After upgrading to 10.10.5 I get the following error upon boot up:
This error appears before the usual Apple logo and progress bar.
Any ideas what might be causing this?
I can get rid of it by turning the MacBook Pro off and restarting, although it will repeat at times. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
The startup drive is failing, or there is some other internal hardware fault.
Back up all data on the drive immediately if you don't already have a current backup. There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional—ask if you need guidance.
Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.
If privacy is a concern, erase the data partition(s) with the option to write zeros* (do this only if you have at least two complete, independent backups, and you know how to restore to an empty drive from any of them.) Don’t erase the recovery partition, if present.
Keeping your confidential data secure during hardware repair
Apple also recommends that you deauthorize a device in the iTunes Store before having it serviced.
*An SSD doesn't need to be zeroed.
Sounds ominous!
The hard drive was replaced with an SSD about 3 months ago; it would be disappointing if it were failing already. I'll go ahead and see what the Geniuses have to say........
It's likely that the ribbon cable connecting the drive to the logic board was damaged.
Update:
I pulled the SSD and replaced it with the old HD. All is back to normal, with the caveat that I'm now back on OS X 10.10.4, running fine through multiple boot-ups over the course of a full week. This rules out any issues with the HD ribbon cable or MBP hardware in my mind.
I tested the SSD with both Disk Utility and Disk Warrior - neither can find anything wrong with the drive. It has not shown any signs of failure (I've got it in an external case) even after multiple power/disconnect cycles. Granted, it's not simulating a MBP boot-up, but I find it very hard to believe that this SSD is failing.
I would like to point out two circumstances, for what it's worth:
1. This error started only after I upgraded to 10.10.5. Coincidence?
2. My MBP has always been configured for dual boot (OS X, Windows 7) with Boot Camp. Could it be that there's a problem with Boot Camp after the OS update?
Thanks again for the help!
I did some more digging and there seem to be a lot of reasons for getting this error:
I also contacted the SSD vendor and they concurred with the comments in the post referenced here that it could well be a software error, not an SSD failure. I will try some of the suggestions in the post and report back.
Update:
1. I followed the recommendations in the conversation mentioned above - safe boot followed by deleting /var/folders content. The error frequency was reduced initially, but then got progressively worse. Boot-up times were increasing dramatically and finally the error showed at every boot-up.
2. Based on inputs from the Crucial SSD Community, I decided to reinstall OS X 10.10.5, using the recovery disk. I also updated the SSD firmware to the latest version just in case. After installation, I enabled Trim.
3. Now my MBP boots up much faster and is error free!
So in my case, there was no hardware issue - it appears that the upgrade from 10.10.4 to 10.10.5 caused the problem.
Bad news! The error message is back.
Experimenting with boot-ups showed that it happens virtually every time after the MBP is powered up from an off state. Sometimes it will recur after a power off/on cycle, sometimes not. However, it never happens if I boot up while holding down the Alt/Option key and select my Mac OS HD. Booting into the Windows partition is fine.
The common denominator is OS X 10.10.5 (my old HD with 10.10.4 does not generate this error).
Is there a viable explanation for why the error message does not show when booting with the Alt/Option key?
SecurityAgent error upon boot up
