Macbook Pro boots to grey screen - but is still functioning in the background

[Melan]

Hi all,

Weird problem on my family's macbook here. The computer boots to a grey screen, and the white screen you get with the apple logo and the startup noise is not there. It seems to still be operating in the background (I can hear when i change the volume, and other noises) but for some reason the screen is completely dark grey. Each time I boot the startup gets to the user sign in screen and I can see it for a second before it goes grey again. Weird problem!

Any ideas? I tried restarting, resetting the PRAM, taking out and putting in the battery, all to no avail.

Would really appreciate any help! Thanks

edit: in command-R recovery mode I have a similar problem. It starts off dark, then gets to the actual grey background, is about to load the recovery programs then turns dark again.

safe mode also does not work

edit: should note that adjusting brightness adjusts the hue of grey the screen is showing (the light's aren't on but somebodies home)

 

[Fishrrman]

What year is the MacBook?

 

[Melan]

What year is the MacBook?

Late 2008 I think?

 

[Kian]

I had a similar issue with my MBPr. I booted in to recovery ( alt+power), selected recovery and disk utility. I had to repair the hard drive, although this didn't work completely. It still happened, so I wiped the drive using DU, reinstalled Mac OS x and restored from time machine.

 

[Melan]

I had a similar issue with my MBPr. I booted in to recovery ( alt+power), selected recovery and disk utility. I had to repair the hard drive, although this didn't work completely. It still happened, so I wiped the drive using DU, reinstalled Mac OS x and restored from time machine.

Unfortunately, entering recovery mode appears to have the same problem. I get to a promising looking screen for about 10 seconds before the display goes to the grey screen again