Unable to enter password on grey screen on startup

My macpro froze so I shut it down. When it restarted to the grey screen where I can sign in to the computer, the box to place the password in does not appear, so now I cannot access the computer at all. HELP!!!

Startup in Safe Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204
Repair Disk
Steps 1 through 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836

Similar Messages

TS2570 Grey screen on startup...

I am using 2008 White Macbook with OSX lion running on it. Recently I tried to update the OS and then I started getting a folder with question mark on startup. After that I started getting a continuous grey screen on startup. I tried various options like command + option + P + Q, then Command + R, etc. but did not get any response. After that I pressed option key on startup then there was a response. A lock icon appeared on screen asking for a password. I tried the MacBook password and it is not taking that password as well. I tired all the passwords I remembered but nothing worked. My cd drive is not working and also I do not have original OS disks with me now. The apple service centre told that they can resolbe it as it is a vintage model. I called apple care but they are asking 29 $ for a call Which is ridiculou. Pl. help me

Does the lock screen look like the one on this page…
http://osxdaily.com/2014/01/06/set-firmware-password-mac/
That is an EFI password - it stops the firmware accepting ANY startup commands so you cannot boot from other media or use the startup keys to get into recovery mode, single user mode, target disk mode etc.
If you can't remember the password you will need to remove the battery & leave it unpowered for a few days. If you are lucky it will reset. If it doesn't reset you need to open the case & remove the internal clock battery. Not something anyone should do without the skills to work on electronics - take it to an Apple Store or an Apple approved service centre would be my advice.
It is also possible that you have Filevault password instead of an EFI password - did you need to enter a password after every reboot before the OS failed. This shouldn't be confused with a normal user account password.
If you have Filevault enabled you can still try booting into recovery mode, but you must enter the password to repair the boot disk.
The 'question mark folder' means it cannot find an OS that is bootable - it need to be repaired but you can't get to recovery mode without the EFI password - a catch 22 situation.
Since you have no install disks or other ways to boot it seems you are probably not going to be able to fix this. If you have another Mac you could try to download 10.7 & create a USB install disk & use that to try to repair the Mac, but it seems unlikely since it appears to have a firmware password.

IOS 6.1.3 problems, entering passwords and greyed out wifi

Since upgrading to iOS 6.1.3, I've had many issues! Firstly, I got the greyed out wifi screen... Now I've spoken to a few people before, they said that it is a hardware related issue, which I find really hard to believe unless the os messed up something on my motherboard... Wifi was working perfectly find before I updated the iOS!
Second issue I've been having is entering passwords... On a couple of websites, an apps, whilst entering passwords, safari would crash, this also happened when I was entering a password on google chrome...
Really bad update just to fix the Passcode by pass which it would take someone with a masters degree to figure out!!! Any help would be appreciated!

The update stressed the chipset past the breaking point. It was already failing before the update. Now that it's been updated, it's detected the failure.

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 )
I have swapped the RAM modules for other ones.
testing my internet connectivity; speedtest.net reports 15 Mbit downstream and 2 Mbit upstream
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.
Because the Mac mini doesn't ship with any DVD-media and the Mountain Lion I have bought is through the app store I couldn’t try to boot
from a DVD.
The reason I bought a Mac was to get away from problems which is typically related to computers (Windows). I am running out of ideas here,
please help!
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.

I'm unable to enter passcode as the screen is blank

I took delivery of my new iPhone 6 Plus this afternoon and have just completed a restore from the back up of my old iPhone 4S. The new 6 Plus turned off and I'm unable to enter my passcode as t

Hey QPZ537svwp91J,
If you are having an issue with a blank screen on your iPhone, I would suggest that you troubleshoot using the steps in this article -
Get help with the screen on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Happy computing,
Brett L

Grey screen when startup

My macbook pro shows grey screen when I start the computer after I heard the sound of start. What's wrong?

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.

Persistent grey screen on startup.

I own a late 2011 MacBook Pro running osx mavericks. Had it for two years with no problems. In early January of this year the macbook would crash whenever I opened photoshop or other programs like iMovie or photobooth. The only way to get it to function again was to hard restart the laptop. And Even then sometimes I would get the grey screen on start up and hear three beeps. I Went to the Genius Bar and the employee reseated the RAM and the laptop functioned well for a week. When the persistent grey screen appeared again, the genius employee erased all my storage, with my permission, reset my operation system completely. Even still I get the grey screen and the laptop doesn't make it to the login. What should I do to fix it? Would buy info new ram solve the problem? If tried pessimg shift and running in safe mode but I just get a blue screen and am forced to hard reset.

Hi there friends
I don't have apple help in my city
I'm using MBP as desktop removed battery due to batter sensors issue.
It is late 2011.
It started with no startup tone chime than I set nvram so startup tone came but the persisting issue is grey bar at the startup blow apple logo that takes 20 min almost and after completion MBP turns off and requires manual turn on and upon re turning on again that grey bat appears same fasion.
Some one told me to go to safe mode and apply some changes but I can't go to safe mode with shift key startup login Id password bar appears and constant shift key press interrupts and again grey bat appears.
I don't know how to disable startup password and how to disable vault.
Please help me in
How to get into safe mode
How to get rid of grey bar on startup
My discs are working well I checked in recovery.
Please help me even I don't have disc
And if you could help me in how to open a USB net modem.with the MBP having same issues as with mine
Thanks

Grey Screen On Startup With 3 Flashing Indicator LED

I have a old MBP which unable to load to my bootcamp menu sometimes when i tried to hold the option button. Instead of loading to the startup disk menu, it gave me a grey screen with 3x flashing indicator LED. Any help appreciated.

Need details about your MBP so the knowledgeable users can help you. Please correct your current system info by supplying details about your computer & system in the +"My Settings"+ preferences located----->

HELP!!! intermittent boot failures - grey screen at startup

For the past six to eight months now I have been dealing with intermittent issues upon startup. My early 2006 Intel iMac will occasionally hang at the grey screen without the Apple logo showing up. No rainbow pinwheel, no nothing. Just a grey screen. The only option I have is to power off the iMac and then restart it.
When I first called Apple Care I was told that this was more than likely an issue with 3rd party software and that I should perform a clean reinstall. I followed the advice but still experienced the intermittent issues.
Lately, it got so annoying that I called Apple Care again and they set me up to take my iMac into the local Apple store for repairs. After five days without my iMac, I called the Apple Store today and was told that after 1000s of reboots they were unable to reproduce the issue.
That in of itself surprises me, especially considering last Friday I backed up, zeroed the drive and re-installed Tiger in preparation to taking the iMac into the store on Saturday and the issue re-occured twice with in 30 minutes of the initial reboot following the re-install.
Has anyone experienced this? How did you solve this?
I have found the following discussion but have yet to receive a response to my inquiry.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=835193
I have also seen posts on the net for similar issues, but those state that people have external drives connected and turned on. That doesn't apply in my case even though I have external drives. (They are normally powered off.)
2 Ghz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro - 2 GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.9) Original 5GB iPod, Pepsi iTunes 6GB iPod Mini, Black 8GB iPod Nano

Well, after six days of being at the Apple Store, my iMac finally has found its way home without being repaired. The techs at the store were unable to reproduce the issue.
In the process of the repair, techs at the Apple Store installed an Apple-created app called RestartX, version 2.5(1). They used to the app they stated to restart the iMac over 1500 times without being able to reproduce the issue. They left the app on the computer for me to try with my set up of Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, MS Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0, USB hub and Epson CX4200, as well as external hard drives.
Well I didn't get as far as the external drives when the computer did the same thing upon boot try 17 after the Epson drivers install on boot 14, boot 15 with the printer on and boot 16 with the printer off.
Now the computer is failing to shutdown properly when using RestartX. If there are any Apple experts out there this is the last log entry before the computer hangs and needs to be powered down manually.
[04/13 01:12:58 AM] applicationWillTerminate exited
Any help would be much appreciated. Looks like I will be heading to the Apple Store again tomorrow.

HELP!! Grey screen at startup....

I was cleaning out my computer, getting rid of some photos and I suddenly got the loading wheel and my Macbook froze, which never happens. I was forced to shutdown the computer and when I turned it on I just got the grey screen. No apple sign, no loading wheel, no folder with a ? in it,. Just grey. I can hear the fan going but nothing is happening. When I press the power button it just turns off. I tried to start it through Safe Mode. It wouldn't work. I did the Command, Option, P, and R commandy and it did was it was suppose to do but nothing happened after the second time it started. I don't know what else I can do because my OSX disk is not where I'm living now. Running out of options. Help please!

Well, after six days of being at the Apple Store, my iMac finally has found its way home without being repaired. The techs at the store were unable to reproduce the issue.
In the process of the repair, techs at the Apple Store installed an Apple-created app called RestartX, version 2.5(1). They used to the app they stated to restart the iMac over 1500 times without being able to reproduce the issue. They left the app on the computer for me to try with my set up of Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, MS Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0, USB hub and Epson CX4200, as well as external hard drives.
Well I didn't get as far as the external drives when the computer did the same thing upon boot try 17 after the Epson drivers install on boot 14, boot 15 with the printer on and boot 16 with the printer off.
Now the computer is failing to shutdown properly when using RestartX. If there are any Apple experts out there this is the last log entry before the computer hangs and needs to be powered down manually.
[04/13 01:12:58 AM] applicationWillTerminate exited
Any help would be much appreciated. Looks like I will be heading to the Apple Store again tomorrow.

OSX Lion, stuck on grey screen at startup w/ spinning gear.

i believe i have tried everything i could find, so any info is good.
about a week ago my 2009 macbook pro 15 inch stopped starting up, always going to a grey screen with the apple logo and spinning gear.
what i have done so far.
reset nvram
repair disk and disk permissions.
try startup with various combinations of periferials
i am obviously able to start into lion recovery, but my time machine backups are on the other side of the world.
when i do a safe boot if stops with two entrys of nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2
any help is much appreciated

You can do two things
1: Install Lion over itself via the Recovery, won't touch your files or most programs.
Any program has a kernel extension file in System/Library/Extensions folder, that will get kicked out. Thus those few programs won't work and require a reinstall of their software
2: Install Lion on a blank powered external Disk Utility > Erase with Zero + GUID OS X Extended Journaled formatted hard drive, hold the option key and boot from it, same named user, and then access your internal drive to recovery files, disconnect then do #1
 Cheat sheet to help diagnose and fix your Mac
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

Stuck on Grey Screen During Startup

I updated to Yosemite on Saturday and everything has been working fine, I have been able to shut down and startup as normal until today.
Last night I forced my Early 2011 MacBook Pro to shut down and today it will no longer get to the login screen.
I hear the chime, the Apple appears with the Yosemite status bar underneath, it takes a long time to get about halfway then both the Apple and status bar disappear leaving just a blank grey screen.
- I can get into Single User mode, using "fsck -fy" it reports that everything is OK.
- I can't get into Safe Mode.
- I have reset PRAM
- I have NOT reset SMC (is it worth a try?)
- I have a bootable Yosemite USB, holding option I can select that but instead of presenting the Utilities window it just brings up the Apple and status bar then grey screen. For some reason my WiFi network isn't in the list either. Also, the image of my hard drive that appears has a custom icon that I haven't used for at least 5 years, very odd indeed.
I'm at a loss, any help would be greatly appreciated.
NOTE
My left fan is faulty, I have ordered a new one online. I have been using SMCFanControl to monitor it, if the computer has been feeling hot I have been increasing the RPM for a minute to cool it just to be safe until the new fan arrives. Last night I increased the RPM and SMCFanControl became unresponsive which is why I forced the computer to shut down because I couldn't reduce the fan speed back to normal.

I am able to get into Internet Recovery Mode but eventually the globe disappears and it's right back to the Apple and status bar then grey screen again.
When holding Option only my hard drive shows, there is no recovery drive option.

Macbook Pro won't load past a grey screen on startup!

I apologise for what will most likely be an essay ahead.
I have a Macbook Pro (2.16ghz) that is just over three years old. It is running on Leopard with all the up to date patches / updates. Over the past week or so, it has been 'playing up' in the sense that the spinning loading icon would appear at random intervals and stay there for a good 20 to 30 seconds or so, not allowing me to do anything. If I would be listening to music, the music would pause and then come back on.
It would normally appear when something was trying to load. For example, the final straw was when I was using Adobe Bridge and it was taking an extremely long time to load up the photos I had imported and in the end I gave up. Speed has never been an issue before and my MBP has 2GB of RAM.
So I backed up what I needed and proceeded to do an 'Erase and Install(Leopard) format. Once formatted, the MBP booted up and I completed the registration, took my User picture blah blah etc. Once done, the MBP booted into OS X - this is where the problems occurred. The spinning loading icon appeared and after about 30 seconds or so, the Finder window / toolbar at the top disappeared, as did the Macintosh HD icon on the desktop. All I was left with was my wallpaper and Dock with icons in. However, if I clicked on any of the programs, nothing would happen.
Naturally, I tried restarting it and the same thing happened again. I figured that because my MBP was connected to a second Dual monitor, that this might have been the issue so I decided to boot from the OS X Leopard CD and do another 'Erase and Install'. I once again got past the registration screen, but this time, instead of booting into OS X my MBP stuck itself on a grey screen. It would not go any further.
I then decided that the spinning loading icon issue may be a RAM problem. When I first got my MBP, I upgraded the RAM so I knew how to take it out and replace it. So I tried taking out the RAM stick (1GB) I put in orignally and booting it with the original 1GB stick. The same problem occurred. I tried the other way round, putting in my 1GB RAM stick and taking the original out - nothing worked. I tried every possible combination, even swapping the sticks around.
Eventually my brother tells me he has some spare RAM which I also try and once again, this does not solve the issue. So I figure it cannot be a RAM problem.
So next I try booting from the OS X Disc on startup and run Disk Utility. I verify and repair the Mac HD which comes up fine. No errors, no issues, nothing.
I finally scour the internet for info on what could be the cause of the problem and the biggest suggestion seems to be formatting. So I once again try formatting my MBP for a third time - however this time, I get the original problem. It boots up into OS X but then the Finder toolbar and Mac HD icon disappear, leaving me with Dock and Wallpaper.
The final thing I try is resetting the MBPs PRAM on startup. This does not solve the issue.
So here I am. If you could be bothered to read all of that, well done haha I'm not sure if I could have.
If anyone has ANY suggestions or advice, please post!
I do not have Apple Care so if I was to take it to the local Genius bar, would they look at it for free and diagnose it? Or would that cost me? I have never had to take my MBP in before.
Thankyou again

I just skimmed over this because the post is like a small novel! lol Try a Apple Hardware Test. I think it's probably a bad logic board.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
Don't take it to a Genius Bar until you've done this, saves time and you might have a little more info to give them. Also that way you won't feel pressured into anything. It's out of warranty, so sometimes I've noticed they can be a little pushy especially on a very high dollar replacement such as a new logic board on an out of warranty item. Also the "enhanced diagnostic" is around $100, so you might have to at least fork over a hard earned Benjamin and not get anything fixed. And whatever you do, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT tell them you upgraded the RAM yourself. If they are feeling in a good mood and decide to knock off any money or waive any sort of fees, this will kill it instantly. RAM is considered "user serviceable," but they normally try to plead "the part you installed is not Apple Authorized" or the "installation caused the issue and was not an ACHT." Put back in the original stick and leave it alone. Hope this helps you out!

Kernel panics and grey screen on startup

Hello savvy bunch,
I recently acquired a wonderful little Core Solo mini. My plan was to
run it starting up from a 400GB hard drive in an external FW enclosure
that has another 200GB drive I was going to use for backups. Long
story short, the 400GB drive starting giving me weird Finder problems
and such. Booting from the internal HDD in the mini fixed everything.
Then it started having sudden kernel panics at random moments (I could
be writing an email, browsing on Safari, whatever), after which upon
restart I get an empty grey screen that lasted forever. I tried
several fixes, and the only one that worked was unplugging the FW
enclosure. I erased and fixed both external HDDs, and things calmed
down for a while, but I just had another kernel panic-grey screen
episode, which I solved turning off the FW enclosure.
I remember now that I had similar problems before with the same
enclosure/HDDs and my Quicksilver. Could the problem be the enclosure,
or the hard drives themselves?
TIA,

Oh, don't worry, I know and use all the right protocols for mounting and unmounting FW drives. They only get turned off AFTER they are dismounted. Of course now I realize that you wouldn't think so the way I described what I was doing. (That was some lazy writing, I guess.) I also have several external drives in use with several other computers. It's this particular enclosure that seems to be trouble.
As far as brands go, this is some kind of generic two-drive enclosure I got from OWC on a big sale a while back. I cannot find a brand name for the life of me (and I have looked all over it). I have not had a lot of luck with two-drive enclosures. This is my second (the first one was I think a Newertech or some other OWC brand, which died very quickly on me. The HDDs survived and are still in use.)
As for Lacies, Smokerz, you are completely right. My first FW enclosure ever was a Lacie, and it's still going strong. I have my eye on a Lacie 1TB enclosure that's in Newegg for $99...

G3 Beige: grey screen at startup; no icon; won't boot from CD

G3 Beige, OS 9.2; working perfectly for past year.
I was using a D-Link wired router, to this and my other Mac, G4 Graphite OS X Tiger.
Having just gotten a netbook, I installed a D-Link wireless router (DIR-615), and changed the ethernet cables for both (non-wireless) Macs over to the new router. (It had been configured for me by a Staples Associate where I bought it.)
The netbook and the Graphite G4 worked as they should, but upon restart, the G3 Beige not only wouldn’t boot, it didn’t even show a sad Mac or a question mark. It chimed, but only has a grey screen. Cursor works (& keyboard); nothing else.
I disconnected ethernet cable; same grey screen upon restart.
Won’t boot from Norton or Mac OS 9 CD, pressing “C” at startup.
Zapping pram didn’t help.
Shift during startup didn’t help.
Now what??
TIA.
PS: Meanwhile, I'm afraid to connect my emergency spare 7300 w/G3 upgrade & OS 9.1 to that router. Should I?

The next thing to try is re-seating the sound card. The backpanel is only well-supported on one side, and the sound card takes a beating in all the Beige G3s and similar Macs with tumble-open or lift open designs (but not the All-in-One). Jeff suggests you remove the exterior third screw \[and leave it out] and bend the top tab slightly before re-installing the two screws on the rail. This helps push the sound card back into the slot and keep it firmly seated.
Do you have any SCSI devices or SCSI cables connected? A dangling SCSI cable or a badly-terminated SCSI device can cause a Hang where you describe.

Unable to enter password on grey screen on startup

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