Extremely slow boot on non-unibody MB

[Cubytus]

Hi there,

I got a non-unibody MB (5,2 version I think) equipped with an SSD and Mountain Lion. However, it boots reaaaaally slowly. To be precise, it seems to be unable to boot at all at the moment. Meanwhile, I had a fan speed issue that was repaired at the Apple Store, and it was running fine when I got it back. They did a hardware test, and nothing problematic was found, only a warning due to non-Apple battery.

I already ran AppleJack on autopilot, and it found only one error: unable to find the virtual memory file. I also reset the SMC.

In verbose mode on normal boot, I first get:

No interval found for . Using 8000000
SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MMIO regMap == NULL - fall back to old SMC mode

(…)

Sandboc: sandbox(81) deny mach-lookup com.appe.coresymbolicationd
SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR: smcReadData8 failed for key MOTP (kSMCKeyNotFound)
SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR: smcReadData8 failed for key BEMP (kSMCKeyNotFound)

As I could read elsewhere, this issue is non-OS specific, but it seems solutions are vague and far between.

Any idea how to tackle the problem?

 

[Altemose]

Hi there,

I got a non-unibody MB (5,2 version I think) equipped with an SSD and Mountain Lion. However, it boots reaaaaally slowly. To be precise, it seems to be unable to boot at all at the moment. Meanwhile, I had a fan speed issue that was repaired at the Apple Store, and it was running fine when I got it back. They did a hardware test, and nothing problematic was found, only a warning due to non-Apple battery.

I already ran AppleJack on autopilot, and it found only one error: unable to find the virtual memory file. I also reset the SMC.

In verbose mode on normal boot, I first get:

No interval found for . Using 8000000
SMC::smcInitHelper ERROR: MMIO regMap == NULL - fall back to old SMC mode

(…)

Sandboc: sandbox(81) deny mach-lookup com.appe.coresymbolicationd
SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR: smcReadData8 failed for key MOTP (kSMCKeyNotFound)
SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR: smcReadData8 failed for key BEMP (kSMCKeyNotFound)

As I could read elsewhere, this issue is non-OS specific, but it seems solutions are vague and far between.

Any idea how to tackle the problem?

I would try a fresh install. Completely wipe the drive and reinstall OS X. I am wondering if the fan repair was done improperly and as a result of a potentially faulty fan, the CPU is being heavily throttled as a heat prevention measure.

 

[BrettApple]

Have you used any fan control apps in the past? Such as smcFanControl? The errors seem to deal with the SMC having issues. I'd try a reset first, then a reinstall as suggested.

If you have used a fan control app, trashing the app doesn't remove everything, there's other files still there. I had a heck of a time getting rid of it once. But I still use it

You should just be able to remove the battery and hold the power button for a few seconds to reset the smc and drain any residual energy on the board. May help. The SMC can be pretty problematic.

 

[Cubytus]

Indeed I used Macs Fan Control without problems on my MBP. On the MB could it be a different matter? I chose it as it was the only one capable of reducing the fan speed, not just increasing it. There was a problem with the fan running at high speeds despite average room temperature and no load. SMC has been reset, to no avail. Sometimes it would boot, sometimes not.

Could the EFI/SMC battery be bad, as in ordinary PCs?

 

[AppleFanatic10]

Have you upgraded the RAM?

 

[Cubytus]

Of course I did. 1GB was just unusable. But what link is there with the malfunction? I upgraded it long ago but the slow boot problem has been very recent.

 

[brdeveloper]

Of course I did. 1GB was just unusable. But what link is there with the malfunction? I upgraded it long ago but the slow boot problem has been very recent.

How did you installed MLion on the SSD? Did you have Snow Leopard, then ran Carbon Copy Cloner on the HDD to copy the filesystem to the SSD and then upgraded to MLion? Anything made with Carbon Copy Cloner needs repairing permissions on Disk Utility, otherwise you get weird bugs as the OS can't write/read some system files.

Try also using only the original modules just to check if it's a RAM issue. Sometimes the new RAM isn't defective, but you have to cheat about their specs to make them work on Macs. There is a tool called Thaiphoon Burner which is capable of writing SPD information on compatible modules (usually Corsair or Kingston). This way you can write on the module descriptors saying that DDR2 800MHz modules are actually DDR2 533MHz modules, for example. I installed 2x8GB, DDR3 1333MHz modules on my Mini 2010 and it beeped the first time. After that I configured the SPD descriptors to inform 1066MHz to the logic board, then they worked like a charm, no beeps at boot.

Also, try resetting SMC, PRAM and all that stuff that don't work on 99% of cases.

 

[Cubytus]

No, I got the SSD unformatted, and put the ML installer on a USB drive, then booted from it. The old drive was put in an enclosure and I took care to change the home folder owner to the current one on ML. As this is a secondary computer, there was not much data, nor apps on it.

RAM has been bought from OWC for this exact model, so I am not sure "cheating" on the descriptor would help. Is it worth a try?

I did reset the SMC and NVRAM, to no avail

 

[brdeveloper]

No, I got the SSD unformatted, and put the ML installer on a USB drive, then booted from it. The old drive was put in an enclosure and I took care to change the home folder owner to the current one on ML. As this is a secondary computer, there was not much data, nor apps on it.

RAM has been bought from OWC for this exact model, so I am not sure "cheating" on the descriptor would help. Is it worth a try?

I did reset the SMC and NVRAM, to no avail

OWC probably sold you the right/tested modules "cheated" or not. Writing SPD information is only recommended if you have eligible modules (non-write-protected ones) and their nominal speeds don't match the system's recommended speed. It seems that's not your case.

Maybe you should try other RAM modules or test only one module each time or try installing Mavericks. It won't perform worse than MLion with a SSD.

 

[Cubytus]

The 2009 MB is probably too limited for Mavericks. Not enough RAM nor CPU power, and while fast, the SSD doesn't provide touted half-mega byte transfer speeds.

 

[TacticalDesire]

The 2009 MB is probably too limited for Mavericks. Not enough RAM nor CPU power, and while fast, the SSD doesn't provide touted half-mega byte transfer speeds.

The 2009 Macbook is plenty for Mavericks. Core 2 Duo is fine and with 4gb (preferably 8gb) it should be more than usable. Especially with an SSD

 

[brdeveloper]

The 2009 MB is probably too limited for Mavericks. Not enough RAM nor CPU power, and while fast, the SSD doesn't provide touted half-mega byte transfer speeds.

My late-2009 Unibody Macbook (9400m, 2.26GHz C2D, 8GB, SSD) runs Mavericks as fast as my retina Macbook for everyday tasks (browsing, office apps, etc).

 

[Cubytus]

Well my opinion is that I already spent too much on this machine. It doesn't support 8GB, only 6GB, and it made no sense to me getting rid of the double data rate paired modules allow.

The SSD makes 140MBps, very fast but not what is claimed.

It totalled around 150$ in upgrades already and indeed is more than usable. It makes a very decent machine for common tasks but is hampered by small storage and non-ISO keyboard (at least for me)

 

[TacticalDesire]

Well my opinion is that I already spent too much on this machine. It doesn't support 8GB, only 6GB, and it made no sense to me getting rid of the double data rate paired modules allow.

The SSD makes 140MBps, very fast but not what is claimed.

It totalled around 150$ in upgrades already and indeed is more than usable. It makes a very decent machine for common tasks but is hampered by small storage and non-ISO keyboard (at least for me)

What SSD did you buy?

 

[Cubytus]

This is an OWC Electra 6G, but how is it any different?

 

[TacticalDesire]

This is an OWC Electra 6G, but how is it any different?

Cheaper drives will often have lesser performance. A Kingston V300 vs Samsung 840 EVO for instance. Yes they are both SSDs and they are both fast but the Samsung is faster, more reliable and more consistent.

 

[Cubytus]

Well I went with the special. The OWC isn't exactly cheap (internally it shares chips with more well-known brands such as Corsair and share the same longer warranty.), and I felt 80$+ for a secondary machine for a smaller disk was enough. At least I refused to go with Adata.

Since nothing could make it work, I decided to reinstall everything. So far it seems to be working. It is possible the SATA cable went loose during fan repair and that it corrupted the drive's content.