Keychain 'login' Cannot be Found

Question

Level 1

8 points

Keychain 'login' Cannot be Found

Hi folks, I have an unusual one.

Background: Mid2012 MacBook Pro, running 10.13.2. Last august I purchased a Samsung SSD drive, installed it and until last week it was working well.

The story: Two weeks ago, I restarted to complete some updates and when it restarted afterwards came up with the error message 'Keychain 'login' Cannot be Found. A couple of restarts later and it was booting to a blank screen.

So I restored the SSD from Time Machine back-up. I was able to log-in, but the same issue (Keychain 'login' cannot be found) reoccured, and the performance was heavily degraded - Safari would hang every 30 seconds. It was basically unusable. So I sent SSD back to Samsung, who have checked it over and it's passing their tests.

In the mean time, I restored the original factory SATA hard drive from the Time Machine back-up and physically re-installed that in the computer. It was working without any problems.

When the SSD was returned by Samsung, I physically reinstalled it in the MacBook Pro and restored it from back-up. The same issues re-emerged. So I tried to reset Keychain 'login' to default - but this fails. Following online instructions I opened Keychain Access, and tried to reset Keychain 'login', but would receive an error message "A module directory service error has occurred"

However, then I removed the SSD from the MBP and ran it from an external hard drive casing - and it works without any problems.

In summary, I have a 2012 MacBook Pro, with an SSD that is barely usable when the SSD is physically installed in the computer, generating a Keychain error message. When removed from the computer and run from an external casing, it works fine.

Help!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Jan 26, 2018 11:53 AM

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Answer 1

Stuart423

Level 6

9,258 points

Jan 26, 2018 12:02 PM in response to YouAreAGoat

You have narrowed down the problem perfectly, but have missed the obvious conclusion. When the drive is connected one way, it works, when it's connected another way, it doesn't work.

The common thread? The connection. This is a voltage issue.

Sounds like the cable you're using for the SSD is either damaged or the wrong cable. A genuine Apple cable carries the exact voltage needed for the specific drive. It may be the direct connection is the problem.

Swap out cables with a known working one, and you should be good to go.

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Answer 2

YouAreAGoat Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 26, 2018 12:06 PM in response to Stuart423

Thanks for your answer.

However, I'm using the internal hard drive cable (I don't know if it has a specific name) that came with the MacBook Pro. The SSD worked with it for 5 months, and I did initially assume it was the cable. But my old SATA drive has worked with it for the last week or so, without any problem.

Is there a reason that the cable would suddenly reject the SSD?

Many thanks.

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Answer 3

Stuart423

Level 6

9,258 points

Jan 26, 2018 12:11 PM in response to YouAreAGoat

I'd go with pinched, crimped, damaged, power surged, dirty, bent connectors....

I'd bet the local Apple store would let you borrow a known good cable for a minute to see if that's the issue. They can probably test your cable, also.

That's so likely that it would make most sense to pursue that route before heading off to other solutions.

Hope that's all it is. Fingers crossed for ya.

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