, stuck in white screen with Apple logo

I got a friend that has a MacBook 2.0GHz, Black. The computer had some sort of problem so he took out the HD and placed it into another computer (MacBook 2.2GHz, Black). For some reason whenever the computer boots, it gets stuck in the white screen with the gray Apple logo, and shows up a bar, as if it's loading some sort of firmware update. It never advances, and it doesn't go thru.
If he takes the same HD and puts it into an enclosure, first it would take a while to mount in another computer, and afterwards it would give some errors, but now it doesn't even load.
Before he had the issue with his original computer everything was working fine, and there was no update going on when the computer got broken. The problem that that computer has isn't related to the HD.

If you have physically removed the drive and connected it to another computer and it "took a while to mount" then it sounds like the drive itself is failing. Hopefully he maintains backups.
Boot the MacBook in "verbose" mode (press and hold down option+v while powering up)
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
In this mode you will see all the boot messages scroll by instead of the typical white screen with Apple logo. You will likely be able to see messages indicating what the computer is trying to do -- for example messages indicating that having failures or retrying to read the hard drive.
The access arms on hard drives have to be precisely located above the "tracks" on the disk in order to read data. As the drive ages & wears, the accuracy of the arms can become sloppy, causing the read/write head to no longer be precisely located over a track. This results in failure to read correctly. Most drives have a useful life of about 5 years -- after which the failure rate will go up substantially. Fortunately, replacement hard drives are cheap.

Upon boot stuck on 1st screen and beeping

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I was able to surf, print, etc, etc.
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I can send the laptop in, but at the moment I am in the Caribbean, and will be here for sometime. However if push comes to shove, I still have warranty so I will send it in if necessary.
Or, is there something I can do here?
How about if someone from Toshiba International Support (949-859-4273 is the number I called) gets in touch with me. I did register my machine, that was confirmed by the woman who I talked to last night.
Help.!! Please.

Sorry I thought I had mentioned it, but upon re-reading the post I realised I hadn't.
I have a P500-ST6822.
I have installed the updates that Toshiba has sent out including the BIOS one. I always make sure that I update the proper versions of software because I am out in the middle of no-where and if something goes wrong, help is days or weeks away, not minutes or or hours.
I will check the "Product Support" section again. Thanks.
esosm1987 wrote:
I am not a Toshiba support rep, just to get that out of the way, but what model are you using here? Did not see that even listed. May want to use the F2 method on boot to get into your BIOS and load the factory default settings there. Also, you may want to check under 'Product Support' here and see if your model has an updated BIOS package for flashing. Just a quick thought for you to try.

My MacPro won't Boot - stuck on White Screen - help?

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Google - your OEM DVD has AHT on its label
A storm can send too much juice down the modem line and fry the ethernet ports, as long as it is wired, does not need to be running - and sleep is still 'running.'
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CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Compatible 1500VA 900W Pure Sine Wave Tower UPS
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http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
http://www.macperformanceguide.com/blog/2012/20120711_2-MacPro-internal-clone-ba ckup.html

HPE 570t fails to boot, stuck on splash screen after bios update drom 7.11 to 7.15

Hey guys,
I have a desktop pc by HP. HP Elite 570T.
After upgrading the bios from 7.11 to 7.15 due to noticeable boot delay although I am using an ssd for system files, I get stuck on boot. I tried reseting bios using the jumper but it's not working and I removed all but one 4gb ddr3 and still the problem persists.
Please help
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Update:
I removed the CMOS battery and re-installed it and everything works fine

ThinkPad hangs on boot - stuck at Thinkpad screen

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