If your MacBook Pro is stuck on the blue or gray screen, it can be frustrating and alarming. However, before you panic, there are several troubleshooting steps you can take to fix the issue and get your Mac back up and running.
Check Peripherals
The first thing you should do is to check all peripherals that are connected to your Mac. Turn off your Mac by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds until the Mac shuts off. Disconnect all peripherals like USB and Thunderbolt cables, and then power on your Mac. If the problem remains after disconnecting all peripherals from your Mac, proceed to the next step.
Boot in Safe Mode
Start up your Mac and at the same time hold down the shift key on your keyboard. It might take some time for the safe mode to boot. You’ll see safe mode written at the top right corner of your screen.
Log into your user on the desktop. In the upper menu, click on ‘Go,’ go to ‘Utilities,’ find an open ‘Disk Utility,’ select your drive, and click on ‘First Aid.’ Then click on ‘Run’ and wait for the process to finish. If you are asked, click on ‘Repair Disk,’ and then restart your Mac.
Repair the Startup Drive from Another Drive
Boot from a USB flash drive. Insert a USB flash drive, hold down the option key on your keyboard, and start up your Mac. You’ll see the Mac OS startup manager appear, where you can choose the device to boot from.
Boot from a DVD Install Disk
Insert the DVD into the Mac, restart your Mac, and at the same time hold down the letter ‘c’ key on your keyboard. Follow the instructions on the screen.
Boot from a Recovery HD
Restart your Mac, and at the same time, hold down the command and R keys on your keyboard. After your Mac boots in the Disk Utility window, select your drive, click on ‘First Aid,’ and then on ‘Run.’ Wait for the process to finish. Verify to repair the drive if asked.
Repair the Startup Drive in Single User Mode
Start up your Mac, and at the same time, hold down command and letter ‘s’ keys on your keyboard. In the command line, enter the command ‘/s/bin/fsck -fy.’ Wait for the fsck command to finish the process. If you see the message ‘the volume x means no problems were found,’ you are good to go. If you see the message ‘file system w,’ it indicates that issues were found, and the fsck command tried to correct the errors on your hard drive. In this case, continue to execute the fsck command until you see the message ‘volume x appears to be okay.’ If the message doesn’t appear after five or more attempts, your hard drive has severe issues, and you might not be able to repair it.
Change Startup Drive Permissions
Change permissions by booting from another device. Boot your Mac from another drive. Wait for your Mac to boot. When you see the desktop, open Spotlight by pressing the command and space keys on your keyboard. In the Spotlight, enter ‘terminal’ to open it, or you can open it from the utilities folder. In the terminal window, enter the command line ‘sudo chown root, /volume/startup drive,’ replacing the word ‘startup drive’ with the name of your startup drive that is experiencing issues. Enter your administrator password. The password characters will not be shown in the terminal window. In the terminal window, enter the command line ‘sudo chmod 1775, /volume/startup drive,’ making sure to replace the word ‘startup drive’ with the name of your startup drive that is experiencing issues. Restart your Mac.
Change Permissions by Using Single User Mode
Hold down the command and ‘s’ keys on your keyboard and start up your Mac. Hold down the keys until you see a few lines of scrolling text. In the command prompt, enter the line ‘mount -uw /.’ Enter the next command line ‘chown root /.’ Then enter the following command line ‘chmod 1775 /.’ Enter the last command line ‘exit.’
In conclusion, if your MacBook Pro is stuck on the blue or gray screen, don’t panic. Follow these simple steps to troubleshoot and fix the issue. You’ll be back up and running in no time.