Blank screen after login

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Level 1

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Blank screen after login

I'm on a mid-2009 MBPro with the latest version of Mavericks. Right before this happened I was using Onyx, and my laptop was inadvertently closed, which seemed to screw it up, and I had to force a restart.

Now, every time I boot up, it goes to the normal user login screen, and shows the battery power, airport, and time in the background. But, when I log in, it goes directly to a completely blank grey screen. Nothing else happens: the only thing I can do is to bring up the force quit screen which indicates nothing open (duh). I have rebooted into recovery mode and verified/repaired everything about the drive, to no avail. I have no idea what is going on: but when I boot from my old Snow Leopard clone external drive, the hard drive is there and acessible, I just can't boot into it!

Does anyone have any ideas??? Of course I didn't do my backup for like a week before this...

Thanks!

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 12:02 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2013 12:54 PM in response to celloguy

Restore OS X using OS X Recovery

When you can, delete Onyx from the system. Third party cleaning utilities are not necessary on a Mac. Your Mac runs maintenance in the background for you.

Mac OS X: About background maintenance tasks

Download and install this free utility to remove Onyx and all associated files > Download AppCleaner for Mac

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Answer 2

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Dec 4, 2013 1:06 PM in response to celloguy

Try disabling login items…

Login, but hold shift as you press the login button. This will disable the login items in your user account. If the Mac is better like this you know you need to remove or update login items.

It may also be a User LaunchAgent.

Use EtreCheck to see what is running (if it works) & post it here…

http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

Otherwise try a safe boot (hold shift after the chime until the spinning 'cog' appears). Ensure the login window says 'safe mode'.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455

It will disable all third party extensions & startup items.

If the Mac is better in safe mode it is time to get a system report and look at the third party items. Be aware that some features will be disabled like wifi on some models, graphics drivers will be in a reduced mode - this is normal in safe mode.

Reboot to go back to normal.

If safe mode works you can try disabling items that run on startup (clear out your login items - 'System Preferences > Users & groups, select your account > Login items tab' & reboot).

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