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Level 1

46 points

Macbook Pro Wont Boot After Mobile Broadband Software Instsll

hi forum,

i installed EEs Mobile Broadband on Thursday [uk 4G Mobile Broadband Company] by plugging in the dongle and letting it self install the Web App. What happened next is a bit strange. Firstly it didnt work and didnt allow me to connect to Mobile Broadband but it barred me from seeing my Applications folder.

i restarted and editted the permissions on the folder, so the web app install must have changed the permissions some how. Change permissions back and restarted. Deleted the Web App from EE, restarted and computer wont start.

its sticks and the blue grey boot up screen. spinning wheel appears but that stops and it goes no further. Any ideas?

ive recently boted into recovery and had a look round, never having used this before and tried to fix disc permissions but it said nothing wrong, fixed anyway and it says all is fine there.

any ideas where to go? can i somehow make sure this Web App from EE is uninstalled by using dafe mode? or will i have to reinstall OS10.8? i was right up to date on software. from what i read i can reinstall but does this install over what i have on my laptop or is it a clean install? ive no too overly concerned of my data as its backed up but its time. I kno some of you will write back and say if it takes time, it takes time, but id rather know my options and try the reinstall over ym data first if that could work.

MBP type listed in my data which should show on this post

thoughts?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on Oct 19, 2013 4:58 AM

21 replies

Oct 31, 2013 3:18 PM in response to mumbles2701

Hi, I don't think it's a dodgy dongle. Same thing happened to me. Clicking on the web connection app caused it to change the ownership and permissions on the Applications folder. I have since found that you don't need to click on the "Web Connection" icon - the dongle will connect to EE in the background anyway if you plug it in and leave it.

I was able to fix the permissions on the Applications folder by booting to single-user mode and using the command line.

Restart the MBP while holding down the cmd and 's' keys

It boots to a linux shell logged in as root. First you need to mount the disk - run these commands

fsck –fy

mount –uw /

Now change the ownership and permissions on /Applications as follows

chown -R root /Applications

chgrp -R admin /Applications

chmod -R 755 /Applications

reboot now

That fixed it for me - good luck!

mumbles2701 Author

Level 1

46 points

Nov 1, 2013 2:18 AM in response to vinniemac24

Thanks Vinniemac24

your the first person to have the ame problem and ive asked everywhere.

ive had to reintall everything from a clean install. Now i'm too nervous to try it again.

you think i should plug in tyhe Dongle and not install anything? would that work?

Nov 1, 2013 3:57 AM in response to mumbles2701

What happens for me when I plug in the dongle is that OSX detects a new USB device and opens a finder window with an icon for "Web Connection". I leave it alone (or sometimes I just swear at it quietly under my breath) and after 10 seconds the finder window closes by itself as it unmounts the USB drive. Then a few seconds later I get a new browser tab showing that it has connected to EE.

I'm not sure if you are supposed to do anything before you detach the dongle because there does not appear to be an icon anywhere showing that it is active. It's not very "Apple-like", in that respect. When I'm done I just pull the dongle out and it all appears to work just fine. I'd suggest you give it another go.

Cheers

mumbles2701 Author

Level 1

46 points

Nov 12, 2013 11:47 PM in response to vinniemac24

i thought id best update everyone who has tried to help me on this... I may have foud the problem:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5469543

i fior various reasons had to turn off WiFi, and i realised after reading this post that all my problems started when i turned off Wifi to install the Dongle.

10 minutes in after a freezing session and i managed to get far enough into boot to turn on WiFi... and its not frozen!!!

this is, franky, unbelieveable.... do Apple know about this?

mumbles2701 Author

Level 1

46 points

Nov 13, 2013 12:03 AM in response to mumbles2701

and tyo be clear, this was on the last updat of 10.8 AND the first updates of 10.9...

mumbles2701 Author

Level 1

46 points

Nov 22, 2013 12:17 AM in response to vinniemac24

@vinniemac24

Now i have found the freezing problem is not to do with my Dongle, i now need to solve the problem where installing the web app for ee 4g locks me out of my Applications folder. Can you help?

i plugged in the dongle last night and the 'install web app' appeared. I dont know if i should install this as last time my apps folder become locked. Although i dont know what else to do? Leaving it, it didnt connect. If i double click the Web App icon, will it lock me out of my Applications again?

Thoughts? i really need to use this dongle but i really dont want to get locked out of Applications and the associated problems it caused...

Macbook Pro Wont Boot After Mobile Broadband Software Instsll