When i turn my mac on i get the white screen and a progress bar that when finished shuts the computer down

i recently came back from holiday and tried to start up my laptop (that stayed at home, just shutdown but plugged in). when i turned it on, i got the apple white screen, a timer wheel and a progress bar that when it reached the end of the bar, it just shut the computer down again. i cannot get past this screen and the mac will not turn on. does anybody know how i can fix this please?

Your hard drive is dead and you'll need a new one. If you're the least bit handy, you can replace the drive yourself. You need to decide what capacity and speed you want out of a new drive.
I'm hoping that you had backup schemes in place? If not, there's a chance that, with a tool such as DiskWarrior, you MIGHT be able to grab some data from your dead/dying drive.
Clinton

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Cannot get into mac. I get a white screen and flashing file folder with question mark inside. What can I do?

2012/13 MacBook Pro froze up, so I did a hard shut down. Now, when I try to start up, it makes 3 unusual beeps, then I get a white screen. After a couple minutes, a flashing file folder with a question mark appears and remains. What is wrong and what can I do to fix it.

Three beeps usually means a RAM or RAM slots problem. The Question Mark means there is no bootable system found.
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
Question (?) Mark, Blinking Folder, or Gray Screen at Startup
These are related but not identical issues. Their causes are outlined in Intel-based Mac- Startup sequence and error codes, symbols. Solutions may be found in:
A flashing question mark or globe appears when you start your Mac
Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup
In most cases the problems may be caused by one or more of these:
a. Problem with the computer's PRAM - See Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM.
b. Boot drive's directory has been corrupted - Repair with Disk Utility.
c. Critical system files are damaged or deleted - Reinstall OS X.
d. The disk drive is physically non-functional - Replace the hard drive.
Note that the information I have provided is what Apple recommends, If other users suggest different solutions than found here, then be sure what they recommend does not impact on your warranty, if any, or ability to get continuing Apple service.
Please don't start removing drives or changing cables unless you know what you are doing and have exhausted other non-invasive alternatives outlined here. If you perform any work yourself that is unapproved by Apple, then you will void any warranty you may have and lose all further Apple Support.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
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.
The main difference if you are using Lion or Mountain Lion is that you must first boot from the Recovery HD. Simply boot from the Recovery HD to perform the above.
Reinstall Snow Leopard Without Erasing The drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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 Utilities menu. 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.
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. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing The Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. 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 main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

My 13" macbook just stopped working. When you turn it on you get a white screen and hear a repetitive clicking sound on the left side. Is this the hard drive? Any suggestions on replacement drives?

My 13" macbook just stopped working. When you turn it on you get a white screen and hear a repetitive clicking sound on the left side. Is this the hard drive? Any suggestions on replacement drives?
Thanks

Put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option Key until the Install Disk shows up) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.
When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Disk Utility and click it. When it comes up is your Hard Drive in the list on the left?
If it is, then click on the Mac OS partition of your hard drive in the left hand list. Then select the First Aid Tab and run Repair Disk. The Repair Disk button won't be available until you've clicked on the Mac OS partition on your hard drive. If that repairs any problems run it again until the green OK appears and then run Repair Permissions. After repairing use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for restarting from your hard drive.
If your hard drive isn’t recognized in Disk Utility then your hard drive is probably dead.

Most of the time when I turn computer on I get the white screen and question mark. Sometimes it will turn on and work but often the spinning disk starts and especially when opening Iphoto and it generally freezes

Most of the time when I turn on the Mac I get the white screen and question mark appear. Sometimes it will turn on and work. But often the coloured spinning wheel starts up especially after trying to use iphoto it freezes and a couple of times the screen has then gone black. The computer seemed pretty warm yesterday when this happened.
Any suggestions of what I should do to fix it would be greatly appreciated.
Kate

See this on the question mark when you start up: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440?viewlocale=en_US
See this on the spinning beach ball: http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/sbbod.html

When i turn my ipod on i get purple vertical lines and thats all it does, what is wrong with it?

When i turn my ipod on i get purple vertical lines and thats all it does, what is wrong with it?

It may have a bad display screen but you could try resetting to see if that helps.
Reset: Press the Home and On/Off buttons at the same time and hold them until the Apple logo appears (about 10 seconds).

When I turn on my IMAC I get the white screen and it won't start

I was working on my IMAC and it froze, so I restarted it a couple of times. It is now not restarting and I get a white screen and spinning circle. What can I do to get the computer to start up or do I need to take it in to the Apple store.

First, use Disk Utility to repair the drive and permissions. Second, reinstall OS X. This will require booting from an installer DVD or the Internet.
Because you have not provided any information about the exact model you have nor version of OS X installed, I cannot provide more information.

When I turn on my iMac, it shows a black screen and says 'No bootable device - enter boot cd and press any key'. Not sure how to fix this.

When I turn on my iMac, it shows a black screen and says 'No bootable device - enter boot cd and press any key'.
I'm not sure what to do, I did not recieve a cd with my mac to boot it up (I ordered it online).
Also I can't find my harware serial number (I've tried many times to input what I thought it may be from my receipt). I saw that I need this number to contact apple support, my 90 day complimentary support is still valid so I wish to contact them.
I don't know much about apple products as this is my first apple computer so any information is helpful.

Hold down the Alt/Option-key at startup of your iMac to get the Boot Selection screen.
From that choose to boot into OSX.
Once in OSX go to System Preferences then Startup Volume and reset your OSX to be the default.
The new iMacs have OSX 10.7 Lion preinstalled and don't come with any CD/DVD anymore.
Instead OSX Lion includes a new feature called "Lion Recovery".
Have a read here About Lion Recovery
Stefan

Recently when clicking on Safari, it refused to open saying there were some components damaged. It was suggested I backup, remove OSX and reinstall. Now all I get is white screen and apple logo when starting. What to do?l

I Have an iMac desktop purchased in 2010 with OS X 6.1.6 and Snow Leapard. Recently after starting up, I was not able to open Safari. I checked for updates and all was well. I tried again and got a message saying Safari could not be opened because some components were damaged. After using Disk utilities to try and repair, it was suggested I uninstall OS X and reinstall from the disk. I did not at the time because I wanted to backup some info to a USB drive. But now when I startup all I get is the white screen and Apple logo and the loading symbol. What happened and How can Imfix it? I am not very tech savvy and don't know where to turn!

Hi nancy mfromamity harbor,
Welcome to the Support Communities! It sounds like reinstalling the Snow Leopard operating system is your next step. This should not affect the documents and data that you currently have on your iMac. I'll include the information to show you how below.
Mac OS X 10.6: Reinstalling Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6606
Under some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Mac OS X. You can reinstall Mac OS X while keeping your files and user settings intact.
Note:To reinstall Mac OS X from another computer on your network, see:
Using another computer’s DVD or CD drive
To reinstall Mac OS X:
Insert the Mac OS X installation disc and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select a disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it will be the only one available).
If you want to control which parts of Mac OS X are installed, click Customize, and then select the parts you want to install.
To start the installation, click Install.
If you purchased a standalone version of Mac OS X, these installation instructions are in a PDF file located on the Mac OS X installation disc.
If you need to reinstall the version of Mac OS X that was on your computer when you purchased it, or if you need to restore all the software on your computer (including Apple software, third-party applications, and other printer drivers), refer to the documentation that came with your computer.
If you need to reinstall Mac OS X and you’ve been using Time Machine to back up your applications, files, and user settings, you can easily restore this information from your Time Machine backup disk after you’ve reinstalled Mac OS X.
Nancy, here is the contact information if you need technical assistance to get your iMac up and running.
Intel-based iMac - Contact Support - Apple Support
http://www.apple.com/support/imac/intel/contact/
Good luck!
- Judy

On startup Mac Pro I get a blue screen and a cursor on the upper left. The mouse cursor shows up independently. Is it likely a video card failure?

On startup Mac Pro I get a blue screen and a cursor on the upper left. The mouse cursor shows up independently. Is it likely a video card failure?

I managed to boot the computer and get the desktop to show. I now have a "repaired" computer. There are several problems that have cropped up. One is that I can only start up now in Safe Boot mode. Is there a way to turn it off? Also, I do not have a sound list, so I can't access anything requiring audio. Google Chrome only shows up as a white screen. Pictures that loaded before don't load in browsers, etc. Any suggestions? I figure I should reinstall Mac OS Lion for starts, maybe even do a mirror backup and reformat the drive. I think this drive has turned into scrambled eggs...what a headache!

TS1367 Hallo,I have an IMAC 21.5. which does not start.When i press the power button i hear only beep with an interval of 4-5 seconds.Some times when i take off the RAMS and put them again then get a white screen and shows that i have to insert a bootable

Hallo ,I have an IMAC 21.5. which does not start.When i press the power button i hear only beep with an interval of 4-5 seconds.Some times when i take off the RAMS and put them again then get a white screen and shows that i have to insert a bootable device.Then i bought OSX mountainlion on line and wrote it on a DVD and tried with a USB key board to start the DVD.But does not work.Please help me to get this imac work.
Thankyou in advance for your help.
Terrence

Hey terremo,
Thanks for the question. From the information you provided, it sounds like the iMac is successfully turning on, however video is not displayed. These symptoms can usually be isolated further by the troubleshooting steps in this article:
Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1573
Thanks,
Matt M.

When I first open Firefox it is fine but if I open a second tab to search another site I get a white screen and have to continually click 'back', click the site link, white screen, back, click the link, white screen and so on.

When I first open Firefox it is fine but if I open a second tab to search another site I get a white screen and have to continually click 'back', click the site link, white screen, back, click the link, white screen and so on.

This can also be a problem with the files [http://kb.mozillazine.org/sessionstore.js sessionstore.js] and sessionstore.bak in the [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox Profile Folder]
Delete [http://kb.mozillazine.org/sessionstore.js sessionstore.js] and sessionstore.bak in the [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox Profile Folder]
If you see files sessionstore-##.js with a number in the left part of the name like sessionstore-1.js then delete those as well.
You will have to redo App Tabs and Tab Groups after deleting sessionstore.js.
See:
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When i turn on my computer it freezes in the white screen and the spinning wheel and it won't move from there ... I have turned it off and on several times and took out the battery and it keeps on doing the same thing again what can i do ???

when i turn on my computer it freezes in the white screen and the spinning wheel and it won't move from there ... I have turned it off and on several times and took out the battery and it keeps on doing the same thing again what can i do ??? please i need help with this and how can i fix it

Here is some pertinent information and how-to's from Apple:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Post back if these troubleshooting steps do not work.

I have a Macbook PRO and it stopped booting up. When I turn power on it just stays in white screen.

I have a Macbook PRO and it stopped booting up. When I turn power on it just stays in white screen. I have not dropped it anything. Please help.

Try holding alt when booting to select your hard drive to boot into, if that fails, do it again but select the "recovery" partition (If you have Lion or Mountain Lion)

My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

My Mac can't get passed gray screen, and I cannot boot from cd. Help!

Grey Screen
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

When I power up my mac, I see the white screen and the apple icon. After a few seconds of powering up the screen goes dark. Yet I still can the mouse arrow but nothing else.

When I power up my Imac, I see the white screen and the apple icon. After a few seconds the screen goes dark. I am able to still see the mouse arrow as I move it around. But nothing else. What is the problem and how do I recover?

Try this from another user:
1. Shut the computer down by holding the power button for 10 seconds
2. Restart the computer and press shift at the same time until you see the progress bar start moving
3. Once you reach the point where your screen goes dark and you see the cursor, type the first letter of the username for your computer, then hit Enter, then type your password, then hit Enter.
4. After a moment, you should see the spinning beach ball
5. Your screen should then move on to something along the lines of "Completing OSX Installation" (I can't remember the exact wording). Let it finish. After that it should go to your normal desktop and the issue should be fixed. (If your screen goes pitch black during this process, hit the space bar. I thought it wasn't working, but the screen was just sleeping).

When i turn my mac on i get the white screen and a progress bar that when finished shuts the computer down

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