Since loading Lion 10.8.2 and setting the computer to automatically log me out after 10 minutes of inactivity, I've been dogged by the gray screen of death. any remedy?
OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Did you do everything on http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US?
Allan
FOR NICE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO TRY TO RESTART THEIR COMPUTER BUT WHO DON'T HAVE/WANT TO USE A SYSTEM DISC TO DO SO. TRY THESE STEPS BEFORE TRYING SYSTEM BACKUPS, FACTORY RESETS,
FIRST, TO HELP YOU GET PAST THE GREY SCREEN
A. I FIRST LET THE COMPUTER [WE HAVE A Mac-Pro Lion OS] COOL DOWN FOR A FEW HOURS, DISCONNECTING THE BATTERY RECHARGER, POWER, AND NETWORK CABLES/ HARD DRIVES ETC.
B. FOLLOWING ADVICE FROM OTHERS, I THEN PRESSED THE POWER BUTTON AND THE OPTIONS BUTTON AT THE SAME TIME. AFTER 10 SECONDS, I HEARD A BEEP. I TOOK MY FINGERS OFF THE KEYS. I THEN KEPT THE OPTIONS BUTTON HELD DOWN FOR HMM 10-20 SECONDS.
vip NOTHING CAME OF THIS SO I REPEATED IT AFTER HALF AN HOUR OF INACTIVITY, AFTER WHICH....
C. THE HD DRIVE AND BACKUP DRIVE ICONS APPEARED (YIPPEE). I CHOSE THE BACKUP OPTION, CLICKED IT AND NOTHING HAPPENED SO I THEN REPEATED IT AND CHOSE THE HD OPTION, CLICKING THE ARROW WHICH APPEARS BELOW IT.
D. I WAS OFFERED THE OPTION OF RESTARTING THE COMPUTER AND THE OS LION ICON APPEARED IN A BOX. THEN I WAS PROMPTED, DID I WANT TO CHOOSE THE OS LION TO START THE MACINTOSH COMPUTER ( I STILL CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY I WAS OFFERED THIS, FEARING I WAS ABOUT TO ERASE EVERYTHING BUT IT IS JUST AN INNOCENT PROMPT) TO WHICH I RESPONDED YES. -IT WORKED AND NOW THE COMPUTER IS WORKING FINE.
DON'T GO YET......HERE ARE STEPS I LATER TOOK WHICH I BELIEVE ARE CONNECTED TO THE PROBLEM, BATTERY SYSTEM OVERCHARGING AND SAFARI CACHE BACKUP... I MAY BE WRONG BUT THE LION WAS GETTING VERY HOT BEFORE THE GREY SCREEN ......TOTALLY RUINED OUR LIVES, (Well, kinda).
I solved our problem with the RECURRING grey screen by doing the following. Whether any/all of the steps brought about the solution I can't be sure but the **** thing is FIXED.
1. I LET THE COMPUTER COOL OFF FOR A FEW MORE HOURS AFTER RESTARTING .
2. i RESET SAFARI. YOU'LL HAVE TO DIG AROUND ON THE SAFARI MENU TO FIND OUT HOW.
3. I DUMPED THE CACHE AND RESET IT TO DUMP THE CACHE WEEKLY AND NOT MONTHLY. YOU CAN DO THIS BY INCLUDING THE DEVELOP OPTION IN THE TOOLBAR MENU I.E. TO DUMP MORE REGULARLY, (AS IT WERE). YOU'LL NEED TO GO INTO PREFERENCES/SETTINGS
4. DON'T LET THE COMPUTER RECHARGE EXCESSIVELY AS I THINK IT CAUSES PROBLEMS THOUGH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BE SURE.
5. SET A RESTORE / BACKUP POINT.
6. BACK UP YOUR STUFF, BACK IT UP USING A FORMATTED PORTABLE HARD DISK/USB DRIVE.
7. WE BOUGHT A HANDY PLASTIC PLATFORM THINGIE ON WHICH THE MAC NOW SITS SO IT STAYS COOL. A little attention goes a long way it seems, even for computers. Ciao.
WE HAVE HAD NO FURTHER PROBLEMS.
gray screen of death
