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macOS Mojave keeps going back to login screen after 30 seconds

I updated a mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro to Mojave yesterday. After the installation process, when I click on a user and log in, within 30 seconds the screen flickers and I'm back at the login screen. This happens for all accounts. I have tried repairing the disk, doing an Internet recovery install (in case a file was corrupted), basically exhausting all of the repair processes. I cannot do anything in terminal or settings because it just pops me out to the login screen within 30 seconds. Ultimately I did a Time Machine restore and it is back to pre-Mojave state.


Has anyone run into this? Granted this is an old machine but it works just fine. I am holding off upgrading my new laptops until I can be certain this was either a fluke, machine-dependent issue, or that Apple has a fix. My laptops are my work, can't afford to not have them operating and don't want to waste 10 hours on a failed install and then do a restore.


MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

2.5 GHz Intel Core i5

10 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB


Thanks,


Jim

MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

Posted on Sep 25, 2018 8:02 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Sep 27, 2018 10:43 AM

So after 4 separate upgrades to Mojave and the restores to High Sierra, I had a phone call from Apple with some guidance from their engineers. The very nice and patient Kelli walked me through the following. Pleaser try this at your own risk:


Boot into Recovery (Hold Command and R down and turn on the computer)

Open Disk Utility, then:

Select the startup volume.

Make note of the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD"). If the name of the volume is dimmed, click the Mount button and enter the password of a user who can unlock the disk.

Make note of the number shown next to "Available:".

Quit Disk Utility.

Select Utilities menu > Terminal, Replace the bolded hard drive name with whatever your drive is called, and enter these two commands:


cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL"

assuming it takes this command, follow on the next line with the following:

mv *.plugin ..

If it takes this command, quit terminal and then restart the computer in normal mode and login

When I did this, all worked fine afterwards.

Best of Luck with it!

27 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Sep 27, 2018 10:43 AM in response to jmhoey

So after 4 separate upgrades to Mojave and the restores to High Sierra, I had a phone call from Apple with some guidance from their engineers. The very nice and patient Kelli walked me through the following. Pleaser try this at your own risk:


Boot into Recovery (Hold Command and R down and turn on the computer)

Open Disk Utility, then:

Select the startup volume.

Make note of the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD"). If the name of the volume is dimmed, click the Mount button and enter the password of a user who can unlock the disk.

Make note of the number shown next to "Available:".

Quit Disk Utility.

Select Utilities menu > Terminal, Replace the bolded hard drive name with whatever your drive is called, and enter these two commands:


cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL"

assuming it takes this command, follow on the next line with the following:

mv *.plugin ..

If it takes this command, quit terminal and then restart the computer in normal mode and login

When I did this, all worked fine afterwards.

Best of Luck with it!

Oct 2, 2018 7:35 AM in response to jmhoey

Same happen to me, with both my iMac (late 2015, running High Sierra) and my MacBook Pro Retina (early 2013, also running High Sierra). Upgraded both to Mojave and same problem: logged in, and then within 30 seconds or so, kicked out to log in screen. Did everything to troubleshoot (safe mode; reinstall OS; etc.). No luck. Downgraded back to High Sierra. Apple tech support kept telling me they see no evidence of a widespread problem. I don't buy it. Not upgrading until I see others have fixed it.

Oct 2, 2018 1:29 PM in response to J Bird the Third

I posted the below last week, it seems to have worked for several people in the same situation:


So after 4 separate upgrades to Mojave and the restores to High Sierra, I had a phone call from Apple with some guidance from their engineers. The very nice and patient Kelli walked me through the following. Pleaser try this at your own risk:


Boot into Recovery (Hold Command and R down and turn on the computer)

Open Disk Utility, then:

Select the startup volume.

Make note of the name of the volume (usually "Macintosh HD"). If the name of the volume is dimmed, click the Mount button and enter the password of a user who can unlock the disk.

Make note of the number shown next to "Available:".

Quit Disk Utility.

Select Utilities menu > Terminal, Replace the bolded hard drive name with whatever your drive is called, and enter these two commands:


cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL"

assuming it takes this command, follow on the next line with the following:

mv *.plugin ..

If it takes this command, quit terminal and then restart the computer in normal mode and login

When I did this, all worked fine afterwards.

Best of Luck with it!

Oct 2, 2018 1:55 PM in response to J Bird the Third

I'm with you. I'm not entirely sure audio plug-ins are the issue. Like you I'm waiting a while. Granted this was on an older system, but I've seen folks with 2018 systems have an issue. My 2017 MacBook Pro and my fiancee's 2016 MacBook are our income sources, so sketchy info from Apple is not worth risking another upgrade. I just don't have 20 hours to waste. Hope they get on this soon.

Oct 3, 2018 2:07 PM in response to Old Toad

Already covered that base, which is why audio drivers do not make sense as the cause. I have none to begin with on that particular computer. The only non-Apple software on it is writing software, otherwise it's just a Mac with standard software. Going to wait for a more mainstream fix, if Apple gets to it.

Oct 3, 2018 2:17 PM in response to tconnell0214

Interestingly, Apple Care contacted me via email today, setting up a call because they have identified a fix. They knew to reach out to me because when I first spoke with them last week, they had no clue what it was and claimed they didn't have any similar complaints. That's obviously changed at this point, so they're circling back to me. Hat tip to them. I'll report back to this discussion after the Apple Care call on Sunday.


PS -- you'd think they could fix this with a patch to the OS, meaning I could download the latest (patched) version, no? Why do I need a call?

Oct 4, 2018 9:30 AM in response to jmhoey

I solved the issue this way (partly used tconnell0214's solution):


1) Boot into Recovery Mode (hold cmd and R and turn on the Mac)


2) Open Disk Utility - select startup volume in the left part of the window - mine was dimmed - click Mount button and enter the password


3) Quit Disk Utility


4) Select Utilities menu - Terminal and type (use the name of your startup drive if it's different than Macintosh HD):

cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins"


press return


rm -R HAL


press return


5) Restart your Mac and it should work fine.


Good luck

(MacBook Pro Retina, Mid 2012)

Oct 6, 2018 12:53 PM in response to subalxs

I had the same login issue.

Tried all these ideas and removed the HAL folder. But this did not fix it.


Instead I noticed a message about Coriolis Systems in an Error Log.

I realised I have iDefrag installed.

Removed that and its Kexts. That fixed the problem for me


Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.coriolis-systems.driver.Snapshot(122.0)[5611248B-6440-3559-9F69-2F249150EA5 A]@0xffffff7f917ad000->0xffffff7f91823fff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily(2.1)[499E27C9-AC4D-3239-9FC4-754C7699FA76]@0xff ffff7f9177d000

macOS Mojave keeps going back to login screen after 30 seconds

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