Yosemite only boots in single user mode?!

Question

Level 1

8 points

Yosemite only boots in single user mode?!

Hello everyone,

for a few weeks now I've had issues with unresponsive wakes and whatnot but now it seems my machine has detiorated within a short walk home.

First off my specs:

MBP 13" mid 2012

Core i5 2,5Ghz, Intel HD4000

2x 4gb Ram 1600MHz

Samsung 840 Evo 120Gb SSD

As I said, within 20 minutes of carrying the laptop around the performance deteriorated drastically. When I opened it up back home it was incredibly slow and unresponsive. Opening Applications or even just folders takes about 30-60 seconds. Same applies for using the brightness controls for screen and keyboard, or the volume buttons. After some 15 minutes the System will completely stop to react to startup attempts of applications.

I tried the following troubleshoots while searching the forums as I understand this is a common problem in Yosemite:

- boot in safe mode ( worked once, but with the same problems of unresponsiveness, after a second try booting hangs at the usual 50%)

- reset SMC

- reset NVRAM ( PRAM?)

- try to repair the disk via disk recovery ( cmd + r)( repair failed and Volume vanished from the list - after that only internet recovery was available) ( also of note: today I brought my SSD up to its limit by installing unreal engine 4. I deleted it expecting to see an improvement, which I didn't get. Still, after deinstalling it the Volume showed a 99% utilization in disk recovery)

- starting single user mode and this is interesting. First it shows the following without any input:

Warning: Couldn't block sleep during cache update

Warning: Proceeding without DlskArb

rebuilding .../Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/kernelcache

pci pause: SDXC

IOBluetoothHostControllerUARTTransport.kext has no Info.plist file.

kext file:///System/Library/Extensions/JMlcromATA.kext/ is in hash exception list, allowing to load

Child process / user/sbin/kextcache[6] exited due to signal 11.

Error 107 rebuilding /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.cashes/Startup/kernelcache

then it proceeds to boot into the same unresponsive mess as before.

- In the finder I tried to repair disk permissions and again the volume itself to no avail.

I really have no idea what to do about it at this point. I can recreate this scenario and reliably boot this way but the system is painfully slow and impossible to work with. Sorry to bring up this topic again since there have been so many posts on similar problems but none of the aforementioned solutions worked for me.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 3, 2015 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 3, 2015 12:56 PM in response to Biggzlar

Please do the following:

Install or Reinstall OS X from Scratch

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Erase the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the

left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on

the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on

the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should install the version of OS X that you had installed.

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Answer 2

Biggzlar Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2015 11:01 AM in response to Kappy

Thanks for your answer Kappy,

I reinstalled Yosemite from a formatted USB stick after several attempts of installing it via Web connection failed.

It worked properly and as fast as it should for about an hour. When I closed the lid and opened it again the system returned to being incredibly slow. When I opened the activity monitor I found that there were very few reading actions on the hard drive which might explain the sluggishnes of the system. Booting works fine now, only now after booting in either safe or normal mode the system has went back to being incredibly slow all over. I formatted the SSD on a Windows machine and am currently trying to get Lion to run back on the Macbook.

Any further advice or diagnose?

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Answer 3

Biggzlar Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2015 11:28 AM in response to Biggzlar

So formatting the SSD worked in the Recovery menu, however trying to start the Lion setup I get stucked at " checking all volumes".

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 4, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Biggzlar

You cannot format the SSD using Windows if you plan to install OS X. That alone could explain your problems. i suggest you look at a possible hardware problem like a bad HDD or a mis-formatted HDD.

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Answer 5

Biggzlar Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Kappy

Of course, I formatted it on a Windows machine just to take a look if the SSD itself was working properly. After installing it back in the Macbook I of course reformatted it to Mac extended Journaled before attempting to install Lion. The SSD works perfectly fine in the Windows computer.

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Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 4, 2015 12:54 PM in response to Biggzlar

When in the Windows computer was it set up for NTFS or FAT? In either case the SSD needs to be re-partitioned for GUID then formatted for Mac OS Extended, Journaled. This is not difficult if the original format was FAT, but is usually an issue with NTSF because OS X cannot write to an NTFS drive.

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Answer 7

Biggzlar Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 4, 2015 1:31 PM in response to Kappy

In the Windows computer I formatted it for ntfs. After testing it I formatted it again for ntfs, then installed it in the Macbook. I deleted the volumes and partitions and formatted it for Mac OS Extended, Journaled. I suppose it was FAT formatted originally since I used it as the only drive in my Macbook for almost two months. The SSD is now formatted in Mac OS Extended, Journaled. Is there anything I should change or redo?

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Answer 8

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 4, 2015 1:59 PM in response to Biggzlar

Please check to be sure the partition scheme is set to GUID. Usually, one cannot reformat an NTFS formatted device on a Mac because the Mac cannot write to it. I always suggest you reformat it on the PC to FAT, then repartition and reformat on the Mac.

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Answer 9

Biggzlar Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2015 2:39 AM in response to Kappy

It actually is. I checked back in disk utility. The disk shows something like " Partitiontable schematic: GUID Partitiontable". ( Have to translate it from german, so sorry if the wording is a little off).The format of the Volume is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I also tried ro repair Disk and Volume but didn't get anything of note. All seemed to be working "OK". I also did and extended hardware check (through booting with the "T" button pressed) and didn't encounter any warning messages.

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Answer 10

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 5, 2015 8:36 AM in response to Biggzlar

If the SSD is properly formatted then installing OS X on it should not be a problem.

Install or Reinstall OS X from Scratch

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

After the main utility menu appears do the following. Be sure that prior to actually clicking on the Install button you change the destination drive to your SSD. This is very important.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should install the version of OS X that you had installed. If you want to regularly boot from the SSD, then open Startup Disk preferences and set the SSD as your startup volume.

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