Q: Mac mini won't boot to desktop. Hangs
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May 30, 2016 12:53 AMby lllaass,What model Mac?
I suspect a hardware problem.
- Try resetting the SMC and NVRAM/PRAM
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
About NVRAM and PRAM
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
Can you run Apple hardware test?
Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support
If you have another Mac and appropriate cables and adopters can you boot the problem Mac in Target Disk mode and access it via another computer?
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May 30, 2016 11:59 PMby nick the hun,Thanks for the reply lllaass.
I've reset the SMC and NVRAM.
I did the simple and extended hardware tests - no issues found.
I managed to get it to boot into single user mode. I had it running in that mode for around 24 hours with no issues. I ran:
diskutil verifyvolume /
but I think it said "volume is read only" or such. I could reboot into single user mode and try it again or other commands.
I started it in verbose mode with:
cmd + V
and watched the output. The only errors I saw were:
jni: unknown-dev: replay_journal: from 27970048 to: 297456664 (joffset 0xe38a000)
jni: unknown-dev: journal replay done
and:
BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist: 2 No such file or directory
After the output finished it jumped straight to the grey screen again.
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May 31, 2016 2:48 PMby nick the hun,I just googled:
BootCacheControl: Unable to open /var/db/BootCache.playlist
Looks like it is an issue which is known to cause a grey screen like I'm getting. I'll do some more research and try to fix it then post back here with the results.
Thanks all for looking.
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Jun 1, 2016 9:29 AMby nick the hun,I found some instructions to fix here:
http://www.hackintosh.computer/?p=67
My system (10.7.5) doesn't have the file:
/etc/launchd.conf
Not sure why this would be. I moved the folder:
/System/Library/Caches
as per the instructions but it didn't work.
This thread:
Need Advanced Help: System Bootstrapper has crashed
implies I might have a problem with the disk. The only difference is that I haven't done a reinstall because the recovery mode doesn't work.
Here is where I'm stuck due to a lack of knowledge about Mac hardware and OSX: does the recovery mode require a working disk ? What about internet recovery ? I understand how my OSX install would have problems booting if the disk is faulty but I don't understand why the recovery modes won't work.
