Sometimes when you restart your Mac, the computer may freeze and not continue the startup process. Depending on your Mac model, the screen may be gray, black, or very dark. You may see the Apple logo, a spinning gear, a spinning globe, a circle with a slash through it, or just a blank screen. There are steps and troubleshooting solutions to try to get your Mac working again.

Before attempting any of these troubleshooting steps, turn off your Mac and disconnect the Ethernet cable, audio input and output cables, headphones, and any other peripherals. Leave your keyboard, mouse, and monitor connected.

Turn on your Mac with no peripherals connected. If your Mac starts up without any problems and you have no peripherals connected, you know that a bad peripheral or cable is causing the gray screen issue. Shut down your Mac again, reconnect a peripheral, and restart your Mac. Repeat this process until you identify the bad peripheral.

Replace your mouse and keyboard. If you’ve gone through your peripherals and none of them seem to be the culprit, the mouse or keyboard may be the problem. Plug in a known-good mouse and keyboard and restart your Mac. See if this fixes the gray screen issue.