Mysterious Gray Boot Screen of Death - Mac Mini

[ndriver182]

I'd been noticing recently that my mini would periodically give me the gray screen of death when I'd boot it up, but after holding down the power to shut it down and restarting everything would be fine. I didn't think too much of it. I just moved out of my old place and into my new place and now my mini is doing it much more frequently. I just hooked it up for the first time since moving and I had to do the shut down/start up process three times before I got into OSX. Then I shut down OSX just to try it again... same exact results. It took three restarts to be able to boot up again.

Does anybody know what might cause something like this? The only thing I can think of is that maybe something is up with the RAM. I did upgrade the RAM to 2x2 gig of OWC memory a few months back, but never saw anything like this happening. When the computer is running I haven't noticed any strange issues.

HELP!

 

[bob vansteel]

I'd been noticing recently that my mini would periodically give me the gray screen of death when I'd boot it up, but after holding down the power to shut it down and restarting everything would be fine. I didn't think too much of it. I just moved out of my old place and into my new place and now my mini is doing it much more frequently. I just hooked it up for the first time since moving and I had to do the shut down/start up process three times before I got into OSX. Then I shut down OSX just to try it again... same exact results. It took three restarts to be able to boot up again.

Does anybody know what might cause something like this? The only thing I can think of is that maybe something is up with the RAM. I did upgrade the RAM to 2x2 gig of OWC memory a few months back, but never saw anything like this happening. When the computer is running I haven't noticed any strange issues.

HELP!

Does it say anything...like a message? More than likley its a hardware problem and it seems like that new RAM could be the problem. If you still have your old RAM put it in and test it out.

 

[ndriver182]

This is what comes up

I do have the stock RAM and I'll see if I can find my mini box where the RAM is at so I can give it a go. I found my e-mail from the Apple store and as it turns out I've still got 'till December 5 for my 1 year warranty just in case. Although I'd prefer to avoid repair if possible.

I'd love to hear any other opinions or thoughts to all you Mac pros!

 

[ADent]

Does it do this if you boot off of the install DVD or external drive?

 

[ndriver182]

Well, it's happening all over again. I replaced the OWC RAM with replacements sent by them a few months ago and everything was fine until yesterday. It took me three hard resets today after work to get it going and once yesterday. Yesterday was the first time since I replaced the RAM.

 

[srexy]

Random troubleshooting musings:

Repair permissions & verify disk.

Try and retrace your steps for any changes that you made recently - particularly hardware (any hardware).

Unplug any non mac peripherals. My MacBook Pro pitched a fit recently when I had an unsupported SD card plugged into my card reader. Took me several anxious reboots before I realized what the grey screens at reboot coincided with.