i am logged in safe mode and cannot get beyond the login grey screen..no activation can be made..please advise.

Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair Disk and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.

OS X Recovery

OS X Recovery (2)

i'm stuck on the activation screen I've restarted my phone took the sim card out and im still stuck on this screen

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved and is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one. Post in the iPhone community.