MacBook Frozen On Start Screen

Try booting off the install disc.

Insert the installation disc then reboot. Once you hear the 'Apple sound' hold down the 'C' key until your mac boots off the disc. You should hear the dvd drive reading. You should load up into a language selection screen. Select your language then from the menu bar at the top (Tools i think) select Disk Utility. Repair both the Hard Drive and the Disc Permissions. Once this is done quit out of Disk Utility and then quit the installer. Hopefully when your machine reboots it will bootup correctly assuming everything went well with Disk Utility.

Try holding down the C key as soon as the machine restarts, when the screen goes black. Or just power it off by holding down the power button then press the power button and hold down the C as soon as the screen comes on.

I havent had to boot off a CD in a little while and am not 100% certain you have to wait for the sound.

If this doesnt work then you could try resetting the PRAM. If you dont know how to do this heres how:

Reboot then hold down Apple & ALT & P & R

Hold them down until you hear a the apple sound a second time then let go.

My friend is also having this problem. Her MacBook is only a month old.
After attempting the first solution a "first aid failed" message appears and something about the volume. Anyone know what to do?

i'm having the same problem, which ***** because i need it for school. also, the only mac store near me is a pain in the *** to get to. i hope someone figures out what to do...

I'm having the same problem, I installed Logic Studio last night, and when my wife went to turn on the computer in the morning we got the Grey screen with the cog & the Apple logo.

I ran it in that mode where it leads you through the black screen (what exactly is booting), and I got this repeating message of Data Error Movement (or something like that).

So right now I'm running the Apple Hardware Test (Boot + D). No luck yet.

I'll let you guys know if I fix it. This is ********.

Update:

Holding Option when you hear the bootup sound brings you to choose either your hard disk or the install disk (if it's in the drive).

Unfortunately I'm stuck at this point. Someone please help. Using the install disk brings me back to that screen again.

UPDATE:

GOT TO THE LANGUAGE SCREEN!

Here's how to do it people.

Hold Option when booting (or right after booting). Have your Install disk 1 in the drive. It will prompt you to choose either the drive, or your cd rom.

BEFORE you select the cd, hold Command + S to boot into single user mode.

The screen will go black, and will stall for rougly 5-10 minutes while performing dos-esque commands.

At one point it will prompt you to match a code that looks similar to this format...

"sh /etc/rh"

This is the confirmation that you want to boot into single user mode. Once you match this format and lettering press enter and you'll get...

*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

The Language Screen!!!!

Whew.

PS: I forgot to add.

Once you get to the language screen, choose your language, and then under Utilities run the disk check I think it is.

You need to verify your disk, than repair it, than re-verify it.

Once you do that, go ahead and restart.

Problem solved 🙂