can't do normal boot up since 10.8.3 update

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Level 1

14 points

can't do normal boot up since 10.8.3 update

ever since i updated to 10.8.3 i can no longer do a normal boot up.

when i power up my iMac, it goes to its normal gray screen, the arrow as usual pops into upper left corner then immediatelly turns into the dreaded spinning beach ball. this is where my systems hangs. i have to force shut down my iMac via holding power button. i even have to turn power strip off before attempting a second boot. so far my iMac has successfully started upon second booting attempt.

this has only started and become an issue since 10.8.3 update (3-14-13).

is anyone else experiencing this? any suggestions?

its super aggrevating, not to mention not very good for computer to be on a consistent basis shut down forcefully. thanks for any help.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 16BG RAM

Posted on Mar 16, 2013 5:28 PM

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Answer 1

hpr3

Level 5

5,748 points

Mar 16, 2013 6:15 PM in response to baerb8

I would suggest not shutting down again until someone comes along with a suggestion on how to trouble shoot the problem.

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Answer 2

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 16, 2013 6:39 PM in response to hpr3

hmmm not exactly the solution i was looking or hoping for. but certainly viable. 😉

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Mar 17, 2013 2:51 PM in response to baerb8

So what you're saying is that you can't do a warm restart, but you can shut down and restart. Is that behavior consistent?

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Answer 4

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 17, 2013 4:58 PM in response to Linc Davis

I cannot boot up all the way after a complete shut down without forcing a shutdown. Also must turn power strip off before attempting a second try. It does seem to boot in its entirety on second try, albeit today it decided not to.

I turn off power strip which feeds peripherals and computer at night after I shut everything down.

It's been doing this ever since update..

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Answer 5

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 17, 2013 5:19 PM in response to Linc Davis

I decided to step back to 10.8.2 (via a cloned drive). My machine is booting fine again. So my iMac 11,3 and 10.8.3 do not get along. I guess I will be sticking with 10.8.2 for a while

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Answer 6

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Mar 17, 2013 8:13 PM in response to baerb8

Something in your configuration is causing the problem. Don't expect any future update to resolve it.

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Answer 7

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 17, 2013 8:27 PM in response to Linc Davis

What is strange is the fact that iMac is running just fine since I downgraded to 10.8.2 . Not sure how my configurations can be causing this new update to cause havoc, yet all previous have never. And I have not done any changes. Also, I noticed after I stalled 10.8.3 lots of changes occurred in system preferences, ie dimming of screen before going to sleep. No screen saver also, the hard disk was set to turn off after an hr....all things which I have not set to that. So am unclear why that happened.

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Answer 8

Mar 18, 2013 11:21 AM in response to baerb8

i have a similar problem in my mac mis 2011 i used time machine rstarting my system 10.8.2 and no more update .wait a new version .

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Answer 9

Mar 22, 2013 1:49 AM in response to Linc Davis

With respect to your comments, i think there is a problem with 10.8.3 with Mid 2009 MBP. I think it will be adressed by apple once they see all the failures on install mentioned on this forum Ihave fixed mine by re-installing 10.8.2

Do you know if it is possible to just apply just some of the updates of 10.8.3 and miss some out.

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Answer 10

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 22, 2013 8:49 AM in response to bucketheadbobby

@bucketheadbobby, I don't believe it's possibles to selectively update. In my case, for example, I wouldn't even know what part of the 10.8.3 update caused all the problems.

That said, if you wanted to update say, java only, then you can go straight to their site to do so. Other than that, until Apple comes up with a grand cure for this mishap, may I suggest to just go back to or stick with 10.8.2.

Sorry for not being able to help

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Answer 11

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Mar 22, 2013 12:46 PM in response to bucketheadbobby

Apple doesn't read the discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

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Answer 12

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 23, 2013 10:49 AM in response to baerb8

well, this is funny (not in a haha way). i was having some RAM issues, hence replaced all. then for kicks and giggles went ahead re-updating my iMac 11,3 to 10.8.3. now the update is working with only one huge problem/issue remaining ( as oppose to nothing but problems and issues): Preview. app is no longer working properly.

yes, i have deleted several times the subfolder in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview also removed any .plist pertaining to Preview in the Preferences folder. did the permission repair and that good jazz. no changes.

i guess Apple has still many bugs to iron out. hope its done soon, as Preview.app is quite a vital part of my everyday operation.

there is one very interesting thing i saw while using x-slimmer: all apps, logs, utilities, etc are double entered. its like as if 10.8.2 is still there and 10.8.3 is running parallel to it. very odd indeed.

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Answer 13

mach263

Level 1

0 points

Mar 25, 2013 6:15 AM in response to baerb8

mine wont boot up at all just white screen apple and spinning ball for last 20 mins. have tried forced turn off but same happens

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Answer 14

baerb8 Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 25, 2013 9:56 AM in response to mach263

Geez what a nightmare this all is. For me replacing my RAM made a difference in terms of at least getting back in, up and running. But I had suspected RAM to be partially to blame as I had started seeing freeze up more often on my system, 10.8.2 version.

This tells me that the update to 10.8.3 is greedy for RAM . when I stepped back to 10.8.2 leaving the same RAM in place the operating system booted just fine.

After the RAM upgrade all works well system wide except for Preview is no longer responding. The only way around that is to get into the "get info" window and then select via "other" found at bottom of pane. the Preview app. I noticed is ghosted at top of said list.

The update has loads of issues . I also saw that I have all applications, all utilities, etc twice only one is ghosted or grayed out the other normal like it needs to be. All third party apps work fine.

Sorry for long windedness . I had to sometimes force shut down more than 3 or 4 times before it finally booted into 10.8.3

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Answer 15

Mar 28, 2013 11:12 AM in response to Eric Root

This was my feedback to Apple -

After installing 10.8.3 update my iMac 27" Late 2009 no longer boots up. The OS will however boot up in safe mode.

Formated the hard drive and reinstalled Mac OS Lion and the OS booted up correctly however once again after installing 10.8.3 update the computer would no longer boot properly.

I am hoping you will resolve this glitch for the next OS update.

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