Macbook Pro OS 10.8.5 multiuser login loop.

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Level 1

9 points

Macbook Pro OS 10.8.5 multiuser login loop.

My Macbook Pro mid-2010 running Mountain Lion 10.8.5 suddenly would not allow any user to login. The system boots successfully to the login the login screen. I have 2 users on the window a User with Admin rights and a regular user. When I enter the password for either user the it appears to be working with the spinning colored ball and then the grey gear like thing. Then it goes to a white/greyish screen and then returns to the login screen again. I researched and found lots of info for with a similar problem (the problem only affected one user on the Mac) but nothing for 10.8.5. I have booted into Safe Mode but the problem remained the same. I ran disk utility from recovery drive with no problems. Booted into single user and ran fsck -fy until it said ok. Removed the caches in /Library and /System/Library but nothing has worked. Any othe suggestions?

Posted on Aug 6, 2016 5:51 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Aug 7, 2016 7:59 AM in response to BJ Zorn

Restart the computer holding down the command - option/alt - P - R keys before the gray screen appears. Continue to hold until you hear the startup chime for the second time.

Reset NVRAM/PRAM

Try a SMC reset. The article covers when this is required, but doing this will not affect anything.

Reset SMC

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Answer 2

BJ Zorn Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 7, 2016 12:21 PM in response to Eric Root

II had already reset the NVRAM but not the SMC. I'll try that a see what happens

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Answer 3

BJ Zorn Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 7, 2016 12:59 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks, Eric but this did not help. I reset the SMC and reset the NVRAM again. And just for good measure did both of them again. I still get returned to the login screen for both of my users. Any other ideas? I trying to think about this logically with the login screen coming up, it seems the system launchd loaded but what comes next. I'm not sure what else to look at.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Aug 8, 2016 8:36 AM in response to BJ Zorn

Do you have FileVault enabled? If so, you have to sign in twice, but then it should sign in.

Do a backup, preferable 2 separate ones on 2 drives. Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair Disk and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.

OS X Recovery

OS X Recovery (2)

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Answer 5

BJ Zorn Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2016 6:28 AM in response to Eric Root

Reinstalling the OS was the route I had to take. I had actually done that the night before your response. I was sure there was nothing with my hard drive. I had run disk utility and fsck -fy to start out with. Thanks for your assistance. I personally hate having to reinstall and lose the oportunity to understand what actually went wrong, but glad to hav my MacBook Pro up and running again.

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Answer 6

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Aug 9, 2016 8:12 AM in response to BJ Zorn

You are welcome.

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