kulas wrote:
it just hangs to this gray screen with apple logo after login
Hold the Shift key down upon boot
Emergency backup procedure
Drag and drop copy your users file folders (music, pictures, documents etc) to a regular external powered drive as soon as possible.
Do not use, setup or trust only TimeMachine at this troubled time as it will copy corrupted data and we need just your users files safe just in case. TimeMachine cannot be used with a Windows PC.
Unmount and Disconnect all external drives once the backup process is completed.
Note:
If you have any over 4GB sized files, those won't copy to a standard formatted FAT32/MSDOS drive from the factory, if you need to save these 4GB+ files use another blank/empty drive and use Disk Utility to format it 1 Partition, Option: GUID, Format: OS X Extended Journaled (or the standard default one for older Mac's).
Mac's cannot copy to nor format a NTFS drive. ExFAT format to be used with a Windows machine must be right click formatted by Windows, not OS X (does it wrong) XP macines can install a free exFAT update from Microsoft. Vista-Win 8 can format exFAT.
Formatting a drive will erase all data on it.
Most commonly used backup methods
Go around and update all your third party software, especially Parallels. Reboot.
Gray, Blue or White screen at boot, w/spinner/progress bar
I am using an app memory clean from fiplabs.
Don't know, don't advise, it's unnecessary.
I also use Parallels desktop for an accounting software in Windows, and it really slows down my computer. Do I need to upgrade the memory to 8gb?
Yes, but that machine can accept 16GB of RAM if you install it yourself or have a local PC/Mac tech do it in about 10 minutes.
That machine takes
| Maximum Memory | 16 GB (Actual) 8 GB (Apple) |
| Memory Slots | 2 - 204-pin PC-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM |
Order it from Crucial.com or OtherWorld Computing (also has tools and videos if you want to do it yourself) to make sure your not getting cheap PC RAM
Does not violate AppleCare as long as you don't break anything, new RAM is not covered.
You might have other junk installed or other problems.
See
Why is my computer slow?
..Step by Step to fix your Mac
Diagnosing network issues
How to safely defrag a Mac's hard drive
