Ok, seriously, wtf is up w/ firewire

[n8236]

For the sole purpose of utilizing my Firewire 800 port, I bought a Western Digital external w/ a fw800 adapter. The speeds are great, but wtf is up with OS X not being able to boot when it's plugged in. This is utter retarded-ness. The grey screen w/ the Apple logo shows up and that's it. When the fw800 is unplugged, OS X boots fine.

I am furious because given that Apple machines and firewire anything should be BFFs, everything should just work.

Is there a fix?

 

[heppy]

Sounds to me like your mac thinks it's supposed to boot up from the drive. Check the Target drive settings in system preferences

 

[r.j.s]

System Preferences > Startup Disk ... Make sure the internal drive is selected.

 

[spinnerlys]

Or an SMC reset might help.

MacBook, MacBook Pro except MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009)

If the computer is on, turn it off.
Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the computer's battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.
Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.
Press the power button to restart the computer

from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411

 

[n8236]

Nope, tried all those things earlier, no dice.

 

[ChrisA]

Nope, tried all those things earlier, no dice.

Then your Mac is not working as it should. It's broken.

More likely however is that you only thought you tried all those things. I'd double check before taking it in for repair

 

[n8236]

Update:

Before I get to what I've found, here is the basic background of my setup. I have a fw800 external hard drive plugged in. Also, I have an USB hub w/ stuff on it, plugged in (including an external).

Here's the scoop. When I have both (the USB hub and fw800) plugged in and try to boot to OS X, it hangs @ the grey screen w/ the Apple logo. But when I physically disconnect the USB hub and reboot, it goes into OS X just fine. So. it appears I have to either have the USB or FW800 unplugged for any reboots to be successful.

I'm @ a loss of why this is.

 

[n8236]

Update 2: I've found out that when I unmount/eject all the drives before I shutdown or restart my laptop, the lock up does not occur. I guess that's less annoying than having to physically unplug the usb or fw prior to reboot -_-; But nevertheless still annoying...

 

[RedTomato]

external drives should be auto unmounted when shutting down.

Have you installed anything that modifies the OS? Onyx, Greasemonkey, haxies, whatever?

Also, what do you have on these externals? Just files and docs, or copies of an OS filesystem? (OSX, windows, Time Machine etc)

 

[n8236]

external drives should be auto unmounted when shutting down.

Have you installed anything that modifies the OS? Onyx, Greasemonkey, haxies, whatever?

Also, what do you have on these externals? Just files and docs, or copies of an OS filesystem? (OSX, windows, Time Machine etc)

Well, ya. I have Onyx, Yasu, Refit (boot manager). What do they have to do w/ my problem?

USB external is used for general storage. Firewire800 is split into two partitions: time machine and clone image.

 

[n8236]

Fixed: I had to remove Refit.

 

[RedTomato]

Well, ya. I have Onyx, Yasu, Refit (boot manager). What do they have to do w/ my problem?

Fixed: I had to remove Refit.

Bingo

Glad you sorted it out.