Just installed Mavericks, now stuck in logoff/logon loop?

nezwick · Jun 21, 2013

15" MBP Mid-2009. Just upgraded from 10.8.4 to 10.9 Developer Preview. Installation went through without errors but upon first boot into the new OS, while Finder and startup programs are still loading, I get kicked right back to the login screen. I can enter my password and log in, but within a few seconds get kicked right back to the login page.

I have a few seconds before getting sent back to the login screen, during which I am able to launch Finder or System Preferences via the Dock, but it's not long enough to actually do anything.

I have tried Safe Boot, and the exact same behaviour occurs. Same thing happens if I login as "Guest User", so it's not just MY user profile.

Where do I begin troubleshooting this?

ScoobyMcDoo · Jun 21, 2013

Your first sentence implies that you did not do a fresh install. You should try that first.

nezwick · Jun 21, 2013

Well that was going to be a last resort.

I also tried booting to Single User Mode, and resetting the Setup Assistant by removing the file /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

No change even after creating a brand new user account.

nezwick · Jun 21, 2013

Also tried repairing permissions from the recovery partition disk utility - it made a few repairs but didn't fix the problem.

And it looks like I can't perform the fresh install using the 10.9 recovery partition.

First off, for some stupid reason it requires an internet connection to even reinstall the OS, so I connect to WiFi, it verifies my eligibility or whatever, then tries to sign into the App Store??? It hangs on signing into the App Store and won't do anything.

Of course I don't have OS media for Mavericks, or Mountain Lion, or Lion, or Snow Leopard; so this means I'm going to have to reinstall the OS using the original 10.5 Leopard install media, and upgrade the whole way to the latest version.

chrfr · Jun 21, 2013

nezwick said:
First off, for some stupid reason it requires an internet connection to even reinstall the OS, so I connect to WiFi, it verifies my eligibility or whatever, then tries to sign into the App Store??? It hangs on signing into the App Store and won't do anything.

Of course I don't have OS media for Mavericks, or Mountain Lion, or Lion, or Snow Leopard; so this means I'm going to have to reinstall the OS using the original 10.5 Leopard install media, and upgrade the whole way to the latest version.

It needs to connect to the internet to reinstall the OS because the entire installer isn't in the recovery partition. You need to sign into the App Store with your developer Apple ID to download it. Snow Leopard was only sold on a DVD so if you don't own it or have lost your disc, you should just buy another disc from Apple at $19. It'll save the trouble of reinstalling 10.5 then upgrading.

nezwick · Jun 21, 2013

It didn't even prompt me for my Apple ID though, it just hangs on "signing in".

I think Snow Leopard was the only one I didn't actually buy, I must have just used somebody else's retail disc to install it. Who knows, that was so long ago.

All this just to try to get better battery life out of my 4 year old MBP. Definitely not worth it.

chrfr · Jun 21, 2013

nezwick said:
All this just to try to get better battery life out of my 4 year old MBP. Definitely not worth it.

Putting the first developer preview of an operating system on a computer you actually need to use is just a bad idea. Now you know.

nezwick · Jun 21, 2013

It's not like there's anything important on there, and I expected some bugs with the preview version, but not to have the OS totally corrupted. There are tons of errors pertaining to the WindowServer in the /var/logs/system.log but none of the fixes I found online (deleting caches and .plist files) have had any effect so far.

chown33 · Jun 21, 2013

nezwick said:
It's not like there's anything important on there, and I expected some bugs with the preview version, but not to have the OS totally corrupted.

Prepare for the worst; hope for the best. If anything can go wrong, it will. Always act as if the disk will be totally corrupted. That's why you make a full backup on a separate disk beforehand.

Assume the disk is completely corrupted. Erase it and start over. As you said, it's not like there's anything important on there, so all you've lost is time.

Don't be an idiot like I am: Resist the urge to have the "latest and greatest" OS X
Or if you can't resist the urge, make a full backup beforehand, which you actually confirm works before installing anything new.

Elven · Jun 22, 2013

nezwick said:
It's not like there's anything important on there, and I expected some bugs with the preview version, but not to have the OS totally corrupted. There are tons of errors pertaining to the WindowServer in the /var/logs/system.log but none of the fixes I found online (deleting caches and .plist files) have had any effect so far.

Still you ignored the common advice all over to avoid Developer builds, and to also install it as an upgrade.

Best of luck but honestly I would look into "options" of obtaining a copy of ML or SL on dvd and do a full reinstall of a stable OS.

HenryDJP · Jun 22, 2013

nezwick said:
It's not like there's anything important on there, and I expected some bugs with the preview version, but not to have the OS totally corrupted. There are tons of errors pertaining to the WindowServer in the /var/logs/system.log but none of the fixes I found online (deleting caches and .plist files) have had any effect so far.

Are you even a Developer? "If so", then you should go to the Apple Developer forums for help, especially for these kind of issues. If none of the above apply to you then you entered at your own risk and it's your own fault.

rezwits · Jun 22, 2013

Safe boot

Do a safe boot

Get rid of as many login items in your account set up after a safe boot. That worked for me after an update install. Things are great.

Little Snitch will also wreck you, so do an uninstall if you have that.

Laters....

kgtenacious · Jun 26, 2013

nezwick said:
.... it verifies my eligibility or whatever, then tries to sign into the App Store??? It hangs on signing into the App Store and won't do anything. ....

If you had read the seed note, you would see that reinstallation from recovery mode is not supported.

Preview 2 came out yesterday, and the seed notes specifically say, under "Known Issues"

"Reinstalling Developer Preview 2 from the Recovery Partition is not supported.
Developer Preview 2 can be reinstalled using a Time Machine backup or Target
Disk Mode."

capuman · Oct 25, 2013

Hi,

did you ever get this to work?

I just installed the official version of Mavericks and i have the same, exact issue.

I cant login. So for now i have turned auto login to true. The weird thing is, that if i wake up the imac from sleep mode then i can login..

So i only cant login if i have previously logged out or go directly to the login screen after start up.

I even spent 2 hours with the tech support guys from apple and they had no clue what was going on.

Ive done a re-install from recovery, ive done PRAM resets, SCM reset, removed items from login..everything.

Any ideas?

nezwick · Oct 25, 2013

No, I never ended up getting the developer preview version working on my MBP. I wiped the HDD and started over with Mountain Lion, and forgot about Mavericks until the official version was released.

I was then able to upgrade successfully from ML to Mavericks using the legally obtained official version. Sorry I can't be of much assistance.

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