PowerPC :: G4 Won't Boot Past Gray Screen With Apple
May 1, 2009
I recently required a Power Mac G4, and it was working fine, albeit a bit slow but I just assume that was because there's too many files on it, but that's another story. I shut it down before I left work, when I came back in the morning it was just the grey screen with the apple. I reset it, still no response. I reset the PRAM, nothing. I tried to boot in Single user mode, nothing. I tried to boot in verbose mode, nothing. I force ejected the CD and put in an OSX disk one from my laptop, asked it to force read by restarting and pressing "C" and still nothing. I am not sure if a cable inside has been jarred lose.
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Dec 30, 2010
I'm trying to resurrect an iBook (translucent white case, 14.1 LCD) that was long neglected, so not sure on its past service history. The following do NOT work: - won't boot up past the gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear icon (just hangs) - same problem if I try to boot from install DVD ("c" or using "option" then selecting DVD) - same problem with safe boot with "shift" - reset PRAM It will connect via firewire target disk mode to another computer, and I used that to completely wipe the disk and do a clean install of 10.5. When I tried booting into single-user mode (cmd-s), it fills about 2/3 of the screen with normal-looking messages, but then hangs after this (no keyboard response): Got boot device = IOService... [various other stuff] BSD root: disk0s6, major 14, minor 5 I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions? The machine is old enough that it's probably not worth the diagnostic fee of the local Apple shop. Since I can't get it to boot, I can't even run TechTools.
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Feb 6, 2008
At the tech dept we have this G4 that refuses to boot past the grey screen with the rotating wheel. The logic board has been replaced, we've removed all sticks of RAM save 1x512, we've tried a known working optical drive, replaced ribbon cables (optical cable was frayed on one end) No dice. Option booting works, but once we select the DVD we can't boot from an install PPC CD either, it just gets stuck at the grey screen. We also have a tech HD inside that the computer does not boot from either.
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Jul 17, 2010
I was given a PowerBook G4 15" today. I need to fix it, but I can't find out what exactly is wrong. I've used MROOGLE and I can't find any problem quite like what I'm experiencing. In my case, the laptop will turn on, make the chime, and stay stuck on a white/grey screen. No apple, no spinning gear, no nothing. Just a blank white/grey screen. However, when I insert the Leopard DVD and hold down "C" the apple appears as well as the little spinning gear. That goes on for a few minutes. BUT, after those few minutes are up the small gear still spins, but the Apple logo is replaced with a prohibitory sign (like what you would see on a non-smoking or no parking sign) and it sticks there and sometime says that I need to re-start my computer. The same happens with the Tiger disk. Also, when I place the Leopard or Tiger disk in the SuperDrive and hold down "option" so that I can boot OS X from the DVD, I click the little continue arrow and nothing happens. I've reset everything there is to be reset, and I've opened up the computer and re-seated everything that could possibly be re-seated. RAM, HDD, all connector cables, etc. There isn't any visible physical damage inside of the computer either.
The most recent thing I've tried was to boot off of a PPC-specific Ubuntu disk. It does some stuff and lets me run the kernel, but after that the computer gets stuck on a black screen and does nothing at all. I'd really appreciate it if you all could offer some advice as to what may be wrong. All suggestions and ideas are welcome too.
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May 29, 2012
This morning, I would turn it on and it'd go to the grey screen with the Apple logo for a few seconds and then go to the icon that is a circle with a line through it. After reading online, I was able to boot it up in Safe Mode. I went to Startup Disk in Preferences. I chose the MAC OS X, xxxx and then clicked the lock to prevent further changes and then clicked restart. Now when I turn on the macbook, it goes to the grey screen with the Apple logo for at least two-three minutes and then just shuts off. Won't boot into Safe Mode now. I already tried the Command-Option-P-R keys trick like five times.
Info:
MacBook Pro
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Jun 11, 2007
I have an iBook G4 1.07 GHz 30 gb 256 RAM with Panther. It was working fine until my HD got close to being full. Now I can't get it to boot past the Apple screen. It will either freeze there, or move on to the blue screen and freeze before the progress bar enters. I want to re-install Panther but I can't get any CD to boot during startup by holding "C", including the Panther OS CD, the Hardware Test CD, or the Tech Tool CD. I am able to boot to single user mode, where I type fsck -fy, and I recieve no errors with the hardware. I had this issue beore and my HD had to be replaced by Apple.
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May 13, 2009
last night i changed the permissions on my macbook to stop my files being shared. now when i log in i cant get past the grey boot up screen. i was told its because of problems created from changing the permissions. i booted up holding shift and nothing happened i booted up in in verbose and it says theres no posix_spawnp("/usr/sbin/mDNSresponder", ...) over and over i booted up with cmd+s and got If you want to make modifications to the files
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw
If you wish to boot system exit. I dont want what to do here, Im afraid to start messing with it. I really need to get the files in my HD, I'm doing finals right now!!
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May 30, 2012
I have a mirror door g4 power pc that had been having some issues with not turning on, and after testing the power supply, it failed miserably. We placed a refurbished power supply in it from a company in New York and the computer was working wonderfully. I went on a cruise last week and went to turn the computer on for the first time in a week and a few days. The CPU turns on, the unit chimes, the fan turns on and the computer starts to boot up, but it won't boot past the gray apple logo screen. Actually, the first few attempts to boot it resulted in a blue screen with gaint apple logo and spinner; it wouldn't advance further. After several restarts and resets, I got it to come up into the normal gray screen. On several attempts it wouldn't boot further than this. On two occasions now though, it has moved past the gray screen to normal operation (it takes about an hour for it to get to that point though) but with some kind of errors. I get the side bar, but the gray panel on to with "file" ect is gone and my HD icon never comes up. The icons on the sidebar do not respond when clicked. The computer will not boot from the OS X disc.Â
Info:
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)
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Nov 24, 2010
So bare with me I want to be thorough so hopefully someone can help me out. My MBP (08) will not boot past the grey screen. The wheel just spins infinitely. I've read about it trying to figure it out.
1) I tried to boot from the install disc, when I do there are weird diagonal lines and the thing is unreadable.
2) I hooked it to my Mac Pro in target disc mode. I was able to get some of the information off, but it would eventually freeze up and freeze the finder on the Pro. It wouldn't verify the disc in disc utility. It would freeze if I tried to repair the disc.
3) It won't boot in safe mode or single user mode (CMD + S)
4) I tried removing the ram and switching it and using only one stick of ram (to make sure it wasn't a ram problem).
5) I tried to boot without the battery
Needless to say I am a bit frustrated. My applecare is long gone and there is no apple certified repair place anywhere near here. I've also noticed the thing is very hot. If nothing else I'd like to have an idea of what I should be expecting from the repair place.
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Dec 2, 2014
How to get my computer to turn on? I used it on Friday and had a normal shut down but when I went to turn it on yesterday, it gets the the gray screen with the apple and the loading bar and loads half way and then just stops and sits there until it eventually shuts itself off. I have tried turning it off and then back on and holding the D key but nothing happened.
Info:
MacBook Pro, iOS 8
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Nov 23, 2007
I started this topic on the Garage Band forum because I was having trouble with Garage Band '08 when my computer crashed and will not restart afterwards. Garage Band was crashing 2 out of every 3 attempts at recording, and I would have to use Force Quit to escape and start over. Then, while I was in the middle of a very complex project involving Garage Band, iTunes, Finale (music notation program), and Microsoft Word, the computer froze up and I hit restart, thinking that would solve the problem. Big mistake - the computer has not been able to restart since then. I have a late 2005 G5 power mac with 1 GB of memory, 230 GB hard drive (or something like that) and no additional gizmos installed, running OS X 10.4.4. I had upgraded to iLife '08 a month or so ago and have had problems since with unusual crashes and freezes, especially involving Garage Band '08.
When I boot, I get to the gray opening screen with the gray apple logo and the spinning gear (is it really called an "intergalactic frisbee?"), and no further. The fans come on (and begin to ramp up to a huge noise after two minutes or so), the white LED light comes on steadily. I've disconnected all peripherals except my keyboard and mouse (Kensington USB keyboard and Logitech Mouse, both of which seem to work OK still). I can use the keyboard to open the CD/DVD player, and I can start the computer with both the Apple Installer disk and with Disk Warrior 4.0. I've repaired everything I can find with both programs, verified everything available, used Disk Warrior to examine corrupted files, and removed all the .plist files that it said were broken and could not be fixed. The only thing I can't find is that it says I am missing a "tmp" folder in my HD/private/ folder, which I can't seem to locate on the directory on Disk Warrior. Both programs say that all my hardware is fine, and that everything else is OK too. Puzzling. I removed the battery and tested it (it was OK), replaced it, and reset the PMU button on the motherboard even though I know all you have to do is unplug the back for a few minutes or so.............
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Jan 8, 2011
My iMac won't get past grey screen, I've tried holding down c. I've tried holding cmd+s. I've reset my PRAM etc, I've put back in RAM it came with, and when I turn it on I just get grey screen, apple logo and the spinning thing! Updated it to new snow leopard OSX 10.6.6 and it has a DVD in the drive and I can't even get that out! What can I do?
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Jul 23, 2010
I apologize for the long message but I want to be as detailed as possible. My MacBook (purchased early 2006, white 13", upgraded to Leopard about a year ago with no problems until now) will not boot past the grey screen and spinning wheel. Here' are the list of 6 steps I've followed so far and still is not working. Oh, and I do not have any peripherals attached to my MacBook:
1. Reboot in Safe Mode: tried pressing down the Shift key before the powering up sound AND after the sound. Could not get into Safe Mode. Did this several times, holding the Shift key for as much as a minute or two. Nothing but grey screen and spinning wheel.
2. Reset NVRAM/PRAM: CMD+R+P+Option: Computer restarted but still goes into Grey Screen, spinning wheel and stays there forever.
3. CMD +S: I read this online. Gave me a black screen with a lot of information, but I don't know how to read the computer jargon, let alone know what to do with said info. 4. Disk Utility Repair Disk : Inserted my Leopard install disk. Went to Utility Disk. Performed a Repair Disk and I did get two error messages, something related to id 70000452 should be id 70000450 ( I'm sorry to say I cannot remember the exact error messages). But it showed as repaired. When I did a 2nd Repair Disk, I got the message that the volume appears to be OK. Turned off and on again, nothing but grey screen and wheel.......
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Jan 8, 2011
My macbook pro won't boot past the grey screen, I've tried reseting PRam, running fsck from single user etc to no avail. All signs would point towards a hard disk failure, but the curious thing is that it sometimes mounts in disk utility when booting from the install CD, so theres a little life left in it yet! I have fairly recent backups of most of my files, but there are a couple I've been working on in the past few days that won't be backed up. So my question is this - is it possible to copy files from my mac HD onto a external drive through the terminal/disk utility while booting from the CD.
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Apr 26, 2012
My Macbook Pro is not starting past the grey screen and the apple logo and the rolling circle. I have tried every method and I am desperate to do anything to start my computer even erase the entire disc. I have contacted the Apple store and they told me the cost will be equivalent to $600 to just repair it and no way I will be able to afford it. I am willing to do anything and even erase my entire disc. However, for that the instructions on the Apple page state that 'Insert your Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5 installation disc'. However, I do not have my installation disc Is there any other way I can erase the OS system and at least reboot my Macbook?
Info:
MacBook Pro
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May 8, 2007
Unfortunately I bumped the switch on the power strip that my Mac Mini (1.42ghz G4, OS X 10.3) is plugged into while it was running. Now it won't boot up. All I get is the gray screen with the gray apple logo and the spinning wheel but no OSX.
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Mar 5, 2010
I have one of the old blue PowerMac G3 computers, and I kept getting a kernel panic, so I reset the RAM and now when I start up the computer, it stops at the apple screen without even spinning. I've tried booting it in single user mode, and for some reason it doesn't make a difference what keys I hit while turning on the computer. It still boots to the apple screen.
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Nov 23, 2007
I'm trying to repair a Powermac G5 (dual 2.0, the first model I believe, with a new Radeon 9800 graphics card) that won't boot and I'm having some problems that I can't seem to diagnose.
The machine will boot to the openfirmware prompt or target disc mode and will show the 'OS not found' icon if left to boot from the HD (which has been wiped). If I try to boot from either the included restore disc or a retail 10.4 DVD I've tried it will show the boot screen with the Apple logo on it but no spinning status indicator underneath. It just freezes on that screen. Once it showed the status indicator but it just continued to spin for about 30 mins, at which point I gave up. Same issue if I try to boot the hardware test (except it freezes on the hardware test loading icon rather than the Apple icon). The superdrive appears to work as it is accessible in target disc mode.
I've reset the SMU and reset the PRAM via the keyboard shortcut. The one thing that leads me to think it's a firmware fault is that when I run the 'reset-nvram' command it gives an OK, but when I then run 'reset-all' it freezes rather than rebooting. Any ideas anyone?
Information:
Powermac G5 Dual 2GHz
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Jan 9, 2009
I have just finished moving my G4 Sawtooth from one house to another. I shut down my machine properly at the one house carefully moved everything over and re-attached the peripherals. Fired up the machine and was greeted promptly with the Apple boot screen and spinning thingy. Then it spun and spun and continued to spin some more. After about 10-15 minutes my desktop backgrounds appeared on the dual monitors, but then sat there like that and no finder ever appeared. After waiting about another 5 minutes, I shut off the machine by holding down the power button. I waited about 10 seconds and powered it on again. Same thing, but this time it just sits at the grey Apple boot screen with the thingy spinning forever. Then I noticed something unusual.
I could hear one, or both of the internal hard drives park the heads and spin down like it was going to sleep. I hadn't noticed that before, but presume it was doing it all along. Meanwhile the computer kept spinning away on the boot screen. I thought, great my drive has crashed and burned. So I removed it and attempted to mount it on my G5 using an external ATA-USB adapter. It mounted without a problem and I was able to see and copy all of the files. So then, I took a spare drive I had with a valid bootable OSX Leopard install and put it into the G4. Fired it up and lo and behold, the same problem. The drive spins up, the machine shows the apple boot screen and keeps spinning the thingy, then after a bit of time the drive parks the head and spins back down. I'm stumped and would like some assistance in resolving this problem. Any suggestions? Oh, and yes, I've tried reseating all cards and memory and disconnected all peripherals.
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Mar 31, 2012
My Mac book pro will not boot past the whit apple screen.
Info:MacBookPro, iOS 5.0.1
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Apr 14, 2012
I am having a major problem with my MacBook Pro and it just wont boot past the apple loading screen at all I have tryed al lot of ways to fix this and it just wont work It does not go into safe mode, it does not boot from cd, the PRAM thing wont work, verbose mode or the comand + s mode wont work I tryed clean install but it wont boot from dvd, also it will not boot in any other way It was working perfectly last night and i just shut it down and it does not work know. Â
My friend was also trying to install Lion from his account but the .dmg for it did not open so we quit and that night i used it for my essay and finished and then i turned it off and next day in the morning it don't workÂ
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Jul 15, 2009
When I turn on my computer, the wheel keeps spinning and stops on the grey apple screen. If I leave it there for a few minutes, the fan gets really loud.
I tried pressing Apple, Option, P, R, but it only chimes once.
I also tried holding down shift and restarting.
And I tried holding down option and restarting.
I even tried to take out the memory and put it back in.
Nothing is working.
I have the startup disks, but I don't know how to put them in the cd drive.
Since the computer won't boot up, I can't open the tray.
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Aug 30, 2006
At work, we have a 17" G5 iMac from back before the iSight was put in. We're an Apple shop, so we have the new iMac actually on the floor for people to try out. The old G5 this thread is addressing is up on a shelf, but we want to turn it on as a display model. We plug a temporary mouse and keyboard into it, but the machine never gets past the white Apple screen with the "I'm thinking" animation. After a minute or two, the fan turns on full blast, but the white screen remains without any signs of moving on. What is our problem?
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Jul 30, 2009
My wife's macbook will turn on, it stays on the gray screen with the apple. After a while it will just shutoff. I have tried removing the battery and holding down the power button for 5secs but did not work. I also reset the pram and also did nothing.
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Aug 23, 2009
Last weekend, my white Macbook was requiring a software update to 10.5.8. So I said, go for it and let it restart. That's when the trouble happened.
It began to restart but just stuck on the gray apple screen with the gear circle thing spinning. I tried several times to restart, but it never worked. I did all the things I knew to do (boot from DVD and run disk utility to repair permissions, zapped PRAM, ran it in the fsck thing; Booting in safe mode wouldn't work). So I booted from my backup and used SuperDuper to rewrite my boot drive. (I guess I should point out that when booting from my backup, I was able to access all my files on my internal HD, it just wouldnt boot). After doing that revert thing to 10.5.7, everything worked fine.
So then I tried to update again this weekend. Same thing happened. I've tried the same steps. I can still get to anything I've added to my regular drive since my backup and all that. Just won't boot from that main drive.
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Jul 8, 2010
I have a four year old Macbook that's not in the best of shape, but it hasn't failed me like this before.. ever.
I installed a new security update yesterday morning along with the new iTunes, and it worked alright for most of the day.
Around 10:30 or so, it just shut off.
I tried to turn it back on and was faced with the gray apple logo and the horrible spinning icon.
I've tried booting it up in safe mode, verbose mode, and even resetting the PRAM, and nothing works!
It eventually did go to a blue screen after maybe three or four hours, (I fell asleep so I'm not sure) but it still wouldn't let me do anything.
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Nov 12, 2007
I have a 1.83 Ghz MBP with 512 mb of RAM (lame I know). The other day someone was using my computer to burn a CD on iTunes when all of my programs began failing. On instinct I rebooted my computer to solve the problem. Alas, now I cant boot past the grey apple screen, and the gear is spinning away. Saddest part of the story is that I had time set aside to back up my computer the day after this happened . Anyway what is the best thing to do from here? I haven't made any moves to fix it yet really, so what is the best thing that I can do to try and get my files back?
Information:
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.4.10)
Grey Screen, Spinning Gear
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Oct 20, 2009
So, today I tried to install windows through boot camp assistant on my mac. When it got to partitioning my drive I got an error that my hard drive needed repairing. So I opened up disk utility and clicked verify disk (I can't click repair) and got this error Disk Utility stopped verifying �Chris Hard Drive� because the following error was encountered: Filesystem verify or repair failed. I then researched this and learned to fix the problem I must boot from my leopard install disk and use the DU from their. Unfortunately I don't have access to the disk. But I have the install disk from my old macbook (the white one) so I used this. I put in the disk and shut down. When I turn it on I hold C but all I get is a grey screen but with out the apple logo. When I try turning it out holding alt I don't get the option of the CD just Chris Hard Drive. But when I boot up holding D i do get to the hardware test screen but I get the error that's something like "Hardware test does not support this hardware". Will the Leopard install of a different type of macbook not work on my new macbook pro (13" aluminium)?
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Aug 31, 2010
I have an old PowerBook G4 that my son uses for simple stuff. One day the screen went dark gray (not powered off) and it won't boot. When I try to boot from a Tiger disk, I get what appears to be a kernel panic. I don't get any strange startup beeps
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Dec 6, 2014
During boot Yosemite shows a grey screen with the Apple logo and a progress bar - is this normal?
Info:
iPad 2, iOS 7.0.3, 64 Ghz. 3G
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