macOS Sierra FileVault enabled freezing at login

I have exactly the same problem. I did not have it at first, but it started appearing about two or so months ago. If I don't disable Filevault, it can take about a half hour to login, whereby I have to carefully enter each character of my password (at login) one a time, waiting minutes to see if it registered or not. It almost seems like the computer is only able to sense the entry of the character at certain moments within a minute or two.

I should mention that the issue persists if you have a firmware password enabled (along with Filevault), if you try to go to Disk Utility, or reset the p-ram, when you try to enter the firmware password, you have the same problem with entering the symbols of the password.

I brought it to the Genius Bar, though with Filevault and Firmware PW disabled and they were not able to find a problem, nor had ever heard of it. I guess I will need to bring it back to the Genius Bar with Fillevault on and Firmware PW on.

What a drag...

Hi,

Same issue on my Macbook Pro Retina 13" early 2015 on MacOS 10.2.3 and 10.2.2....

Any news?

If I disable Filevault the startup is still slower than before (30 seconds to 2 minutes between the sound of startup and the apparition of the apple...), but no freezing on login screen.

I've done a clean install and the problem is still here.

I'll try to downgrade to MacOS 10.12.1 because there was no problem with this version.

But I suspect a material issue...

I've had this problem since December 2016 on my 3 month old Macbook Pro 13inch Early 2015.

Guys, this issue is nothing to do with FileVault. FileVault just expose this problem to you. This is a faulty hardware issue.

I have two macbook pro. exactly same setup. One is showing this issue. another is perfectly fine.

Problem is "EVERYTHING" before OS load up is slow. you can try it. Hold Alt to go to boot device selector, you will see it is slow. Hold D when Macbook is turning on, you will see Diagnosis page is also slow. FileVault login page is a pre-boot screen. It ask you for password before it can unlock your hard disk. once password is entered, Real boot process start and OS load up.

I am not sure why it is fast inside of OS, but before OS loads up, it is painfully slow with keyboard and mouse lagging.

I had sent my Macbook to repair on 26 December, got it back on 3rd Jan. They did a SMC reset, NVRAM reset and a full OS clean install and they told me my Macbook Pro is flawless!

Issue went away temporarily but returned back as soon as I used SD Card slot. I am not sure if your issue is also related to SD Card slot usage, but it could indicate some hardware parts inside your Macbook is faulty.

Since now I figure out it is returning back when I use a SD Card, I returned it back to repair again this Monday and told them to try putting an SD Card. Now they find out there is a hardware error and they are fixing the parts. I shall receive my Macbook back next week and I will update here on what they did change and If issue went away.

P.S. This issue might look like FileVault issue because it is part of a pre-boot screen. since all pre-boot screens are slow, you will see it first thing. I suspect there are lot of users with this issue, but they are unaware of it because they don't use FileVault. However boot is going to be slow still, apple logo will take 30 to 60 seconds to show up.

Contacting Apple Care at this moment, and reporting about this problem by telling them filevault login screen is slow, won't guarantee you a fix because they are clueless about issue. You need to figure out exact source of problem on your Macbook first, and then tell the issue to technician.

I will say that I didn't have much of an issue with this, if I turned off Filevault. That said, I do agree that it was hardware related and found a number of forum posts that pointed towards a bad I/0 board. The Apple techs were unable to determine that through any of their testing and instead started to change out other parts, in the hopes of solving it. A new logic board. A new top cover (including keyboard). A new battery. They were going to do the top cover again and replace the SSD drive, when finally an Apple Genius manager said to stop throwing parts at it and give me a new laptop.

Interesting:

When I do PRAM on startup ( [cmd]+[alt]+[P]+[R] ) then sometimes I don't have login problems (until the next reboot) BUT then it looks like PRAM skips the Encryption process.

So, if someone steals my Encrypted macbook and do PRAM then the Encrypted is useless and he could read my data.

I wonder if this is so on any macbook or only on the macbooks with FileVault problem.

This have nothing to do with FileVault.

This is a hardware error that make affected Macbooks to behave laggy on bootscreen.

FileVault login is a common boot screen therefor, this lag is visible on it. (FileVault is bootscreen. after correct password for hard disk entered, macbook will start booting from hard disk)

If hold alt or hold D or engage into any other pre-boot screens, same lag is visible.

Usually it goes away after PRAM and SMC restart and come back after OS has been loaded once.

I had this issue for months myself, and now it is fixed after Apple Service Center changed I/O board on my 5 months old Macbook Pro 2015 13inch.

I can confirm the recent update to MacOS Sierra 10.12.4 fixed my issue. Prior to the update, I could only use an external keyboard to login to my machine. The keyboard or mouse would freeze when typing or moving mouse. My machine is a MacBook Pro (Retina) 2015 purchased last fall. After the update, I'm able to enable filevault and the system no longer freezes during startup.

Hi,

I would prefer you to turn off FileVault. Yeah sure you might think its a really important to improve your security but unless you have some very very important documents or very important CSI information of your mac this FileVault feature would be necessary. If you still think you want it ON then you don't have to worry since apple is working on fixing this issue with a software update. MacBook pro (early 2015), (2013) and mac mini are affected with this issue. The update will be coming soon to get this issue fixed.

I have the same problem and they also:

Cannot login when Filevault is enabled

Im sure its a hardware problem so no chance we can fix it ourselves.

Only apple can fix it.

Hi piotrbakker.

Did you do a clean install of Sierra, or an update? I was having this same problem after doing just the update. I did a clean install and still had the same problem. BTW, I never had this with El Capitan.

Anyway, I read a suggestion to start in safe mode (reboot or turn on and hold shift key until you the an apple). This is supposed to complete configuration of items that may not have initially completed. When you're in safe mode, simply reboot or power down/up and it will boot into normal mode. So far, so good.

Hope this helps.

Well, it worked initially, but not anymore. I continue to have issues similar to yours.

Well, in my case, the issue was File Vault. I disabled it and everything is working as normal. I re-enabled it and the problem returned immediately. I then disabled it again and all is normal again. Strange! 😕

The issue for me was FileVault as well. Turning it off made the problem go away. I have tried many iterations and clean installs, bottom line if Filevault is on it happens. So for now turning it off seems to be the only option until it is resolved by Apple.