MBPr taking too long to boot after 10.8.4

Question

Level 1

9 points

MBPr taking too long to boot after 10.8.4

Hello all

I updated to 10.8.4 through the App Store yesterday and realized my mistake right after the first restart. First the spinning thing would keep spinning for like forever and then when it's finally done the screen flickers to another white screen with the apple logo but this time with a stuck cursor on the top left. The only way to get out of this is to let the MacBook go to sleep after which it comes back to the login screen. Now I have already tried booting into 10.8.4 recovery and doing a reinstall with no effect at all. I have also tried doing a clean install using a 10.8 USB and then using the combo installer to bring it to 10.8.4. It's quite surprising that none of the options worked. There's no one talking about this as well which gives me hope (perhaps a fools hope) that perhaps there's a quick fix to it.

Only option that remains is to download OS X 10.8.4 from App Store and then try doing another install. I am however not sure if that would work as well.

Please help!

Thanks

Sajat Jain

iPhone 4S, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 11:53 AM

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Answer 1

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:01 PM in response to sajat

Try a PRAM and SMC reset. Afterwards, when you get back to your Desktop, go into System Preferences/Startup Disk and reselect your Macintosh HD. The PRAM reset clears that selection.

FYI... I have a 13" rMBP and a 15" rMBP and neither had issues with the update.

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Answer 2

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:23 PM in response to keg55

I tried both but still nothing. I did another 10.8 clean install and the strange thing is that my startup time has slowed even on 10.8. I mean on a SSD it takes not more than a few seconds to boot the OS especially after a clean install but right now it's taking about 20 seconds spinning time for every restart. I am not sure how but I think the 10.8.4 App Store upgrade has somehow seriously damaged something in my MacBook.

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Answer 3

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:26 PM in response to sajat

Check System Preferences / Startup Disk and make sure your Macintosh HD is selected. If not, select and try a test.

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Answer 4

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:38 PM in response to keg55

It's selected.

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Answer 5

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:42 PM in response to sajat

Have you done a Verify Disk in Disk Utility and a Repair Permissions?

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Answer 6

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:51 PM in response to keg55

Yes, it's all clear.

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Answer 7

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jun 6, 2013 12:56 PM in response to sajat

I'm stumped then. I just did a restart on my rMBP and it took 10 secs to the login screen.

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Answer 8

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 6, 2013 1:01 PM in response to keg55

Yeah and before 10.8.4 mine was too. It's not just the slower boot time that's bothering me but also the constant getting stuck at the apple screen with a cursor on top left for about 10 mins or so. I have no idea what this installation screwed so badly that even a vanilla 10.8 is experiencing slower boot times (without getting stuck at login screen though).

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Answer 9

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 6, 2013 1:22 PM in response to sajat

So it turns out there was this micro sd card I had inserted in my MBPr which was causing all the trouble. Since the card is on a nifty drive and never showed up in my list of attached media ever since 10.8.4 I totally forgot about it being there. Strange thing was that it never showed up in disk utility as well. Anyhow all is well now, thanks for the help!!

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Answer 10

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Jun 6, 2013 1:44 PM in response to sajat

Glad you figured it out!

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Answer 11

juan457

Level 1

4 points

Jun 7, 2013 5:23 PM in response to sajat

Thanks so much for posting this answer! It fixed my issues as well! =]

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Answer 12

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 8, 2013 7:33 AM in response to juan457

Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

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Answer 13

Jun 9, 2013 1:34 PM in response to sajat

Not the only one. Though I have not retryed my installation. Here is what happen to me and please verify if you had the same (sounds like it).

1. Installed 10.8.4 on top of 10.8.3 and install went fine.

2. I have installed a Niffy Drive (though no SD in it) ... but did not realize potential problem you suggest.

3. its a MBPr

4. Boot took for every (it 40 seconds from after I logedin to system screen on 10.8.3) but after (ie on 10.8.4) took forever 10-15 minutes with a cursor in the upper left on a white/gray screen.

5. I reinstalled to 10.8.3 and all works as before

6. But sounds like after removing niffy dirve I should reinstall??? Ie the problem I described was the same as yours.

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Answer 14

sajat Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 9, 2013 10:35 PM in response to robertswinter

Well for me the problem remained even when I reinstalled to 10.8. After wasting like half a day installing/reinstalling, I realized that it's probably something else. On 10.8 the issue wasn't there but still there were slowdowns while booting up. Everything was back to normal (faster boot times and no getting stuck on login screen) the second I ejected my nifty drive.

Nifty is the culprit here.

Hope that helps.

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Answer 15

dbastara

Level 1

0 points

Jun 14, 2013 9:57 AM in response to sajat

Interesting, I installed 10.8.4 and experienced the same problem, different culpret - My Firewire drives. I had two connected one Lacie 1TB with a through port to connect another Seagate 1.5 tb Firewire drive.

I called Apple supprt and they had me build a test user (that did not help) then Reset parameter RAM, I then happened to eject my firewire drives, then rebooted and it ran more normal like it used to.

I use Final Cut Pro 10 which had become inpossible to use ater loading 10.8.4. I have a Macbook Pro i7 dual core processor and 8 gig of ram. Final cut now runs again, though not as well as a couple of updates ago.

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