Can I ssh to a Mac that's booted into Safe Mode?

I'm needing to ssh to a Mac that's been booted into Safe Mode (I'm already able to ssh to it in normal boot mode, and I know how to boot it into Safe Mode from the command line, i.e. sudo nvram boot-args="-x", then sudo reboot).
I can't just test this for myself, as it has to work first time, otherwise I'll be locked out of the remote Mac. If ssh would still work in Safe Mode, the plan is to then ssh to it and issue the command to set it back to normal boot mode (with sudo nvram boot-args="") and then reboot... job done.
Ideally, but not too important, I could VNC to it in Safe Mode instead, but ssh would do fine.
Does anyone know (for sure!) please?
In case anyone wondered, I'm wanting to do the Safe Boot because I'm told it can cure an issue with Adobe CS apps freaking out and locking up, crashing etc. I want to try this over the w/e, and have no physical access to the Mac. I've already set it to power on later (via pmset) - something I do routinely.
I thought an answer to this would be easy to find, but after Googling I've drawn a blank. Can't find it in any Apple docs either.
Thanks in advance!

If this was already covered somewhere else, I
apologize. I did some browsing for this topic but had
no luck finding anything...
Anyhoo, I'm trying to log in to my wife's B&W G3
(running Jaguar) from my G4 (running 10.4.2) using
secure shell but she doesn't have a password set up
on her computer. When I enter the ssh command in
Terminal, it asks for a password — I don't enter
anything and just hit the Return key. It returns with
a massage saying "Permission denied, please try
again." What can I do to log in w/o setting up her
machine with a password first?
If you want to use SSH securily I would suggest you disable password authenticaiton altogher. If you setup public key authentication it is more secure and better than using passwords anyway.
see how to setup ssh with public keys

Similar Messages

I removed the kernal extensions and now Mac won't boot in safe mode

Hey guys. I did a severly boneheaded thing. In an attempt to see what extensions were necessary I copied them to a folder on my desktop. I then deleted the kernal extensions but did not empty the trash. Upon restart, crunch. I can't seem to get the computer to boot in safe mode. I tried a number of things but none of them have worked. The computer continually crashes into a kernal panic. I am using 10.4 and would like to try and reinstall the OS but I can't even get the computer to boot from the install dvd.
Any help or insight would be sincerely appreciated. Thanks guys.
-Boneheadedly yours,
Sean

You need to get into single use mode for steps one and two that are listed below.
This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492
Basically, you hold down the command + s key then powering on your machine. The command key has a little apple symbol on the lower left. It is between the alt/option key and the space bar. On a PC keyboard, it will be the windows key, I think.
You can get into the terminal when you boot off of an install dvd.
Here is an overview of the terminal commands. Lets assume that your account has a short user name of mac.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
#What is my short user name? Type the whoami command.
mac $ whoami
mac
mac $
#How to list all of your disks.
# The ls command is for list
mac $ ls /Volumes/
Audio CD       Macintosh-HD   Spotless       Tiger-ext
mac $
# Let's say your flash drive is named Spotless
# cd is change directory
mac $ cd /Volumes/Spotless
# pwd is Print Working Directory. A directory is the Unix name for a folder. You are always in a directory.
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/Spotless
mac $
# The ls command is for list
# l is long
# F is type of file where / is directory. For directories, the slash is pasted to the end of the name.
mac $ ls -lF
total 134704
-rw-r--r--     1 mac staff     64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x    83 mac staff      2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files/
drwxrwxrwx    12 mac staff       408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards/
drwxr-xr-x     9 mac staff       306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009/
... trimmed ... What does all this mean?
drwxrwxrwx
d = directory
r = read
w = write
x = executeable program
drwxrwxrwx
|| | |
|| |   all other users not in first two types
|| |
|| group
||
|owner
|
What type of entry is this? d = directory, - = file, etc.
Every Unix resource: files, folders, etc has an owner, group, other
A Unix resource has one owner.
A Unix resource has one group. A group contains a list of users.
To gain access to a file, you can be the owner, in the group, or not the owner and not in the group hence you end up as other. The owner, group, or other has read, write, or execute permissions.
# l is long
# a is all to show hidden files & folders
mac $ ls -lFa
total 134736
drwxr-xr-x    41 mac   staff      1496 Dec 22 17:11 .
drwxrwxrwt     8 root admin       272 Dec 24 13:55 ..
-rwxrwxrwx     1 mac   staff     15364 Dec 23 12:52 .DS_Store*
drwx------     4 mac   staff       136 Jan 22 2009 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt     5 mac   staff       170 Sep 14 16:36 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wx     4 mac   staff       136 Dec 31 1969 .Trashes
-rw-r--r--     1 mac staff     64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x    83 mac   staff      2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files
drwxrwxrwx    12 mac   staff       408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards
drwxr-xr-x     9 mac   staff       306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009
... trimmed ...
# mv is move or rename
mv -i the-name the-new-name
# You can just rename the file back to what it was with mv command.
mv -i old-name new-name
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
mv is move or rename
For cryptic comments, you can always uses the manual command which is man. For example:
man mv
# Type the letter q to quit.
In case you have spaces in your filenames or directories, you need to escape them. See examples:
mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
mac $
mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
Do you know about tabbing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
Press the up arrow key to see the previous command(s).
To edit a command, use the left arrow key to more left and the right arrow key to move right. Use the delete key to delete the key to the left. Type a letter to insert.
history to see many previous commands.
mac $ history
    1 pwd
    2 man ls
    3 history
You may copy then paste from this list.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2692161&tstart=0
Robert

Intel Mini will only boot into safe mode - hangs on ANY Mac OS volume

I have an Intel Mac Mini... the core2duo 1.83GHz or whatever.
I acquired it from it's previous owner, as it was "broken".
He could not get it to run an install disc.
It will not boot any of the Mac OS install media (DVD or CD - 10.4, 10.5, 10.6).
It will not boot/install a Linux disc (I haven't tried, but that's what I was told).
It WILL boot/install Windows !?!?
So... anyway, I removed the HDD, and installed OS 10.6 Leopard on it (FW Target mode installs kept failing at the end - regular retail DVD). I then reinstalled the HDD back into the machine.
The system keeps hanging at the same point it would when trying to boot an install DVD - after the screen turns blue, it goes back to the gray screen, then immediately freezes.
However, I eventually discovered that it WILL boot into safe mode !
Everyone kept saying it's the logic board failure, but if it boots into safe mode, can that be true ? It doesn't seem to me that it would be hardware based in that case - unless it's just a specific component, like the Airport module or something.
The last line displayed in Verbose mode when it hangs is:
"athset_txchainmask[5124] sc->sc.config.txchainmask 5 mask 5"
It also says something about the Airport just before that.
I tried removing the Airport module and it still hangs.
I also tried different RAM, with the same results.
I ran the 10.6.2 combo update in Safe Mode. It still hangs. Haven't tried 10.6.3 yet, though I do have it downloaded and ready to install.
This thing is driving me crazy. Please tell me there's a fix, OTHER than replacing the logic board ?!?! It just doesn't seem like it should be so complicated considering that it runs in safe mode.
It's rare I can't figure out a Mac problem - please help !
Message was edited by: maxtechsystems

Very strange, and getting stranger !
Ok... so, from safe boot mode, I installed Windows XP Pro using the boot camp assistant.
Everything installed perfectly. I started up from Windows, and put in the Mac Mini recovery disc, in order to load the drivers. The Boot Camp software started with Auto Run, and I clicked through to install everything. The drivers start loading...Windows reacts positively, with the system tray announcing "new hardware installed" every 30 seconds or so. Airport/WiFi IS working (in Windows), as it detected my router/network...this is where it gets F'ed up - when the installer gets through with the drivers, and installs the boot camp software for Windows - the system reboots, goes through the usual Windows startup...the desktop background appears, but no icons or start menu - then it reboots again...same thing, again, over and over in a loop.
Went back into OS X (safe boot mode). Installed reEFIt (a bootloader utility), to see if maybe I can bypass the Mac OS/Boot Camp bootloader. No luck. Install worked, but still had the same issues.
For the heck of it, I try installing Linux Mint 8. The live CD starts up OK, but only as far as the boot menu. I tried the installer first - after the splash screen, it hangs on a plain gray screen (w/o the normal linux installer language selection menu - just solid grey).
I tried running the live CD w/o the installer - the actual OS. Same thing - after the splash screen, it hangs, only it's a black screen this time. If I use verbose mode, it still seems to hang on the WiFi card.
Here's the strangest thing yet - Ok, remember, it wouldn't boot normally into ANY Mac OS volume - including the installer DVDs - only in safe boot mode...
So, I try the "hackintosh" IPC osX86 10.5.6 DVD - it boots into the installer with NO problem, WITHOUT safe boot mode ! I tried installing it unsuccessfully. I forget now which options I choose, if any, though I may try it again later and pretend it's just a non-apple PC with the same specs as the Mini (or try just the "base system", and the bootloader - then run the official Apple updates)
This last thing really makes me think it has something to do with the EFI/bios - however, I've only been able to find info on how to update it, not replace or restore it - and it's only from a working install, not forced from a flash drive or CD (plus when I do try the installer from safe boot mode, it says it's current and unneeded).
I still haven't changed the hard drive. After almost successfully installing Windows, I made the assumption the -hardware- was OK, and reassembled everything.
Currently, I'm trying a direct installation of Windows XP Pro SP2 with which I'll try installing the drivers WITHOUT the boot camp software, to see if the WiFi (Airport card) and everything else is indeed working OK (remember too that the system passed ALL the ASD 3S116 tests).
So anyway, that's the current status. Any new ideas anyone ?
Thanks.
Message was edited by: maxtechsystems

Can't boot into safe mode or prompt login window, need help.

Hello all,
This is cross-posted from the installations and set-up list.
Can anyone suggest a remedy for what's ailing this powerbook. its a g4 powerbook, i don't have much more info other than that. all indications are that it is running 10.2.6, although i was told that it had been updated to 10.2.8, its possible that it was updated only to 10.2.6. following the update, you get to the apple and spinning pinwheel screen and it will not proceed. literally, the pinwheel will spin for 24 hours+.
it looks like it gets to the point of the startup(login) items and hangs indefinitely. ie it will
if i start in verbose mode it will, give some clues:
truncated or malformed library: /System/Libray/Frameworks/Security.frameworks/Versions/A/Security
Some starup items failed to launch due to conflicts
/usr/libexec/crashreporterd: crashdump terminated by signal 5
init: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/console, sleeping
/usr/libexec/crashreporterd: crashdump terminated by signal 5
last message repeated 10 times
/usr/libexec/crashreporterd: crashdump terminated by signal 5
init: getty repeating too quickly on port /dev/console, sleeping
/usr/libexec/crashreporterd: crashdump terminated by signal 5
last message repeated 5 times
this will continue to be repeated and i assume a new core.## file is sent to the /cores folder, until the hard drive is maxed out.
I can boot in single user mode and everything is fine but i cannot boot into safe mode.
fsck says the disk is fine, as does disk first aid, i have also corrected permissions, and followed many of the things that have been previously posted.
It looks like ther are conflicts with some startup items, what can i move from the starup folder and is best not to be touched?
what about the truncated library message?
also can i update to 10.2.8 from the single user mode, if i cannot get into safe mode?
any suggestions?
thanks in advance-
todd

I have solved this problem. I mounted the laptop in target mode and replaced this file:
/System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
with the equivalent file from a machine running 10.2.8.
It booted all the way through then i upgraded to 10.2.8.

Mac Pro won't boot into safe mode

I tried to boot into safe mode by using the keyboard key and the progress bar got a little bit of the way across but then it got stuck and sat there for 2 days with no change. Any idea why no safe mode? Here's a photo of the screen how it sat for 2 days:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23232804/no%20safe%20mode.JPG

Here's the few lines right around the boot attempt: at 1pm on 12/31 I tried to boot into Safe mode, then seeing that it was taking forever, I left, and came back on 1/2. It was in exactly the same spot so I rebooted normally. Does this give any clues?
12/31/12 1:03:48 PM
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/HelpData.framework/Versions/A/Resources/helpd[ 15597]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/kv/kvWwTJ6jGyu2tiPpClXO8++++TI/-Caches-//mds
12/31/12 1:03:48 PM
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/HelpData.framework/Versions/A/Resources/helpd[ 15597]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/kv/kvWwTJ6jGyu2tiPpClXO8++++TI/-Caches-//mds
12/31/12 1:03:48 PM
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/HelpData.framework/Versions/A/Resources/helpd[ 15597]
MDS Error: unable to create user DBs in /var/folders/kv/kvWwTJ6jGyu2tiPpClXO8++++TI/-Caches-//mds
12/31/12 1:04:05 PM
authexec[15601]
executing /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax/Contents/MacOS/uid
12/31/12 1:04:05 PM
authexec[15603]
executing /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax/Contents/MacOS/uid
12/31/12 1:04:05 PM
authexec[15606]
executing /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax/Contents/MacOS/uid
12/31/12 1:04:07 PM
authexec[15608]
executing /System/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax/Contents/MacOS/uid
12/31/12 1:04:23 PM
com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[395]
([0x0-0x5535530].com.titanium.OnyX[15559]) Exited: Terminated
12/31/12 1:04:26 PM
com.apple.kextd[18]
/Volumes/Clone internal disk: kextcache has had enough tries; not launching any more
1/2/13 8:33:27 AM
kernel
npvhash=4095
12/31/12 1:08:48 PM
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock[7534]
spawn_via_launchd() failed, errno=12 label=com.apple.Finder flags=2
1/2/13 8:33:27 AM
kernel
PAE enabled
1/2/13 8:33:27 AM
kernel
64 bit mode enabled
1/2/13 8:33:27 AM
kernel
Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun 7 16:33:36 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_I386
1/2/13 8:33:27 AM
DirectoryService[21]
Improper shutdown detected

Can't boot into safe mode - PC keyboard

My Mini can't log in. I know why -- and even how to fix it -- but I'm unable to boot into any alternate state to make the fix.
The situation: PC keyboard (AOpen 90.00029.UB1) and a Logitech 4-button mouse, both USB native; also tried Dell PS/2 keyboard with a USB adapter. VGA adapter is connected to analog LCD. Away from home; do not have OS X install DVDs with me. LoginWindow.plist is fatally borked, but I can't get at it to undo the damage.
Symptoms: Mini will not respond to ANY keyboard actions during boot. Cmd-s, Cmd-v, Shift, Cmd-Opt-p-r, Cmd-Opt-o-f, or even C to boot from CD (I have a PPC Ubuntu live CD, never tested prior to this disaster). No feedback to indicate anything is happening.
If it means anything, I have the startup chime turned off by a third-party utility. Much too loud for my household.
Anyway, the sequence of events is ALWAYS the same:
* Power on
* No video (not just black -- no signal)
* CD noises
* With actual disc in drive, CD spin-up
* Still no video
* CD slows slightly (if disc in drive)
* First video activity: gray logo screen
* Spinning gear thing
* Black screen
* "Starting Mac OS X" (sometimes only a brief flash)
* Stops at blue screen with mouse cursor, no Finder
The Mini will only respond to: (1) power button on/off; (2) power-on-and-hold to go into that firmware update mode -- get scary loud tone, flashing LED, then above sequence as usual; and (3) mouse-down to eject CD. Oh, and I can move the mouse pointer around when I get to the blue screen. Yay.
For the past 24 hours I have been searching the net for ANY indication that a PC keyboard is capable/incapable of inducing Safe Mode (or any other mode). Can't find a firm Yes or No, or even a Sometimes/Maybe.
Wondering if keys are mapped differently on PC keyboards -- maybe Shift isn't really Shift as far as Mac ROM is concerned, so no Safe Mode? Tried other random key combos to no avail. Can't find a "rosetta stone" for USB keyboard signalling on net to prove/disprove theory.
First Mac, no points of reference. Hopelessly lost.
Help.
Randall

Final results are in. I ordered an Apple keyboard from Amazon, plugged it into the Mini tonight and wonder of wonders, I could get into Safe Mode, Single User Mode, Pie à la Mode, you name it. Microsoft and Apple clearly have different ideas about USB keyboards at the hardware level. (And just for the record, the Mac keyboard won't get me into my PC's BIOS either.)
Fixing the login problem took considerably longer, but that's because I overlooked the obvious and wasted a lot of time on generic boot troubleshooting: If you got yourself into trouble with defaults write, a little reading of the Man pages will lead you to defaults delete.
Things go much smoother when you have a well defined target.
Anyway, anyone out there with a Mini and a PC keyboard, do the Safe Boot test now. If it ain't working, do yourself a favor and get a Mac keyboard.
Thanks for all the help.
Randall

Mac Pro can only be booted into safe mode

Hi All
This morning when I booted my Mac Pro 2009 running 10.6.8, it booted but with this error window on the desktop -
The System Extension "/System/LibraryExtensions/IOStorageFamily.kext" was installed improperly and cannot be used.
Please try reinstalling it, or contact the products vendor for an update.
How do I reinstall it ?
How did this happen ?
Now I can only boot my main drive from Safe Mode by holding shift after the boot chime, it still shows the error above in a desktop window
but it boots.
My machine all boots OK into Maountain Lion from another drive no problems.
How can I resovle this issue, my drive that contained a backup went bad the other and I am awaiting a new drive, and then this happens, always the way.

Hi there Washac,
You may want to verify that the disc you are trying to boot from is the OS Installation disc and not the Additional Software disc. Try using the Startup Manager to boot from the install disc instead of launching the installer from the desktop in Mavericks. Keep the 10.6 install disc in the optical drive and follow the steps below.
Turn on, or restart, your Mac.
Immediately press and hold the Option key on a USB attached keyboard. After a few seconds, the Startup Manager should appear. The Startup Manager scans for available volumes.
Use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard to select the volume you would like to use.
Press the Return key on your keyboard to start up the computer from the volume you selected.
via Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
If the OS install disc is not booting properly, you have a couple of options. The first option is to reach out to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or schedule an appointment at an Apple Store, if there is one near you, and have them reinstall 10.6. If that is not possible for any particular reason, you can still order a replacement 10.6 Retail disc from the Apple Online Store. These discs are not model specific, and should boot on any computer that meets the system requirements for 10.6.
-Griff W.

Serious imac problem. Won't boot into safe mode, can't click anything when os loads up.

I'm trying to recover my files through the boot camp option on the windows side. Is there anyway to run something like disk warrior or windows alternative to repair the partition from the windows side. I don't think I'm going to be able to get all the files off my computer cause the hard drive is messed up and not working well. But I'm not completely dead. Safe mode won't work and I tried the fsck from single user which didn't work either. Any help would be great, please save my wounded mac!

I didnt change anything. Literally nothing. I am typically pretty good with computers but this is kinda driving me crazy. I didnt mess with anything in disk utility or partition sizes. I installed boot camp years ago so i dont really understand why i was moved to this forum. I use it for music production and web surfing. (windows for a little gaming) but havnt gamed or installed anyting in.. a month or longer.
I am thinking the hdd is having a problem. I never did anything with permissions which i heard could get messed up. But i cant do anything on the Mac side now just a spinning ball.

My mac stays on the loading screen and when I boot into safe mode it loads the background but no icons

My mac was working fine the other day and I started it up today and it loaded to a blue screen so I restarted it and went to safe mode and it loaded up with the background and mouse but no icons. Could I please have any help thanks.

Just to confirm, your iMac is a "G5" (not Intel), and THIS is the procedure you used to reset the SMU
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1767
and not the procedure for Intel iMacs.
If you have the iMac connected to an old (or overcrowded) power strip, try connecting it directly to a wall outlet by itself. Make sure no other cables (other than the power cord) are connected.

Brand new Mac mini only boots into recovery mode...

I just picked up a brand new mac mini a couple of hours ago and right from the start, it asked only for a language perference and then after that having been selected, promply went straight to the OS X Utilities screen.
I cant seem to get it out of this mode. And because I do not have an internet conncetion set up on it, I can't, for example, re-install anything or restore or...
It's basically a boat anchor right now.

Startup holing the Option key and see if the Startup Manager will allow you to select the Macintosh HD.
see > Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume
If not, then return it for either a full refund, a replacement system or help.

New mac pro, randomly booting into safe sleep

Almost every time I boot up my mac pro (early 08, 8 core) I get to the apple logo but don't hear the boot up chime and then see this http://img33.imageshack.us/i/img0515l.jpg/
I think this is the safe sleep mode progress bar, and it starts loading but stops where it is in the picture (and sometimes loads a few bars less) and I can't do anything else.
On occasion, it just decides out of the blue to allow me to actually get to my desktop and everything works fine until I shut it down or restart, but the next time it boots up the same thing happens.
Can anyone please help me out ? This is the first time I've ever had a problem this irritating with any apple product, and hope it has an easy fix.
Thanks, karl.

I would try using Disk Utility to do a Disk Repair, as shown in this link, while booted up on your install disk.
You could have some directory corruption. Let us know what errors Disk Utility reports and if DU was able to repair them.
Then Repair Permissions.
 DALE

Can't boot into safe mode

I am running 10.6.7 on a RAID0 internal disk set. I am booting fine into it, but when I try to hold down Shift for Safe-mode boot, I get the little gray spinning circle, and then above it appears a gray circle with a line through it (line a "do not" road sign!) and then 20 minutes later, nothing - the little gray spinner is still spinning, and no progress bar for safe mode. What's going on?
thanks in advance,
Mike

ryan42 wrote:
I guess we need to have a mirror of our startup volume in case anything happens.
One always needs a mirror of a RAID 0 set.
It's because the data path is split, the more drives, the more potential for total data failure.
Speed comes at a hefty price, a nightly auto-clone/updated backup and another clone on a single spindle.

Mac Pro 1,1 dual-core intel xeon 2.66Ghz, NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT OSX 10.5.8 hangs on boot, can boot in safe mode, disc permissions verified, disc verified. Please help me start it normally?

Hi there, when I turn on my computer it just hangs on a grey screen with an apple logo. I didn't install any new software on purpose lately. It initially froze when I moved the mouse to get rid of the screensaver where it had been behaving normally. When the screen saver went away the screen was messed up and everything was frozen and the date and time were huge and distorted. I did a hard reset and I'm just stuck on that grey screen. If I leave it for hours one of the screens turns blue and the other is black, but I can move the mouse. A ghostly image of the cursor is stuck in the top left corner of the screen,
I can boot into safe mode and everything is normal. I reset the PRAM. I verified the discs and the permissions. I don't seem to have any data loss. When I restart normally I still get the grey screen. The only weird thing in the console is 24/09/09 10:59:27 AM kernel unknown SIGSEGV code 0 . I would really like my computer to work. Thank you.

Have you run the check for non-Apple kernel extensions suggested above?
It's easy, you just cut-and-paste the command into terminal. If there is any output, you just cut-and paste it back in here.
Linc Davis suggests this as a way to find those non-Apple extensions:
Please copy or drag -- *don't type* -- the following command into a Terminal window, press Return, and post the output (if any):
kextstat -kl | awk ' !/apple/ { print $6 } '

My Mac starts up fine in safe mode, but freezes before the login screen in normal mode.

I have the 2012 MBP, 4 GB of RAM, 500GB HD, 2.5GHz Intel i5 processor. Everything worked fine, until one day it freezes all of a sudden. I shut down and restarted. The Apple logo appears with the loading animation underneath. A few moments later, the animation disappears, and the mouse cursor appears. This is normal. What's not normal is that it stays on this screen forever. I can't get to the login screen even after waiting sooo long. Even restarting 5 times only repeats this problem. I finally boot into safe mode. I am able to login and get to the desktop in safe mode, but not normal mode. Clearing every startup item in System Prefs, and in the startupitems folders does not solve the problem. Disk utility says no problems. Resetting PRAM does nothing. Can anyone please tell me what I should do next?

Do you hear the startup chimes?
If so, then the startup disk may need repairing ...
Launch Disk Utility located in HD > Applications > Utillities
Select the startup disk on the left then select the First Aid tab.
Click: Verify Disk (not Verify Disk Permissions)
If DU reports errors, restart your Mac while holding down the Command + R keys. From there you should be able to access the built in utilities in OS X Recovery to repair the startup disk.
Make sure to back up all important files first before using OS X Recovery.
OS X Recovery does require a broadband high speed internet connection.

Can't boot to safe mode or recovery

Hi
I was watching a video in Quicktime, with a few other videos paused and some pictures open in the background. I got a facetime call, so I paused the video and took the call. After hanging up, I maximised the video and attempted to play. My machine pretty much locked up (spinning wheel) although for a few minutes I could switch into an application, at which point that application would also freez
After a few minutes I did a forced shutdown with the power key. I then went through a series of unusable boots which got to various stages before locking up and requiring another forced reboot
1) User selection screen, mouse couldn't move
2) User selection screen, managed to input most of my password before lockup
3) Apple logo and spinning dial
At this point I realised it may be breaking when it tries to re-open the same video/pictures/browser windows etc as were open on the last boot, so stopped trying to boot normally
4) Attempted to enter safe mode holding shift, got a "No Smoking" style grey logo (without the cigarette, obviously) with a spinning wheel
5) Repeat of 4, in case I just held shift at the wrong time
6 onwards) A white screen
I've tried holding shift to enter safe mode, and Cmd+R to enter recovery. I even tried Cmd+shift+P+R as it was suggested elsewhere.
suggest
Any ideas? My next attempt will probably be to swap my old HDD back in - I replaced it with an SSD 6 months ago - in case the SSD has had an issue.

Further info
I've swapped the old HDD back into the machine, and now I get an Apple Logo with spinning wheel. I still can't boot into safe mode nor recovery
The SSD is Mavericks, the HDD is Lion, I believe, possibly Mountain Lion

Can I ssh to a Mac that's booted into Safe Mode?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for