Macbook Pro taking 5 full minutes to boot........

Subscribing to the thread and also curious about the link to the possible bad FW port, as my MBP boots up really slowly and then runs fine as well and I know one of my FW ports doesn't seem to work. Not trying to steal the OP's thread, just looking to listen in.

Hi UMich,

UMich97grad wrote:
Subscribing to the thread and also curious about the link to the possible bad FW port, as my MBP boots up really slowly and then runs fine as well and I know one of my FW ports doesn't seem to work.

First, I always strongly recommend good backups, even when things are running smoothly. When one starts playing with the OS, I think it's a necessity (if anything goes amiss, one can simply revert to a current clone or restore from current Time Machine backup in almost all circumstances and no harm done).

Try moving this to the desktop and rebooting: /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireFamily.kext

Not having tried this myself, I believe just moving "IOFireWireFamily.kext" will be sufficient, but there may be the need to be running as root, and/or actually trashing the file.

Not trying to steal the OP's thread, just looking to listen in.

It may help him, it may help you, it may not help either one of you. Let's find out, and that may help others. 😉

Hope to hear back from both you and Wakko. Good luck.

Message was edited by: tjk

Glad that worked out for you, and thanks for posting results.

Wakko, did you check in System Preferences or System Profiler? I'm looking in system profiler right now and see the following under "Hardware-->Firewire":

FireWire Bus:
Warning: Unable to list FireWire devices.

I'm thinking I might have the same problem as I just repaired my HD disk and that didn't seem to help at all.

So, how do I enable root, etc.? ....and by deleting these files, does it mean my firewire ports will continue to be dysfunctional (I'm assuming that's the case), or does this fix them in some way? I also thought about deleting them on my external drive that has a copy of my HD, booting from there and seeing if it works. Thoughts?

Message was edited by: UMich97grad

I'm assuming if I delete these files, the FW will continue to be non-working, just the boot up will be faster.....is that a correct assumption? If so, I may look into what would be needed to actually fix the FW port, so that I can use it again.

I also recommend disabling root when finished.

UMich97grad wrote:
I'm assuming if I delete these files, the FW will continue to be non-working, just the boot up will be faster.....is that a correct assumption?

Should be.

If so, I may look into what would be needed to actually fix the FW port, so that I can use it again.

That's likely to be much more difficult finding bad solder connections and/or determining which chips and components are functioning properly and which are not. "Normal" fix on most boards for bad ports is to replace whole LB.

That's likely to be much more difficult finding bad solder connections and/or determining which chips and components are functioning properly and which are not. "Normal" fix on most boards for bad ports is to replace whole LB.

Yikes....if that's the case, I think I'll have a MBP without a FW port, as I'm assuming the cost to have that replaced would be prohibitive (ie better off buying a new MBP).

UMich97grad wrote:
I think I'll have a MBP without a FW port, as I'm assuming the cost to have that replaced would be prohibitive (ie better off buying a new MBP).

I would tend to agree. You could also add FW via an expresscard/34.

OK, so I deleted the IOFirewireFamily.kext file and it seems to boot up faster. Oddly enough the gray screen and blue screen seemed to take a few second longer, but when the desktop showed up, the 2 minute delay was gone and I could start working right away.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone.....appreciate the help!!!

Message was edited by: UMich97grad