Q: OS X Lion freezes at login screen + App Store is slow

No, this problem is still fu*king exists

Hi all,

I thought there was no solution for this, but I can confirm that Andrew Tallon's fix on page 47 of this thread does indeed fix the problem for my mid 2010 Pro. Thanks,

/Brian

OK, I'll try it. Thanks!

Still the same problem when I come to save it, click on the pencil when you open it, make the changes and save then 'you have insufficient privileges'. Arghhh. Anyone?

I have an early 2009 Mac Mini that is having the login window freeze issue as well.  I've tried a number of things like removing programs like BOINC, Flash Frozen, and other apps that run continuously with no improvement.

I have found that if I eject the CD/DVD by pressing the eject key on my Apple keyboard that this will "unhang" the login window long enough to allow me to log in most of the time.  Sometimes I have to insert and eject the CD/DVD a couple of times to coax the login window to "unstick".

Processor: 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory: 8GB 1067MHz DDR3

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB

Software: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2(11C74)

The thread that this may be an NVIDIA related issue is interesting.

I have reinstalled OS X Lion, but have not done a clean install.

Follow Andrew Tallon's suggestion, I solve my problem, My model is MacBook Pro 15'' mid 2010 i5 2.5GHz, Thanks very much.

Hello All - Pleased to report I have just downloaded and installed Apple's public release of 10.7.3. It's too early to say if this release solves the "Lion freeze at login" problem. But let's hope "The solution is out there" now.

My System Profiler/Info (Utility) now shows:

System Version:          Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50)

Kernel Version:          Darwin 11.3.0

Try it and report back - I shall do the same.

so, i've made a clean install of lion with the new 10.7.3 version on my macbook pro 15" (mid 2010) and ... till now no freez at login screen.... BUT ... I just restarted 4-5 times. so lets wait.

No joy on installing the 10.7.3 update as far as fixing the login screen hang issue.

Still borked.

Processor: 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory: 8GB 1067MHz DDR3

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 256 MB

Software: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50)

Annorax64: Thanks for the info. I have one of those but haven't fired it up for at least a year. Will try it with 10.7.3 when I have some time - soon. I am wondering if the problem could be related to the GeForce 94000M VRAM being a shared part of main RAM.

Are you running with the original 2GB of RAM?

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/faq_core/differences-between-mac- mini-core-2-duo-early-2009-configurations.html

Very interesting about the VRAM/Main RAM situation.

No, I changed out the memory about a month after Lion came out, because we were having a horrible time with these types of lock-ups and general poor performance when more than one person was logged-in at a time.  This is what I replaced the original 2GB of RAM with:

8.0GB DDR3 PC8500 1066MHz Kit (4GBx2)

Annorax64: This is probably an annoying (repeated) question, but can you bypass the "freezing" problem" if you enable automatic login? (I realize you have multiple users on your machine - so this is not "a solution" for you).

One thing I'd try - if you haven't already - is to reboot in "Safe Mode", to flush the kernel-extension caches.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

Heres another link that describes what "Safe Mode" does.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

... sort of like a general "blueprint and reassemble the engine" sort of thing.

Annorax64: ... looking again at the everymac.com details of that MacMini, you got the right RAM, but it does mention that that that Mac "officially (only) supports 4GB of RAM" - but will support 8GB after applying EFI firmware Update 1.2. Worth checking whether that was done when the RAM was installed?

  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3706

  http://support.apple.com/kb/DL888

Terry Hahoney: Thanks for the tip.  Unfortunately, that EFI firmware update 1.2 had been applied some time in the past.  I will also try the the safe mode boot procedures.

As for the enabling Automatic Login, interestingly, immediately after a boot, I have no problem logging in.  It's only after the Mac Mini has been running for a while, the current user's screen locks, and then the next person comes to log in.  When they click the "Switch User" button at the bottom to take them back to the Login Window where all accounts are displayed, they then click their account icon and at that point the screen will freeze -- literally halt in the middle of the animation to bring that account icon to the center of the screen.

Pressing the CD/DVD eject button on the Apple keyboard to eject a CD/DVD from the drive will often "unfreeze" the screen and the animation will complete and allow you to type your password and login.

Terry Mahoney: I'm starting to wonder in my issue is due to my using Screen Sharing to the Mac Mini in question and that causing a problem.  I'm seeing really funky stuff happen when using Screen Sharing such as the screen saver password prompt crashing and allowing things to happen that shouldn't happen (yes, I'm boing intentionally nebulous when I say this).

I'm going to refrain from using Screen Sharing to see if I encounter this problem again or not.  I'll let you know.

Edit:

Yup, apparently switching users during Screen Sharing in Lion is a NO NO:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16414171#16414171

I may have to withdraw my posts here and add to this other post instead.