iMac hangs at startup when booting from external SSD under Mojave

Question

iMac hangs at startup when booting from external SSD under Mojave

My friend has an iMac 2015 where he boots from an external USB 3.0 SSD.

It worked well under HFS+ under High Sierra but booted slower under Mojave. The SSD has been bought in november 2018. However he ran Mojave more than a month without a problem.

The last days, the iMac hanged at startup, except with safe boot.

We tried SMC reset, safe boot and disk utility but it didn't solve the problem. ** says the disk is OK.

However, when using de single user mode (command + S) we ran fsck -fy and it booted afterwards.

Everything went well for one day but now the problem is back. He can only boot in the safe mode.

What can he do? Erase the drive and a clean install? This will take a lot of time. Perhaps something else before that? Perhaps the combo updater? Or reinstall MacOS. Or something else? Perhaps an extension is corrupt. How can we find which one?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on May 23, 2019 1:04 PM

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Answer 1

May 25, 2019 2:12 PM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

I have reformatted the ssd, did a clean install and migrated time machine.

The volume key bag error is gone and the iMac now boots normally from the external SSD.

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Answer 2

May 25, 2019 12:18 AM in response to Old Toad

We will uninstall parts of Avast (such as secure on line VPN), but not the virus scanner because this one sometimes blocks Malware from sites. I use it on my own computer too and Geekbench reports no noticeable slowdown.

I think I found the culprit:

apfs_keybag_get1320: failed to get apfs volume key bag error = 2

apfs_keybag_init: failed to initialize volume key bag error = 2

and error messages afterwards in the single user mode.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250215586

I will visit Georges (the person with the problem) today and reformat the ssd, do a clean install and migrate time machine.

Thanks for your help with the Etrecheck Report, Old Toad. 👍

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Answer 3

May 24, 2019 6:16 AM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

We started in the single user mode.

This appears

handle-cryptomount: 831 handling crypto mount volume /dev/disk 3s1

handle-cryptomount: 1050: crypto mount finished with apfs

apfs_keybag_get1320: failed to get apfs volume key bag error = 2

apfs_keybag_init: failed to initialize volume key bag error = 2

Further boots the computer normally. We will for now avoid to shut down this Mac and put it to sleep.

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Answer 4

May 30, 2019 8:23 AM in response to Old Toad

We uninstalled Avast but the problem was not solved. My friend Georges now puts his computer to sleep instead of shutdown.

Some people say the hangings are APFS related. After 10.14.6 Georges will go back to HFS+.

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Answer 5

May 24, 2019 3:04 AM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

Thanks for your advice. I will visit my friend tomorrow and we will post the etrecheck report. In the mean time, we ran the combo updater 10.14.5 and the computer started again. Is it safe to put the computer to sleep when running from an external SSD?

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Answer 6

May 24, 2019 5:11 AM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

I am the person with the external SSD problem. I ran Etrecheck but the report is too long to post.

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.6.7 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] com.avast.osx.secureline.update-agent.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2019-04-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.osx.secureline.userinit.plist (Shell Script 2fc1004f - installed 2019-04-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (Shell Script 4b9d47d7 - installed 2019-03-05) [Lookup]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple, Inc. - installed 2019-05-04)

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist (Shell Script fe750b9b - installed 2019-03-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.osx.secureline.init.plist (Shell Script 1bda83b1 - installed 2019-04-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.osx.secureline.uninstall.plist (Shell Script ba7a0061 - installed 2019-04-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.osx.secureline.update.plist (Shell Script f50a649c - installed 2019-04-23) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (Shell Script 1d68eef4 - installed 2019-03-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.update.plist (Shell Script f4a2548f - installed 2019-03-05) [Lookup]

[running] com.bombich.ccchelper.plist (Bombich Software, Inc. - installed 2019-05-21) [Lookup]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.avast.osx.secureline.home.userinit.plist (Shell Script 22c221b4 - installed 2019-04-23)

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist

[loaded] com.google.keystone.xpcservice.plist

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Answer 7

May 24, 2019 2:51 PM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

Etrecheck Report

Here is the report from Mister George

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Answer 8

May 26, 2019 1:43 PM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

Unfortunately, the iMac of georges 292 hanged again this evening. He couldn't post it, so I do it for him. However he was able to reboot successfully afterwards.

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Answer 9

May 27, 2019 3:23 AM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

Is it true APFS doesn't work well with external USB 3.0 SSDs?

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Answer 10

Old Toad

Level 10

217,136 points

May 23, 2019 2:12 PM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

Booting into the Safe Mode and applying the Combo 10.14.5 updater would be a good place to start. If you can then get a normal reboot download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and use the Add Text button to include the report in your reply. How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting Large Amounts of Text, i.e. an Etrecheck Report

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

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Answer 11

Old Toad

Level 10

217,136 points

May 24, 2019 2:59 PM in response to Mac_Hammer_Fan

You have Avast antivirus software installed. Uninstall it according to the developer's instructions: Uninstalling Avast Security from Mac | Official Avast Support. It is totally unnecessary as there are no know viruses for Mac and such software only degrades system and application performance.

This user tip describes what one should do to protect their Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community

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Answer 12

Old Toad

Level 10

217,136 points

May 24, 2019 9:21 AM in response to georges292

This user tip describers how to add the report with the Add Text button: How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an Etrecheck Report - Apple Community which I linked to in my previous post.

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iMac hangs at startup when booting from external SSD under Mojave

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