Finder won't relauch-after reboot pinwheel spinning on grey screen

Reset PRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405

Try a normal boot.

Perform a Safe Boot: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14204?viewlocale=en_US

Try a normal boot. If it boots reliably with a Safe Boot but not a normal boot then it is probably a software issue. Post back for more instructions.

If you do not have a recent backup create one in case your disk is failing. (Post back if you need instructions on how to do that w/o booting OS X.)

Boot in Recovery Mode. (Hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys as your computer restarts. If you are running 10.6 or earlier boot from an installation disk.) Run Disk Utility. Click on the upper left system disk icon. Does S.M.A.R.T. report “Verified”?

If it does not say “Verified” then the disk or the disk cable is failing and will need to be replaced. As noted above, if it is failing the first priority is to back it up. Post back for more instructions for emergency data recovery and replacing the disk or its cable.

If the S.M.A.R.T. status is “Verified” then repair the disk. Click on the icon underneath and indented to the right, usually called “Macintosh HD”. Repair Disk. It should finish normally with a green OK message. If it does not try to repair it again.

If it will not finish with a green OK message then having a backup is again essential. The remedy is a clean install: backup, reformat the drive (erasing all the data), reinstall OS X, and then restore form the backup. (Post back if you need instructions on how to do any of those steps.)

If it repaired all errors (green OK) and is still not booting normally, reinstall OS X:

Boot in Recovery Mode and then install OS X.

If it is still not booting normally after the normal reinstall then, as a last resort, perform a clean install.

Hello.

i Have a similar problem: my macbook pro froze while i was browsing the internet. I restarted it and it took a lot longet to get to the desktop than it normally does. Once it did that, that was all it did. I brought up the Force Quit window to relaunch the finder, but no matter how many time i relaunched it it was freezing back the following second.

i followed all your insrructions: PRAM, sade mode, repair disk utility, verifupy disk. I even tried reinstalling the OS X from Command + R menu and from Option menu. It says OS X cannot be reinstalled.

can you halp me wipe it Please.

I Cannot access any functions in the regular mode, so my only option is from Command R menu.

thanks