Gray Screen Now after Doing Nothing?

Question

Gray Screen Now after Doing Nothing?

Last night I came home and checked Facebook and my email, then turned my monitor off - as I do normally. When I awoke this morning I find that my monitor isn't responding to when I turn it back on, and clicking the mouse or the keys does nothing as well.

So I do a full restart - turn the machine off, wait 10 seconds, turn it back on. When I do I get apple logo/start up screen, then it folds over with a darker gray and gives me the Gray Screen of Death message.

I've never had this show up before, ever. All I do on this machine is use the internet, play songs, and use Adobe CS3 with my Wacom. I have an external harddrive which I disconnected, along with my wacom and my scanner and printer, and still get the message.

I tried to safe boot (I'm new to all this) with command/shift/v - and see the DOS like boot message of my computer. Not sure if it helps but the last line it snagged at was

"AirPort: Link Up on en2"

then that was it, and it has sat there and done nothing. There are some other threads on the bootup that say "macuserinterface:failed to initialize communication. is the station plugged in?"

I guess I wouldn't be so freaked if I downloaded pirated software or done stupid things (because that's just asking for trouble), and maybe my harddrive has just bit the dust? I got this computer in Fall of 08 and have had no problems at all with it until now. I have an external harddrive that does an backup during the night, and that's the only thing besides my PixelBreaker screensaver that does stuff during the night on its own.

Any insight is appreciated... not even sure if I know where my OSX disc is at the moment, but I'll look for it in the meantime... TT^TT

Mac Pro & Macbook Pro 13" 3rd Gen, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Dec 15, 2011 7:23 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 15, 2011 7:57 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

I am currently running the Apple Hardware Test (thanks to surfing some of the previous forum posts) and will post the results if it will help

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Dec 15, 2011 10:32 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

Hello, Safe Mode is actually just holding the SHIFT key at bootup, Verbose mode is what you get with CMD+v

Waiting for results of extended AHT test, but try this...

"Try Disk Utility

1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.

2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu at the top of the screen. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)

Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.

3. Click the First Aid tab.

4. Select your Mac OS X volume.

5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Then try a Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.

(Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.)

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2011 10:52 AM in response to BDAqua

Alright, so after 1.5 hours (i did the extended test), there appears to be nothing wrong with the Hardware. (though at one point I thought the computer was going to explode.. but turns out it was just testing the fans ;D)

OK, so I also tried using the Safemode (just the Shift key), and again got the gray screen.. I'm in the midst of searching for the OSX disc. Can any OSX disc work? Say if I borrowed a friend's disc? (or do they include a OSX disc with laptops? I got a lap top a year after my Mac Pro, so I might have two floating around.. just have to find it).

In the absolute worst scenario that I can't find the disc.. could I use an upgrade of Snow Leopard? or Lion? (say if I went to buy it from Bestbuy?)

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Answer 4

macwars

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2011 11:02 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

I am sorry I can't offer any direct advice as to how to fix the issue and hope it is just a bug. However, when I first bought my macbook pro was right after they launched them with intel. It ran fine for about a week then I got that same gray screen everytime I booted. I ended up having to send it in to apple for repairs many many times over a 4 month time period. Everytime it came back it worked for awhile then the grey screen again. Everytime I sent it back it was the logic board that they replaced. Eventually they just gave me a new computer. However, the one thing they always told me to do is unplug it, shut it off take the battery out, hold the power button down for 10 sec, then touch something metallic to the metal part inside the battery chamber. Evedently this completely discharges all the power from the computer. When I would do it most the time my mac would boot up but not for long. I notice you have both mac pro and macbook pro so I can't tell if this is the macbook pro that is having the issue. Anyway hope it may help some good luck.

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Answer 5

Dec 15, 2011 11:11 AM in response to macwars

The problem is on my Mac Pro : )

It makes me think something went askew during its timemachine backup, because at 11pm when I used the computer it was fine. Then I went to sleep, and 9 hours later, I find it in the state it was in.

So I'm trying like mad to find the OSX disc, but will add that suggestion to my list (have to move furniture to get to all the wires XD)

The hunt continues!

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Dec 15, 2011 11:50 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

Grey Install Discs are Machine specific.

An SL/10.6 Disc should work, Lion only is download or on a Flash drive & not sure it'd work.

Not fast, but if you call Apple with the Serial# of the Mac Pro handy, you can usually get replacement discs cheap or occasionally free.

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Answer 7

Dec 20, 2011 7:34 AM in response to BDAqua

Well, I couldn't find my original Grey Install disc, so I called customer service and had them send me Snow Leopard 10.6.3.

I tried to use the Option key when I put the disc in, and tried to run the Mac OS Install disc.. It sat there for a few minutes thinking then came up with the same Kernel Panic message. So now I'm a little baffled, it wasn't the harddrive and now I can't reinstall the OS? : |

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Answer 8

Dec 20, 2011 8:18 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

Maybe it is the harddrive (I have no clue), my husband removed my 3rd party ram (2 2gig sticks), and again we tried to do the OS install and it came up with the error.

Is it possible to remove the harddrive and use a harddrive from an older mac? My friend gave us a g4 that has been sitting in our garage. I guess if even after that we still get the error message then it is something with the processor? : | When I ran the hardware test (the extended scan) it came back with no errors.

I might call Apple and use my 90day support that comes with SnowLeopard (well.. thats what the AppleTech guy said I could do when I was ordering it). Ugh... my only thought is that it had to mess up during the timemachine back up... or maybe after 3 years its just finally died? : \ I got the Mac Pro because I wanted to keep it and upgrade it over a few years. Reaaaaaly hope it's not long gone, and I dread taking it in to pay 100$ a hour for service. And of course I don't have AppleCare. Yippieeee... lol =___=

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

Dec 20, 2011 10:38 AM in response to MiddayDreamer

It could be the Hard Drive, one from a G4 wouldn't work, your Mac needs a SATA drive, G4s had IDE drives.

It's easy to pull the Hard Drive out to test if it then boots from the DVD.

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Answer 10

Dec 20, 2011 12:23 PM in response to MiddayDreamer

With the harddrive out and booting from the disc I still get the kernel panic. Going to have the husband call Apple and try to work this out... there was some thread on another forum stating that some Macbook Pro's had an issue with their logic boards but they were covered for replacement within 4 years (http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377).. While mine isn't a MacBook Pro its a Mac Pro... going to check to see which one is in mine. ugh.

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