Level 1

4 points

MacBook Pro 13" - Grey Screen at startup

Hello everyone,

I have an older MacBook Pro 13" mid 2012. Upon startup I'm getting the common "grey sceen of death." If I hold Command-R at startup, it takes me to a spinning globe, asks me to choose my wifi network, then says "starting internet recovery."

It then takes me to the OS X Utilities menu 1) Restore Time Machine 2) Reinstall OS X 3) Get Help Online 4) Disk Utilities

I'm wondering how to proceed?

I do use an external HD to backup the computer via Time Machine. My last full backup was a few months back, but I don't have any new files on the computer, as I mostly use iCloud or other clouds. I'm not worried about losing files, as I haven't saved any to the actual internal HD since the last backup, even though it was last March 2023.
I did install Catalina OS on Tuesday, as it was a suggested update. Not positive what OS I was already using (I know, this is a basic thing to know. Sorry.)
After installing Catalina I realized Word wouldn't work any longer. Thus, I wanted to uninstall Catalina. I plugged in my external XD to do a Time Machine backup, just to be safe. While it was connected, the computer went into the continual reboot situation. I shut it down. Upon restart, I was getting the grey screen
I hadn't had any issues prior to the Catalina OS install
A few years back I did install a new SATA HD, as my internal HD crashed and was damaged.

I'm wondering how best to proceed. Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 20, 2024 9:09 AM

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,408 points

Posted on Jan 28, 2024 11:45 AM

You will need to boot to a macOS installer either through Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) to attempt to access the online Catalina installer, or you can boot from a bootable macOS USB installer (preferably Catalina). Even if you cannot boot to a Catalina installer, you can still install an older version of macOS to the external drive, then upgrade the OS on the external drive to Catalina.

Once booted to a macOS installer, you will need to launch Disk Utility. If booting to a macOS 10.13+ installer, then you will need to click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the external drive and erase the whole physical external drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option) if using a macOS 10.13+ installer. Otherwise if you are booting an older macOS installer such as Lion or Mountain Lion or Mavericks, or even Yosemite, then you will need to instead partition & format the whole physical external drive using the instructions in the following article (Apple changed how Disk Utility works beginning with macOS 10.11 El Capitan):

https://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/formatting/Mac_Formatting_6-10_R3.pdf

If you are booting a macOS 10.11 El Capitan installer, then you will need to erase the whole physical external drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). This should cover all the installers that you may encounter.

The main thing is making sure to erase the external drive since erasing a drive will destroy all data on it. Make sure to give it a unique name so you don't confuse it with the volume name of the internal drive. Maybe name the new volume on the external drive "ExternalOS".

Quit Disk Utility and select the "Install macOS" option. Again, make sure to select the external drive as a destination.

Sometimes when the macOS installer finishes the phase 1 copying of installer files to the external destination drive and reboots, the Mac may end up trying to boot to the internal drive. If this happens, then force a power off by holding the power button down until the system powers completely off. When you power the laptop back on, then make sure to hold the Option key immediately after hearing the startup chime. This will give you the Option boot screen or Apple boot picker menu where you will need to select the orange icon indicating the external drive. This should allow phase 2 of the OS installation to run & complete.

If you are installing anything other than Catalina to the external drive, then you should upgrade the external drive to Catalina if you want to use Disk Utility to run a First Aid scan or to attempt to access data on the internal SSD. If you do not need to do either, then you can just run DriveDx (free trial period) to check the health of the internal Crucial SSD. Post the compete DriveDx text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

While DriveDx can run on older versions of macOS, those older versions won't be able to access the website, so you either need to be running Catalina, or you will need to download the app using another computer & transfer it to your external boot drive or transfer it using a USB stick or network transfer.

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37 replies

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 23, 2024 4:53 AM in response to HWTech

Grey screen if I just start up.

If I start up and hold Command R I get the spinning globe.

It asks me to choose a network. Select mine, put in my password (all wifi, not plugged in. Computer has nothing plugged in beyond the power cord)

Starting internet recovery, this may take awhile, spinning globe.

It then takes me to the OS X Utilities screen with the four options

restore TM
Reinstall OS X
Get Help Online
Disk Utilities

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 24, 2024 5:35 AM in response to HWTech

Grey screen

Restart and hold Command R

spinning globe

choose network (I choose mine, put in the password) Wifi, not plugged in to ethernet

starting internet recovery, this might take awhile, spinning globe

This then takes me to the OS X Utilities menu

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 24, 2024 2:17 PM in response to HWTech

Nope, not pulled from a Dell computer. It's a stand-alone External HD. I think it's this one:

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/seagate-1tb-backup-plus-slim-portable-drive-usb-30-blue/apd/a7499999/storage-drives-media?gacd=9650523-1131-5761040-266691960-0&dgc=ST&SA360CID=71700000062490787&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAh8OtBhCQARIsAIkWb68VC9xOZmxSyvo6Y5sq0f1Ya15fcsETvvSbcYarw1W523dk4cf8gBMaAt5qEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2024 5:05 AM in response to HWTech

Does this mean I'll need to take apart the computer and take the bottom/back off? Would prefer to avoid that, if possible. Are there other fixes that avoid this as the next step?

I do have another External HD that is formatted for Macs, was my wife's, she updated to a new one, it's just my backup to my main EHD. Could I use this one and avoid taking the computer apart? It's not the EHD that I use for my main Time Machine backups.

Thanks!

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2024 11:54 AM in response to HWTech

Okay, so I could start with the Dell/Seagate external HD and run the external macOS boot...

But I'll still need to be prepared to remove the internal Crucial SSD. Just wanted to confirm that I'm reading and understand you correctly?

Thanks again! I should be able to work on this in the next few hours.

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 28, 2024 11:54 AM in response to HWTech

All of these issues seemed to start when I installed Catalina. AND I'd like to undo Catalina either way, because my version of Word isn't supported by it and was with the previous OS I was using.

Do I need to reinstall Catalina first, then I can undo it? Or can I just not reinstall Catalina since I don't want to use it?

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 28, 2024 1:22 PM in response to HWTech

Sorry, I'm unclear on this. What is a bootable macOS USB installer?

I have the empty Dell/Seagate external HD ready to go. I'm ready to try the reboot/restart with this...then follow up by removing the internal and plugging it into the USB SATA device, which I have.

I'm just unclear on steps in the process. I apologize, you're giving thorough answers, they're just a bit over my head!

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 30, 2024 2:25 PM in response to HWTech

Okay, trying to reinstall OS through internet recovery reboot...OS X Mountain Lion. "Select the disk where you want to install OS X"...and there is nothing to pick.

Do I need to erase my disk?

Partition it via disk utility?

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 15, 2024 11:37 AM in response to HWTech

I'd rather buy a new SSD than erase the one I have. I'd rather backup my files on it once again, just to be sure, before I erase and reformat it.

I've connected my Macbook Pro to a 2019 iMac with a Thunderbolt to Thunberbolt-USB-C dongle (the iMac doesn't have a Thunderbolt port).

Connected them, started the non-booting MB in target disk mode, the SSD doesn't show up on the iMac. I've gone through the utilities and made sure it's showing all disks.

Does this mean my last step to try and recover the files on the SSD is to physically take it out and connect it to the USB SATA hard drive adapter and connect it to the iMac and see if the drive is viewable?

Again, would rather try to save my files (or take it to a file recovery expert) one more time before reformatting the SSD.

I have a full TM backup on an external HD, so if I do buy a new SSD, I can restore everything that way, last backed up in March 2023 but I really don't save many files on the SSD, all are in clouds.

Thanks!

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 16, 2024 5:13 AM in response to HWTech

Under System Information>Locations...this shows up. Could this be the MacBook? (I'm USB-C to dongle to Thunderbolt connected iMac to MB Pro and the MB is in Target Disk Mode)

Thunderbolt Bridge:

Type: Bridge

BSD Device Name: bridge0

Hardware (MAC) Address: 82:1d:a9:63:50:00

IPv4:

Configuration Method: DHCP

IPv6:

Configuration Method: Automatic

Proxies:

Exceptions List: *.local, 169.254/16

FTP Passive Mode: Yes

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2024 11:19 AM in response to HWTech

Okay, I finally removed the SSD and connected it to my iMac. GREAT NEWS - everything shows up on the SSD! I'm currently making a full clone of the Macbook SSD to an external HD via the iMac using the Carbon Copy Clone application.

How do I determine if the SSD is shot and needs to be replaced OR if it's just the connector cable in the Macbook?

I guess after the clone copying is finished I connect the SSD to the Macbook externally and see if it works? This would tell me if it's just the connector cable that needs to be replaced and no the SSD itself, correct?

Thank you for walking me through this so far!

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 23, 2024 8:07 AM in response to HWTech

Sorry for my confusion - am I plugging the SSD into the iMac via the USB enclosure? Or am doing this with the SSD connected to my Macbook via the USB enclosure?

I'm ready to take the next step and either reinstall the SSD in the MB (and install a new SSD cable) and reinstall everything via the XHD Time Machine backup or whatever the best approach is once we decide the SSD is okay.

Thank you!

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 22, 2024 3:45 PM in response to HWTech

I do have a Dell (made by Seagate) 1TB external HD that I can clear/erase and format/set up (I think?) to work on a Mac.

nayr497 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 23, 2024 4:50 AM in response to HWTech

Crucial_CT960M500SD1 Media and it's a SATA connection

HWTech

Level 9

68,408 points

Jan 25, 2024 3:58 PM in response to nayr497

Correct.

Good luck.

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MacBook Pro 13" - Grey Screen at startup