Sierra Bootup Font/Display Problem

Question

Level 1

9 points

Sierra Bootup Font/Display Problem

We have a Macbook Air (Mid 2012) in the house that was upgraded to Sierra yesterday. Last night after the upgrade it began having a problem displaying font information on bootup. It does this every time and after login, which does work, everything looks fine. There have been some other errors that have randomly popped up, but we haven't got them written down or copied (we will from now on 'til this gets figured out!) but they seemed, at the time, to be minor (they involved being unable to read something (that's the best I can do as I'm not the one who saw them).

Honestly I don't know where to start. I know this seems like the system font file should have a problem or something, but then there should be problems elsewhere, it seems to me, and there aren't. I'm hoping it's an OS problem and not a SSD problem.

MacBook Air, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 5, 2016 4:58 AM

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Answer 1

trevoz

Level 4

1,990 points

Oct 5, 2016 5:55 PM in response to lapsan

Try rebooting in safe mode (hold down shift while booting). Does the problem still exist?

Reply

Answer 2

lapsan Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 5, 2016 7:58 PM in response to trevoz

No. This solved the problem while booting up. But, of course, when we log back in again, not in safe mode, it's back.

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Answer 3

trevoz

Level 4

1,990 points

Oct 6, 2016 2:26 AM in response to lapsan

This tells you it is probably something which you have installed on the Mac which runs at normal startup and which is not compatible with Sierra. You're not running any third party font manager are you?

Check the items run when you login - see Preferences > Users and Groups > [you] > Login Items. Remove them one by one until it works. Also uninstall any third party font managers.

If that fails, wander on over to https://etrecheck.com/ and download etrecheck, run it and paste the results here.

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Answer 4

lapsan Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 6, 2016 5:44 AM in response to trevoz

Thanks so much for helping trevoz!

So this morning we ran through removing the few things we had set up at startup, none of them font related. Didn't make any difference.

Here is the info from etrecheck:

EtreCheck version: 3.0.6 (315)

Report generated 2016-10-06 07:35:01

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 2:42

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: Other problem

Description:

Broken fonts on startup

Hardware Information: ⓘ

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

MacBook Air - model: MacBookAir5,2

1 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM Not upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en0: 802.11 a/b/g/n

Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 219

Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 4000

Color LCD 1440 x 900

System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12 (16A323) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE SSD SM256E disk0 : (251 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB

Macintosh HD (disk1) / [Startup]: 249.77 GB (29.47 GB free)

Core Storage: disk0s2 250.14 GB Online

USB Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

Apple Card Reader

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Logitech USB Receiver

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/Viscosity.app

[not loaded] com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity.tap (1.2 - 2016-09-22) [Support]

[not loaded] com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity.tun (1.2 - 2016-09-22) [Support]

/Applications/zoom.us.app

[not loaded] zoom.us.ZoomAudioDevice (1.1 - SDK 10.8 - 2015-03-14) [Support]

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.movavi.driver.SoundGrabber (1.6.5 - SDK 10.6 - 2016-10-04) [Support]

/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.wacom.kext.pentablet (Pen Tablet 5.3.0-3 - SDK 10.8 - 2016-10-04) [Support]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 6 Apple tasks

[loaded] 175 Apple tasks

[running] 90 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[failed] com.apple.locationd.plist (2016-08-29)

[not loaded] 39 Apple tasks

[loaded] 165 Apple tasks

[running] 98 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (2016-08-30) [Support]

[failed] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (2015-05-15) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (2016-08-11) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist (2015-06-01) [Support]

[running] com.wacom.pentablet.plist (2012-10-29) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.DesignScience.DSMTTool.plist (2015-07-07) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2015-05-15) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2015-05-15) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.adobeupdatedaemon.plist (2016-08-30) [Support]

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (2016-08-13) [Support]

[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-15) [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist (2013-04-07) [Support]

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Agent.plist (2016-01-04) [Support]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2012-04-02) [Support]

[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist (2015-06-01) [Support]

[loaded] com.sparklabs.ViscosityHelper.plist (2016-09-16) [Support]

[loaded] jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (2016-01-29) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2013-07-15) [Support]

[running] com.amazon.music.plist (2014-11-20) [Support]

[loaded] com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist (2014-08-08)

[loaded] com.macpaw.CleanMyMac3.Scheduler.plist (2016-10-06)

[running] com.nero.HSMMonitor.plist (2016-10-06) [Support]

[running] com.spotify.webhelper.plist (2016-09-20) [Support]

[loaded] com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist (2016-08-25) [Support]

[not loaded] jp.co.canon.Inkjet_Extended_Survey_Agent.plist (2012-12-03) [Support]

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

JavaAppletPlugin: Java 8 Update 101 build 13 (2016-09-01) Check version

o1dbrowserplugin: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-04-08) [Support]

WacomNetscape: 2.1.0-1 - SDK 10.8 (2012-10-29) [Support]

Unity Web Player: UnityPlayer version 5.0.3f2 - SDK 10.6 (2015-07-03) [Support]

WacomTabletPlugin: WacomTabletPlugin 2.1.0.2 (2012-10-29) [Support]

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 - SDK 10.9 (2016-08-30) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-23) [Support]

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.007.20033 - SDK 10.8 (2015-06-01) [Support]

Silverlight: 5.1.30317.0 - SDK 10.6 (2015-04-18) [Support]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-09-13)

Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-23) Outdated! Update

Mathematica: 9.0.1.4055068 (2015-04-18) [Support]

PepperFlashPlayer: Unknown (2015-10-24)

AdobePDFViewer: 15.007.20033 - SDK 10.8 (2015-06-01) [Support]

googletalkbrowserplugin: 5.41.0.0 - SDK 10.8 (2015-03-26) [Support]

SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.8 - SDK 10.6 (2016-09-18) [Support]

DirectorShockwave: 12.0.2r122 - SDK 10.6 (2013-04-03) [Support]

User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

WebEx64: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 (2013-10-29) [Support]

FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-23) [Support]

Flash Player: 9999.3.183.75 - SDK 10.6 (2016-05-09) [Support]

ZoomUsPlugIn: 3.5.9172.0212 - SDK 10.10 (2015-03-12) [Support]

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

Dashlane - Dashlane Inc. - http://www.dashlane.com (2016-02-28)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Flash Player (2016-04-15) [Support]

Java (2016-09-01) [Support]

MusicManager (2015-07-04) [Support]

Bad Fonts: ⓘ

Creaminal.ttf: ~/Library/Fonts/Creaminal.ttf

Time Machine: ⓘ

Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

194% Adobe Desktop Service

5% WindowServer

4% Adobe CEF Helper(2)

3% kernel_task

3% Google Chrome Helper(15)

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.18 GB Google Chrome Helper(15)

827 MB kernel_task

688 MB mdworker(20)

229 MB Google Chrome

147 MB UserEventAgent(2)

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

141 MB Free RAM

7.86 GB Used RAM (1.09 GB Cached)

125 MB Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

Oct 6, 2016, 07:34:13 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073413_[redacted].crash

/usr/libexec/locationd

Oct 6, 2016, 07:34:10 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073410_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:34:07 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073407_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:34:04 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073404_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:34:01 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073401_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:57 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073357_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:54 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073354_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:51 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073351_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:48 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073348_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:45 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073345_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:42 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073342_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:38 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073338_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:35 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073335_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:32 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073332_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:29 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073329_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:26 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073326_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:22 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073322_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:19 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073319_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:16 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073316_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:33:13 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/locationd_2016-10-06-073313_[redacted].crash

Oct 6, 2016, 07:29:14 AM Self test - passed

Oct 6, 2016, 07:10:43 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/cloudphotosd_2016-10-06-071043_[redacted].cras h

com.apple.cloudphotosd - /System/Library/CoreServices/cloudphotosd.app/Contents/MacOS/cloudphotosd

Oct 6, 2016, 07:10:31 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2016-10-06-071031_[redacted ].crash

/System/Library/Frameworks/QuickLook.framework/Versions/A/Resources/quicklookd. app/Contents/XPCServices/QuickLookSatellite.xpc/Contents/MacOS/QuickLookSatellit e

Oct 5, 2016, 10:00:48 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2016-10-05-220048_[redacted ].crash

Oct 5, 2016, 02:20:38 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2016-10-05-142038_[redacted ].crash

Oct 5, 2016, 06:38:11 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Dropbox_2016-10-05-063811_[redacted].cpu_resour ce.diag [Details]

/Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox

Oct 5, 2016, 06:15:02 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2016-10-05-061502_[redacted ].crash

Oct 4, 2016, 11:00:44 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/QuickLookSatellite_2016-10-04-230044_[redacted ].crash

Oct 4, 2016, 10:43:15 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CalendarAgent_2016-10-04-224315_[redacted].cra sh

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CalendarAgent.framework/Executables/CalendarA gent

Oct 4, 2016, 10:43:15 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/assistant_service_2016-10-04-224315_[redacted] .crash

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AssistantServices.framework/assistant_service

Oct 4, 2016, 10:43:15 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/CalNCService_2016-10-04-224315_[redacted].cras h

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CalendarNotification.framework/Versions/A/XPC Services/CalNCService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/CalNCService

Oct 4, 2016, 10:43:13 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/callservicesd_2016-10-04-224313_[redacted].cra sh

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/TelephonyUtilities.framework/callservicesd

Oct 4, 2016, 10:42:12 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AppleSpell_2016-10-04-224212_[redacted].crash

com.apple.AppleSpell - /System/Library/Services/AppleSpell.service/Contents/MacOS/AppleSpell

Oct 4, 2016, 10:17:38 PM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Contacts_2016-10-04-221738_[redacted].crash

com.apple.AddressBook - /Applications/Contacts.app/Contents/MacOS/Contacts

Oct 4, 2016, 10:10:22 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/helpd_2016-10-04-221022_[redacted].cpu_resource .diag [Details]

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/HelpData.framework/Versions/A/Resources/helpd

Oct 4, 2016, 05:57:58 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Mail_2016-10-04-175758_[redacted].cpu_resource. diag [Details]

/Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail

Oct 4, 2016, 05:40:15 PM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Google Chrome_2016-10-04-174015_[redacted].hang

/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome

Oct 4, 2016, 08:01:01 AM ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/MacFamilyTree 7 Demo_2016-10-04-080101_[redacted].crash

/Applications/MacFamilyTree 7 Demo.app/Contents/MacOS/MacFamilyTree 7 Demo

Oct 4, 2016, 07:49:15 AM /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/PenTabletDriver_2016-10-04-074915_[redacted].cr ash

com.wacom.Pen_TabletDriver - /Library/Application Support/Tablet/PenTabletDriver.app/Contents/MacOS/PenTabletDriver

------

Reply

Answer 5

trevoz

Level 4

1,990 points

Oct 6, 2016 3:01 PM in response to lapsan

Most likely candidate to be causing a problem would seem to be this one:

Bad Fonts: ⓘ

Creaminal.ttf: ~/Library/Fonts/Creaminal.ttf

The other noticeable anomaly is this runaway process:

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

194% Adobe Desktop Service

Both of the above are font related. I would delete the bad font and then uninstall all the Adobe apps and check if the problem is resolved. If so, then reinstall the Adobe apps one by one to see which one is causing the font issue - make sure you have the latest versions and check the Adobe site for compatibility with Sierra. There is some suggestion that Adobe Creative Cloud 2015 does not work with Sierra (https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2206304).

I'd also check http://www.wacom.com/en-us/support/product-support/drivers for the latest Sierra supported drivers for your Wacom tablet as some of yours seem ancient (e.g. com.wacom.pentablet.plist 2012-10-29)

Finally, I'd uninstall or remove both of these apps: CleanMyMac2 and CleanMyMac3. They have been known to cause more trouble than they are worth messing as they do with the OS files. I've not seen a good word about them on these forums ever!

Let us know how you go.

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 7, 2016 3:13 AM in response to lapsan

I shutdown my MacBook Pro last night and when I have booted it up this morning I had the same issue. As I had to get too work, I haven't looked into to it too much.

However as some additional info that may help you, I have had macos Sierra running on the MacBook Pro since it was released & on an iMac with no issues.

I do have Adobe Creative Suite installed.

I do not have CleanMyMac or a WACOM Tablet installed.

Reply

Answer 7

lapsan Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2016 7:28 AM in response to trevoz

Ran through everything on here (except the Clean My Mac stuff, never had a problem with it). Didn't make a lick of difference. Still happening. Also having other problems now. The dictionary only has Wikipedia in it. Contacts doesn't let us edit or remove anything.

I'm wondering if reinstalling is the way to go. Wiping and reinstalling from scratch.

Reply

Answer 8

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,972 points

Oct 9, 2016 8:18 AM in response to lapsan

The bad font is not the problem. That would only be the case if it were conflicting with the font that's supposed to be used on the login screen. It doesn't. It is damaged, though. Delete it.

Absolutely, without hesitation, get rid of CleanMyMac. Never install any software that claims to clean, speed up, or optimize a Mac. They are all scams that do nothing useful. What they are good at (and this applies to all such software), is that they are known to errantly remove system files.

After removing CleanMyMac, do the following.

Close all running applications. From an administrator account, open the Terminal app and enter the following command. You can also copy/paste it from here into the Terminal window:

sudo atsutil databases -remove

Terminal will then ask for your admin password. As you type, it will not show anything, so be sure to enter it correctly.

This command removes all font cache files. Both for the system and the current logged in user account. After running the command, close Terminal and immediately restart your Mac.

If clearing the font cache data from the system doesn't help, then you may have to reinstall Sierra to undo any possible damage caused by CleanMyMac. Which I would do anyway.

Reply

Answer 9

Oct 9, 2016 8:54 AM in response to lapsan

Hi, here is an update on my situation. On my MacBook Pro I couldn't find the cause a re-install of macOS over the top did not resolve the issue, so ended up formatting the drive and doing a fresh re-install, first time in 5 years so good to have a complete clean out 😉

I also nearly had a similar issue on my iMac, the shutdown dialog box had the same font issue. Now a common cause in the run up to both these incidents was trying to use VMWare Fusion Version 7.13 and it crashed on both occasions. So on the iMac before I shut it down I completely removed VMWare Fusion and then rebooted. The issue appears to have gone away. I have now upgraded VMWare Fusion to the latest on the iMac and have rebooted several times with no issues.

Reply

Answer 10

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,972 points

Oct 9, 2016 9:42 AM in response to Plainsrider

Many people have no issues installing a major upgrade over the previous version, but I have always been of the camp to never do that. I create a new partition and set up everything from scratch with each release. I literally never see 99.99% of the issues people report here with each new major release. If there is something, you know it's related in some way to the new OS, or a problem between it and your third party software since it cannot be blamed on an upgrade over an existing OS.

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