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my mac wont turn on, just shows a gray screen

C

cam00007678

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 14, 2009
12
0
a few hours ago my mac froze up so i reset it but when i turned it back on it was just gray with a folder icon with a question mark in the middle blinking. i then turned it off and left it alone for a few hours and when i went to turn it on again the screen is just gray with the apple icon and the loading icon under it, which is what always comes up when i first turn it on but it wont change, its been the same for like a half hour now.

any suggestions?
 
Not a good sign, your computer cannot find the OS to boot into. Take it to genius bar asap. Hopefully you have data backed up.
 
i had a disc in the drive earlier but now it wont eject so i cant put another one in there
 
awesome that worked, all i have to do is find those system restore discs then ill be all set.

could anyone tell me what caused this so i can prevenet it next time?
 
The folder icon with a question mark in it usually means 2 things:

1. Your hard-drive has died

2. You've corrupted some essential files (could you have deleted or changed a file, renamed something?)

Hopefully its the latter, because using the restore disks should fix that up, if its the first one, your gonna have to buy a new drive...
 
what would have caused the hard drive to die?

and do the discs come with the computer (the system restore discs)? because i cant seem to find them
 
cam00007678 said:
what would have caused the hard drive to die?

and do the discs come with the computer (the system restore discs)? because i cant seem to find them
Click to expand...

Did you by any chance hear any clicking coming from your computer these last couple days? That would be a sign of the hard drive failing. A lot of things can cause a hard drive to fail. It could be excessive heat, or it could just be a bad hard drive.

The disk do come with the computer, normally in a little grey square box.

It happened to me last christmas, lost a lot of really important files and pictures. I learnt my lesson and have backed up ever since.
 
no i didnt hear any clicking.

the wierd thing is that i was on vacation for the past 8 days and when i got home yesterday it happened then, no previous problems with it before yesterday
 
-cam00007678

Any drive can fail at any time, and all will fail.

Remember, these are some of the most precise devices ever made by man, involves the four high sciences of electronics, metallurgy, physics and chemistry, and they are mass produced by the billions.

It's a miracle they work as well as they do.
 
patrick0brien said:
-cam00007678

Any drive can fail at any time, and all will fail.

Remember, these are some of the most precise devices ever made by man, involves the four high sciences of electronics, metallurgy, physics and chemistry, and they are mass produced by the billions.

It's a miracle they work as well as they do.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree with this post. Hard Drives (and all other hardware) has a life cycle, and in the end will fail. Unfortunately, most of us will learn this lesson the hard way (Like me:() and lose a lot of important data.

If the OP's hard drive has failed, you'll need to buy a new HDD, and make sure you remember to back up whenever possible.
 
umm i cant find my system restore disc anywhere, is there any way i can get another one?

i also read that the disc doesnt come with a OS X which is what i have
 
Where did you get the computer from? And which OS X are you using?

There should be a disk which should say something like "Mac OS 10.5" or similar. It doesn't say system restore disk or anything like that, its just a disk with OS X on it, its what you would have used to install OS X on your computer.

If you can't find the disks, you either need to buy OS X again from the shop (which would be a huge waste of money considering you have already got it on your computer) or, even though its illegal, download the same revision of OS X you got off the internet just so you can restore your computer. As I said, its illegal, but those are the only options I can think of. Can't you just take your mac to an apple store and set up an appointment with the genius bar? It would be much easier
 
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