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iMac has gray screen with spinning wheel, but cannot login

After power failure last night, iMac has gray screen with spinning wheel when turned on, but does not go to login screen.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 1, 2011 10:11 AM

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Posted on Jul 1, 2011 10:19 AM

See if you can boot from Install DVD by inserting & boot while holding C.


Then Utilities > Disk Utility > Disk Repair + Permissions Repair.

10 replies

Jul 1, 2011 12:15 PM in response to AussieDJ

Thanks for your assistance. I was able to bring up the Install DVD and run disk utility. Unfortunately it told me that it cannot repair the disk. It tells me to back up as many files as possible, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get to them to back-up. I do have an external hard drive, but I haven't backed up in a few months. Is there a way to get to my files from the Install DVD?

Jul 1, 2011 3:19 PM in response to scottfromracine

My only suggestion, is that you install OSX onto an external HDD & boot from that to recover what you need, if you don't have another computer to plug the HDD into.


It doesn't sound like it's fully recoverable. It looks like your going to have to format it, but just check it doesn't have any error's on it before you start storing important stuff on there.

Jul 1, 2011 4:39 PM in response to scottfromracine

Having the same problem myself. iMac locked up and I had to hold the power button to turn it off. Ended up with the apple logo screen and spinning wheel. I tried the disk repair and got the same message as yourself, in that it couldn't repair it.

I linked up an external hard drive and installed OSX on it and booted from it. I was able to recover some files, but most I couldn't. I'm currently giving it a one pass erase in the hope (long shot) that a complete pass through the hard drive will show up any faults. Has anyone had this problem and been able to continue using the same hard drive? I really don't relish the thought of having to send it off to be replaced :-/

Assuming that the erase goes well I plan to put OSX back onto it and then run disk utility from directly on the drive and see if any faults show up. I'm kicking myself for not taking advantage of TimeMachine, but we live and learn.

iMac has gray screen with spinning wheel, but cannot login

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