Macbook pro won't boot up, stuck at loading screen

When booted regularily, the progress bar stops just about after the apple logo.

At this point the following have been accomplished successfully:

1. Power-On Self Test (POST), i.e, the MacBook Pro passed it hardware and RAM checks.
2. The BootX booter file is located and run. Its primary job is to load the kernel environment. If this is successful, then the Apple logo will appear on the screen.
3. Next kernel extensions are being loaded and you see the start of the progress bar. These are mainly device drivers that are located in the /System/Library/Extensions folder.
4. Then comes the startup daemons. These are used to start services that must run at startup in order to have these services automatically available to the user.

I would guess that the issue is either at step 3 or step 4 above ... most likely step 3. Why? Because the Safe Mode boot would have disabled most, if not all, of the extensions or daemons from starting up.

See if any of the following articles can help:

• Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support
• About macOS Recovery - Apple Support
• How to start up your Mac in single-user or verbose mode - Apple Support
• Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck - Apple Support

An alternative not yet mentioned would entail getting ahold of another Mac of similar MacOS version and an empty drive. Boot the sick Mac in Target Disk Mode, plug it to the other Mac using an appropriate cable and then:

• Manually copy everything over to a spare drive (good) or
• Clone the sick Mac's drive onto a spare drive (better).

Once you are convinced all your stuff is safe elsewhere, wipe the bad drive clean and reinstall from scratch. If you cloned its contents, when the system starts anew for the first time and it offers to migrate stuff, you can use the clone to import everything and get as close an end result as what the original was, presumably without the problems. We're assuming this all happened due to software issues, but if there's an underlying hardware problem, that will have to be taken care of before joy is reattained.

I tested this out on 10.4. I assume it still works.

You can use the ditto command to copy over a whole folder.

You could try getting into the Unix command line interface and copy some files or directories. You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed the flash drive the USB port before powering on your machine.

0) you best have the flash drive formatted for the Mac before using. See disk utility. It's on the pull down.
1) You can copy files on the Unix command line interface if you placed the flash drive in a USB port before powering on your machine.
2) Boot up in single user mode

You should verify that the files have been copied correctly by trying them in another Mac before it the deleting the original.

Here is an overview of the commands. Lets assume that the problem account has a short user name of mac.

This isn't the best example. I'd copying my applescript app which I've placed in my applications folder.

To find your home folder. look for

/Users/<your user short name>

mine is mac so I do:

cd /Users/mac

#Copy directory "/Applications/Applescript files" to
# directory "/Volumes/Spotless/Applescript files".
# "Spotless" is my flash drive.

# notice you need to escape a blank with \ blank.
ditto -X -rsrc /Applications/Applescript\ files /Volumes/Spotless/Applescript\ files
#cd is change directory
cd /Volumes/COPYIT/answers/
# pwd is print working directory
pwd
#the ls command is for list
# l is long
# a to show hidden files. not shown in this example.
# F is type of file where / is directory
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -lF
Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
# The sudo command will ask for your administration password. No characters will appear when typing your password. Press return when done typing.
cp is copy
copy a file example:
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# cp -i answers.txt /Volumes/SpotMore
Will copy the file answers.txt in the directory SpotMore.

1. Some files have a space in the name. You need to escape. see example:
   mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
   -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
   mac $
   mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/
   
2. Do you know about tabing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.
3. The up arrow key will retrive the previous command. You the left arror and right arror keys to move around. Use the delete key to delete a character to the left.
   

*More examples and moving around*

sh-2.05b# pwd
/
sh-2.05b# ls /Volumes
.Trashes Classic Macintosh-HD
._.Trashes Mac OS X Install DVD SpotMore
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/disk4s3 2.6G 2.5G 89M 97% /
devfs 121K 121K 0B 100% /dev
fdesc 1.0K 1.0K 0B 100% /dev
<volfs> 512K 512K 0B 100% /.vol
/dev/disk5 467K 9.0K 435K 2% /Volumes
/dev/disk6 95K 64K 27K 70% /private/var/tmp
/dev/disk7 95K 14K 77K 15% /private/var/run
/dev/disk3s1 3.7G 1.3G 2.5G 34% /Volumes/SpotMore
/dev/disk0s10 1.1G 1.1G 3.4M 100% /Volumes/Classic
/dev/disk0s12 70G 45G 25G 65% /Volumes/Macintosh-HD
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/SpotMore/
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/SpotMore
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -l
total 880
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 6148 Sep 10 2010 .DS_Store
drw------- 4 unknown unknown 136 Aug 25 2010 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wt 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 10 2010 .Trashes
drwx------ 3 unknown unknown 102 Sep 3 2010 Desktop
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 18944 Aug 27 2010 Desktop DB
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2 Jul 29 2010 Desktop DF
-rwxrwxrwx 1 unknown unknown 26281 Oct 27 2009 Warranty Information.PDF
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backup
drwxr-xr-x 13 unknown unknown 442 Aug 4 2010 backupPrior
drwxr-xr-x 7 unknown unknown 238 Aug 27 2010 cons
drwxr-xr-x 65 unknown unknown 2210 Sep 4 2010 iMac-back
... clipped ...
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# cd /Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
Consolidate-rc primary-comments-new.doc
Downloads psc 1200
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b# ditto -X -rsrc iMac /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back
sh-2.05b#
sh-2.05b# # Please note ls is the list command. l is a lower case L
sh-2.05b# ls -h /Volumes/SpotMore/iMac-back/
total 2800
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 24K Sep 12 2010 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 unknown unknown 2K Apr 18 2010 Differentiate Between Models .html
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b# pwd
/Volumes/Macintosh-HD/Users/mac/desktop
sh-2.05b# ls
Z2300 iMac
.DS_Store move
.FBCIndex new Belward
.FBCLockFolder primary-comments-new copy.doc
... clipped ...

sh-2.05b#

-------------- more of an explanation -----------------

Unix Navigation Commands

I can see why you posted here. In general, it's best to start a new discussion.

See this link:
backing up from the command line via single user mode.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8101803?answerId=32357328022#32357328022

Or, you need to pull the drive out and place in external drive enclosure to recover the data.

R

PS. Seems this info was earlier in the thread. Formatting wasn't that great.

In general, it's best to start a new discussion.See this link:

backing up from the command line via single user mode.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8101803?answerId=32357328022#32357328022

Please provide more details of what you were doing before the problem in your new discussion.

R

You should try to reinstall via internet update.

option + command + r should work. power off. hold down option + command + r key. power on. wait to see icon.

btw: adding a new question to an existing discussion is call thread hijacking and it's a "bad" thing. Should you have further questions please create a new discussion.

How to create a new Discussion

R

Did you install anything just before this issue started?

Apple hardware test is OK, it starts in the Recovery Partition, It does not start in the SafeMode.

So it looks anything software that blocks complete startup. It never comes to the Account Login.

Can you start in SingleMode (only Terminal commands no OS GUI):

startup while holding CMD+S keys: this will start in Single user mode: it takes a long time and puts a lot of texts on a black screen while starting up, the full startup ends with the cursor symbol ($). If this works normally the EFI is OK.

Now try a command to see if that works, for example type

fsck -y

after the cursor and hit Enter.

That takes awhile (it checks and repairs the file system).

If this all works you could use this mode to make a copy of everything on your mac to an external disk.

That is enough, it starts in the Single User mode so it is very probably a software issue.

You can however use the Terminal commands, if you do not feel safe I will ask some more help, I have no routine here.

I have just now placed a message for help.

A friend macjack gave me the following article link where is exactly explained how to make backups from the Single User Mode:

https://thinkinginsoftware.blogspot.ch/2014/03/mac-osx-not-booting-make-backup-f rom.html

this explains it very well, if you ever used Terminal (in Apple Utilities folder) you will get it.

Lex

Had this problem and found a solution that will help avoid a trip to the genius bar.

All you need to do is do an Upgrade Restart aka your computer will restart and download the latest update compatible with your macOS. You can do so by pressing power and option-command-R simultaneously.

Then when you get to the macOS Utilities window, you click reinstall macOS. This does not delete any of your data. Follow the instructions until the very end. You should be asked to click your disk. Once that’s done, everything will load up and you’ll be good as new.

I had an issue with my Macbook pro late 2011. Sometimes it was stuck on boot page for hours and it wouldn't come up. But after several restart i could finally got it working! it was killing me! sometimes everything was ok but sometimes very slow boot!

I did everything from clearing the memory to deleting some boot files! nothing worked!

Then i decided to delete all my files and install a fresh version of High Sierra! before I had Yousemit!

after installing the OS! again the problem showed! this time even worse! my cpu usage was very high some times and the laptop was heating! i was going crazy!! I knew it had to do something with hardwares! The first guess was hard drive! the second guess was RAM! I changed them.... still the problem was there!!!

Finally I found the problem!!! very simple: " The BATTERY " !!!

it appears that my battery was not functioning normal and whenever I had my Laptop pluged in to power, my cpu usage was going high, so everything else was not functioning normal!!

I removed my battery and now working only with power cable! My laptop is working just fine! now looking for new battery! Problem SOLVED! hope it helps you