[SOLVED] White screen with mouse

[Sup3rPsycho]

i am trying to fix my friends imac. When i start it the imac it boots about half to a quarter way then goes to a grey screen with the mouse courser. any ideas? i am new to macs and have no clue how to fix this issue.

 

[McHenryB]

There's a support article here from Apple that covers basic troubleshooting of this sort of problem. Try the suggestions, particularly Safe Mode and PRAM reset to see if you get any joy.

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/TS2570

 

[STFLightning]

Before trying some of the more drastic methods described in the article McHenryB linked to, try to boot into Recovery Mode (CMD+R before the Apple bong on startup). If you can boot into Recovery Mode, use Disk Utility to Verify Disk and if available Repair Disk. If Disk Utility comes up with nothing or an unfixable result, try to rescue files with Terminal to an external drive (if needed), then do a wipe and install.