Won't boot I just have a gray screen

My MBA will not boot up I just have a gray screen

Go step by step and test.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2570
Start up in Safe Mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204?viewlocale=en_US
Repair Disk
Steps 2 through 8
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5836
Reset PRAM. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph14222
Reinstall OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10763?viewlocale=en_US

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My mac won't boot up, just has a white screen with a blinking ? mark, any suggestions?

my mac won't boot up, just has a white screen with a blinking ? mark, any suggestions?

this usually means the software and hardware can't find each other for whatever reason the following article addresses this issue:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1440
can also do apple hardware test, following article on that:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
if you can't access the apple hardware test in the above article you can also do fsck command to check the hardware as well, following article tells how to do that:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1782
hopefully one of these articles helps w/ resolution!!

IMac won't boot from HDD - stays at gray screen

Quite simply, the iMac that we have in the house won't boot. It just gets stuck at the gray screen with the apple and the loading wheel (which is moving, so it's still not "frozen" per sey, but it sits there for going on 20 minutes). We have tried booting it in Safe Mode, which only succeeds in displaying the loading bar, but the computer still gets stuck. Single-User Mode works, but the fsck -fy command says that there are no errors. Booting from a Disk also does not work - we got it to get to the Setup Manager, but choosing the disk just freezes the computer. So we can't get into the Disk Utility. Loading in Verbose mode, the commands stop in the middle of "Running fsck on the boot volume", specifically "Launchcti: dubios permissions on file (skipping): /etc/mach_init.d"
The operating system is 10.6 something we believe, but we can't find out because we can't start up the computer. It is at least 10.6, if not newer.
Any ideas what's wrong and what could be done to fix it? We don't know a huge amount about Macs (although my brother knows a bit more about unix-based systems than I do). Any help would be appreciated!

Are you saying you haven't been backing up? If so and you have performed all the steps in the letter and reached the final step that says to do an erase and install then yeah you will lose all your data!
If you have not been backing up I hate to say it but this will be an extremely valuable lesson on why you should. That being said I'd also recommend bookmarking and reading the following 3 MacWorld articles on backing up, IMHO the common thread is not only should you be backing up but that you should do redundant backups.
Backup Plan I
Backup Plan II
Backup Plan III
Personally I use Time Machine and Super Duper on 2 seperate EHDs to backup daily.

My iMac won't boot up it has a gray screen and makes a steady beeping sound

My iMac won't boot up it makes a steady beeping sound and has a gray screen, occasionally it shows a picture of a file with a question mark blinking in the center, can anyone help

The blinking question mark indicates that the firmware could not find a valid Operating System on your machine.
Your harddrive may have failed. Your filesystem may have bcome corrupted.

IMac won't boot with install CD with gray screen

A couple of weeks ago I turned on my computer and couldn't get past the gray screen (with no Apple logo). I couldn't boot in safe mode, and had to boot with software install disc. I recently had to unplug my computer for a move and when I turned it on I had the same problem. Unfortunately after resetting PRAM nothing happened, and I couldn't boot in safe mode. Then I tried booting with disc pressing C during startup, and it sounded like the disc was reading ( I could hear it spinning), but I still had nothing but a gray screen. Also tried booting with recovery disc that comes with Apple Protect Plan and couldn't get past gray screen. After I leave the computer on for a couple of hours I get the folder with question mark flashing. Can anyone help?

den.thed,
Thanks. I tried the sleep method, but if I were listening to music through my Apple TV or was watching multiple movies, the IMac would shut down or go to sleep after 3 hours and sometimes that became a real bother. I have a HD with just my music from ITunes on it and then I have a new 1 TB HD that I have nothing but movies on it. Those are the 2 I want to leave on at all times, but the machine would freeze if I had both plugged in. Thanks!

My iMac G5 1.6 Ghz Won't Boot. Shuts Down at Gray Screen. HELP!

Hi guys. I need some help. I have an iMac G5 that seems to be having some serious problems. It is a 17" 1.6 Ghz w/ 1GB of RAM.
The problem:
• When I press the power button, I get the beautiful Mac chime, and the LCD turns on to the gray apple screen. I get the spinning gray bars below the apple, and then...it shuts down. Sometimes it doesn't even make it to the gray screen and it shuts down.
What I have done recently/tried.
• I installed iLife '06 and all the updates a day or two before this began.
• I reset the PRAM.
• I tried booting in safe-mode...no luck.
• I tried starting from the factory CD. The drive begins to spin, and then it shuts down.
When this first happened (yesterday), I started it in safe-mode, and everything looked ok. I zapped the PRAM, and then started it up, and once again, everything looked ok. That was last night. When I got home from work tonight, none of those things worked, and I am now looking for some help from you guys. Any suggestions? Thanks, in advance, for the help.
BTW, I think I'm running 10.4, but I'm not certain because I can't start it up to tell.

See if your machine falls under the parameters of power supply or video and power issues.
Please post back and let us know,
Miriam

Mac won't boot up. Sits at gray screen

When I boot, I get to the gray opening screen with the gray apple logo and the spinning gear. Then the fans get louder and faster over the next 2 minuts or so. It sound like a jet getting ready to take off.
What's wrong? It was running slow so I went to reboot it and this is what I got.
What can I do? Help!

Well I reformatted twice and in am able to boot up and the computer works but everything is still at a very slow pace. It takes 8 minutes to boot up and I have nothing installed except the OS and the OS update which I downloaded. I'm suspicious of my hard drive and I'm considering replacing it. Do I have to buy a Mac specific hard drive or can I buy one that meets my current type (SATA 3.0 Gb/s)?
I noticed the HD's at the mac site are considerably more expensive than at say NewEgg or somewhere like that.
Any advice would be appreciated.

IMac won't boot...goes to gray screen

I have an iMac 27...think it's a 2011. I'm running 10.10.1. Last week the machine crashed a couple times and after the last one, wouldn't boot to the login screen. It went to the gray screen And then rebooted itself. Took it in to the local Apple Store where they ran diagnostics for a couple days. Long story short, they reinstalled 10.10.1. Brought the machine home and it worked for about 4 hours before it crashed again, and I'm now back to the incomplete boot to gray screen. This sound familiar to anyone?

Yes Mike, I followed all the recommended trouble-shooting steps when this first happened, and then took the machine to the Apple Store where they reinstalled the OS and sent me on my way. The problem has returned.
Anyone else?

I dropped my iPOD and I just have a gray screen with the apple picture. How can I fix this

Please help. I am unable to access my iPOD Classic.

What have you tried so far in terms of troubleshooting? Have you tried resetting the iPod by pressing and holding both the Select/Center and Menu buttons together long enough for the Apple logo to appear?
B-rock

IMac won't boot after updates,have to reinstall loin from recovery drive

I have a 27" iMac running 10.7.1 and love it, but every time I do a software update it won't boot, it just goes to white screen with spinning gear forever! I let it set there for an hour and it never changed. I've tried restarting it but it just stops at that point,so I have to restart holding cmd-r to go to the recovery partition and have it reinstall loin,i've tried reparing the drive and perrmissions but it still wont boot unless i reinstall loin. I have five other macs running loin with no problem, so why just my imac?

Hopefully you have AppleCare. If so, call Apple to see if this if you are afflicted with the dreaded motherboard problem.
BTW, this area is for discussing iMac G4s. Since you have an iMac G5 you will probably want to make future posts in the iMac G5 discussion area.

I have a MacBook Pro 2008 with 17 inch screen. Experiencing a lock up when turning on power to boot up. While booting up it goes to gray screen with Apple logo and disc spinning icon running and doesn't go to my desktop. Any solutions to the problem?

I have an early 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro that just went on the fritz. When turning on the power it will go into boot up mode to the gray screen with the apple logo, then the disc icon will be running and will continue running, not allowing to proceed to my desk top screen. It's pretty much locked up at this point where I have to do a forced shut down by holding down the power button. I've tried everything that I know of such as taking battery out and pressing power button for 5 seconds and then reinstalling battery. I've cleaned inside of computer with compressed air duster in can as well as other key commands for resets. I've read that this is a common problem with the earlier MacBook Pros. Is this a problem that I can fix or does it have to be taken in for service? Any solutions to the problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This could be a software/state problem or a hardware problem. Here are steps to resolve the former.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5282

Brand new Ipod touch. we attached to the computer because we don't have wifi. Now what. We set up in ID in itunes. The Ipod won't do anything, just shows itunes on screen but won't budge.

Brand new Ipod touch. We attached to the computer because we don't have wifi. Now what? We set up in ID in itunes. The Ipod won't do anything, just shows itunes on screen but won't budge.

To get iTunes to see your iPod:
iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
or
iPhone, iPad, iPod touch: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X

I have a iPod classic 2gb. I haven't used in years and I charged it for 3 hours and it won't turn on and I tried resetting and nothing. I plugged it into iTunes and iTunes doesn't even recognize it. I just have a black screen. PLEASE HELP!!!

I have a iPod classic 2gb. I haven't used in years and I charged it for 3 hours and it won't turn on and I tried resetting and nothing. I plugged it into iTunes and iTunes doesn't even recognize it. I just have a black screen. PLEASE HELP!!!

I'm sorry it's a nano 2gb silver

Hi, I have an iMac which I just booted up and have a white screen with a blue folder with a question mark blinking on and off. Any help would be appreciated. Tommy

Hi, I have an iMac which I just booted up and have a white screen with a blue folder with a question mark blinking on and off. Any help would be appreciated. Tommy

That means your iMac could not find a system to use for startup. That may mean the internal hard drive has become faulty, or the hard drive mechanism is fine, but the startup volume ("Macintosh HD" unless you renamed it) may have some type of data corruption that makes it unbootable.
First, you should try resetting PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
and if that does not help, use this procedure to reset SMC (power management). If your iMac is from 2008, this is the procedure for Intel (not PowerPC) Macs.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
(This forum category is for "iMac (PPC)," so if this iMac is older (with a PowerPC processor), please post back.)
Disconnect all peripheral devices. When you connect it back to power, if you have been using a power strip of some type, try connecting it directly to a wall outlet, by itself (at least initially). Start up with nothing but the power cord connected, then add only standard mouse and keyboard. If it works, run it that way for a while.
If PRAM and SMC reset have no effect, you should insert your Mac OS X installation disc (for the currently installed system) in the optical drive, and restart with the C key held down. This should get you to the Installer screen, where you can run Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
In Disk Utility, does the internal hard drive appear in the sidebar? If so, select Macintosh HD in the sidebar and go to the First Aid tab. Use Repair Disk. If an error is found, note if Disk Utility was able to fix it or not.
You can then quit Disk Utility and attempt to restart normally.

TS2621 I have a gray screen on my ipad 1 when I press the mail icon. Can anyone help?

I have a gray screen on my ipad 1 when I press the mail icon. This situation just started this morning. Can anyone help?

Try closing the Mail app via the taskbar and see if it works properly when you re-open the app : from the home screen (i.e. not with the Mail app 'open' on-screen) double-click the home button to bring up the taskbar, then press and hold any of the apps on the taskbar for a couple of seconds or so until they start shaking, then press the '-' in the top left of the Mail app to close it, and touch any part of the screen above the taskbar so as to stop the shaking and close the taskbar.
If that doesn't work also do a reset : press and hold both the sleep and home buttons for about 10 to 15 seconds (ignore the red slider), after which the Apple logo should appear - you won't lose any content, it's the iPad equivalent of a reboot.

Won't boot I just have a gray screen

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