MacBook Pro freezes at startup on grey screen with apple and spinner

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MacBook Pro freezes at startup on grey screen with apple and spinner

I was on Firefox and suddenly the screen froze. 10-15 minutes later i still couldn't do anything on it so i had to force power my laptop off by holding down the power button. Normally when I have this sort of issue, this will solve it. But when I try to turn my laptop back on it gets to the grey screen with the apple logo and little spinner thing and just stays on that screen forever. I'm not really sure what to do now. A couple articles suggested "reseting the PRAM" and I tried that but it didn't help. If you have any suggestions if really appreciate it. And I'm not really sure if i have everything backed up and I really don't want to lose all my pictures so if you could keep that in mind if you have any ideas I'd appreciate it. thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display

Posted on Mar 7, 2013 4:54 PM

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Answer 1

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Shootist007

Level 6

16,703 points

Mar 7, 2013 5:03 PM in response to emeraldxx

What version of OS X is the Mac running? If Lion or Mt Lion, a system newer then 1.5 years old or that you updated to Lion or Mt Lion you can use the Recovery HD to check the drive and repair it IF it can be repaired.

To boot to the recovery HD at startup hold down the Command+r keys.

If you are running an older version of OS X you will need to boot the system from the Original system disc that came with your system and do the same using Disk Utility.

If newer then 1.5 years old then more then likely the drive has failed and will need to be replaced.

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Answer 2

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Mar 7, 2013 5:31 PM in response to emeraldxx

emeraldxx wrote:

But when I try to turn my laptop back on it gets to the grey screen with the apple logo and little spinner thing and just stays on that screen forever.

Could be problems with the boot drive, corrupted system and or a incompatible/old outdated third party kerenel extension file..

Run through this list of fixes, it's systematically designed to narrown down your issue.

..Step by Step to fix your Mac

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Answer 3

emeraldxx Author

Level 1

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Mar 7, 2013 7:13 PM in response to emeraldxx

it's back up and running again thank you to everyone who helped me!

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Answer 4

May 30, 2013 5:38 PM in response to emeraldxx

hey emeraldxx, how did you fix your problem? I am having the same issue.

it happened back in march.. around march madness, and my macbook pro retina is still down..

I was running firefox, was trying to watch march madness online, so was visiting different/random websites...

then i turned off my mac, and in a lil while i boot it back up and it freezes with apple logo with endless spinning..

i looked every where online for the solution but nothing worked for me..

could you please tell me how you got to fix ur mac?

thank you so much in advance.

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Answer 5

emeraldxx Author

Level 1

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May 30, 2013 9:39 PM in response to Aural Sol.

hey!

to be honest for me it just took some time. there was really nothing specific i did. if your laptop has been down since march madness, im not really sure i can help you :/

i think it had been overheating and i dont really remember the specifics but i let it be for awhile without messing with it and suddenly everything was back to normal.

i really dont know what else to say :/ i know this was no help at all. im really sorry and i hope somehow you get it figured out. id suggest going to an apple store and having someone look at it, but you probably would have already done that by now if it was possible. good luck and i really hope you can figure out a solution!

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Answer 6

kraila

Level 1

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Jun 19, 2013 4:32 PM in response to Shootist007

I had this same problem and used your solution (Recovery HD). In my case it was the Disk Permissions that I needed to repair. Verify Disk came up with no problems, but verify permissions came up with a TON, including permissions related to the monitor/display preferences.

Thanks for the tip! And for anyone else having this problem but seeing no issues under Verify Disk, try your permissions.

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