What User should do if a Mac appears with Blue or Grey Screen on Startup

A Mac computer is prone to serious issue over the course of its life-cycle, like any other computer. Several types of horrible issues may arise during the course of its usage, this can be a complete failure to start to that horrible kernel panic screen. Let's see how to troubleshoot and fix the problem that might occur with Mac screen appearing with blue or grey screen on startup. For most of the section, the problems user run on a Mac are quite universal, present in almost all versions of OS X, however, Bright Circle stick to the most modern operating systems. If users are still covered by Apple's warranty or AppleCare, the simplest and easiest solution is to seek that support and get that problem get fixed, for free. Else with the support of Bright Circle Technical Services and care, you can handle and execute a lot of such troubleshoots yourself.

When you switch on your computer and see a grey or blue screen which never loads OS X, it may become a cause for concern. This might be because of various reasons, though it's one of the most frustrating experience that user can have with a Mac, and troubleshooting is no easy task. Hence follow a few steps that user can take to find out what's going on.

Step #1: Disconnect All Peripherals

One of the main reasons for the appearance of a grey or blue screen while startup can be incompatible hardware connected to the machine. This can be a printer, an external hard drive, or can be a USB hub. Hence, disconnect everything except the mouse and keyboard, and reboot your computer system.

In case your Mac starts this way, then it's a problem because of those peripherals. User have to perform trial-and-error via various means to figure out which one fits-in, hence connect them back into user’s computer one by one, and reboot the system again. In case one of them causes user’s computer to hang on to the grey screen again, then user have found the issue.

In case user is able to figure out the problematic peripheral, then it's time to execute a little research. Now, head towards the manufacturer's web site and locate if others are reporting the similar type of problem. Then, you might be able to resolve and fix the issue with a software update or via a firmware update to the device.

Incase no devices are found to be a cause for the problem, and users Mac still do not get booted, then it's time to explore further.

Step #2: Conduct a Safe Boot

Safe boot ensure Mac boots up with the minimum number of drivers required to make it run, and it validates users hard disk during the process (this might take a little longer time to boot up). Perform this, begin your computer while holding down the Shift key till the Apple logo passes. In case your Mac begin with the safe boot, then go ahead and restart the computer again and observe if it gets boot up normally (this might fix the problem in a surprising amount of the time). In case not, then it's time to pay attention to the hard drive with a closer look.

Step #3: Run Disk Utility

In case user is still not able to boot up OS X normally, then, it's time to run Disk Utility and check out hard drive:

1. Boot up computer while pressing down Command+R (in case user are running earlier version, then find the latest updated OS installation disc, keep it in the drive, and then, reboot computer pressing down C). This might boot user into a diagnostic mode.
2. Choose the Disk Utility Option.
3. Choose your hard drive, and then click on "Verify", now Wait for Disk Utility till it gets finished.
4. In case problems pop up, then click on "Repair Disk."
5. In case nothing pops up, then, click on "Repair Permissions" and then wait for Disk Utility to scan hard drive again.
6. In case Disk Utility observes and repairs some problems, then go ahead and reboot.

In several cases, running Disk Utility will catch issues with startup problems. Sometimes a single file having wrong permissions may cause the whole system to collapse, or in case something's not in the right place, then it won't boot. In case this also do not work, then user have to seek help and support from Bright Circle Customer Service Center to get problem resolved.

Rose Candy is a senior manager at Bright-Circle. She is an entrepreneur, blogger, international speaker, and an award-winning author who provide a wealth of tips of lending proficient technical support.