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Macbook pro won't startup. Stuck on apple logo with spinning wheel.

When I start up my 15 inch Macbook pro, it gets to the apple logo screen with the spinning gear underneath and it just stays there and does not startup. I have let it sit that way for up to an hour and it juts stays on that screen. Please help!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011)

Posted on May 31, 2013 3:04 PM

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36 replies

Aug 19, 2017 6:00 PM in response to Mgyc

Though its an old thread but I thought of adding my comment after reading your story so that others might not end up replacing the hard drive in such situation. As per the Apple support article https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204156

1. When you see the Apple logo appear, it means that the computer has found the startup file "boot.efi" on your startup disk. This tells your Mac where to locate the System folder on your startup disk.

2. After your Mac locates the System Folder on your startup disk, a progress bar or spinning wheel appears on the screen. This lets you know that your Mac is reading files from the macOS System folder.


So if you noticed the progress bar it means your startup disk is working but it might have some issue with file system or permissions or may be wrong startup disk selection which could have been fixed either repairing the hard drive for doing clean OS X install. But in your story you said your Time Machine backup disk was encrypted so there might be a possibility that your startup disk also had File Vault turned on. And in case of file vault turned on the internal encrypted disk won't appear during os x reinstall if the Mac was booted from external OS X install DVD.


Ideally you should have tried unlocking the hard drive from terminal.

1. After booting from OS X install DVD or Recovery partition if your Mac had one.

2. You needed to select terminal from Utilities menu.

3. Then you should tried to unlock the encrypted startup disk using the following command as per the apple.stackexchange.com/questions/236206/backup-files-from-terminal-in-recovery -mode


Find the lvUUID of your Macintosh HD. Use this command:

diskutil list // lvUUID

Look for text looking similar to this:

LogicalVolume on disk0s2 4B2EFAAE-C871-4E6D-AB15-2DDE604B97CE// this is lvUUID UnlockedEncrypted

To unlock use this command:

diskutil cs unlockVolume lvUUID #replace lvUUID by the one shown in the diskutil listing

You will be prompted with password for your user account. After that Macintosh HD should have appeared in OS X install window or in disk utility to repair.

Or probably you could connect it to other Mac in Target disk mode and should erase the complete startup disk and then installation would have worked too.

May 31, 2013 5:25 PM in response to gman1233

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.

Step 1

The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.

There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.

a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”

b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.

c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.

Step 2

Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.

If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.

Step 3


Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is damaged and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to step 5.


If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)


If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.


Step 4


Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.


Step 5


Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.


This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.


Step 6


Boot into Recovery again. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.


Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.


Step 7


Repeat step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a backup.

Step 8

A dead logic-board battery in a Mac Pro can cause a gray screen at boot. Typically the boot failure will be preceded by loss of the startup disk and system clock settings. See the user manual for replacement instructions.

Step 9

If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store to have the machine tested.

Nov 3, 2013 12:33 PM in response to historyofmyworld

I was eventually able to get my computer "fixed." Here's what I did.


1. Eventually, the power button began responding and I was able to get the computer to turn off.

2. I attempted to start up the computer in safe mode by holding down the "shift" key; this allowed the Mavericks installer to continue its installation, but just as happened the first time, the power to the computer suddenly turned off during installation (about 20 minutes into the install).

3. I tried resetting the SMC to no avail; I tried resetting the NVRAM/PRAM to no avail. (please see this resource for a list of startup key combinations: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1533)

4. I started up the computer holding the "option" key to enable "Startup Manager" and select my boot volume. From here, I had a number of options

-I selected the Mavericks installer as the start-up disk, but again, this didn't work.

-I also tried to start up from the "Macintosh HD," to no avail.

-I selected startup from "Recovery HD," and from here used the "Mac OS X Utilities"

4a. From "Mac OS X Utilities," I tried using the "Disk Utility" to repair the disk, but I was unable to repair the disk.

4b. From "Mac OS X Utilities," I then tried the option "Reinstall Mac OS X," but this failed because the installer couldn't find an eligible hard drive on which to install the OS

4c. From "Mac OS X Utilities," I clicked on "Restore From Time Machine Backup." This would have been a viable option for me, but I hadn't backed up my files in 11 months, so I would lose lots of data and work. This left one option.

4d. From "Mac OS X Utilities," I clicked on "Disk Utility," and clicked on "New Image" from the top toolbar; I used this to make a current copy of my hard drive, which I saved on an external hard drive. I then erased the hard drive, and this enabled me to reinstall Mac OS X and eventually restore all the data to my computer.


In the future, I will be using Time Machine regularly to back up data.

Nov 20, 2013 12:46 AM in response to gman1233

I had the same problem, and now I know what the problem was. The internet connection was down, or more specifically, the DNS was down. I connect using WiFi. Now internet came back and I was able to boot again. But it horrifies me to think that my computer wont start without internet. This needs to be fixed!

Dec 4, 2013 1:15 AM in response to gman1233

I just experienced the same problem tonight, i tried resetting the PRAM and it didn't help, safe mode never loaded, it just remained stuck at the Apple logo, and the weird thing is, when i try to go into recovery mode, it asks me to pick a language instead, just like when you first install the software and have to set up the configuration, i really don't know what just happened, it was fine just half an hour ago, it was running slow though, and so i restarted by holding the power button, and after that i just can't get it to start up.

Dec 4, 2013 1:19 AM in response to gman1233

I just experienced the same problem tonight, i tried resetting the PRAM and it didn't help, safe mode never loaded, it just remained stuck at the Apple logo, and the weird thing is, when i try to go into recovery mode, it asks me to pick a language instead, just like when you first install the software and have to set up the configuration, i really don't know what just happened, it was fine just half an hour ago, it was running slow though, and so i restarted by holding the power button, and after that i just can't get it to start up.

Macbook pro won't startup. Stuck on apple logo with spinning wheel.

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