Mac won't respond to shutdowns, terminal, siri, nothing.

Question

Mac won't respond to shutdowns, terminal, siri, nothing.

Please help! something is severely and really wrong with my macbook, and I think inside my macbook.

Today when I have shut down my mac, the shutdown went totally wrong.

On shutdown, the dock hid like usual, but the display did not shut off at all, finder was not active, mouse pointer still works, and the touch bar still works like normal.

I thought that the mac was just taking a bit long to shut off, but when I started the force quit menu, finder was still running, I opened a finder tab, and it worked fine.

The menu bar is almost unresponsive and has no options.

When I attempt to use spotlight, screencaptureui (screenshots) or anything, i will just hear the error sound.

The menu bar only contains: apple menu, app name, options (file, edit, view and stuff) and thats it, on the right side, way on the right, is the language options and thats it.

I do not see battery options, user name, time, ect.

I use apple menu > recent items and select safari/opera (my main browsers).

Ive tried searching commands on terminal to force my mac to shut off, but the problem is that..

the terminal fails to work.

It displays a message saying

NO LOGINS: System going down at 8:34

Login incorrect
login:

After login i tried putting my Administrator Password (im the only user) and it simply says

Login incorrect
login:

Every enter displays "login:" again

Ive tried typing my administrator password (correct) multiple times and it names it as incorrect.

After 300 seconds it will display

Login timed out after 300 seconds


[Process completed]

and the terminal will be completely unresponsive.

Going to the apple menu > Shutdown, Restart, Sleep

and none will work, not even the lock screen.

I figured that holding option displays an advanced options type thing, so i tried holding option while clicking Shutdown, Restart and sleep. The 3 options didnt work with option.

I cannot logout as that button is also unresponsive.

I have tried unplugging my macbook, waiting for the battery to run out, but ive waited over 5 hours and the battery has not ran out, or atleast what i see, due to the display fully functional and the OS entirely.

I can still use the internet with opera and safari, but cannot spotlight, use siri, or use the notification center.

Please help!

Something is severely wrong with my macbook.

Thanks!

PS: writing this during the issue

sorry if this is too long, I just have to describe everything.

Posted on Nov 24, 2020 10:48 AM

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Answer 1

Wilddrums

Level 5

4,274 points

Nov 24, 2020 10:58 AM in response to apples_aregreat

OK.

Can you elaborate on that part? "I thought that the mac was just taking a bit long to shut off, but when I started the force quit menu, finder was still running, I opened a finder tab, and it worked fine.".

Anything you can share on what happened before the problem arise? Updates? New applications? New devices? ...

As a first step I suggest you restart the Mac in Safe Mode:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

WD

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Answer 2

Nov 24, 2020 11:36 AM in response to Wilddrums

Hi wilddrums,

Thanks for helping me!

I have recently (near 3 days ago) have installed a new copy of macOS Catalina on my mac, and the newly installed copy was running fine. The only applications I have installed are BlueStacks 4, Steam (BTD-Battles and thats it), Opera (current browser), Zoom, Roblox, Minecraft Launcher, and thats pretty much it other than 2 files i created on my desktop. I have mainly been doing online usage such as scratch.mit.edu and other websites.

I couldn't restart my mac in safe mode as it wont respond to a shutdown, restart, lockscreen, or sleep and terminal is not useful as it is failing to log in.

All shutdown, restart, Sleep, and Lockscreen buttons, when I click on them it will deselect all windows and do nothing. I can still use the whole operating system (except for dock for some reason it wont show) and select any window, after the button has been clicked.

I cannot use spotlight or screencaptureui.

I have tried going to Startup Disk via System Preferences and using the Restart button, and it wont restart.

My only hope that might work is my battery.

I will wait until my battery runs out due to my browser displaying 45 minutes till it runs out of battery.

At the same time im worried that the battery might break my mac.

I will reply or mark as solved once my mac shuts down due to the battery or if it gets fixed, im also planning on bringing my mac to Microcenter (where i bought it) to get it repaired.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! :D

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