AprilNicole0604
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: El Capitan causing continous loop at restart...will NOT boot in safe mode, only recovery.

Hi guys, I have been raiding these discussions looking for a solution for my issue. I have found similar problems but none the same. So here goes....

I have a 2008 20 in Imac, I have not updated in years so when El Capitan came out and I could go straight to it without getting the few systems in between, i was excited. So I was previously running 10.6.8 Snow Leopard (yes i know, i slacked terribly). Ok, now for the issue, I downloaded El Capitan 10.11 from the app store with no issues, it worked fine for 3 or 4 days until I shut down my computer. Upon starting it back up later in the day it cuts on to its normal screen and does the normal chime noise and the apple appears and then boom it goes directly back off and starts that over. It does this over and over and over and over again and probably would never stop if I didn't hit the power button to cut it off. Also there is no code on the screen at all, i have seen similar issues and people had code appear on their screen with the apple logo.  It will NOT restart in safe mode the only mode i can get it to start in is holding down the command button and the 2 options that come up are "mac and recovery". I went into Recovery mode, i have called apple and i did everything they told me (they have no clue whats wrong with it). We went into disk utility and did the repair on the hard drive with no luck, it said all was good, no error messages nothing. Let it be known that I do not have a time machine back up.....So that option is out the window. So next thing i did was my only option left which was to reinstall el capitan. so I did and it worked like a charm, with the same issue.....if my computer was ever shut down i was put back into the continuous reboot loop once it was cut back on. So I have installed el capitan one more time just so i can back up everything i need to an external hard drive. Apple has told me the only thing left to do is wipe the computer clean and re install. So that is next, unless there is someone out there that can help me. Either that or I never cut my computer off ever again and pray the power never goes out :/ sigh.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11), previously 10.6.8

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 7:32 PM

by P. Phillips,Solvedanswer
P. Phillips P. Phillips
Level 2 (176 points)
Mac OS X
A:

I did an upgrade from OS X 10.10.5 to OS X 10.11 on iMac late 2012 and experienced same issue as yours. Then I did an Erase, Format and install of OS X 10.11 (from USB Installer Disc) - all worked fine for 2 weeks and then the same problem reappeared.

I solve my problem going back to to Yosemite and will remain there until 10.11.1 or maybe 10.11.2 is released

Posted on Oct 21, 2015 1:27 AM

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AprilNicole0604

Q: El Capitan causing continous loop at restart...will NOT boot in safe mode, only recovery.

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  • by P. Phillips,Solvedanswer

    P. Phillips P. Phillips Oct 21, 2015 1:27 AM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 2 (176 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 21, 2015 1:27 AM in response to AprilNicole0604

    I did an upgrade from OS X 10.10.5 to OS X 10.11 on iMac late 2012 and experienced same issue as yours. Then I did an Erase, Format and install of OS X 10.11 (from USB Installer Disc) - all worked fine for 2 weeks and then the same problem reappeared.

    I solve my problem going back to to Yosemite and will remain there until 10.11.1 or maybe 10.11.2 is released

  • by flyonearth1,

    flyonearth1 flyonearth1 Oct 27, 2015 2:41 PM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 2:41 PM in response to AprilNicole0604

    Hello,

    I have EXACTLY the same symptoms..

    From 10.9.5 to 10.10 : it was not finishing the install - Then back to 10.9.5

    But from 10.9.5 to 10.11.0 or 10.11.1 : it was exactly the same as it is described above

    My MBP is from 2009... Then is it connected to an "old" MBP ?

     

    COme on APPLE, repair it, many people are describing such similar symptoms... Expecting 10.11.2 !!!!!

  • by AprilNicole0604,

    AprilNicole0604 AprilNicole0604 Oct 27, 2015 2:46 PM in response to flyonearth1
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 2:46 PM in response to flyonearth1

    I Ended up saving my important things like photos and what not to an external hard drive and made a bootable copy of El Capitan and then I erased my hard drive completely and started from scratch. A completely empty computer and then installed El Capitan. It's working fine. We will see if it keeps working....its eBen re starting! Yay

  • by flyonearth1,

    flyonearth1 flyonearth1 Oct 27, 2015 11:32 PM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 27, 2015 11:32 PM in response to AprilNicole0604

    Big thanks... But what id you do after the fresh re-installing ?

    Because I did such a clean install, and then I tried :

    * Import from a fresh clean time machine

    * import from a bootable copy of my 10.9.5 system

    And it did the same : infinite loop a startup...

     

    And I don't want to import manually data and app... There are so many things, and also my whole environment is made of so many little things, plugins, add-ons....  I have even forgotten what they are and where they comme from... It would be too complicated trying to find and reinstall them again

     

    Then... Big thanks if you could detail more precisely what you did after the clean instal  .... Yes  (;o)))

  • by AprilNicole0604,

    AprilNicole0604 AprilNicole0604 Oct 28, 2015 5:07 AM in response to flyonearth1
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 28, 2015 5:07 AM in response to flyonearth1

    II'll try, my husband did most of it.

    i Did not have a lot of things to transfer over though, only photos (I'm a photographer)

    so first I had a very large external hard drive and we put it into 2 partitions so that we could save things separately on it. Then I created a time machine back up of the whole system as it was (restart issues and all). I put that on 1 partition and on the other I put only my photos  and whatever else I wanted on the new software once the clean install was complete. I DID NOT, use the time machine back up. we only made it in case of emergency. If I had used it then the clean install would be pointless because that time machine back up would have brought my computer back to its previous screwed up state.

     

    so once everything was backed up on the external hard drive, I put the El Capitan install software on a usb thumb drive. Then erased the computer completely. restarted holding the...option key I think. Anyway I restarted in recovery mode and it showed 3 options, "Mac, recovery and el Capitan bootable " I clicked El Capitan bootable drive that I created and selected to re install it and boom brand new computer. It took me back to selecting a language and the initial computer set up. None of my info was on the computer what so ever.

    i Then moved my photos over that I had saved on an external drive and re installed photoshop and things like that and all works fine now.

     

    if you have a lot on yours then it would definitely be a pain to find it all and move it to a drive. It worked though. Hope you get it working!

  • by flyonearth1,

    flyonearth1 flyonearth1 Oct 29, 2015 12:32 AM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 12:32 AM in response to AprilNicole0604

    Big thanks Nicole,

    But you did what I don't want to do : clean install AND manually import what you previously saved

    I have plenty of apps and plugins and so and so... That would take take days ro reinstall manually and  properly my whole context. That's why I want an automatic import of ma apps and datas..

    Well, I guess I will wait 10.11.2 or 10.12... who knows.... First time Apple made such an awful system with no turn-around possible  (and I keep being very polite regarding what I feel against apple ! )

     

    ANyhow... Big thanls to you !

  • by AprilNicole0604,

    AprilNicole0604 AprilNicole0604 Oct 29, 2015 4:36 AM in response to flyonearth1
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 4:36 AM in response to flyonearth1

    it was definitely a lengthy process and I didn't even have much to transfer over so I definitely understand you not wanting to do that. So many people are having a similar reboot issue, hopefully they will update it soon and fix whatever is causing it!! Hope you get yours fixed soon .

  • by P. Phillips,

    P. Phillips P. Phillips Oct 29, 2015 6:28 AM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 2 (176 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 29, 2015 6:28 AM in response to AprilNicole0604

    AprilNicole0604,

     

    Recently downloaded the FULL 10.11.1 and again created a bootable install USB. Erased the SSD of MBA early 2015. Erased the SSD, installed OS X 10.11.1 CLEAN INSTALL and all worked fine. DID NOT Migrate anything over from backup. Install all app new, copied over documents and photos plus iTunes music, video tv shows from external drive and all has been working fine. No Boot-up issues.

    Am holding off doing the same to iMac late 2012 until at least two more weeks to see of MBA starts to act up. If not, will do clean install 10.11.1 to iMac

  • by maryj59,

    maryj59 maryj59 Nov 3, 2015 10:09 AM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 3, 2015 10:09 AM in response to AprilNicole0604

    To you and P.Philips: thanks for your solution! I have been pulling my hair out, metaphorically, for three days. On the phone to Apple support multiple times; reinstalled the system via recovery mode three times - and every time I shut down, I couldn't start up again except in recovery mode. One thing I noticed while running the disc utility this morning(which always said that my disc was fine): there was a note about not being able to access keychain, or something like that. I don't have the exact code, but I sent the report to Apple. I do hope they will fix it!

     

    In the meantime, I pulled all my important files off the computer, so I feel happier about wiping the drive, if need be. I will have to reinstall many programs that I paid for (Scrivener, Scapple, Sandvox, and more). But that won't matter so much if I can get the computer working again. I'm glad yours is better.

  • by P. Phillips,

    P. Phillips P. Phillips Nov 3, 2015 1:48 PM in response to maryj59
    Level 2 (176 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 3, 2015 1:48 PM in response to maryj59

    I can confirm the following;

    1. Downloaded a fresh FULL VERSION 10.11.1 and created bootable install usb.
    2. Booted iMac Late 2012 from same USB install disk
    3. Erased HD
    4. Installed OSX 10.11.1
    5. All works fine

  • by maryj59,

    maryj59 maryj59 Nov 6, 2015 7:46 AM in response to P. Phillips
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 6, 2015 7:46 AM in response to P. Phillips

    Thanks! I have decided to take it in to a nearby repair center. They've done good work for me in the past. The reason is that I'm not sure I have a functioning operating system on my USB stick. And, after all the hours I've spent on the phone, rebooting in recovery mode, reinstalling the system, and so on, I can't face spending hours downloading the system all over again and then wiping my drive.

     

    I expect this is exactly what they'll end up doing in the store, but they will also check my hard drive for me, which I haven't been able to do, and, if need be, they can replace the drive. I may ask them to install more RAM, while they are at it. I'll see how it goes.

     

    But I do thank you for your help, I'm so glad this worked for you, and I'll keep you posted. I wish I had never tried to install this on my trusty iMac. Yosemite was slow, but otherwise it never gave me a single problem.

     

    One interesting thing: I think this software glitch is somehow related to keychain. Wiping the drive and reinstalling probably works because it wipes the keychain, too.

  • by maryj59,

    maryj59 maryj59 Nov 21, 2015 6:14 PM in response to P. Phillips
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 21, 2015 6:14 PM in response to P. Phillips

    Thanks again! I have my machine back, and it's running El Capitan beautifully, And your solution definitely works! I will be voting for you both, if that's still allowed.

     

    You see, the tech guy in the shop found out that an old piece of software (syncmate) was booting up when El Capitan began to boot, and was causing it to hang. He was able to delete just that piece of software while saving all my other files. But, obviously, wiping the drive would have fixed the problem, though it would have been a lot of work.

     

    If only I'd gone through and deleted all the software I didn't use any more, I might never have had the problem at all!

     

    But - no complaints about the new system now. It runs quickly and seems very stable on both my old Macs.

  • by cjsobrante,

    cjsobrante cjsobrante Feb 14, 2016 12:47 PM in response to AprilNicole0604
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 14, 2016 12:47 PM in response to AprilNicole0604

    Ok, this is a weird "fix" but I'm no longer hyperventilating about not being able to get past the weird rebooting thing so maybe give it a try. :-) 

     

    Background:

    My Mac is a Mac Book Pro, 15 inch, Late 2011. I upgraded it to El Capitan about 2.5 weeks ago and have had issues since then when using multiple monitors, projecting, connecting to GoToMeeting. So it went bonkers the other day but I thought it was about the video connector to my second monitor. It was fine when not connected to the monitor. I shut it down at the end of the day. Then the next day, I couldn't get it to reboot beyond the endless looping. I couldn't get anything to work and I don't have any Mac media here at my home office. My Mac is a work computer and my office and support people are on the other side of the country.

     

    What I did that worked:

    • I looked at the list of Apple start up options and saw I hadn't tried a few that I hadn't seen in previous googling. The one I used was:  Hold While Starting + Command-Option-R. That is OS X Recovery over the Internet.
    • One thing I noticed with this restart was that it was different because the start up that endlessly loops has a weird low-res display on the start up screen that is normally a crisp white screen and I was seeing that normal crispness. 
    • But when I got into the choices I didn't know to do. I really didn't want to do a re-install.
    • So I backed out and clicked Restart from within the Recovery Mode utility.
    • And my computer restarted normally!!!!

     

    I've since shut it down and restarted. And done a restart. And it keeps restarting correctly. I expect that I may get back to this point again as P. Phillip ran into this same thing after some time, but now I have a way to manage it until I go back to our office. I think the ultimate answer is a fresh install of El Capitan rather than an upgrade or back down to Yosemite. What a Windows-like experience this has been and that's not a good thing! But at least it's working.

  • by P. Phillips,

    P. Phillips P. Phillips Feb 14, 2016 1:06 PM in response to cjsobrante
    Level 2 (176 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 14, 2016 1:06 PM in response to cjsobrante

    Your point about doing an Erase and Clean Install of 10.11.3 is what I have done on both iMac late 2012 and early MBA 2015. Both systems are behaving great. No startup hangs or looping.

    I did try a 10.10.5 upgrade to 10.11.1 without too much success so did as mentioned in first paragraph. Wiped the HD / SSD of all and clean install.

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