Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Encrypted Mac won't boot

M

MacRaccoon

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 12, 2013
51
0
It's encrypted with the built in encryption. It powers on, i enter the first password then a loading bar shows and then it shuts down.

It was left on stand by for over a month, when i powered it on it has shut downed itself and the battery was at 0%, however it booted just fine, when i did a restart it started doing the problem described above...
 
i did those steps but it didn't help, it does the same

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
 
MacRaccoon said:
i did those steps but it didn't help, it does the same

Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord.
Wait fifteen seconds.
Attach the computer's power cord.
Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
Click to expand...

I think you forgot something:

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
Resetting the SMC on Mac portables with a battery you can remove

Note: Learn about removing the battery on MacBook and MacBook Pro.
Shut down the computer.
Disconnect the MagSafe power adapter from the computer, if it's connected.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Reconnect the battery and MagSafe power adapter.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own

Or

Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.
Click to expand...
 
ah you are right, i was doing the combination for the desktop version

i did the one for my macbook pro 2011 now
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.


but unfortunately it still does the same :(
 
MacRaccoon said:
ah you are right, i was doing the combination for the desktop version

i did the one for my macbook pro 2011 now
Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.
Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.


but unfortunately it still does the same :(
Click to expand...

Hopefully the Recovery HD works, might not because it is encrypted, hold the Command-R combination at start up until you see the Apple Icon, release and wait for the utilities window to arrive, then open Disk Utility from the Menu Bar, select the HD and try to repair the disk, repairing permissions should also be done.
 
Sounds like your hard drive is not mounting or the OS X is corrupt. As the poster above said, boot into recovery mode and try disk utility.
 
for the first 2 volumes, "macintosh HD" and "storage" it says that appear to be ok (in green)
and for the last one, "BOOTCAMP"

"
Verify and repair volume "BOOTCAMP"
repairing volume failed: invalid request. (in red)
"

when i restart after that, it still does the same :(
 
MacRaccoon said:
for the first 2 volumes, "macintosh HD" and "storage" it says that appear to be ok (in green)
and for the last one, "BOOTCAMP"

"
Verify and repair volume "BOOTCAMP"
repairing volume failed: invalid request. (in red)
"

when i restart after that, it still does the same :(
Click to expand...

Because by default the OS-Disk Utility can't repair a NTFS partition.

I find it odd though your disk is encrypted, I tried to do this on my Mini with 3 main partitions and it didn't allow me, but i have Linux on one so that might be the reason.
 
just the system partition is encrypted

well is there anything else other than OS reinstall I can try?
 
MacRaccoon said:
just the system partition is encrypted

well is there anything else other than OS reinstall I can try?
Click to expand...

Slightly off topic, but you said the system partition is encrypted. So you encrypted the OS but not the storage partition, isn't that backwards? I don't care of someone steals my laptop and gets to the system partition. Its the data that I want to protect.

I did't see it, but does booting into the recovery partition work? If so, then your system volume may be corrupted.
 
maflynn said:
Slightly off topic, but you said the system partition is encrypted. So you encrypted the OS but not the storage partition, isn't that backwards? I don't care of someone steals my laptop and gets to the system partition. Its the data that I want to protect.

I did't see it, but does booting into the recovery partition work? If so, then your system volume may be corrupted.
Click to expand...

the storage was about to be encrypted as well

how does one boot into recovery partition? I'm new to mac and not even sure if i have it :)

so if thats out of the options do I just go ahead and reinstall it clean?
 
MacRaccoon said:
the storage was about to be encrypted as well

how does one boot into recovery partition? I'm new to mac and not even sure if i have it :)

so if thats out of the options do I just go ahead and reinstall it clean?
Click to expand...

:confused::confused::confused:
I already told you before as you can see below, thought you already tried.

justperry said:
Hopefully the Recovery HD works, might not because it is encrypted, hold the Command-R combination at start up until you see the Apple Icon, release and wait for the utilities window to arrive, then open Disk Utility from the Menu Bar, select the HD and try to repair the disk, repairing permissions should also be done.
Click to expand...
 
ah, under recovery partition i thought you are referring to partition where i restore the OS. I'm coming from Windows and that was my first though.

Yeah, about disk utility, i booted into it, and tried all the repair and verifying that can be done, it says in green that all is good, except the bootcamp partition. Which I just deleted btw, but still the problem is the same.


So with that done, do i have other option to explore except clean reinstall?
 
The disk may be physically ok, but if the encryption process burped in the middle, you have a corrupted system.

My recommendation is to why the system partition and reinstall.
 
MacRaccoon said:
ah, under recovery partition i thought you are referring to partition where i restore the OS. I'm coming from Windows and that was my first though.

Yeah, about disk utility, i booted into it, and tried all the repair and verifying that can be done, it says in green that all is good, except the bootcamp partition. Which I just deleted btw, but still the problem is the same.


So with that done, do i have other option to explore except clean reinstall?
Click to expand...

Do you have a backup, probably not, always keep a recent backup so in the event of problems like these you still have your data.
If you have one it's just an annoyance of reinstalling instead of losing everything and reinstalling.
 
justperry said:
Do you have a backup, probably not, always keep a recent backup so in the event of problems like these you still have your data.
If you have one it's just an annoyance of reinstalling instead of losing everything and reinstalling.
Click to expand...

Best advice, but I think the OP should be safe in one sense. He split up his drive into system and data. So once he gets the OS installed, he should be able to access (hopefully) the data partition. I'd say at that point if he doesn't have one, run a backup.
 
maflynn said:
Best advice, but I think the OP should be safe in one sense. He split up his drive into system and data. So once he gets the OS installed, he should be able to access (hopefully) the data partition. I'd say at that point if he doesn't have one, run a backup.
Click to expand...

Oops forgot, hope for him all his data is indeed on the Data partition, then it is only a fresh install.
 
btw the "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair disk permissions" buttons are grayed out for both the encrypted and non-encrypted partitions. No idea why. :(
Would have thought it's because of the encryption if it wasnt the case for the non encrypted yet, storage partiton.

Backup is not an issue as this system was sill in process of setting it up, so no data there, just quite few hours in complicated setup of dual boot, encryption, repartition and so on.
Obviosly it doesn't work well, so will have to rethink it.

Well guys, you've been of great help! I really appreciate it.
I guess if there aren't any other ideas i'll have to go throught the boring process fo reinstalling and re-configuring everything from scratch.....

too bad because i was just almost done :)
 
MacRaccoon said:
btw the "Verify Disk Permissions" and "Repair disk permissions" buttons are grayed out for both the encrypted and non-encrypted partitions. No idea why. :(
Would have thought it's because of the encryption if it wasnt the case for the non encrypted yet, storage partiton.

Backup is not an issue as this system was sill in process of setting it up, so no data there, just quite few hours in complicated setup of dual boot, encryption, repartition and so on.
Obviosly it doesn't work well, so will have to rethink it.

Well guys, you've been of great help! I really appreciate it.
I guess if there aren't any other ideas i'll have to go throught the boring process fo reinstalling and re-configuring everything from scratch.....

too bad because i was just almost done :)
Click to expand...

If you do encryption do it on the whole disk with FileVault2, it is build into the system and as long as you don't have a Linux partition it should work.
Also, when finished make a bootable backup, it saves you from all this trouble, much easier to recover from.
 
MacRaccoon said:
It's encrypted with the built in encryption.
Click to expand...

Can you explain exactly what you did? Did you turn on Filevault2 encryption in the Security pane of System Prefs., or did you do something else? It almost sounds like you used Disk Util to reformat a partition to Journaled Encrypted?

MacRaccoon said:
I guess if there aren't any other ideas i'll have to go throught the boring process fo reinstalling and re-configuring everything from scratch.....

too bad because i was just almost done :)
Click to expand...

Let's try one more thing. Type "diskutil list" (without the quotes) in Terminal and tell us what output you get from the command.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back