Verbose mode boot

Hi,
I have a clean install of snow leopard (no upgrade from tiger or leopard) and when I boot up I get a significant pause at the following:
launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/chum.plist
launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist
launchctl: Please convert the following to launchd: /etc/mach_init.d/pilotfish.plist
I looked around the internet and other people have had this problem but I've never seen a solution how to fix it. There was a reference to utilities Cron and Lingon and I tried both but they were ultimately unhelpful.
Anyone have any advice on how to fix this problem? Applecare also told me that I have to bring it into the store because only a "genius" can fix it which seems a little ridiculous. It's a software glitch and there is no reason for me to drive an hour when I can simply issue a command line.

alphaace wrote:
Reformatting would be like killing an ant with a nuke.
Indeed it would, but the suggestion was to reinstall Snow Leopard, not to reformat the hard disk. Assuming you have a relatively fast Internet connection or a downloaded copy of the OS updater to quickly get you back to whatever OS update you want, reinstalling Snow Leopard is really no big deal & an excellent way to get rid of all kinds of hard to track down problems in system files. However, it is unclear if it would touch the files installed with the developer tools…
Regarding that, note that these are not ordinary plist files that just store user preferences but ones that actually determine what daemons launchd will (or should) start up as part of the mach initialization process. As with anything owned by & reserving exclusive write privileges for system (root), you should be very sure you understand the consequences of altering these files in any way before you do that.
For instance, if you disable the chud stuff, don't expect the tools that depend on them to work as expected. That being the case, it would be much simpler & less dangerous to follow the instructions included with the Developer Tools to uninstall the lot -- remember, these are optional parts of that package, so if you just want to keep Xcode & the rest, you don't need them.
Speaking of which, just about everything there is to know about the OS that Apple makes public can be found in the /Developer/Documentation/DocSets folder, which you can access through Xcode & its various search & filter functions. Searching (not filtering) on "mach_init" will get you a bunch of useful results, including "Getting Started with launchd," which you may find of interest.
Also check out "Introduction to System Startup Programming Topics," especially the section on daemons.
Message was edited by: R C-R

Similar Messages

Subject: Verbose mode boot - unintended consequence(s)?

Greetings:
One of the advantages of only being able to restart in Verbose Mode http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2621177&tstart=0 is reading the affect of leaving on certain peripherals during the restart process.
I backup time machine, and the entire hard drive (bootable via Super Duper) to a Drobo (RAID). A Starck (Lacie) HD is further backup for the computer, home directory and selective files (drag and drop) but not time machine. All are protected by an uninterruptible power supply (iBox) into which are plugged both the iMac and Belkin (Isolator) Surge Protector.
I have learned the hard way that, unlike the experiences with my PPC, it is better to unmount, turnoff or disconnect what you can practically before restarting the iMac.
Drobo is put on standby so the firewire cable to the iMac can be disconnected. Starck is unmounted, turned off and its usb cable disconnected from the iMac. Wireless devices are disconnected and the printer is turned off. The USB mouse and keyboard are fed by the USB hub so it remains plugged into the surge protector which itself is powered through the UPS.
Yes, this is all a bother and perhaps in reality unnecessary. The iMac does seem to restart faster and more smoothly. My imagination? Perhaps. Certainly the iMac has less to talk to itself about or correct during the restart.
An unintended consequence - I now restart only when really necessary.
Hope this helps someone.
Mcthomas
PS I am still looking for a way to escape http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2627151&tstart=0 from the verbose mode boot. Any advice appreciated.

The proven solution is to reset the PRAM.

Suddenly, Macbook doesn't boot up in single user mode or verbose mode

Hello, I use the single-user boot up quite often to check permissions and do a fsck after my mac crashes.
I do this by pressing Apple(Command)-S at startup or cmd-V for the verbose mode. I do this all the time.
But now my Mac won't take it anymore. It just refuses to accept any key combo. Any ideas why this is happening?
thanks.

Hi Jose, actually you don't have to boot to single user and repair permission all the time. Just perform that after you update your software and or hardware.
Can you start up normally and then use your keyboard as usual, or is the keyboard refuse to do so?
Try to reset your PRAM and or PMU to refresh your hardware behavior.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
Good Luck.

IMac won't boot up. Stuck in "verbose mode" ??

I've had this problem on and off for a few weeks now. I either restart my iMac after installing some new software-or for other reason- and my computer won't boot up. Sometimes it will stay at the white screen with the grey apple for hours if I leave it there. I've tried all the tricks with key commands. I even reinstalled my software, which worked, but now its happening again. Today, I restarted my iMac, and the same thing is happening, except sometimes it will go into what I've heard called- "verbose mode." The screen is black and white command text appears in the upper left hand corner. Here are some examples of what appears...
No Airport driver found.
Exited abnormally. Bad system call.
Repawning too quickly! throttling
10 more failures without living at least 60 seconds will cause job removal.
Will restart in 10 seconds.
(this will continue until it has restarted and failed 10 times. After this is done, it will display one of the following...)
too many failures in succesion
OR
local:/root# (continuously flashes on the screen)
OR
localhost:/ I have no name!# AppleYukon- eno link active, 100-Mbit, full duplex, flow control disabled.
I really don't know what to do. I'm really frustrated with my iMac. I've had to replaced a dead hard drive within the 6 months of my purchase, and now it is acting crappy again.
Can anyone help?
Thanks.

I tried using the disk utility on the grey disks, but
they can't repair the error on my HD. I can't restore
the original software from the disks either... there
is an error when I try.
No, you can't restore while the current OS is in place, due to the fact that your 10.4.8 isn't compatible with the older version (10.4.4) that's on the install DVDs. Once a Mac OS is in place, it can only be upgraded, not downgraded. You'll have to choose either:
to "Archive & Install" which would set aside your current system unerased until the new installation is completed and your current settings are transferred over - at which point you can erase the archived OS.
to entirely erase and reformat the HDD, then install a fresh OS.
Use the install disc's version of Disk Utility to perform either. First, though, you probably need to do a PRAM reset - that often clears things up so that you won't get an error message.
To reset the PRAM:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following four keys on the keyboard: Command (Apple logo), option, P, and R. You will need to hold these four keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Start up the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination after the startup chord sounds, but before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold all four keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup chord for the second time.
6. Release the keys.

How to permanently boot up in verbose mode?

Hi,
I want to always boot up OS X Mavericks (10.9.2) in verbose mode (debug mode) as I pressed Cmd+V everytime.
I remember an old command which I used on Snow Leopard for doing this:
« sudo nvram boot-args="-v" »
but I don't know if it's still valid on Mavericks!!
The command « nvram -p » works and doesn't show any "-v" verbalization in the "boot-args" section, so I'm currently thinking my command is still valid (it does still show other commands, though).
But I need your help, Apple experts! Can you confirm this?
Thanks in advance,
Tyrexionibus
Message was edited by: Tyrexionibus

Restart the computer. At the chime press and hold down the SHIFT key until you see the spinning gear below the Apple Logo. You should also see a progress bar appear. Booting into Safe Mode takes much longer than a normal startup.

TS2570 iMac won't boot, GSOD with Flashing Question Mark, safe/verbose mode not possible

I have an iMac 24", just over 2 years old running OS X v10.5 (Leopard). Mighty Mouse and bluetooth keyboard, no peripherals.
It slowed enormously over the last few weeks and has now ceased to boot.
On switching on I hear the chime (blank grey screen initially), the grey screen hangs for approx 30sec before the flashing folder/?mark icon appears.
There is no further progress.
Boot key combination results:
Can reset NVRAM (Option-Command-P-R)
Cannot boot to safe mode
Cannot boot to startup manager
Cannot boot to verbose mode
Cannot boot from target media (DVD etc)
Cannot boot to AHT mode
Cannot boot to single user mode
I have followed the steps here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
Disconnect, test peripheral devices and network cables - done - de-powered and rebooted. No difference.
Perform a Safe Boot- this does not work. I am familiar with the boot combinations and timings. The safe boot leads to the same flashing folder/?mark icon. I have also tried verbose, single user, AHT and startup manager with the same result.
Reset the NVRAM / PRAM - done - this worked and kicks the system into an auto-reboot after 3-5 seconds. This also demonstrates the Keyboard is fine. The subsequent boot fails at the same point via normal, safe or verbose boot instructions.
Start from your Mac OS X Install disc; use Disk Utility – I never received an OSX install disk. I have the original box with receipts etc, the only disk present is an unsealed version of iLife (yeah thanks Apple). Where would I get one?
Check your cables and power source – done - all fine.
Remove third-party RAM and internal hardware – not applicable.
Perform an Archive and Install installation of Mac OS X – how would I do this when I cannot boot the device?
Perform an Erase and Install installation of Mac OS X as a last resort – how would I do this when I cannot boot the device?
To me the problem looks like a HDD failure. I had windows (dual boot) professionally installed when I bought the iMac and since the Windows boot option is also not visible (startup manager itself does not work) I suspect the system can’t find bootable media because the HDD isn’t spinning.
An OS corruption would generally affect one or the other but presumably not both Operating Systems simultaneously.
It's hard to be certain, but I’m sure it used to make more noise.
I had a look into opening it up and troubleshooting the physical components but it’s hard to know where to start. There are no obvious ways in and I’m not a professional so decided to post a question here rather than hack it open.
I'd be grateful if you could suggest next steps here, or is it time to go dig a hole in the garden? I certainly expected more than 2yrs life from a £1200 unit.
Many Thanks,
Ryan

Thanks for the response,
I bought the iMac new, 17th Jan 2010, all receipts intact but no extended warrenty. I declined the Applecare Plan for two reasons.
(1) The sales rep seemed very confident in the product build. In fact the main justification of the price tag was the quality of the device. I'd also never had an apple device malfunction at that stage.
(2) The incumbent EU regulations are quite fair in so much as legislation dictates electrical goods should be manufactured to function for a 'reasonable' lifetime. I would be morally uncomfortable paying for rights I theoretically already have.
I triple checked on the OS X disks you mentioned but no joy. Unusual as it may be, the box has not been used and it's contents reflect the day of purchase.
I'm happy to order the OS X v10.5 DVD and attempt a boot to the disk utility, I don't mind risking a few bucks on a potential fix. I'll need to figure out where to order the disk, the call centre is closed ATM so watch this space.
What I'd really be interested in is; (a) is there a known diagnostic routine to determine the HDD functionality and (b) it is possible to replace/upgrade the HDD? This for me is where the iMac loses ground against a conventional PC in terms of motherboard/component access. It's far superior from an asthaetics perspective while things are running smoothly and the OS is great but the first sign of a hardware malfunction and there seems little or no scope to self-medicate the device.
The disk has around 40-60 GB free space.
I don't have a second Mac, nor any friends or family with a Mac to 'borrow' for the disk utility test you mentioned. I'll hunt around this afternoon/week but my instinct tells me finding a locally accessable Mac running 3 yr old OS X might not be possible. Again, watch this space, I'll post any further developments.
In the meantime any further assistance or answers to the above questions on determining HDD status would be much appreciated. No progress has yet been made on the original issue of failing to boot.
Many Thanks
Ryan

Turned on fileVault AND firmware password, can't boot into verbose mode?

Just out of curiousity, I turned on fileVault AND firmware password on my retina macbook pro,
and when I boot up holding command-v, instead of getting the firmware password screen, I get the filevault password screen.
Is this normal and expected behaviour?

The firmware password disables that shortcut; verbose mode can still be used by using the Terminal to change the NVRAM boot arguments, which requires an administrator password.
(100118)

Boots up almost like verbose mode.

I have an Intel iMac that seems to work fine, that we have reinstalled Leopard on several times, but everytime we startup the machine, I get a black screen with some white text (almost like it was starting up in verbose mode) then it goes away and goes to the login screen. Then when I shutdown, it logs me off, and then goes back to the black screen/white text, and shuts down. Basically I'm not getting the grey screen with the gear, but instead I'm being shown how the computer is booting up, how do I get rid of this?

Restart the computer with the Option, Command, P, and R keys held down, and release the keys when you hear the second startup chime.
(29431)

Help! G4 PowerBook will only boot up in Verbose mode(?!)

Whenever I switch on my PowerBook, it won't get past the chime/black screen unless I press Option-V.
Without Option-V, the hard disk starts up and sounds normal, but after approx. 10-15 seconds of black screen I hear a high-pitched squeak as it appears to shut down the power. (Tried removing battery and plugging into mains power.)
I tried lots of different key combinations (e.g. boot from Tiger) but even the DVD drive appears to die and shut down.
However, when trying verbose mode to trace the problem through the logs, I have found that Option-V causes it to boot normally. I don't see any log information at all(!) - the PowerBook goes through the normal startup process to the Apple logo and then successfully onto the finder.
Has anybody got any idea what could be wrong?
(The PowerBook is 2-years old and there were no visible warning signs leading up to this problem.)

First:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now shutdown the computer for a couple of minutes and then restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If the hard drive is OK per the above then reinstall OS X by doing an Archive and Install. Archive and Install will install a fresh copy of OS X without erasing the hard drive. Of course you must have sufficient free space on the hard drive to do this (8-10 GBs during installation.) Your old system will be archived in a Previous System Folder located at the root directory of hard drive.
Please carefully read the information on Archive and Install before proceeding.
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Leopard Unable To Boot, Loops In Verbose Mode

Hi everyone,
I really hope someone can help me out here!
I recently backedup(Leopard), partitioned(my internal HDD) and restored Leopard
but now when booting it just stalls at the Apple screen with the loadnig circle at the bottom. I have done resores numerous times before and this is the first problem i have had.
No matter how long I leave it loading (+5 hours, to test) it never loads.
It doesnt start in safe mode, single user mode and when in Verbose mode it infinetly loops at this portion:
configd[36] <info>: hostname(multicast DNS) = MYMAC
mDNSResponder[280] <error>: ERROR: udsserver_init: bad file descriptor
mDNSResponder[280] <error>: ERROR: Daemon start: udsserver_init failed
configd[36] <info>: NetBIOS name (multicast DNS) = MYMAC
rpc.statd[280] <Error>: can't open statd.notify pidfile: no such file or directory (2)
rpc.statd[280] <Notice> statd.notify exiting 2
configd[36] <info>: NetBIOS name (multicast DNS) = MYMAC
InternetSharing[280] <Info>: InternetSharing starting
InternetSharing[280] <Info>: failed to add 192.168.2.1 to en0, device not configured
InternetSharing[280] <Info>:child process 533 exiting with sttaus 1
InternetSharing[280] <Notice>:DNS server 9named) exited, shutting down
InternetSharing[280] <Notice>: InternetSharing shutting down
mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-176.3 (Sep 30 2008 16:59:38)[588] <Error> starting
mDNSResponder[618] <Error>L launchdate_array_getindex(skt,0) returned null
configd[36] <info>: network configuration changed
mDNSResponder[684] <Error>:ERROR:blind(listenfd,(struct sockaddr *) &laddr, sizeof(laddr));
Faild no such file or directory
I have a small backup partition of Tiger and it workd fine, i can see the resored drive and all its contents(Applications etc.) and disk utility reports no problems when verify and repairing the disk.
I have also run Hardware diagnostics at startup and it reported no errors.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated as I do not want to loose Leopard and all my files.
Thanks.

See if you can boot into the Leopard DVD. Insert DVD, reboot and hold down "C" key.
After language screen, in menu top left under Utilities, you will find disk utility.app (DU)
Run DU and first verify/repair HD and then repair permissions on the Leopard volume.
Reboot and see what happens or report back with any problems or errors you get.
Also, since one backup is SuperDuper! can you boot into that? Hold down Option key on boot and see if it shows up. If it does, does it boot normally?
Message was edited by: nerowolfe

Last week I've install Mac OS X Mountain Lion and then after the installation finish my IMAC start up in verbose mode. How can I turn off this mode and start my IMAC normally. I've try to key in the code "sudo nvram boot-args=" in terminal also.

Last week I've install Mac OS X Mountain Lion and then after the installation finish my IMAC start up in verbose mode. How can I turn off this mode and start my IMAC normally. I've try to key in the code "sudo nvram boot-args=" in terminal also.
Thank you for all of your answer.

I've seen it mentioned on here that a PRAM reset may solve it:
Reset PRAM
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P and R.
You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

My MacBook pro will not startup. I get a blank grey screen no logo appears so I can't chooseadiffer t drive nor boot from DVD. Safe mode and verbose mode also don't change blank screen.

It was running slow with the colored spining appearing often. This started happening weeks ago with Yosemite so I formatted the disk with the DVDs that came with the mid 2011 MacBook pro, 10.6.8. I then installed Yosemite on an external drive and this morning i was booted from the external hd with Yosemite and it stopped recognizong mouse clicks so I forced a restart and now I'm stuck with the blank grey screen. Safe mode and verbose mode also do not work.

Lao Bo,
yes, you can locate and copy a file from your HD to a USB key using UNIX commands. If you know the exact name of the file which you’re trying to locate, try this:
find / -iname filename -print
This command will search your entire internal disk for the particular filename. If you know that it’s within a particular user account, then you can save search time with this variation:
find /Users/username -iname filename -print
Either variation of this command will print all files found which have the given filename. Presuming that you’re able to identify the correct file, you can copy it to a USB key using the command
cp -p filename_returned_by_find /Volumes/USB_volume
If you’re not sure which volume name your USB key has, this command will show you what the possibilities are:
ls /Volumes
Please let me know if you have any trouble with these commands.

Always Booting In Verbose Mode

Recently I did some work on my two MacBooks. Simply enough, I removed the hard drive from each MB and switched it with the other so that each machine now had the other's hard drive (reasons are unnecessary). It worked perfectly, or so I thought. The only bug that has come up repeatedly is that my MBP, which has the HD from the older BlackBook, is always starting up in verbose mode.
What would cause this? I never altered the "sudo nvram boot-args= " command in terminal, though I guess it could be possible for something else to have altered it when the hard drives were switched.

Hi there,
Now we are getting some fun, don't we? that's really odd.
The blank screen before the verbose mode is normal, usually after the blank we get the apple splash screen.
I also found a bug at my startup as I was making some tests trying to find your ways out of this bug.
In fact I found some log features that I should not have in my system since it was set before I format and zero out my hard disc two times in the last two weeks.
I could not proceed with my testings by now but I will. Also I found something yesterday that you could read about if you have any interest about the boot process at http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_startup.html
Good luck, hope I come back soon with some light.

Vista boots in Verbose Mode

I just installed Vista and everytime it boots the command line displays verbose mode, meaning it's telling me almost everything it's doing during startup.
How do I turn this off on a MacBook Pro?
Normally on a regular PC with BIOS, I am able to press the F# hotkey during startup to set my boot preferences. Not sure how to do this on an Intel Mac.
Any ideas?
Also, I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, so I am posting this in "Installation..." as well

Thanks, John.
The only login item was iTunes Helper. I disabled it. (what does it do anyway? that's for another forum)
While in System Preferences I also enabled ftp login and file sharing (I think I had left that off before).
I rebooted and got the familiar blue screen on the external screen, nothing on the built-in screen.
I logged in from my MBP usin ssh and got connected. I also was able to look at the disk and directories from the finder.
In terminal, with "top" I noted that there was a stuck process. If I knew Unix I could have determined what that process was but I don't. WaitingForLoginWindow came up at some point when I also used "ps".
Eventually I decided to try connecting with Chicken of the VNC, and this time I connected. Except, all I got was a black screen. Nothing I did would change it from a black screen.
What I forgot to mention earlier is that this iBook at first appears to start from a bootable CD (like TechTools or Diskwarrior or a system disc) but then just gets stuck at some point.
This all seems like a hardware error to me.
Message was edited by: Simon Frech
Message was edited by: Simon Frech

Boot using verbose mode

When booting with verbose mode (cmd v) it all scrolls by faster than I can absorb it. Ok, I'm slow. Does this get saved to a log file somewhere that I can look at with a more leasurely pace???
hyram

Everything should be in /var/log/system.log

Verbose mode boot

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