What do I do when only the grey screen appears on my Mac desktop?

When turning on computer it will only get to grey screen after the chime.

update your profile to reflect mac model and OS more clearly.
You might want to search out for the OS X and iMac Communities.
Mac OS X Forum
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
The more backup sets you have the better. And some basic knowledge of system maintenance.
Mac OS X Help
http://www.apple.com/support/macbasics/
Isolating Issues in Mac OS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1388
https://www.apple.com/support/osx/
https://www.apple.com/support/quickassist/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/tour/
Get Help with your Product
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304725
Apple Mac App Store
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_app_store/using_mac_apple_store
How to Buy Mac OS X Mountain Lion/Lion
http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/
TimeMachine 101
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427
http://www.apple.com/support/timemachine
Mac OS X Community
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os
Recovery Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
ExpressLane
https://expresslane.apple.com/
Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT131
Startup Key combination: here is the old list:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343
Startup Key combinations new list
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533
Troubleshooting: My computer won't turn on
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367
Clone your system:
How to Clone a Volume
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
See also Erasing a Drive, How and Why to Partition a Drive, RAID.
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7032/carbon-copy-cloner
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
http://macperformanceguide.com/Mac-HowToClone.html
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode - http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393
What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? (Mac OS X) - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
Isolating issues in Mac OS X
Creating a temporary user to isolate user-specific problems:
Isolating an issue by using another user account
Identifying resource hogs and other tips:
Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used
Starting the computer in "safe mode":
Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
To identify potential hardware problems:
Apple Hardware Test
General Mac maintenance:
Tips to keep your Mac in top form
How to install OS X on a new or faulty HD without Internet recovery
Corrupt and new disks might not have a working Recovery partition, but there are still ways to access one and reinstall OS X, if needed.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57594422-263/how-to-install-os-x-on-a-new-o r-faulty-hd-without-internet-recovery/

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When I restart my Mac, the grey screen appears like usual. But it takes more than 40 minutes (more) for it to load to finish restarting the Mac. What should I do?!

When I restart my Mac, the grey screen appears like usual. But it takes more than 40 minutes (or more) for it to load to finish restarting the Mac. What should I do to fix it?!

Disconnect all devices from your computer if you have not already done so. Restart again. If the problem has been resolved, you had a peripheral conflict. You will then have to reconnect the devices one at time, restart, to locate the culprit.
Login Items is another culprit. Check your login items.
System Preferences>Accounts>Login Items
Delete/disable all you do not need or want.

How to get the Organizer page to install when only the Editor page appeared after Elements12 installation?

I Can't figure out if it is possible to retrieve/install the Organizer page after only the Editor page installed on Elements 12. If it is possible, how do I do it?

When I launch PSE 12 directly I do get the "welcome" screen first. If I then click on the Organizer box it gives the moving line for a bit, and then nothing more: no Organizer screen ever appears. However when I click on the Editor box the Editor screen does come up after the moving line starts.
By the way, I've long used PSE 10, and that still works for both screens, so I'm now having to jerryrig the post production process by using the Organizer screen from version 10 to access my photos and then drag them to the Editor screen from version 12 !
I bought PSE 12 because it accomodates/processes/edits in RAW, where version 10 doesn't. I sure don't want to have to pay for version 13, and Adobe chat no longer supports version 12, so any help you can offer would be wonderful !!!
By the way -- in addition, a very useful plug-in (Nik Collection) that i've come to love to use with version 10 doesn't appear with version 12's Editor screen at all. So if you have any thoughts about how to fix that I would really appreciate that too !
Thanks in advance. -- Jessie
Sent via the Samsung Galaxy Note® II, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

What happens between the chime & the grey screen on boot?

Hi,
My Mac Pro has recently started taking up to 30secs to reach the grey screen when booting. The chime happens shortly after (re)starting, and then there's a significant pause, where nothing seems to happen (even the Apple Display stays in stand-by mode), before the HDD starts reading and the grey screen appears. I tried using Verbose mode, but the data it prints to screen doesn't start until after the long pause, so…
Anyone know what the Mac Pro could be doing? I've no other problems with the machine.
Thanks,
S.

Hi,
My issue has been solved, apparently by a combination of a PRAM reset and re-selecting the startup disk in System Preferences. My machine now moves from chime to Apple logo almost instantaneously
The AppleCare representative was thorough and walked me through various steps that narrowed down the issue, and his hesitant conclusion was that somehow, as hatter suggested, the Mac was taking its time to find the appropriate boot device - possibly as a result of a change I had made in my BootCamp partition (Windows 7) or as a result of a previous PRAM reset (as hatter suggested).
Case closed! Yay!
S.
EDIT: So, Japamac, it was presumably the "system selection" part of the post-Chime process that was causing the delay. Didn't see your post till I returned to respond with this post, but thanks for the effort anyway
Message was edited by: SiRGadaBout

Okular presentation mode shows only blank grey screen (using Xmonad)

I have a problem getting the presentation mode of Okular to work. When I select presentation mode, the screen is covered by a grey window with nothing in it. The only way to get rid of this window is by killing it from the window manager (i.e. the normal "exit presentation mode" shortcut (esc) doesn't work).
I am using Xmonad as a window manager (using the KDEWM environment variable).
It has been working before, but I don't know which update broke it.
I am running KDE 4.5.2 and Xmonad 0.9.1.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
-Toke

tohojo wrote:
I haven't found a way to make it stop doing that, but when the grey screen appears, pressing "B" twice seems to solve it, and make the normal presentation mode appear. (B is bound to "Switch to blackscreen mode").
This makes okular usable for presentations for me...
Thanks!

I-MAC has the grey screen on start up, then shuts down after trying to load (bar shows 30%).

Shutdown my I-mac and next morning the grey screen appears with a loading bar which gets to 30% and then i-MAC shutsdown. Went into Utilities and it shows my files etc. but the verify and the repair disk have not corrected the issue(s).
What else can I do before I take it to the apple support. I live in Brunei and past history suggests that the Apple Support will just erase everything on the drive and I will lose the lot. I just want the photos and my own CD loaded music.
Any suggestions would be welcome.

Look at this: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570

I have a Macbook and I left it unplugged. It started up slowly when I plugged it in again, but it seemed fine. Once it started charging I shut it down so it would be easier, but now it will not go past the grey screen with the apple. What do I do?

I have a Macbook and I left it unplugged. It started up slowly when I plugged it in again, but it seemed fine. Once it started charging I shut it down so it would be easier, but now it will not go past the grey screen with the apple. What do I do?
I have Snow leopard on my computer, and I tried to do a hard restart as an article suggested, but it did not work. I also tried cleaning out the PRAM.
The only things I did last night:
-cleaned the history of Firefox out, including cookies
-let it unplugged all night
-plugged it back in the morning, it took a long time to figure itself out, but eventually the time was correct and I got on the internet for a bit
-shutdown the computer since I was going out and thought it would help the computer charge
-came back, tried to turn it on, and found that it would not go past the grey screen the apple on it and the spinning wheel even though I left it for 20 minutes or more
-tried turning it off and on to no avail

Before doing a reinstall, which may not be needed at this point,
Try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.
You could have some directory corruption. Let us know what errors Disk Repair reports and if DU was able to repair them. This could just be a start in repairs and you may need a better utility to finish the job.
Then Repair Permissions.
No need to report any Permissions errors........we all get them.
 DALE

My macbook pro will not boot. It gets the grey screen with the apple until the bar is half way across and then shuts down. The only screen I can get to is in safe mode and I don't know what to do with that

my macbook pro will not boot. It gets the grey screen with the apple until the bar is half way across and then shuts down. The only screen I can get to is in safe mode and I don't know what to do with that

Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

When I start iWeb only the Navi Bar appears but nothing else. What to do?

when I start iWeb only the Navigation Bar appears but nothing else and I can't use the program. I have the latest version and I use iLife11

Try the following:
close iWeb.
delete the iWeb preference file, com.apple.iWeb.plist, that resides in your Home/Library/Preferences folder.
go to your Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iWeb folder and delete its contents.
launch iWeb and try again.
If that doesn't help continue with:
move the domain file from your Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder to the Desktop.
launch iWeb, create a new test site, save the new domain file and close iWeb.
go to the your Home/Library/Application Support/iWeb folder and delete the new domain file.
move your original domain file from the Desktop to the iWeb folder.
launch iWeb and try again.
Lastly, select an album in iPhoto and use the Share ➙ iWeb ➙ Photo Page menu option. It might take a couple of tries.
OT

I was installing the new EFI software update on my macbook pro and I became stuck on the grey screen with the window that said "installing 2 items", its been on the same screen for 2 1/2 hours. does anyone know what I can do?

As the title says.
I was installing the new EFI software update on my macbook pro and I became stuck on the grey screen with the window that said "installing 2 items", its been on the same screen for 2 1/2 hours. does anyone know what I can do?
I don't want to restart it because im scared that something might go wrong.
operating lion

LimitLess- wrote:
Hi,
I had the power supply connected when I attempted it previously but even so my problem occurred. My rom is different and so I still need to update it.
Thanks
I wanted to mark your answer helpful too but I didn't know that I could only put it for 2 answers. Sorry
That was good advice by G-N and s/he is correct about it. Unfortunately, ASC allows only 2 "helpful" and 1 "correct" marks per thread.

Hi guys. I've had my MacBook Pro for 2 years now. Last night it suddenly kept glitching to a dark grey screen every now and then, then it would flash yellow / blue spots, and now it won't go past the grey screen even when I reboot it. I don't think I can

Hi guys.
I've had my MacBook Pro for 2 years now. Last night it suddenly kept glitching to a dark grey screen every now and then, then it would flash yellow / blue spots, and now it won't go past the grey screen even when I reboot it.
I don't think I can access my disk anymore as I've moved across countries since I've first gotten my laptop. it was working perfectly fine before it kept going to the dark grey screen with a little blue on the bottom.
If it helps, my camera light is still on, and it seems that my computer is working properly itself, but won't go past this grey screen.
I'm a college student and am really panicking about this - can anyone please tell me what to do?
Thank you & sorry for the long post.

What operating system are you running on it? (iOS 5.1 is for iPhone, iPad...not a Mac).

My mac pro crashed. Apple genius people said to reinstall snow leopard. I did and it failed to start after i installed. I started with the power button, tried to install upgrades, and now I get only a grey screen with spining wheel.

How can I restart a mac pro that shows only a grey screen with a spinning wheel. I reinstalled snow leopard (10.6.3) over 10.6.8 because apple genious people said I had problems with my library files after a time capsule crash. I reinstalled but when done I got only a blue screen. I restarted with the power button and tried to insall 10.6 combined upgrades. I got an error message that it could not install because of an error. When I powered down and tried to restart, I get only a grey screen. My optical drive does not open so I can't restart from another source.

Restart, holding down the mouse button. That should eject the disc. Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC. Then, pop in the install disc, restart with it in again, select your language, and, when the menu bar pops up, select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. select the boot volume and repair the disk.

TS1702 i have erased my all phone contact list and then the message comes that it will be deleted with in an hour. but now my phone is not starting and only the apple logo appears on the screen. what should i do now..!

i have erased my all phone contact list and then the message comes that it will be deleted with in an hour. but now my phone is not starting and only the apple logo appears on the screen. what should i do now..!

That number is for an apple server in the UK that is used for iMessage activation. A hidden SMS is snet to that number when you turn iMessage on and is used to verify your phone number. I suggest you turn iMessage off. In settings/phone turn on dial assist. Check with your carrier to see if you can send an international SMS as you end that possibility to activate iMessage. Rest your phone (Hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the home button together until the apple logo appears (ignore the ON/OFF slider) then let both buttons go and wait for device to restart (no data will be lost).) then turn iMessage back on.

After installing itunes every icon on my screen becomes an itunes icon and no matter what you hit only the itunes page appears.

I have a Dell 570 PC. I use internet explorer and Yahoo. When I finish installing iTunes every icon on my screen becomes an iTunes icon. No matter what icon I hit only the iTunes page appears. Help

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Your MacBook already comes with iTunes. What iTunes is telling you is probably to update it to the most recent version, so open  > Software Update, and install the most recent iTunes version, in this case, 11.0.4.
Enjoy your new MacBook Pro

HT4177 My mackbook pro suddenly freezed and when I swiched off and on again, a grey screen appeared with an apple logo then a loading circle underneath, and after a few hours, a blue screen appeared. What shall I do with this?

My mackbook pro suddenly freezed and when I swiched off and on again, a grey screen appeared with an apple logo then a loading circle underneath, and after a few hours, a blue screen appeared. What shall I do with this?

What operating system version, and do you have any backups of your data off the machine? TimeMachine? Option Key bootable clones? Storage? DVD's?
A reinstall of the operating system may be in order as a last resort, so if any of these steps on these links get you into the machine, make sure to backup your personal data (Music, Pictures, Documents, Movies) off the machine to a non-encrypted powered external drive regular storage drive (not TimeMachine as it might be corrupted too) and disconnect as soon as possible.
Good Luck and report back all what you tried.
Also report what change occured before this tragedy happened, was there a Software Update? A EFI firmware update? Etc.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS3148
more:
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8963.html
To boot off the 10.6 install disk, hold c or option key while the disk is in the machine.
To boot into 10.7 Recvoery mode, hold the command and r keys down while booting.
To use Safe mode, hold down the Shift Key while booting.
Other assistance
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1782
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

What do I do when only the grey screen appears on my Mac desktop?

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