Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Mac Mini won't boot past Apple logo and spinning wheel

Hello,

I have a Mac mini (late 2009) running 10.8.2. Today, I tried to log into the computer. It accepted my username and password, but then the screen turned gray instead of logging in. I left it like that for about twenty minutes, then gave up on waiting and Ctrl-Command-Power rebooted it. It then wouldn't reboot: it gets to the Apple logo and spinning loading wheel, but won't go past there.

So I went into single-user mode and was able to access the HD fine. I ran a filesystems check using the recommended syntax (/sbin/fsck -fy, I think). It said that the volume looked okay, and that it had been modified. I took this as a good sign (that it had been repaired) and typed "reboot" to restart the machine. I held Command-Shift-V to perform a Verbose Safe Boot.

The computer makes no further progress after the following four lines:

vboxdrv: fAsync=0 offMin0x809 offMax=0x2bc3

VBoxDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302; IOCtl version 0x140001; IDC version 0x10000; dev major=34

VBoxFltDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302

VBoxAdpDrv: version 3.2.12 r68302

I'm assuming all the instances of "vbox" are in reference to Oracle's VirtualBox VM. I do have VirtualBox installed, but haven't used it in a while (months), so I don't see why it's suddenly causing a problem.

To clarify, the computer doesn't "hang" after these lines: I can still type text into the terminal. The entire log is being saved to /dev/console, so I could probably grab it from Single-User Mode if necessary.

Everything else seems to be working properly: even the wl0 drivers are loaded.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix this, or at least disable VirtualBox so the computer can start?

Thanks!

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 RAM, Intel 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, 160GB HD

Posted on Feb 18, 2013 11:29 AM

28 replies

BDAqua

Level 10

239,393 points

Feb 18, 2013 6:28 PM in response to WilliamChargin

See if there's anything in...

/private/var/log/system.log

Feb 18, 2013 6:53 PM in response to BDAqua

# pwd

/private/var/log

# wc -l system.log

9013 system.log

# tail -n 10 system.log

Feb 18 09:54:19 [computername] kernel[0]: Restart still waiting on BroadcomBluetoothHCIControllerUSBTransport
Feb 18 09:54:21 [computername] loginwindow[93559]: spawn_via_launchd() failed, errno=22 label=[0x0-0xe3de3d].activateSettings path=/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Resources/activateSettin gs flags=0
Feb 18 09:54:21 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Feb 18 09:54:21 [computername] loginwindow[93559]: ERROR | PerformCommandWithArguments | _LSOpenApplicationURL returned -10810 for command /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Resources/activateSettings
Feb 18 09:54:22 [computername] com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd[93754]): Exited with code: 1
Feb 18 09:54:22 [computername] com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Feb 18 09:54:29 [computername] com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.coresymbolicationd[93706]): Exited: Killed: 9
Feb 18 09:54:29 [computername] kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 93706 [coresymbolicatio]
Feb 18 09:54:32 [computername] com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd[93755]): Exited with code: 1
Feb 18 09:54:32 [computername] com.apple.launchd[1] (org.apache.httpd): Throttling respawn: will restart in 10 seconds

I didn't know I was running a web server from here; what's apache doing?

Feb 18, 2013 6:58 PM in response to BDAqua

You can download the full logs from here if you want (9014 lines, 932 771 chars, 910 KB).

BDAqua

Level 10

239,393 points

Feb 18, 2013 9:21 PM in response to WilliamChargin

Apache likely means Web Sharing is enabled.

Error 10810...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/error-10810.html

http://osxdaily.com/2010/02/09/mac-error-10810/

I think I'd try trashing these in SU mode...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist

Reset Launch Services...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetlaunchservices.html#Anchor-Reset-47857

Feb 18, 2013 9:52 PM in response to BDAqua

I've removed the preference files you suggested and ran the 'find' command as specified by the link. However, I'm still getting the same issue.

How did you get from Apache to -10810? I don't follow you there.

Many thanks for all your help so far.

BDAqua

Level 10

239,393 points

Feb 18, 2013 11:19 PM in response to WilliamChargin

Sorry, Apache & 10810 wre two different things completely, & the later was...

Feb 18 09:54:21 [computername] loginwindow[93559]: ERROR | PerformCommandWithArguments | _LSOpenApplicationURL returned -10810 for command

On the Off chance, you might try this...

This was Posted by: JoseAranda at September 9, 2006 3:48 AM

"OK, restart your computer, hold down Command-s and type in the following:

/sbin/fsck -fy Enter

/sbin/mount -uaw Enter

rm /var/db/.applesetupdone Enter

# The rm command is the remove command which deletes the file.

# Robert: I'd rename the file via: mv /var/db/.applesetupdone /var/db/.applesetupdone.old

reboot Enter

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

end of posted by: JoseAranda"

Feb 19, 2013 1:45 PM in response to BDAqua

I am familiar with this trick. Do you happen to know when in the boot cycle OSX checks for this file (i.e., would it perform set up early enough to override the broken whatever-it-is)?

I'm not at home now, but I'll definitely try this when I can. Thanks.

BDAqua

Level 10

239,393 points

Feb 19, 2013 3:23 PM in response to WilliamChargin

http://osxdaily.com/2007/01/22/what-happens-in-the-mac-os-x-boot-process/

Feb 19, 2013 3:51 PM in response to BDAqua

I've tried

# cd /var/db

# mv .AppleSetupDone .AppleSetupDone_old

# ls -a

[result contains .AppleSetupDone_old and not .AppleSetupDone]

# reboot

but it gets stuck at the same four lines.

In the document you linked, I don't see any mention of .AppleSetupDone, first-run, initial setup, or the directory /var/db. Am I missing something?

Feb 19, 2013 8:51 PM in response to WilliamChargin

So I took it to the Apple store and they just reinstalled the OS.

They claimed it's an error in the boot.efi file, but they can't tell me why it broke or if it will happen again. 😟

Anyway, thanks a ton for your help along the way!

BDAqua

Level 10

239,393 points

Feb 19, 2013 9:28 PM in response to WilliamChargin

Great to hear, thanks for the report back! 🙂

n8ouz

Level 1

10 points

Sep 5, 2013 11:41 AM in response to WilliamChargin

I'm having the EXACT same symptoms. I'm on my third install now hoping to have this issue put to bed.

I went so far as to re-partition (appropriate backups in place, yes.)

After the third install:

now the mac mini still sits and spins at the grey apple logo.

except - this time I created a small partition at the begining of the disk - 16GB - to use as a recovery partition.

My goal was to get it running again, then load the ML installer onto that partition in case I need it.. but I never made it that far. It already is failing to boot after the first Software Update was applied.

Interesting thing - when I launch Disk Utility, it does not show the disk. This is a Mac Mini Server, so it has two internal drive bays. One is a 500gig drive that I use for Time Machine. the other is a 256gig SSD (OCZ Petrol).

The SSD is the boot volume, and has the 16G (empty) "recovery" partition on it. Both partitions, the entire volume, no longer show up when i option-boot the mac into recovery mode..

Very strange.

Dlund87

Level 1

0 points

Mar 7, 2014 2:37 PM in response to BDAqua

I had this same problem and the repair permissions fixed it. Thanks so much, you're a genious!

Mac Mini won't boot past Apple logo and spinning wheel