Mac Pro kicked back to login screen

Since upgrading to Mountain Lion, I've been repeatedly kicked back to the log-in screen while working. Console indicates something fishy with the video card or UI, with this one showing up right before being sent back to the log-in window:
7/27/12 11:34:13.747 AM Software Update[13375]: _CGSLockWindow: Cannot synchronize window backing store
It's happened about 10 times in two days. Thankfully, I can pick up right where I left off, but I'd rather not have this happen.
I've got a Mac Pro (early 2008) with 10GB of RAM and two video cards (Radeon 2600XT and 5770) running 2x23" LCDs and a 30" LCD.
I had a similar issue with Lion and it was resolved with the 10.7.1 update, if I recall correctly.
Still happening with OS X 10.8.1 update:
Process:         WindowServer [6796]
Path:            /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/WindowServer
Identifier:      WindowServer
Version:         322
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID:         88
Date/Time:       2012-08-23 20:12:34.106 -0500
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8.1 (12B19)
Report Version: 10
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000000000014
VM Regions Near 0x14:
-->
    __TEXT                 0000000104029000-000000010402a000 [    4K] r-x/rwx SM=COW /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Versions/A/Resources/WindowServer

It was built to drive three also, one DVI and two with minidisplay port to DVI or with dual-link adapters. Three.
To run three monitors, all adapters to "legacy" display technologies must use ACTIVE POWERED adapters.
Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac Pro (Mid 2010), Mac Pro (Mid 2012): Issues with three displays and multiple DVI, HDMI connections
Mac Pro (Early 2009), Mac Pro (Mid 2010), Mac Pro (Mid 2012): supported display configurations for the Mac Pro.
1920 by 1200 requires only Single-Link, but All must be ACTIVE, Powered adapters. If there is a USB pigtail, it must be plugged in for power.

Similar Messages

Mac on Snow Leopard keeps looping back to login screen

Hi, Everyone,
I have a MacBook, late 2008 It originally had 120 GB hard drive. Because I had less than 10 GB of space left, I replaced that with a 320 Western Digital Scorpio Blue HD (by myself, with an antistatic strap, etc). Everything seemed fine for a few days. Lots of space, immediate responsiveness with programmes, etc....nothing could be better. Then the system started getting sluggish, and I started getting spinning beach ball clicking between apps. Every time I ran verify disk permissions, there was a long list of permission repairs. Running repair disk never yielded a result other than everything being okay. I even created a flashdrive with the installation software. And I ran Onyx to try to clean things out.
Then a few days ago, after restarting my computer (I may have done an update, but am not sure), my computer slowly booted up, came to the login screen, I entered my password, my desktop appeared and it "hung" for about 30 seconds, then the screen turned blue and went back to login screen. I made several attempts to login, but always got the same result.
I used my bootable flashdrive (which I created with SuperDuper to contain the installation disk before I installed the new hard drive) to check and repair permissions. Each time I did that, I got the same permission errors. Again, nothing detected with disk verification/repair.
When I start up the computer in safe mode, everything is fine except Safari kept crashing.
Deleted and reinstalled safari to no avail. Still crashed. No problem in Firefox.
In the regular mode (not safe mode), I reinstalled Flash, restarted, then back to the looping to the login screen.
Still no problems in safe mode.
At first I thought there would have been something with the new hard drive, but everything works fine in Safe Mode, so I'm wondering if there is something with Safari or Flash.
I've updated ClamX and run a ClamX scan as well to check for viruses/Trojans.
Please help.
Help!

Monique Mayer wrote:
Okay, I reinstalled Safari under another admin account. No problems there, and --so far--no problems in my main account now.
What has happened is this.
You installed a new hard drive, it came from the factory with some bad sectors on the drive.
You laid your new OS X and data over these bad sectors and now having issues in various locations.
The drive automatically maps off these bad sectors when it gets a read request from something your using, however it takes some time before it realizes such is the case, (thus the spinning beach ball as OS X is waiting) then it moves the data to a new sector and maps off the old one.
Also as you use the computer, your writing data to new bad sectors on the drive, which haven't had their turn yet enough to be read and hopefully mapped off by the drive. This is why your problem appears to be changing as it goes on.
Look at your problem timeline:
Then the system started getting sluggish, and I started getting spinning beach ball clicking between apps.
This is likely a problem with the swap file which is stored on the hard drive when you run out of RAM memory with a lot of programs and files open.
The swap file was stored across bad sectors, which the drive couldn't read well and thus you got the OS X spinning beach ball effect.
This file location moves locations to free space on the drive, expands and contracts as you load things up to use.
Then a few days ago, after restarting my computer (I may have done an update, but am not sure), my computer slowly booted up, came to the login screen, I entered my password, my desktop appeared and it "hung" for about 30 seconds, then the screen turned blue and went back to login screen. I made several attempts to login, but always got the same result.
You have done a update, which added more data to the drive and/or triggered a response from OS X data written on a bad sector which has hung your computer.
When I start up the computer in safe mode, everything is fine except Safari kept crashing.
Safe Mode disables at boot software, video and other things so OS X is in a reduced state, the bad sectors are being avoided as their data is not being called.
Safari is crashing because it too is corrupted, which your later post you reinstalled it and now it's fine, because it was written to a clear space on the drive without bad sectors issues.
So your going about a "piece meal" restore method, next will be OS X, then all your programs, then a new user account because your User/Library will get screwed up etc., etc.
Instead of this long pain, just follow my first post instructions and it will cure everything in one clean shot
If the drive itself is bad and that's causing your bad sector problems, which you will soon find out and can get it replaced. The way your going it's going to keep giving you problems of various sorts for quite some time.
I also tried the SMART check and it passed--no errors or bad sectors.
That only provides a current bad sector count, which you say is zero, which is typical for a new drive as it hasn't read enough from the drive to find the bad sectors yet.
In order to really find bad sectors on the drive, software would have to continously read data written to the entire drive over and over and over again so the drive will finally "trigger" the mapping off process. This would take days or even weeks to complete on large drive, so obviously the software isn't doing this.
All drives come with a few bad sectors, the automatic mapping off process upon reads usually takes care of it, however you have more bad sectors than normal, which might have occured:
1: Higher than normal amount of bad sectors from the factory.
1: Bad drive from the factory causing bad sectors.
2: Your moving the computer while the drive is in operation that the heads struck the platters causing the bad sectors.
So a Zero Erase in Disk Utility, a fresh OS X install from the disk, fresh programs from original sources and vetted files from backup is the sure means to cure the whole mess. Bad sectors and data corruption.
The DU Zero Erase proceedure does a pretty adequate job mapping off failing sectors, it takes hours to complete and not days.
Bad sectors causes data corruption, so you really can't trust a previous clone or TimeMachine backup of this corrupted data to restore with (except vetted user files), some here have done that only to wonder why their problems returned after the zero erase was completed.
If you restored the new drive with SuperD from the earlier drive, you also might have carried data corruption from that drive over too.
So with a fresh install of everything, only thing that can be corrupted is your user files, which you restore from a clean backup and/or delete the ones causing problems.
Take care and good luck.

Power on MacBook Pro takes me to login screen. All user icons appear as normal. Once I enter password for myself (administrator) spinning takes longer than normal and doesn't log in but displays a no sign

Power on MacBook Pro takes me to login screen. All user icons appear as normal. Once I enter password for myself (administrator) spinning takes longer than normal and doesn't log in but displays a no sign (circle w line through it) when attempting to login from guest account it takes me to screen that says that the computer will restart to a safe safari system for the guest user. I waited for a longer time and the grey denim screen comes up. By the apple in left upper corner it said I think LSA? Then safari menu bar. The page it loads to us file:///System/Installation/CDIS/Mac%2005%20X%20Utilities.app/Contents/Resource s/English.iproj/GuestLoginInfirmation.html
Can someone HELP? I'm afraid I might do something wrong

What backups do you have?

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen ??

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen and no any controls while i restart last time..3 days before i found many solutions but no one is perfect like PRAM/SCM format command option+p+r and other many but no any perfect solution which can fixed my issue..please help me asap i am so much upset for that coz i am developer and there is many of the data , i also run windows on it win 7 so now i am running with that i have latest 2011 mac OSX 10.7.5 with Core i5 ,4GB, 320 GB so please help me to resolve this issue i am waiting thanks in advan
Regards,
Muneeb
Developer
<Email Edited by Host>

Macbook pro stuck/hangs at login screen and no any controls while i restart last time..3 days before i found many solutions but no one is perfect like PRAM/SCM format command option+p+r and other many but no any perfect solution which can fixed my issue..please help me asap i am so much upset for that coz i am developer and there is many of the data , i also run windows on it win 7 so now i am running with that i have latest 2011 mac OSX 10.7.5 with Core i5 ,4GB, 320 GB so please help me to resolve this issue i am waiting thanks in advan
Regards,
Muneeb
Developer
<Email Edited by Host>

Mac pro is stuck on gray screen

Ok I think this month has been the worst month of my life. My Mac Pro showed me the gray screen with a question mark on it. I took it to the apple store and they told me NOTHING can be done for me other then install a new hard drive ( so untill today 2 weeks ago I am still trying to retrieve my photos from my hard drive I took it to a place where they asked for $6K to do that ) I installed a new hard drive last week and installed every thing I need and yesterday in the morning my computer gave me the ORDER to shut downwith that dark gray screen with many different languages so I obeyed the MAC I shut down and turned it back on, then later that same night it told me to shut down again so I did and just NOW when I went to turn it on it got stuck on the GRAY screen. WHAT is happening? my comp. is on 10.6.8 can someone plse help me. I am LOST. ever since I bought this computer I had my main hard drive changed twice and my power supply was changed 1 year and half to 2 yrs ago.

The Directory on the Hard drive can get messed up. In 10.4, the cleanest way to deal with that is to boot from the Installer DVD, but do not Install. Wait a quarter minute for the menuBar to be drawn, then choose Disk Utility off the Menu.
Chose your Hard drive by Hardware_name and ( Repair Disk ).
When you are done, choose Set Starup Disk, and use it to set your startup disk and then Restart.

On startup Mac Pro I get a blue screen and a cursor on the upper left. The mouse cursor shows up independently. Is it likely a video card failure?

On startup Mac Pro I get a blue screen and a cursor on the upper left. The mouse cursor shows up independently. Is it likely a video card failure?

I managed to boot the computer and get the desktop to show. I now have a "repaired" computer. There are several problems that have cropped up. One is that I can only start up now in Safe Boot mode. Is there a way to turn it off? Also, I do not have a sound list, so I can't access anything requiring audio. Google Chrome only shows up as a white screen. Pictures that loaded before don't load in browsers, etc. Any suggestions? I figure I should reinstall Mac OS Lion for starts, maybe even do a mirror backup and reformat the drive. I think this drive has turned into scrambled eggs...what a headache!

HI all, i'm using Mac Pro 15" Retina. My screen goes darker and after brighter after a while? How to fix it?

HI all, i'm using Mac Pro 15" Retina. My screen goes darker and after brighter after a while? How to fix it?

System Preferences > Displays.
De-select "Automatically adjust brightness"

Plays one song and kicks back to main screen

plays one sone a kicks back to main screen
no music plays

Have you tried resetting yur iPod.
Reset iPod touch: Press and hold the On/Off Sleep/Wake button and the Home
button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
Does the music play OK in iTunes on the computer?

Mid-2010 Macbook Pro Randomly goes back to login screen?

My mid-2010 MBP will randomly log me out. I'll be on the internet or working on a paper and it will go to the blue screen that occurs when you're booting up the computer and then to my login screen, where I have to type in my username and password again. Anyone else experiencing this?

eedaley wrote:
Anyone else experiencing this?
Hi e,
No, but try a Safe Boot:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393

Macbook Pro stuck at the login screen

This morning I dropped my laptop by catching the charging cable the laptop fell on the floor but everything seemed to be normal.
I then decided to back up straight away so I started time machine. I stupidly started doing some user instensive things on my mac whilst this was going on e.g. playing a game which can sometimes crash. When it did crash I left it for half an hour or so to see if it would bring up force quit or switch out of the crashed programme. This didn't happen so, like i've done in the past, I hard reset holding down the power button.
When I turned on the mac everything seemed normal I got to the login screen and it offered to startup the computer as it was before I restarted. This was a bit odd as I normally get this message when i've actually logged in. My Backup drive also asked for a password which was also strange for the same reason. I then attempted to login to the computer I typed my password in. It was accepted and the screen went white and then went back to the login screen.
I repeated this a few times, restarting etc before I tried using disk utility in recovery mode. When verifying the disk no problems were found. Disk permissions found two problems, which unfortunately I can't remember (1 was to do with the library), I then repaired disk permissions. I tried to start again but got the same problem.
I then stared in safe mode. I'm now meant to be in safe mode but i'm not 100% sure as everything seems the same except everythign is very slow.
Midbackup my computer crashed so i'm wondering if there are any problems there (especially as it was the first backup I made on my new external HD). I'm now trying to backup in safemode but i'm not sure if that's the best thing to do (as not everything might not copy over and I could potentially ruin the first backup to my new external HD). Can anyone give me any advice on what to do next, tell me where I can test whether i'm in safe mode or not and let me know if I should be backing up in safemode.
Thanks in advance
Alex
Macbook Pro August 2011 13 inch
500GB HD
4GB RAM
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5
Lion 10.7.3
UPDATE
After entering successfully what appeared to be safe mode, I restared the computer and tried logging in normally. I got the white screen (as normal) before I reached the login screen, and after entering my password it eventually did log me in. Everything seems normal but I still want to be sure. My computer seems very slow. I only have 1.25GB/4GB free of RAM and I only have two safari tabs open. I'm backing up now but i'm still a bit concerned.
Message was edited by: Alexander Richardson

there is no installation cd, i have hit the command r function and attempted to reinstall from the recovery option stored on the computer. I am connected to the internet. It keeps saying downloading extra components and then once completed just goes b ack to main screen with my old log in informaiton as if nothing has happened. I also attempted to try to do a back up from a restore log and nothing on that as well.

Thrown back to login screen after logging in.

This is with Mac OS X 10.3.7
I've been having some strange problems lately, but today when if I log in (any user account) within about 15 seconds, the screen goes blue, then bumps me back to the login screen (list of users).
So, basically I get kicked out after 15 seconds or so (sometimes more sometimes less). Why is it doing that?
I suspected some disk problem, so I booted from the install disk and tried Disk Utility. But, I get the "lost connection from disk management tool" problem. (And, I didn't see the discussion of this until after this started happening, so I can't try the solution that was posted because I can't stay logged in long enough to manage files.)
I ran Repair Disk Permissions earlier today, as part of trying to solve a printer driver problem and didn't have the "lost connection" issue. I don't know if all these problems are related or not.
Any ideas?

OK, here's where I finally landed. Thanks for all the help.
I did an Erase with zeros and the install still failed. The failure was different every time, but I apologize for not listing what it was.
I finally went back to firewire mode, connected to my daughter's iMac (which is how I saved off the data before I started formatting and installing). I used her iMac to install the OS over firewire. After a few nervous moments (it looked like my daughter's iMac wouldn't reboot), it seems to have all worked.
So (other than my router acting funny), I think I'm on track. I need to get the router working and copy over files (or hook up via firewire again), but I think I'm on my way.
Thanks to everyone who helped. Learning the firewire trick was the key. I related that to someone at work and they were very impressed. (I almost have him talked into a Mac.)
Thanks,
Michael

Mac Pro 2007 with Nvidia 8800GT screen redraw problems on Mac OS 10.5.2

I seem to be having a slight screen redraw problem. Such as when grabbing the browser window and moving up and down it seems the redraw can't keep up,also seems problematic when watching flash or other video online. It does it in the finder too for windows listings or in icon view there is a fluttering or flashing back and forth, kind of like a white super split second flash when dragging the window box smaller or larger not as bad as when making smaller. Hard to describe but my original Ge-force that I pulled was not having these characteristics. I figure that the drivers need tweaking. In windows I am not getting these results. I have newer boot camp installed as well as the leopard graphics update done so I am trying to see if others are having a slight problem or maybe it is me.
Also I make certain it is not heat related as I monitor that and it does not matter at what temp it is.

Here's another similar experience -- and my solution.
I bought a Quad-core 2.8GHz (8GB RAM) Mac Pro in May and got the "better" Nvidia 8800GT. I thought I was happy, but there were redraw issues after sleeping and a display "roughness" I found annoying. Upgrading to OSX 10.5.4 didn't help.
I found it to be mostly absent on startup, but sleeping the Mac would bring it on. I.e., after sleep, the relatiionship between the 8800GT would be different than before. when I logged out and in again, the problem woud vanish. No what I expect from a "superior" graphics card. I ascribed it to funky drivers from Apple.
The store I bought the Mac from offered to swap for my suggestion of an ATI HD 3870, so I went for it about a week ago.
This card is far smoother than the 8800GT and just as fast in rendering benchmerks for graphics. (I'm not a gamer.) I am a happy camper! There is no stuttering, oddball redraw, or jerkiness as there had been with the 8800. It's perfect! Never mind that it may be 5% slower for gamers, it feels faster for my use.
BUT NOTE: As I now see from reading several forums, I wasn't alone is getting a screaming-Mimi at first! The first 3870 ran at nearly full fan speed at power-up. The speed changed a little with resolution changes on my big Mitsubishi CRT monitor, and actually stopped when I switched to 1080x1920 @ 72Hz! Then the fan would start and quit, start and quit randomly -- convincing me it was defective.
I returned this RED-shrouded unit and the store replaced it, this time with (randomly) a BLUE-shrouded unit. (Slightly lower serial.)
Bottom Line: This replacement 3870 is quiet as a mouse! Fan runs near-silently at startup and after hours of regular use in a 75ºF room. I get the distinct feeling that a bunch of cards with wonky fan controllers were built, and some of us got 'em.
Bad News: The ATI HD 3870 does NOT support multiple refresh rates under Windows XP-SP2 booting the Mac Pro, with or without Boot Camp drivers installed. No version of the ATI drivers fixes this, and ATI does not officially support Boot Camp yet. You can choose a resolution okay, but you're stuck at 60Hz refresh -- a pain for those of us who hate 60Hz flicker. (I like 100Hz refresh.)

Mac mini crashing into the login screen. Anyone else experiencing the same and know of a solution?

I have a Mac mini (mid-2010) with 5GB of RAM and running OS X Lion 10.7.2 and lately I've been noticing it crash and take me directly to the login screen. After I sign back in everything reboots to where I left off. I believe the problem is related to Safari. I normally have many instances of Safari browser windows open and I'm wondering if that might be the issue? Is anyone else experiencing this problem and have they found any remedies?

Note the time it freezes. That upon next successful start open the Console app in the Utilities folder and look for associated log entries at that time and post them here

Why does my Mac Pro boot to a white screen?

Hey everyone,
So recently I have started having this issue with my Mac Pro system. When I power it on, I get the chime, but no loading screen. Just an all-white screen. If I power it down with the power button and turn it back on a few times, it will eventually boot normally, but I should not have to do this. Obviously this is not normal operation. So, I was wondering how I could fix this? Below are the specs for my machine:
System Type Mac Pro (Version: MacPro5,1)
Processor Type: Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3.2GHZ
Memory: 10GB
Boot Drive: 128GB OCZ Petrol SSD
OS Version: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3
Any ideas what would cause this and how I can correct it?

Forgot to mention my troubleshooting steps thus far.
Originally the issue started with freezing. System would freeze after about 5 minutes of use. First I verified permissions and disk. Some errors were found, so repaired as needed. Did so using my OS disc. Rebooted and issue still existed, though not as bad. Did another Permissions and Disk check, this time from within the booted OS. More issues found, so repaired. Rebooted and seemed to be fine. Updated software to latest version and created a backup image of my system just in case. Rebooted and seemed OK. That was on Wednesday.
Thursday night I try to boot up and get a white screen. Odd. Powered down and powered back on. Worked fine. Did what I had to do on it and shut it down like normal. Came back later and same issue. Powered down and powered back on. Same issue. Repeated and worked this time. Checked permissions and disk again. No issues found. Just tried reseting the NVRAM/PRAM. Seems to be working OK, but not too sure yet. Will test for a day or so and let you guys know. In the meantime, any suggestions would be helpful. System is covered by Apple Care, so if I absolutely have to take it in, I can.
Thanks in advance all!

Why does my Mac Pro randomly flash a blue screen to both monitors?

For a while now my Mac Pro (Early 2009) has this occasional issue. The system uses a pair of ViewSonic 22" monitors. At random times, both monitors just turn to a solid light blue color. After a brief time (1 to 5 seconds maybe) normal operation returns. The system is still working. Text typed on the keyboard during the 'blue' screen still shows in whatever application I'm in. Just the screen seems to be affected.
I leave the system running 24/7 with only occasional reboots (weeks or months apart). The screens I turn off at night. Most of the time this happens right after the system 'wakes' in the morning (temperature does not seem to be a factor). Although the system is doing this as I'm typing this. The blue screens show up than go away on their own. This repeats from one to ten times before it goes away. Once it is 'done' everything is normal until it happens again.
This 'issue' has been occurring since the original Snow Leopard. But, it also happened with Lion and now still happens with Mountain Lion (just upgraded to 10.8.2).
I am thinking this has something to do with the graphics controller (NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB). But, I've never found any online references to this sort of behavior.
Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

The cable connections have (so far) solved this problem for my situation. Even though the monitor's DVI cable was firmly connected to the mini Display port connector, when I touched it the attached monitor would go 'blue' or lose its connection entirely. After disconnecting and reconnecting this junction the monitors would still take a hit on touching the connection. I also checked the connection of the mini Display port connection to the graphics board and could not push it in any further. However, after a second go-round I unplugged this connection to the board and reconnected it. I am certain it was fully inserted the first time. But, connection contacts can oxidize over time and sometimes it may just need to be disconnected and reconnected to 're-wipe' the connections. This effectively cleans them at the point of contact. So in my case I'm thinking it was the connection age that was an issue more than a 'loose' connection. Either way, I haven't had this issue for the past two weeks.

Mac Pro kicked back to login screen

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for