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how do i get my imac off the log in screen? Keyboard & mouse won't work

iMac stuck at logon

Posted on Mar 4, 2018 9:39 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2018 10:09 PM

There should be a keyboard shortcut to toggle in & out of VoiceOver

option & that is shown in Accessibility section of System Preferences.


{There may or may not be other Accessibility causes behind present

circumstances; if one action was due to accident, others may have.}


A more complete set of information on VoiceOver (that you may have

gotten to work by accident) is covered in the section which follows:


VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts - Apple Inc.

This appendix lists VoiceOver commands and gestures, organized into categories.

General commands. ... Learning about keys, keyboard shortcuts, and gestures.

User uploaded filehttps://www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/_1131.html


{Command + F5 in some configurations may toggle or access VoiceOver in Sys Preference

and note there may also be a 'check-box' to enable VoiceOver with this preference panel.}


OS X VoiceOver Commands / Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet ...

OS X VoiceOver Commands / Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet. Last updated: January 21, 2014.

This page shows the OS X VoiceOver commands in HTML, which were previously ...

User uploaded filelab.dotjay.com/notes/voiceover-commands/


• While 'safe mode' has several useful purposes, right now I'm not able to detail them.

I've used it on occasion. Sometimes to boot into Safe mode, then restart normally, helps.

Be sure you have actually gotten restarted in Safe mode. You'd need to login admin PW.


Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support


Not sure if you could try a reset of NVRAM to resolve some issues, as

certain settings may be removed or set to default once either an SMC

or NVRAM reset, invoked. {The SMC more involved with troubleshooting

and several steps can be done prior to that reset to see if they help, first.}

• How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

• How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support


Not saying any of these are a solution; mostly the 'Safe mode' on startup can help in

troubleshooting and may itself effect a self-repair or default re-set to original setting.

Deeper issues may involve starting in macOS Recovery to use Disk Utilities; or repair

the system, reinstall, or otherwise use TimeMachine backup to restore functions.


And the VoiceOver info was added because you mentioned having it On, without cause

or direct to any specific purpose. ~ Some accessibility features are more easily toggled

off/on, and kids can easily turn the screen into a white on black chalkboard with 2 keys.


Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

5 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Mar 6, 2018 10:09 PM in response to dolphin522

There should be a keyboard shortcut to toggle in & out of VoiceOver

option & that is shown in Accessibility section of System Preferences.


{There may or may not be other Accessibility causes behind present

circumstances; if one action was due to accident, others may have.}


A more complete set of information on VoiceOver (that you may have

gotten to work by accident) is covered in the section which follows:


VoiceOver keyboard shortcuts - Apple Inc.

This appendix lists VoiceOver commands and gestures, organized into categories.

General commands. ... Learning about keys, keyboard shortcuts, and gestures.

User uploaded filehttps://www.apple.com/voiceover/info/guide/_1131.html


{Command + F5 in some configurations may toggle or access VoiceOver in Sys Preference

and note there may also be a 'check-box' to enable VoiceOver with this preference panel.}


OS X VoiceOver Commands / Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet ...

OS X VoiceOver Commands / Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet. Last updated: January 21, 2014.

This page shows the OS X VoiceOver commands in HTML, which were previously ...

User uploaded filelab.dotjay.com/notes/voiceover-commands/


• While 'safe mode' has several useful purposes, right now I'm not able to detail them.

I've used it on occasion. Sometimes to boot into Safe mode, then restart normally, helps.

Be sure you have actually gotten restarted in Safe mode. You'd need to login admin PW.


Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support


Not sure if you could try a reset of NVRAM to resolve some issues, as

certain settings may be removed or set to default once either an SMC

or NVRAM reset, invoked. {The SMC more involved with troubleshooting

and several steps can be done prior to that reset to see if they help, first.}

• How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

• How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support


Not saying any of these are a solution; mostly the 'Safe mode' on startup can help in

troubleshooting and may itself effect a self-repair or default re-set to original setting.

Deeper issues may involve starting in macOS Recovery to use Disk Utilities; or repair

the system, reinstall, or otherwise use TimeMachine backup to restore functions.


And the VoiceOver info was added because you mentioned having it On, without cause

or direct to any specific purpose. ~ Some accessibility features are more easily toggled

off/on, and kids can easily turn the screen into a white on black chalkboard with 2 keys.


Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

Mar 6, 2018 10:51 PM in response to dolphin522

In my first reply, my mention of 'macOS Recovery' was without a link

due to having no bookmarks in my iPad Mini (iOS9.3.x) so here's one:

• About macOS Recovery - Apple Support


Note there are several means of using macOS Recovery; depending on

which keyboard combos are used on startup in recovery...

• How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support


This also is useful to access the macOS Utilities, to include Disk Utility

(from the recovery partition, on startup; where you have access to do so

because then, the Mac's main system/partition would be unmounted)

and also the ability to install a new copy of present system or newest;

without erasing the content of the Mac HD.


So I'm not replying much with that iPad; while it's easier than using iPhone

in attempt to offer advice. Each has different levels of difficulty. Plus inability

to access several years worth of bookmarked Support topics & test the links.


Hopeful you can forge a path; past the swampy place & over frozen hills, etc.

Good luck & happy trails! 🙂

Mar 5, 2018 12:10 AM in response to dolphin522

Depending on IF you're trying BlueTooth keyboard & mouse, you may need to try & get USB versions instead.


Then to start-up into Safe mode may be possible where the Mac checks its files and you may be able to perform troubleshooting, then see if it'll restart normally without Safe mode.


Not sure what you may have tried or how you attempted any process that held promise of helping.


You may have to see if your Mac could restart into macOS Recovery and access Utilities. That may be useful to see if any repairs to system can be done, especially should you need to perform a savage shutdown. Pulling the plug isn't recommended.


Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

🌞🍀🐠🍄🌎

{from iPad Mini1.1 wi-fi}

Mar 5, 2018 11:06 AM in response to K Shaffer

The keyboard is USB, mouse is Bluetooth. It's in the voiceover mode (one of the options if you're unable to type), & I don't remember how I did it. So now I need to get it back to normal. On the login screen, the cursor is blinking where I need to type in my password, but keyboard does nothing. New batteries in both keyboard & mouse, tried different USB ports, still nothing. The screen also will pop up where it's looking for a Bluetooth device (my mouse), but says none detected. Any ideas? Also how do I boot up into Safe Mode? If I could get into the system preferences or utilities I might be able to fix this. Thanks!

how do i get my imac off the log in screen? Keyboard & mouse won't work

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