Mac M.Lion freezes at login screen

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Level 1

5 points

Mac M.Lion freezes at login screen

My MacBook Pro Retina (2013) with mountain lion 10.8.4 does absolutely nothing after I try to login. I found out this is only happening when it is connect to certain Wifis (like a LAN router or other Wifis without internet connction. It just "freezes" after I try to login, showing the spinning beachball until eternity. Is there any reason to this?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jun 27, 2013 6:31 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jun 27, 2013 8:00 PM in response to JakobGK

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

The purpose of the test is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party software that loads automatically at startup or login, or by a peripheral device.

Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. Note: If FileVault is enabled, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Ask for further instructions.

Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including sound output and Wi-Fi on certain iMacs. The next normal boot may also be somewhat slow.

The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.

Test while in safe mode. Same problem?

After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

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Answer 2

JakobGK Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 15, 2013 2:14 AM in response to Linc Davis

OK. Thank you for the reply.

I tried what you told me. When boot in safe mode the problem does not occur. But after safe boot and trying to boot normally the problem is still there.

I forgot to mention that it wont shut down properly when connected to WiFi without internet connection either. I enabled automatic login so I don't need to write my password and now it starts up without trouble. Still, I can't shut it down properly.

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Answer 3

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jul 15, 2013 10:39 AM in response to JakobGK

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then copy it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Triple-click the line of text below on this page to select it:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}' | open -f -a TextEdit

Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Then click anywhere in the Terminal window and paste (command-V). A TextEdit window will open with the output of the command. If the command produced no output, the window will be empty. Post the contents of the TextEdit window (not the Terminal window), if any — the text, please, not a screenshot. You can then close the TextEdit window. The title of the window doesn't matter, and you don't need to post that. No typing is involved in this step.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

{ sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|org\.(amav|apac|cups|isc|ntp|postf|x)/{print $3}'; sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook 2> /dev/null; } | open -f -a TextEdit

This time you'll be prompted for your login password, which you do have to type. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. Type it carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. Heed that warning, but don't post it. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.

Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}' | open -f -a TextEdit

Step 4

ls -1A /e*/{la,mach}* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts .la* 2> /dev/null | open -f -a TextEdit

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' | open -f -a TextEdit

Remember, steps 1-5 are all copy-and-paste — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

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Answer 4

JakobGK Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 19, 2014 1:01 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you for your help. The problem seems to have gotten worse than before.

Output from the different steps..

Step 1:

org.openafs.filesystems.afs (1.6.2)

com.logmein.hamachi (1.0)

com.sophos.kext.sav (8.0.14)

Step 2:

com.sophos.notification

com.sophos.intercheck

com.sophos.autoupdate

org.openafs.filesystems.afs

com.sophos.messagerouter

com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.logmein.hamachi

com.adobe.SwitchBoard

com.adobe.fpsaud

Step 3:

com.sophos.uiserver

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater

com.logmein.hamachimb

it.infn.lnf.network.AFSBackgrounder

com.spotify.webhelper

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0

Step 4:

/Library/Components:

/Library/Extensions:

ham.kext

/Library/Frameworks:

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

CDOInterAction.framework

Maple.framework

NZYCoverFlowView.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

Python.framework

SAVI.framework

SUMScanKit.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

libMagick++.framework

libMagick.framework

libWand.framework

libbz2.framework

libcharset.framework

libcurl.framework

libiconv.framework

libjasper.framework

libjpeg.framework

libpng.framework

libtiff.framework

libz.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

AdobeExManDetect.plugin

AdobePDFViewer.plugin

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

ViewRightWebPlayer.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

uid.plist

zako.plugin

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.logmein.hamachimb.plist

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

com.sophos.uiserver.plist

com.teamviewer.teamviewer.plist

com.teamviewer.teamviewer_desktop.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.logmein.hamachi.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper.plist

com.sophos.autoupdate.plist

com.sophos.intercheck.plist

com.sophos.managementagent.plist

com.sophos.messagerouter.plist

com.sophos.notification.plist

com.teamviewer.teamviewer_service.plist

org.openafs.filesystems.afs.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Flash Player.prefPane

JavaControlPanel.prefPane

OpenAFS.prefPane

TeXDistPrefPane.prefPane

/Library/PrivateFrameworks:

LLDB.framework

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.oracle.java.JavaUpdateHelper

/Library/QuickLook:

iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax

SIMBL.osax

/Library/Spotlight:

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

SpotlightCdmzCrawler.mdimporter

iBooksAuthor.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

VirtualBox

tap

tun

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.monitor.plist

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

SkypeABDialer.bundle

SkypeABSMS.bundle

Library/Fonts:

COBO____.ttf

COB_____.ttf

CON_____.ttf

COO_____.ttf

DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf

DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf

DejaVuSans-ExtraLight.ttf

DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf

DejaVuSans.ttf

DejaVuSansCondensed-Bold.ttf

DejaVuSansCondensed-BoldOblique.ttf

DejaVuSansCondensed-Oblique.ttf

DejaVuSansCondensed.ttf

DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf

DejaVuSansMono-BoldOblique.ttf

DejaVuSansMono-Oblique.ttf

DejaVuSansMono.ttf

DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf

DejaVuSerif-BoldItalic.ttf

DejaVuSerif-Italic.ttf

DejaVuSerif.ttf

DejaVuSerifCondensed-Bold.ttf

DejaVuSerifCondensed-BoldItalic.ttf

DejaVuSerifCondensed-Italic.ttf

DejaVuSerifCondensed.ttf

ESSTIX10.TTF

ESSTIX11.TTF

ESSTIX12.TTF

ESSTIX13.TTF

ESSTIX14.TTF

ESSTIX15.TTF

ESSTIX16.TTF

ESSTIX17.TTF

ESSTIX1_.TTF

ESSTIX2_.TTF

ESSTIX3_.TTF

ESSTIX4_.TTF

ESSTIX5_.TTF

ESSTIX6_.TTF

ESSTIX7_.TTF

ESSTIX8_.TTF

ESSTIX9_.TTF

HEBO____.ttf

HEB_____.ttf

HEN_____.ttf

HEO_____.ttf

MP______.ttf

MaplePi.ttf

SYP_____.ttf

THBI____.ttf

THB_____.ttf

THI_____.ttf

THR_____.ttf

Library/Frameworks:

EWSMac.framework

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.ARM.202f4087f2bbde52e3ac2df389f53a4f123223c9cc56a8fd83a6f7ae.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.ABExchangeSource.7EC589C4-DDC8-454A-BDAA-E9D 53CBE47EF.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.ScheduledSync.PHXCardDAVSource.1407E4A8-03CB-4094-A9BA-D76 F6B22EBDE.plist

com.spotify.webhelper.plist

it.infn.lnf.network.AFSBackgrounder.plist

org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

Step 5:

iTunesHelper, Dropbox, CrossOver CD Helper

Thank you.

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Answer 5

turbostar

Level 4

2,941 points

Mar 19, 2014 1:25 AM in response to JakobGK

While waiting for a reply, can you run both PRAM and SMC resets

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Answer 6

JakobGK Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 19, 2014 2:12 AM in response to turbostar

Yes I can.

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Answer 7

JakobGK Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 26, 2014 1:47 AM in response to JakobGK

I formatted the hard drive, reinstalled OS X 10.8.5 and it works fine now :-) Will be more careful with installing 3rd party software from now on...

Thank you for your time & help!

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Answer 8

JakobGK Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 2, 2014 2:41 AM in response to JakobGK

Last note on the problem: This mayhem appears to be caused by my Sophos antivirus program. Sophos is now uninstalled and everything is OK.

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