2012 macbook pro - grey screen help

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baronea Author

Level 1

4 points

2012 macbook pro - grey screen help

hi guys, I'm new to the forums. I've been searching around for a while and can't find this exact issue.

I have a 2012 13" macbook pro (A1278) with the i7.

I turned on my mac and was using it for 2-3 minutes. (checking gmail..)

Then it froze. I couldn't do anything with it. so I waited a minute, still nothing. I shut it down.

When I restarted it, this is what it looks like.

http://i.imgur.com/undefined.jpg

then about 20 seconds later, looks like this

http://i.imgur.com/BJLmHV0.jpg

I'll hear the startup sound, DVD player turns on (sounds normal) but this happens.

I'm hoping its not a logic board, but I'm asking anyone here for assistance on trying to figure out what the issue is.

Thanks in advance,

MacBook Pro, A1278

Posted on Dec 12, 2016 1:21 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tjk

Level 9

51,148 points

Dec 13, 2016 10:12 PM in response to baronea

Hi,

Your image links don't work, so we can't see what you're talking about. Use the "camera" pic above the entry field to add pics.

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Answer 2

baronea Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 12, 2016 8:52 PM in response to tjk

thanks for the reply back. I couldn't find how to attach an image. Here we go.

This is when it boots up

Then it'll sit for a bit,

and look like this:

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Answer 3

tjk

Level 9

51,148 points

Dec 13, 2016 12:04 AM in response to baronea

I don't have an answer for you, but if you google "grey screen Mac" or something similar, there are a lot of things to try.

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Answer 4

baronea Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2016 2:59 PM in response to baronea

OK, so I no longer see anything on my mac display. (just a black screen) so I went out and bought an HDMI cable.

When I plug it in, it comes upto a grey screen with a Circle with a line through it diagonally. So when I google it, its saying it means it can't find my system files.

I swap to the original hard drive and try that. Same thing.

I load up in recovery mode. It allows me to, then sits at the "Internet recovery, this may take a while" for a long time. Nothing happens.

Restart it, and now its just a grey screen.

Restart again, and now it wont turn on. wait a minute, try again.. it found the OS, but its saying my password is incorrect. Reboot it, black screen.

Does this sound like perhaps my logicboard is toast?

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Answer 5

tjk

Level 9

51,148 points

Dec 13, 2016 10:12 PM in response to baronea

At this point, either logic board or RAM is suspect. Both can make Macs do just about anything. Have you tried running Apple Hardware Test yet? https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257

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Answer 6

baronea Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 13, 2016 10:12 PM in response to tjk

Thanks for the replies. I truly do appreciate it.

I never knew about this hardware test. I tested it,and it said everything was OK.(No problems found) lol

even tho the only way I was able to do it was with an hdmi cable plugged into my TV.

I'm now doing an extended scan which, according to the screen will take 1+ hrs

Shouldn't the fact that my screen isn't displaying anything set an error?

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Answer 7

tjk

Level 9

51,148 points

Dec 13, 2016 10:38 PM in response to baronea

AHT doesn't catch everything that is wrong; when it does catch something, you can be pretty sure there is an issue there, but when it doesn't, it just means it wasn't able to find anything.

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