Macbook Reboot loop on Startup

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Level 1

5 points

Macbook Reboot loop on Startup

My Macbook continuously reboots on startup. Regular startup brings me to the login page which then shuts off and then reboots again and again. On the login page, the battery icon in the top left corner shows a warning sign overtop of it.

The laptop is plugged in this whole time as it dies very quickly when unplugged.

Using CMD+R to get into recovery mode, the reboot loop starts just when the apple appears on the screen and nothing else. I also tried going into internet recovery mode, this starts the reboot loop before I can enter a wireless password. I also tried restarting with the Option key pressed and booting from a bootable drive with Catalina on it, but this started the same reboot loop after selecting the drive.

I tried starting in verbose mode but get a flash of logs for a fraction of a second on the screen before it goes into the login page, and then starts the reboot loop again with no logs.

I tried resetting the PRAM/NVRAM and SMC as well and did not fix the issue, although one of the times I reset the SMC it seemed to switch off of battery power (possibly) somehow. The battery icon in the top right corner of the login screen was gone and the fans were running very loud immediately on boot. I did another SMC reset after this and it went back to how it was before (battery icon visible and fans running normally).

My question, aside from if anyone knows what could be causing this or of a possible solution, is there any easy way I can wipe the drive without being able to get into any form of internet recovery? I want to remove my data before bringing it to to Apple to get repaired.

Posted on Dec 24, 2019 8:26 AM

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Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,062 points

Dec 24, 2019 8:38 AM in response to rosa1793

You do not specify what exact Mac or what macOS you are currently running—however

From Internet Recovery (option command R) you can try running the Disk Utility First AID.

You can also boot off a clone /USBinstaller/Time Machine backup (option key on boot-up) all these alternatives will get you to a Disk Utility.

Then from the dropdown menu: Utilities> Disk Utility> run the First Aid on your Macintosh HD (and the "Macintosh HD-Data" volume as well if Catalina) If errors are found and repaired, run again until no errors reported.

You can reinstall the macOS from this same Recovery, if necessary.

Quit DU, and reinstall the macOS on top of your existing maOS

Recovery: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

always advised to have a current backup plan in place.

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Answer 2

rosa1793 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 2, 2020 8:37 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you for the advice. The Mac is model A1398, I am not exactly sure what OS version it is running because I can't boot long enough to check.

Unfortunately no luck with internet recovery as the rebooting cycle starts on its own before I can even get past the first screen which asks me to connect to a network. Same with booting from a USB key, or anything using option key on boot. The Mac doesn't stay on long enough for me to get anywhere useful.

Retrieving data isn't the issue but I would like to wipe sensitive data off of the device before bringing it in to Apple.

Anyways, thanks again for the help. I will edit my question to add version if I can.

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Answer 3

rosa1793 Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 2, 2020 8:51 AM in response to rosa1793

Just to add an update, the Mac is A1398. I am not sure what OS it is running because I can't boot long enough to check and I wasn't aware of what it was running before this happened.

I have also tried Target disk mode, it is not detected by other Macs (possibly because it keeps rebooting itself). I have also tried booting from a USB key and had no luck, reboot loop happens again before I can get anywhere.

I did manage to take a picture of the logs from Verbose mode as they flashed on the screen.

The relevant part was:

apfs_keybag_unlock_record_tag:1632: failed to unwrap volume key, err = 375809712

2 (tag = 2)

apfs_keybag_unlock _record:1704: failed to unwrap volume key, err = 5

apfs_efi_meta_crypto_state_unwrap:332: apfs_efi_meta_crypto_state_unwrap: apfs_k

eyebag_unlock_record with stashed KEK failed

apfs_mount:18531:

Failed to unwrap meta crypto state

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Macbook Reboot loop on Startup

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