Cannot log in on MBP, El Capitan

[Beachguy]

I wrote about my MBP which was vandalized a while back. Although damaged, I was still able to log in to it. If I sign in as root, or guest, no problem, but using my own usual profile, I end up eternally in the circling "wait" instead of logging in. It did get stopped while running earlier, but I had rebooted since then.

I don't think this is the hardware but more likely something which caused corruption. I've tried checking the disk and correcting permissions. Disk test shows no errors.

How can I fix this so I can sign back in to back up this MBP? OS X 10.11.3 beta, 2012 MBP 1680x1050 screen, 16GB of RAM, 750GB HD.

 

[JohnDS]

Try safe booting by holding down the shift key. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201262

 

[Beachguy]

Thanks, John. Unfortunately, that didn't work either.

 

[JohnDS]

Boot into recovery mode by holding down Command-R, the re-install the operating system.

 

[BLUEDOG314]

TBH if it is just that user that is giving you problems I would either use root to make another users and just transfer all the content, or if you want a clean start back up everything in that user's home folder using root then erase and install. If there is some weird software corruption going on user level, this is probably best. Otherwise every time something acts weird, slow, etc in the future youll be wondering if it was linked to this.

 

[techedude]

Startup holding command+R. Boot into recovery. Try to run disk utility from there. If you have an external hard drive with OS X installed then boot from there and run a program called Disk Warrior. That program will rebuild your filesystem for the corrupted user or drive.