Login Problems: computer freezes except in safe boot.

My MBP 15" starts up fine in safe boot. But:
First, it froze at the login screen. After following the directions from:
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/help/2/#2
I was able to boot back into my account. But once my desktop appeared, the computer froze: the mouse cursor moves, but that's it.
I made a NEW admin account. Logged in, was able to click on Mail.app, but the icon froze MID BOUNCE, and the same thing holds true: NO keyboard input works. The CAPS LOCK key responds (light goes on and off). Same for NUM LOCK.
I have removed all third part Startup Items. There are no login items.
ANy help would be really appreciated.

Hi..
I had the same problem after doing the software upgrade from apple. I could log in with SafeMode as well. I called AppleCare and they took me through re-installing the operating system.
All works fine now.
Thanks,
Kane

Similar Messages

Blue Screen except on Safe Boot

I have been struggling with my iMac for the past few days. The other morning I started it up and it got hung up on the "blue screen." I have tried various things:
- Resetting PRAM
- Unplugging power and hitting power button, then plugging back in and restarting.
- Tried to start from Leopard DVD (10.5) <By holding 'c' while starting>, but unable to get past "blue screen."
- Tried to start from Tiger DVD (10.2), but unable to get past "black screen."
- ABLE to start in "Safe Mode" <By holding 'shift' while starting>
- While in "Safe Mode" I was able to "Repair Permissions" but still got "Blue Screen" when I restarted.
- Tried to use "Time Capsule" while in "Safe Mode," but the system got hung up.
- I do NOT have "Application Enhancer" on my computer.
I am at a loss on what to do and cannot seem to find anything online which would seem to indicate that others have had this problem.
Message was edited by: jedioliver

Welcome to Apple Discussions,
- Tried to start from Leopard DVD (10.5) <By holding 'c' while starting>, but unable to get past "blue screen."
- Tried to start from Tiger DVD (10.2), but unable to get past "black screen."
- ABLE to start in "Safe Mode" <By holding 'shift' while starting>
iMac G5 1.8GHz 768MB
I would try booting from those install discs by using the holding down the Option key and then explicitly selecting the install disc, so that you know for sure that you have not just rebooted from the internal HD again.
Assuming there is no change, you can sometimes see this very puzzling behavior if there is a video hardware problem, unfortunately quite common in iMac G5s - see this thread in the iMac G5 forum:
*Only working in Safe Mode*
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11119348
A possible explanation is that one of the features of Safe Mode is that it "loads only required kernel extensions." If there is a faulty hardware component that is only needed for "enhanced" performance (like fancy video/graphics), that component might cause a crash when a normal boot loads the special kernel extension that calls upon it. A Safe boot could conceivably bypass this faulty hardware by not loading that specialized kernel extension.
Sometimes, but not always, such hardware faults are detectable by running Apple Hardware Test, which is on one of the original install discs that came with your computer - see your instruction manual if you still have it. If you don't, running AHT depends on which model iMac G5 you have. You mentioned Tiger DVD (10.2), but Tiger is OS X 10.4. If it's a first generation iMac G5 it came with Panther (OS X 10.3) , and AHT will be on a separate bootable disc labeled “Additional Software & Apple Hardware Test”. If it is a second generation model it probably did come with Tiger, and AHT will probably by on Install Disc 1- hold down the option key while booting from it.

Problem - computer freezes every time a 3D game / Wine game is run

Hello. My brother's computer is a quite powerful machine. He would be very satisfied with it if it wasn't for one thing: it freezes every time he runs any 3D game or any game using Wine.
I have tried to do some troubleshooting, but after long time I still cannot find the cause. The problem persists. No update has fixed it yet.
Some 3D games seem to run, some don't. I have tried AssaultCube and it worked, but when I tried Sauerbraten it froze.
Wine games seem not to work at all, or at least that's my general impression. As a test, I tried a freeware DirectX 7 game. Froze straightaway. More complex games of course also froze.
The problem seems to be related either to hardware or to some NVidia-specific stuff. I tried a test run of XP on this computer. It ran when it was a clean install, but when I installed NVidia drivers, it didn't boot again correctly. There was no error description as far as I remember.
I have swapped a power supply to a higher wattage thinking that it maybe was energy starvation that took the system down. No luck.
Output of different commands:
"hwinfo --short": http://pastebin.com/Sj8SbvZy
"lsmod": http://pastebin.com/dtchwqAF
"pacman -Qi nvidia": http://pastebin.com/rhKcLUpH
"uname -a": "Linux 2.6.35-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Aug 21 07:23:08 UTC 2010 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux"
One more thing. Even though it's a 64-bit CPU, I'm running a 32-bit system. Would that create a problem? From what I've read online, it doesn't really seem to make that much of a difference.
Please help me with this. I really don't know what to do.

hello again.
glxinfo looks good and normal
Right.. i have been reading bout similiar issues ..like that of your system freezing..
a reported fix would be to
echo 1 | tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/sched_mc_power_savings
as root
and add it to the /etc/rc.local for it to be applied every boot up..
Link of where i have gotten the info from
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/151382
Apart from that , i have noticed your kernel isnot up to date.. Please run your updates.. the latest kernel in the core repo at the time of writing is 2.6.36.
Hope it works out for you
and if the above doesnt work out..
i would need to see your
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
Have a good day

Memory problems: computer freezes on heavy memory usage

Ever since I changed the internal hard drive of my MacBook Pro (I installed a Seagate Barracuda 1Tb disk), I have the following problem:
Whenever an application needs a lot of memory (for example Parallels installing a new Windows system, or Acrobat Pro optimizing a big PDF file), the computer progressively freezes. What I mean by freezing is that I can still move the mouse cursor, but clicking has no effect, and there is no interaction whatsoever with the GUI. Even the clock on the menu bar stops.
I never had the problem before. I guess that under normal conditions the Finder will always keep a few Mb of RAM for its own use. After all I have 4Gb of RAM installed.
Is there some way I can prevent the computer from freezing? Has this something to do with VM? Ever since I changed the hard disk, this problem happens once or twice every day, and the only solution is to force a restart, losing all my work…
Thanks in advance for any advice…

First, do not assign more than half your available RAM to a VM. It's best to let the VM software's configuration to select the amount used by its defaults.
Second, watch how many concurrent applications you attempt to use. Monitor your memory usage in Activity Monitor. If the Available RAM (Inactive RAM plus Free RAM) is low and Free RAM is near zero, then you have too many concurrent applications running. This forces the system to start using the disk-based virtual memory file. With too many apps swapping into the vm file disk thrashing will occur that ultimately can lead to the computer appearing to freeze up or to actually freeze up.
Of course your alternative is to install more RAM if in fact you are over-taxing what you have now. You may find the following helpful reading:
About OS X Memory Management and Usage
Reading system memory usage in Activity Monitor
Memory Management in Mac OS X
Performance Guidelines- Memory Management in Mac OS X
A detailed look at memory usage in OS X
Understanding top output in the Terminal
The amount of available RAM for applications is the sum of Free RAM and Inactive RAM. This will change as applications are opened and closed or change from active to inactive status. The Swap figure represents an estimate of the total amount of swap space required for VM if used, but does not necessarily indicate the actual size of the existing swap file. If you are really in need of more RAM that would be indicated by how frequently the system uses VM. If you open the Terminal and run the top command at the prompt you will find information reported on Pageins () and Pageouts (). Pageouts () is the important figure. If the value in the parentheses is 0 (zero) then OS X is not making instantaneous use of VM which means you have adequate physical RAM for the system with the applications you have loaded. If the figure in parentheses is running positive and your hard drive is constantly being used (thrashing) then you need more physical RAM.

Starting problems, computer freezes, keyboard and mouse stop working

Hi can anyone help? My powerbook has just stopped working, rarely starts, when it does keyboard and mouse stop working after a while or even before i am able to login. At one point I was getting a grey screen with the words, memory access invalid???? Please help...
powerbook G4

power surge could have damaged something inside, or it maybe unrelated to the problem.
PowerBook can get hot if there is some short circuit inside and power flow is disrupted, also it's possible that the fans are not working properly.
as a guess, it is likely either hard drive or logic board problem.

K9n neo stability problems, computer freezes hd light stays on! help!

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msi K9n neo
athlon 3500 am2
elixer 667mhz ram
gforce 7300le
sata mextor 80gb
350w power supply
I am unsure of the ram timing setting and voltage, i just set them to auto please can someone tell me what could be wrong is elixer compatible with this mobo?
thanks

There is appearently a compability problem with the AM2 K9N boards and
nvidia 7300 turbocache gfx cards (turbocache use system memory as added VGA mem)
See:
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=99557

G4 (10.4.11) won't boot from disk and won't safe boot

I lost the items from the bottom half of my finder sidebar list on my G4 running under 10.4.11. The instructions to correct this problem that I found include safe booting (holding down shift after startup tone). However, this just doesn't happen (left with spinning gear for minutes). I tried to boot from two different disks (DiskWarrior and Apple's Hardware Test - holding down C at startup), but with the same result... a spinning gear.
I can still boot the computer as normal and it still works, but there is obviously something not right.
Anyone recognise these peculiarities?
Thanks,
Lee

Lee:
I always shut down my Mac when not in use and some times I will restart when an application slows down. When you load applications they most always require restart. When the monitor freezes on some glitch the first maintenance recommended is to restart or shut down for a couple of minutes. Your Mac will respond much better. sometimes to many application may be open at once. I sometimes forget that I've opened an application and forget to close it. Keep it lean and plenty of free disk space on your OS Volume (hard drive) for Virtual Memory your Mac uses it often for temp storage. I have two backup Firewire hard drives that I keep most important data. I try to keep all applications on my OS Volume and only data that I use every day and I always backup when I complete my up date.
Dick. D
Message was edited by: Dick Deaton

Safe boot vs new admin user account

If a kernel systems problem presents itself when logging under a new user account identity but NOT when booting up in safe mode - what does this mean?
Does this count out a hardware problem?

Sounds like you have a third party something that loads in any account and is causing the trouble. Safe boot disables all third party goodies (and a fair number of Apple's own as well), while logging into an alternate account would only disable user specific startup applications. So I would guess you installed something that is not user specific (that is, it isn't in the user's own login items, so can't be disabled from there) that is a problem. You can try looking in these two locations and see what, if anything, is there:
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/StartupItems
Thus I have a temperature monitoring gizmo in /Library/StartupItems. Another possiblity is to launch Activity Monitor and arrange the processes in alphabetical order, then select all, copy and paste the list into a text document. Do the same in Safe Boot (assuming Activity Monitor will run) and compare the two lists.
If the computer runs normally in Safe Boot I would say there is nothing wrong with the hardware.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

My macbook pro ended up in safe boot mode randomly twice in a row...how do i fix this permanently??!

And I think this issue is coming from a few different problems I've had with my MacBook Pro on lion...one major thing was probably the fact that I changed from Lion to Mountain Lion...and then changed right back (I think I did back up my stuff first), but somehow it didn't agree with my computer. Also I've been wearing it out a lot by throwing it with the case into my car frequently...maybe a bit much, idk...also though I have a lot of trouble keeping up with the numerous files that build up on my desktop and don't know where to begin. Let's just say my computer has pretty much had it, although for months it's been functioning normally.
...oh yeah and did I mention I had to get a brand new hard drive, with that not really making a difference as to how bad I, um, throw my computer around (it's not as bad as you think but to be candid, blech). I did bang my computer at one point in a rage attack and made sure no one really knew when I took it to get it fixed? TMI...that's what I deserve....so.
I did try this web link the second time in a row this happened which was about an hour or so that I managed to, uh, kind of fix it with the bottom advice on the page:
http://applehelpwriter.com/2012/06/24/mac-keeps-starting-in-safe-mode/
(sorry I couldn't get this to click)
Anyways at the bottom of this help article you will notice the very end of PRAM reset directions where you hear the start up chime two times. That did not happen, but somehow out of nowhere the computer stopped the safe boot mode routine and the progress bar didn't show up as I continued to hold down the given keys. I really don't know where my luck came from there...and I also found an article that fixed my computer the first time and I cringe to say that it came from a person on Apple Discussions complaining about something similar that one of my friends helped me google. Planning to actually bookmark the applehelpwriter article in case I just happen to need it but i'm pretty sure someone will be on here with an answer at some point.
SO....I did get my comp fixed twice now, but I hope that somebody will go back and read the beginning of my question explanation to see if I'm doing something that may be overwhelming my computer. If this safe boot thing happened to me instead of me testing the computer myself AND MORE THANA ONCE yikes...something needs to be done. Take note that the only reason I'm asking the community's advice is that I'm past my computer's contract so if I wanted to I couldn't take my computer to get it fixed and I planned to take one or two more classes in college again to complete my certificate.
Please help, some people must run into this situation at some point, either way if they ask or don't I'm sure they're lucky to get it fixed somewhere.
chels

Only if your home/renters insurance doesn't cover such damage without raising your rates/dropping you. Ask first of them if it is worthwhile the claim once you get an estimate for repair. These repair places are pretty good:
http://www.dttservice.com/
http://www.powerbookresq.com/
http://www.microdocusa.com/
http://www.macspecialist.com/
http://www.techrestore.com/

Post safe boot ALL emails from third party URL hosting appeared

I host a half dozen websites on Hostgator. I design those websites using RapidWeaver from RealMac Software. Yosemite has disenabled several of my sites from opening, so I can't migrate to RWv6.0.1. I've been working with their HELP Team for last week, and they asked me to restart in Safe Mode (Safe Boot), which I did, although it doesn't seem to have helped with RW, yet, but we continue to slog to get there. Here's my immediate problem. Immediately following the Safe Boot, when attempting to go back to my "normal" email activity, my Mail app has now put in a new category of email that includes ALL the email addresses that I have set up for clients on Hostgator. I can see everything, and I have no interest or business seeing such. So, how do I remove all of those, except the three that are my own for use with specific client business? Thanks in advance for any assistance you all might be able to lend.

Then you should read these.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1804704&highlight=sonnet+tempo+pro
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1721573&highlight=sonnet+tempo+pro
This was strange but has to do with how startup disk and nvram interact
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1795765
I think your problems were solvable and not that the Sonnet card and 5,1 is not bootable, in fact the 5,1 is easier, there are more supported cards.
I have the 1,1 where the Sonnet Pro is recommended but for data only and are not bootable because of the 32-bit EFI firmware. NOT the 4,1 and 5,1. The 2008's are problem child and have a mix of PCIe 1.1 slots, first implementation of EFI64 that also has problems. Also the 4,1 has two PCIe 2.x slots 3 and 4 that share a controller but that simply limits bandwidth.
I would have left the TRIM support and NVRAM changes in Yosemite to a separate thread if you wanted to focus on the Sonnet Tempo Pro support in Mac Pro 2010-12 5,1s.
Also the make of SSD can vary and they also have their own firmware as do bootable controllers along with the EFI of the Mac, all of which have to work together. Meaning it might be that Samsung 840 va 840 EVO vs 840 Pro will all be slightly different but my experience is Samsungs work well (as do others like Crucial with the proper firmware - and there was/is an issue with the firmware of the Samsung 840 but not with booting).
The PCIe card gets seen and treated as external and therefore 'eject' but of course you can't when it is the system boot drive.
One thing I found last week and meant to mention: After installing or changing PCIe cards, RESET SMC made all the difference in the world with the long boot delay. Some PCIe cards will add a few seconds, system has to search the device tree which now shows another controller with multiple devices - and sometimes NVRAM and SMC are what I will call "dirty" and need to be rebuilt and reset.

Computer freezes while checking NVRAM

my keyboard doesn't work after the computer boots up. It's like my computer freezes right after it boots and where it asks if u wanna enter the set up screen or logo screen. If I press the tab button rapidly while the computer starts up, it goes to the logo screen and then freezes. On the boot up screen it displays my memory size correctly, my clockspeed incorrectly (1250mhz instead of the correct value), and the DRAM clock = 200, SDRAM CAS Latency = 2. It displays "CHECKING NVRAM" and freezes there.

Please read all these:
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/service/forum/index.php?threadid=1131&boardid=13&styleid=1
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/service/forum/index.php?threadid=6090&boardid=13&styleid=1
Your problem is one of the most common one - either CPU heatsink installation, PSU underpowered or RAM. The resolutions were addressed in the thread above.

TS4235 Is Safe-boot broken by FileVault 2?

OK. So, I would be performing a Safe Boot, if I am unable to get through the normal boot. Which tells me that I an unable to follow the "Turn Off FileVault 2" steps outlined. Am I missing something?

I believe the problem with Safe Boot and FileVault 2 was fixed in Mac OS X 10.7.4. I am able to perform a Safe Boot to start up in Safe Mode with FileVault enabled on a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7.4.
In Mac OS X 10.7 through 10.7.3 it appears that one either (a) could not perform a Safe Boot with FileVault enabled or (b) that no indication of Safe Boot was provided. I suspect (a) since a "Safe Boot" notification started appearing in the upper-right side of the Login Window when I perform a Safe Boot under Mac OS X 10.7.4.
I believe the AppleCare Knowledge Base article "OS X Lion: How to perform a Safe Boot if FileVault 2 is enabled" only applies to Mac OS X 10.7-10.7.3. I've sent feedback indicating that the article should be updated as it appears this problem was corrected in Mac OS X 10.7.4.
Unfortunately, no indication of this change was provided in the "About the Mac OS X 10.7.4 Update" document.
Dr. Smoke
Author, Troubleshooting Mac OS X

Mac mini safe boot with bluetooth keyboard

I have a mac mini running mac os 10.6
Cannot boot my mac mini. When I start from CD and run disk utility i am getting following error msg: "invalid b-tree node size"
Seems to be a fs problem and not hw. Safe boot might solve the problem : )
Now i am trying to do a safe boot but no success so far. I am having a bluetooth keyboard and mouse.
Holding down shift key and power on is not working but holding down cmd&s for single mode or holding
down c for booting from cd is working.
Any ideas?
Cengiz

lazom wrote:
I have a mac mini running mac os 10.6
Cannot boot my mac mini. When I start from CD and run disk utility i am getting following error msg: "invalid b-tree node size"
That message indicates that one or more of the directories on the drive has become damaged. Disk Utility can usually diagnose such problems, but not repair them.
Suggest you get a copy of Alsoft's DiskWarriot. DiskWarrior can usually fix such problems with no loss of data. There's no need to install DiksWarrior - boot the machine to the CD and run DiskWarrior from that.
http://www.alsoft.com/

Startup issue - blue screen freeze before login - Safe Boot works fine?

I've not seen this before and I can't fix, wonder if anyone has any new suggestions, here is what I've tried so far... (safe boot works fine)
1. Verbose and Single user login
2. removing the startup folder from disk library
3. Zapping PRAM
4. Reset SMC
5. Zeroed disk and reinstalled system
6. Target disk and disk repair (No Problems Found)
7. Permissions repair (No Problems Found
8. Apple Hardware Test (No Problems Found)
9. System DVD Startup - Disk Utility (No Problems Found)
10. Network Startup - Disk Utility (No Problems Found)
In every case unless I hold the shift key down for safe boot, the mac will freeze on a blue screen when the grey screen disappears, and never proceed to login. Thought about replacing the disk but it's a lot of bother on these machines and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with it??
Any ideas?
Can anyone think of a possible fix not listed above?

Hello chip
The only thing I see missing from your list is, have you disconnected all External HD's, iPods and other storage devices befor Starting up? Sometimes when the iMac has multiple storage devices connected the Startup Manager will get lost.
Also try going to: Startup Manager in System Preferences, select the Macintosh HD and restart the iMac..
Dennis

Brand new OS X Mountain Lion starts in grey screen login window doesn't know me verify passwords all jacked up says to get external hard drive recovery so I have to spend more moneyon my brand new computer or can I fix and safe boot

brand new OS X Mountain Lion Bought in November 2012 starts in grey screen login window doesn't know me, went to utility dIsk ,verify passwords all jacked up, I Engaged repair passwords then press verified Macintosh HD it said Macintosh HD is OK but repair disk button was still lit up and wanted me to make a recovery disk external hard drive and such,please tell me I can fix in safe boot..

The repair button is always clickable when you are on your Recovery partition, it's nothing to worry about. Do this instead.
Then start in single user mode (Command-S)
Type fsck -fy to check your disk first (it wont let you start working on a disk until you have checked it)
Then type mount -uw / (dont forget the slash) to mount your Macintosh HDD
Then type passwd username with username being the username of your admin account
It will make you type the new password twice afterwards. From then you can boot into OSX as normal and use that account to fix the rest of your passwords.

Login Problems: computer freezes except in safe boot.

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