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10.5.2 hangs on startup

A

aingerso

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hello everyone...

I've tried searching for a solution but haven't been able to find anything. I downloaded the 10.5.2 software upgrade through the software updater, it logged out of the desktop view of OS X, went to the install screen, and an error message popped up telling me that the installation failed and that the computer needed to be restarted.

After the restart, the Intel Macbook now hangs on the grey apple-logo screen (i'm letting it run at about 45 minutes now because the progress circle is continuing to spin). Here's what I've tried to do thus far:

-gone into single user mode and ran /sbin/fsck -fy (it came back okay; rebooted)
-tried to boot in safe mode (with the shift key) with no success

I am running a 2.0 GHz Intel Macbook (1st generation) with 1 Gb RAM on 10.5.1 (but unclear which version as of now...)

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
 
this has happened to others on the apple forums as well:

Same problem here, updating from 10.5.1 using the downloaded combo updater. It looked fine, asked me to reboot, and now it's stuck at the grey screen with Apple logo with spinning gear. Safe mode won't work, but single-user mode does. Verbose mode shows where it's stuck too.

Verbose booting and logs show that loginwindow keeps crashing in a loop.
Click to expand...

and here:

I decided to check for updates last night (approx 10:45pm PST), found the new 10.5.2 update. Downloaded the update, the computer asked for re-start, selected restart button. The computer did some processing prior to shutting off, it shut off, then restarted. Now all I get is the white screen intro with the grey apple and the little circular 'rotating' boot-up processing icon. This has gone on now for about 7 hours since beginning last night without shutting off. I shut it off this morning, waited for about thirty minutes, then restarted. I get the same intro white screen with the grey apple and the little circular 'rotating' boot-up processing icon.
Click to expand...
 
another person posted a 'fix' that involved the safe mode boot:

Hello all. Had a similar situation trying to update to 10.5.2. My iMac 2.8ghz also got stuck in Setup Assistant. Read the discussions on my old g4 pointing me towards reinstalling OSX. My computer is only a month old so I didn't want to go down that road already. So I called AppleCare.

Very helpful. They had me restart the computer in safe mode (Hold down the shift key when you hit the power button). The user screen comes up, look for a BACK button in the lower right corner of this window which sends the computer to restart again but now the actual update for OSX continued and after another couple of restarts that the computer did itself - I was back to normal. Didn't have to reinstall. Bad Apple for a weird update when normally it is seamless but thank you AppleCare.

Hope this helps. Ran Software Update once more finding a Graphic update which installed without any problems. Whew!
Click to expand...

however, safe mode does not seem to function for my situation.... it is stuck on the grey startup screen with the progress dial spinning...

can anyone provide any tips or any thoughts at all? do you need more information?
 
same here: can't access safe mode

I have the same problem. I get the grey screen with the rotating gears (reminds me too much of the hourglass). I suggest apple replaces spinning wheel with a horizontal bar of some finite length that increases to the right so you know its doing something useful.

I can't start in safe mode or single user mode, but I can start in verbose mode: (command-v held prior to and during startup). I see endless crash reports.

Why doesn't safe mode work?
 
ok in safe mode i think

I couldn't get into safe mode but i could get into verbose mode but all i saw were endless crash reports so I cycled the power and tried single mode again (command s) and now i'm into the root.

what to do now? ....
 
Same thing happened to me earlier tonight, loginwindow kept crashing in an endless loop.

I did two things: I moved aside all thirdparty kernel-extensions (Little Snitch and Parallels-stuff), and I ran 'Repair Permissions' from Disk Utility on my Leopard installdisk. That fixed the problem for me.

BTW: anyone who started experiencing these problems after installing Office 2008? Or am I just being paranoid? ;-)
 
Same problem here on a MacBook. Can't start up in any mode at all, it keeps getting into a loop writing crash reports.

I've reinstalled the OS twice now, trying to get 10.5.2 to install...
 
rmanke said:
Same problem here on a MacBook. Can't start up in any mode at all, it keeps getting into a loop writing crash reports.

I've reinstalled the OS twice now, trying to get 10.5.2 to install...
Click to expand...

Did you run Repair Permissions from your install-DVD?
 
I just got this bug out of the blue today.

I installed 10.5.2 weeks ago!

I went to bed light, and put my iMac to sleep (unusually, it's normally crunching some numbers overnight).

Came back this morning, switched it on, RDC'd into it and it kept asking for a kerberos password. Anyway, it wouldn't let me log in (remotely)

so I SSH'd in, and told it to reboot.

Came back to it, and it was stuck on the spinny screen. Turned it off and on again, same.

Ran in single user mode, did FSCK -fy, file system was modified. Ran it again to be sure, everything was ok. Then i typed "exit" and it booted, right the way up to the end, then said ReportCrashXXXX Saved crashreport.....WindowServer.

Over and over and over and over!

I'm going to try reinstall the 10.5.2 combo update over firewire from my MacBook.

Update: re-installing the 10.5.2 update fixed my problem, good luck to y'all 🙂
 
my step mom's iMac is down.... tried permissions, and disk repair = no go, going to boot to external hard drive, run some tests with that.

grey screen spinning pin-wheel of frustration
 
Same problem

I've just bought a new macbook pro laptop yesterday and after filling out my registration details for it in installation, it asked me to restart.

I did so but now im having the same problem as everyone else here. I can switch it on but it just goes to the grey apple screen with the spinning gear and then does nothing for two minutes then restarts itself and repeats this process. It wont let me start in safe mode and if i use the apple hardware test thing it freezes a few seconds into testing and everything stops working. Does anyone have any ideas other than returning it on how to fix it?
 
Binsy said:
Does anyone have any ideas other than returning it on how to fix it?
Click to expand...

Binsy,

Boot your Mac from your Leopard/Install-DVD. From there, choose 'Disk Utility' in the (I believe) Tools-menu, and run 'Repair Permissions' on the internal harddisk. See if that solves your problem.

Good luck!
 
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