Apple’s MacBook is a beautiful piece of hardware as compared to its competitors in the market. It’s insanely fast, user-friendly, safe, organized, and simple to use. The hardware and the software, macOS or MAC OS X, make the machine amazing.
However, it is nevertheless a machine and sadly, does indeed malfunction at times.
Some issues might not be as significant but if it doesn’t startup or all you see is a spinning wheel, then that’s a serious matter. Today, we look at one of those issues: Mac or MacBook Stuck on Apple Logo.
Contents
Quick Tips 
Follow These Quick Tips To Help When Your Mac or MacBook Gets Stuck on the Apple Logo
- Disconnect all the peripherals and restart
- For MacBooks, try disconnecting the charger as well, if possible
- Use the Start-Up Manager to choose your boot drive
- Boot up in Safe Mode
- Repair Disk using Disk Utilities
- Run Apple Hardware Test or Diagnostics
Related Articles
- Fix a MacBook that keeps powering off or restarting randomly
- Factory Reset MacBooks & Macs
- How to Fix Mac White Screen
- Mac Or MacBook Doesn’t Recognize External Drives, Troubleshooting Tips
You’re in Boot Loops!
Many Mac users find their machines stuck on the Apple logo or commonly known as boot loop and are usually clueless about it.
There is a set of things you can try on your Mac to make it function normally again, or at least figure out what went wrong.
This article discusses some basic tricks you can execute on your Mac and one of them, most probably, will work out for you.
Note: boot failures are serious problems. It might be an indication that something is wrong with your system’s hardware.
It is a wise practice to backup all your data before you try these steps out.
Backup First
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is not booting up.
Use your Mac’s recovery partition
- First, try and boot into your Mac’s Recovery partition by pressing Command + R keys or from a Time Machine backup, if available, by pressing the option key at startup
- When the macOS Utilities screen appears, start Disk Utility
- Follow the on-screen instructions to back-up to an external hard disk
Try Target Disk Mode
If you have access to another Mac and both Macs have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, you can connect them so that one of them appears as an external hard disk on the other in target disk mode
-
Use the other Mac to copy your problem Mac’s data to another drive
-
Unfortunately, target disk mode only works with Thunderbolt or FireWire and NOT USB, Ethernet, WiFi, or Bluetooth
Shutting down your Mac
- The first and most essential thing you can do is shut your Mac off
- Disconnect all the peripherals that were connected to it externally except those needed to boot the system
- Some of our readers even removed their MacBook’s charger! So if your MacBook has sufficient charge, try removing the charger as well
Booting the system now might result in Mac functioning normally. If it does, any of those peripherals (or a combination) was creating the difficulty.
Repair Disk
There may be a hardware issue, so it’s a good idea to boot into Recovery Mode (Command +R) and try repairing your hard drive from there using Disk Utility and First Aid.
For that, you’d need to shut it down first.
In OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or advanced versions, pressing and holding the Command and R key together and powering it on again will boot your Mac in Recovery Mode.
Then choose Disk Utilities and First Aid.
Use Start-Up Manager
Press the Option + Power Keys together to start your Mac up in Startup Manager, and choose which startup disk to boot from. 
If your Mac is using a firmware password, you need to enter that password first.
Try Safe Mode
If disconnecting peripherals didn’t do the job, you need to get a little technical with your Mac.
The most common practice is to boot your Apple in Safe Mode
- To boot it in Safe Mode, you’ll need to shut it down if it’s turned on
- Once this is done, start it up again while holding the Shift key
Working in Safe Mode might need some patience and compromise. Safe Mode is much slower than normal mode, and some of the features might not work at all, e.g., connecting to a network, etc.
That is probably why it is called safe mode. If the system doesn’t boot in the Safe Mode either, skip this step and jump down to the next tip.
If it does boot, check if your boot volume has 9GB or more space available.
You should make at least 9GB space in your boot volume available if it already isn’t.
You can do that by emptying the trash and copying some files in another volume. After this, shut the Mac down and reboot normally.
Try Internet Recovery
If your recovery partition isn’t working, try Internet Recovery which remotely loads recovery from Apple’s servers
- With Internet Recovery, reinstall macOS or OS X to troubleshoot problems when your Mac’s startup disk isn’t working
- Internet recovery works with new model Macs and some older models, check Apple’s site for compatibility
- macOS (OS X) Recovery over the Internet, the Reinstall macOS utility, and the Get Help Online utility all require an Internet connection
- Internet Recovery Mode reinstalls the macOS or OS X version that originally came with your computer when purchased.
- So use Internet Recovery only if your Mac’s internal disk is damaged or otherwise inoperable
To manually start up from macOS or OSX Recovery over the Internet, hold down Option-Command-R or Shift-Option-Command-R at startup.
- Go to Disk Utilities once you see a screen named macOS or OS X Utilities
- Now that you’re here select your startup volume and hit First Aid and then Repair Disk button
- It shows you some issues your volume might have. Keep doing this until it shows none
- It might tell you that your drive has malfunctioned and you should replace it. If so, follow your Mac
Run Apple Hardware Diagnostics! 
- Disconnect all external devices except keyboard, mouse, display, Ethernet connection (if applicable.) If you don’t disconnect all devices, you might see an error message when running the test
- Make sure that your Mac is on a hard, flat, stable, well-ventilated work surface
- Shut down your Mac
- Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the D key. Maintain this hold until you see the Apple Hardware Test’s icon on-screen, then release
- Or hold down Option-D at startup to startup from the Apple Hardware Test over the Internet
- Select your language and click the right arrow or return key
- To test, tap the Test button, press T, or press Return
- Select “Perform extended testing” to run a more thorough test. The extended test takes longer to complete
- When the test finishes, your test results appear in the lower-right
- To quit the Apple Hardware Test, click Restart or Shut Down at the bottom of the window
Some older Macs with startup disk’s that don’t contain AHT automatically startup the Apple Hardware Test over the Internet.
If you’re using OS X Lion 10.7 or earlier and can’t get AHT to start, locate the OS X installation disc named “Applications Install Disc 2.” Insert the disc in your internal CD/DVD drive or external SuperDrive before following the steps above.
If using a MacBook Air (Late 2010), plug the MacBook Air Software Reinstall thumb drive into your USB port before following the steps above.
Leverage Terminal 
- Boot into Recovery Mode, if possible (hold the keys CMD+R to startup)
- Navigate to the Utilities menu at the top of the screen
- Choose Terminal from the list
- Enter these two commands in Terminal
- cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/var/db/caches/opendirectory
- mv ./mbr_cache ./mbr_cache-old
- Exit from Terminal
- Restart
This process forces your Mac to rebuild a file called mbr_cache.
It’s basically the cache file for your master boot record–the file that your Mac needs to startup.
Be prepared for that first reboot to be extremely slow as the cache rebuild happens.
Seeing Error “Operation Not Permitted” in macOS Mojave and above?
If you are not able to execute Terminal commands, it’s likely that your macOS System Integrity Protection (SIP for short) is blocking you.
To get around this, you need to provide Terminal access to your full disk by changing some settings in System Preferences
Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy Tab 
- Select Full Disk Access from the left sidebar
- If you can’t make changes, unlock your disk by pressing the padlock icon in the lower-left corner and enter your Administrator Password
- Tap the + symbol
- Add the App or Terminal to your approved apps with Full Access. Close the app if it’s already running and then add it to the list
- Restart the App or Terminal and see if it now accepts your commands
- For apps, upon reopening, grant it access to make changes to your computer if needed
- You should only need to do this ONCE for each app or Terminal
For more information on SIP and macOS Mojave, see this article.
No Time? Check Out Our Video Tips
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
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I tried everything and nothing seems to work, I am stuck!
Hi Paulo,
Sorry, your MacBook still isn’t working.
Please contact Apple Support or set-up an appointment with Apple for their tech team to review your MacBook.
Please help, I have an older MacBook! It’s always worked great until this week. I haven’t used it in a few months. When I turn it on it’s stuck on the Apple loading page and doesn’t load.
The charger also seems like it has to be plugged in for computer to even do that
Hi Devon,
Try resetting your SMC. How you do this depends on if your battery is removable or non-removable.
See Apple’s guidance on this here.
The removing of the mbr-Cache is what fixed mine.
Cheers
Mostly excellent advice but I am getting “Operation Not Permitted” whilst trying to to rebuild the file called mbr_cache. How am I supposed to go to Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy Tab when I cannot boot the Mac?!
Hello,
I got in a strange issue, having macbook air late 2013, was working fine when i plugged in an external HDD, batter was really low so it was on charge, suddenly there was a power outage and mac as not much of the batter switched off, when later i turn it back on it stuck on Apple Logo, nothing else is working no recover option is working, no safe mode, nothing just apple logo when i press the power button it chimes apple logo comes and stays there, i checked with external keyboard, putting external HDD for the Mac OS re-installation but of no avail. Any idea what can be a solution? Do i have to replace the Flash storage?
thanks
Hi Waqar,
Unplug everything from the MacBook except the charger, then try resetting the SMC.
To reset SMC:
Shut down
On the built-in keyboard, press and hold all of these keys: Shift on the left side of your keyboard, Control on the left side of your keyboard, and Option (Alt) on the left side of your keyboard
Once you press all three keys together, press and hold the power button–keep all 4 keys pressed
Press and hold all four keys for at least 10 seconds
Release all keys, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac
If the same problem remains, try rebooting holding down the D key to enter Apple’s Diagnostics.
If nothing works, set up an appointment with an Apple Store Genius–these are free diagnostics, although any recommend repair is not free.
Hi Elizabeth,
Unfortunately we don’t have apple care in our country, but will try the work around what you mention
thanks
Waqar
Hello,
Thank you for this very informative article!
I’m having issues with my laptop turning off after the loading bar has reached about 1/3 of the way.
I have tried these fixes but nothing seems to be working as no recovery/safe mode screens pop up.
My Macbook still just loads to 1/3 and then switches off.
Does anybody have any advice or have a similar experience?
1-rename your hard drive Macintosh HD to save a ton of issues.
2-Enable then log into root user. Too many ways permissions could prevent this repair. OS versions. Settings. Etc.
-mac tech since 1988. Took me all night to fix this. Ugh. Windoz-ish.
Just thought you should know.
After losing my MacBook (Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2013) High Sierra 10.13.6) and being locked out by a black screen and a white apple and full logon bar, after Apple made me load something so it could talk to my tethered iPhone, I tried everything on your list when I found your piece on “Leverage Terminal MacBook Stuck on Apple Logo & Won’t Boot? Here’s a Fix”
Well, it saved me.
I am interstate with no means of retrieving backups etc. and the installation of those two lines of code just did it.
Each line does come back as “no such address” but just disregard and plow on.
From the bottom of my heart thank you appletoolbox.
Thank you. Thank you. Simon K
Hello! I am currently using a hand me down MacBook.
It was published in the late 2009 and I recently discovered that Mac High sierra was an application waiting to be Installed.
On September 5TH I decided to install it but today (September 12th) It is stuck around the 40% mark.
I cannot do anything to it, so I am seeking your advice to help me with this ongoing issue.
Hi Stacey,
Has your MacBook been upgrading since September 5th?? Is there anything on-screen other than 40%? Is the percentage increasing at all?
If not, it’s likely frozen or lost its internet connection.
In that case,
1. Restart your mac into Recovery Mode by holding down the Command (⌘) and R keys during startup
2. Open Disk Utility and run First Aid
3. Restart in Internet Recovery Mode by holding down Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + R keys together–this startup usually takes a while to work
4. Select Install a new copy of macOS–be patient, this install takes a while
If this process doesn’t work (due to age of Mac and current operating system), find someone with a Mac and create a bootable installer
Use that bootable installer and start up your mac holding the Option key to access startup manager. Select that bootable installer disk, choose your language, and follow the on-screen instructions to install macOS High Sierra onto your MacBook’s hard drive
Hello, very helpful article! I have a problem: I installed High Sierra on my late 2009 iMac, worked fine; then I installed a driver for a firewire audio-interface and its stuck on the apple Logo since the restart. I disconnected the power for 30mins, “D” Hadware-test did only show a grey screen. Did fsck -f => this volume appears to be OK. In Safemode it was stuck on the the appleLogo with the bar loading. So I did cmd-v and left it for 24 h… It does stuff but v e r y slowly:
fs_insert_snapshot_metadata:67: snap_name= ‘com.apple. …. stuff. Should I let it run another 24h? Thank you!
If it’s currently running, then let it continue. Be mindful of how much heat the computer produces–if the machine starts to feel too hot–like really hot when you touch it, then it’s best to shut down and remove all power cables to let it cool down to ambient temp.
If you suspect it crashed or is again stuck, shut it off then unplug everything from it, including the power cable. Let it sit for a while, then plug the power cable, mouse, and keyboard (if applicable) back in, wait a few more seconds, and then power on into Safe Mode.
It seems that you identified the likely culprit (that firewire audio interface’s driver) so if it starts up in safe mode–remove that drive and then restart again.
Any chance you could do an update of all this for Mac Sierra & High Sierra?
Hi Terrance,
These tips should work for macOS Sierra and High Sierra.
Is something going on with your Mac? If so, let us know and we’ll try and help you out.
Liz
My macbook pro is not ecxecuting all the commands in your tip pls help m
Hi Rjay,
What macOS or Mac OS X version does your MacBook Pro run?
If using macOS Mojave+, you may need to grant the Terminal app what’s called Full Disk Access to execute commands.
See this article for more details.
Tried to put in the two commands in termial. All I get is no such file or directroy.
If I type ls say Library. How do I get to a place where these command will work?
The cursor is stuck in upper left corner. I’ve replaced batteries on the wireless mouse without any luck.
any suggestions?
Hi Allan,
Try some of the tips outlined in this article dealing with Cursor Issues on Macs!
My Mac shuts down. Won’t let me even open in recovery mode….It was working BEAUTIFULLY before the update…..
SO helpful!! Especially the You Tube video at the end! Under a work deadline & this TOTALLY save me! Thanks so much guys!!
I started my MacBook using the “Command + v”. My MacBook stopped loading at the line “wm_page_find_contiguous: zone_gc called… wired count is 119340”
What does that mean, and how can I avoid this?
I have tried “shift+option+p+r”, and “shit+command+r”. I have also tried running disk repair. But none of those attempts helped. My MacBook still stops at loading screen from time to time.
Hi Antoine,
Have you installed RAM recently? It’s possible that RAM is causing problems with your MacBook starting up. If you suspect the problem is related to RAM, try removing it and replacing.
Since you say this happens from time to time, it’s best you backup your MacBook now using Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, or another backup method.
That way your data is preserved.
Once you back up, first disconnect all third-party peripherals then try restarting your Mac in Safe Mode (hold the SHIFT key when pressing the power button or when restarting). See if the problem continues or resolves.
If problems continue, try running EtreCheck to look at problems and create a report that you can later provide to a service provider, if necessary.
Sam
I tried the above solution for my mac mini. Actually my mac mini randommly restart after apple logo with booting line down the apple logo ,then again restart with same problem. I tried command +option +p+r
,, shift keys everything i did but nothing happened,, so what to do next.. Please help me
Which macOS are you on Niranjan?
You are saviour……
I am having a lot of trouble with this as well. I am running Lion 10.7…
The computer turns on, but gets stuck at the apple logo with the spinning wheel.
Safe Mode does the same thing (gets stuck).
The “verify”/”repair” disk options haven’t worked. On the Macintosh HD, “Verify” shows:
“Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.”
“Repair” shows:
“Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required” and freezes. I let it run nearly 12 hours last night and didn’t do a thing.
Internet recovery doesn’t work. When I get to the “select the disk where you want to install” page no disk shows up.
The commands in the terminal section produce a “no such file or directory exists” message. I also tried the commands provided in the comment a few messages below mine and got the same message.
Hardware Diagnostics froze my computer too.
Unfortunately I bought my computer second hand and don’t have the installation disks either…
Any more tips before I wipe the drive and start over?
Hi Tyler,
Oh man, that stinks!
You’ve covered pretty much all the usual steps. I’d give Safe Mode one more try, removing all things attached to your computer with the exception of the keyboard and mouse.
If you have a friend, family member, or co-worker that also has a Mac, you could try linking the two Macs in targeted disk mode and try to repair the disk via the Mac that doesn’t have issues.
Another option is to use a third-party tool like Disk Warrior to assess your Mac–we’ve used it in the past, especially on Mac OS X with success.
I came across this issue yesterday for a client on a MacBook Air. I tried a few of the options above.
When I tried booting by holding down “Option+ Power button”, it gave me the option to boot from Macintosh HD or Recovery HD ( with network boot underneath).
I chose Macintosh HD and it loaded the login screen.
Once there, I shut down. and switched back on normally, it now boots normally and goes straight to the login screen instead of looping.
Thought it might help
Will data be erased if we reinstall osx or not??
Backing up your data is always a great idea before you troubleshoot.
A reinstall should not erase any data–it’s not supposed to, at least. But it’s better to be safe than sorry–so back up before you reinstall macOS
I was facing the same problem. The last solution ‘Leverage Terminal’ worked for me. Thanks a ton!
Hi I tried to follow the commands to clear the mbr_cache file but the commands that I put in the terminal returns with “No such file or directory”.
My Mac has been stuck at startup with the loading bar. When I enter verbose mode it says “Too many corpses being created”
Please help!
Hi Wilson,
Oh my goodness, we hate when those too many corpses messages comes around!
Are you backing up regularly with Time Machine or something else? If so, try erasing your Mac’s disk and reinstalling a fresh macOS.
For whatever reason, many readers report that reinstalling without erasing did not work.
If you have a backup made using Time Machine or another backup program, you shouldn’t lose data (up to the date of the last backup.)
If you don’t have a backup or it’s just not possible (or too scary) AND you have access to another Mac, try making a bootable installer on a USB drive. Then reinstall macOS High Sierra onto your Mac’s internal drive from that.
It’s also possible that some kext files are getting in the way. In that case, boot up in the Recovery Mode again (Command + R keys) and enter the following commands in Terminal:
mount -rw /
cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Library/Extensions/
mkdir Unsupported
mv *.kext Unsupported
reboot
Hope something here helps. If the problem persists, contact Apple Support and see if they’ll walk you through some additional troubleshooting steps!
SK
Hello hoping you can help
I have an early 2011 Mac Book Pro and just tried to install High Siera. Now I have a message saying that I have missing package and this loops around to coming up with the same message. I can’t seem to get out or cancel to use the Laptop.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thank you
Hi CB,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with your recent High Sierra installation. Have you tried forcing a restart by powering your Mac off and booting up in Recovery Mode (or internet recovery mode) by pressing both Command + R as your MacBook boots? Then run disk utility to check your drive. Once checked, go to the Apple menu choose Startup Disk—select your HD and reboot. See if this works.
If that’s not working, try restarting and this time hold down the option key before the Apple logo shows. This lauches the startup manager. Select your Macintosh HD (or whatever you named your drive) and see if it boots up normally.
If the problem persists, let us know.
Liz
I have the same problem as the last commenter, and I’ve tried all the same solutions, but none of them work. I’m unable to start up in safe mode. I ran the hardware test with no issues. So now it looks like I need to erase my Mac and start over. Problem is, I can’t seem to find any time capsule back ups. I did create a hard drive copy (.dmg) through disk utility onto a 1 TB sea gate slim external USB 3 drive, but it copied as read only (even though I told it read/write). I’m concerned if I erase my computer I’ll lose all my data and I won’t be able to recover it. Any help would be much appreciated! It’s a 2014 21.5 iMac, by the way.
Hi Jessi,
Since you successfully created a .dmg, your data should all be stored. If you have access to another Mac, you can check that .dmg file using Disk Utility with Images > Verify, then select your .dmg disk image file that you want to verify. Click Verify, then click Done. This process checks to make sure your disk image’s data hasn’t been corrupted.
If you’re still worried about losing data, make an additional Disk Image or try Target Disk Mode with another Mac and see if you can access and move your data to another drive. Remember that a disk image of a disk that’s failing or corrupted, may not serve as a reliable backup.
To restore a disk image:
Open Disk Utility
In the sidebar, select the volume that you want to restore, then click the Restore button or choose Edit > Restore
This is the volume that is erased and becomes the exact copy
Click the Restore pop-up menu, then choose the volume you want to copy
If you’re restoring from a disk image, click the Image button, then navigate to that disk image
Click Restore
Keep us posted,
SK
My iMac stuck on loading screen.
What already done:
1. Start + Ctr + R
When the first aid and disc repair and OS reinstall has been done more the one time!
In this mode hard disc looks good.
2. Start + ctr + alt+ P + R I’ve done three times. Nothing changed.
3. Start + shift do the same, like Start, not safe mode.
Any ideas???
Thanks
Hi Evgeny,
My goodness, we’re very sorry to hear about your iMac issues at startup!
How about starting up in Single-User Mode (Command+S) and, if you’re comfortable with using some basic UNIX, running some Terminal commands to see what’s going on and possibly repair the issue? Take a look at the article section #4. Using Terminal in Single User mode
Another suggestion is to run Apple’s Hardware Test
Disconnect all external devices except keyboard, mouse, display, Ethernet connection (if applicable.) If you don’t disconnect all devices, you might see an error message when running the test
Make sure that your Mac is on a hard, flat, stable, well-ventilated work surface
Shut down your Mac
Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the D key. Maintain this hold until you see the Apple Hardware Test’s icon on-screen, then release
Select your language and click the right arrow or return key
To test, tap the Test button, press T, or press Return
Select “Perform extended testing” to run a more thorough test. The extended test takes longer to complete
When the test finishes, your test results appear in the lower-right
To quit Apple Hardware Test, click Restart or Shut Down at the bottom of the window
Hope this helps!
Hi,
I’ve got an issue when my partner reset our MacBook Air he thinks he’s done something wromg and it froze. Now when I turn it on and off it comes up with a flashing document folder simbol with a question mark in the middle. We can’t go any further than this point. What do i do please help!
Hi Ayla,
Sorry to hear about your Mac problems with start-up. It sounds like your MacBook Air is not seeing the internal hard drive. Try starting up with Startup Manager and see if it recognizes your hard drive.
1. Hold down the Option key immediately after turning on your MacBook
2. Release the Option key when you see the Startup Manager window
3. Select your startup disk and press Return
If you can’t see your startup disk, press Option-Shift-Command-Period and see if it brings up your hard drive.
An alternative is to start up in your Recovery Partition by pressing Command + R keys at startup–then launch Disk Utilities and check your Mac.
Hopefully, one of these works for you! And leaves your partner blameless.
SK
Hello.
I have an older white MacBook—I believe I have the leopard OS. I bought it in. 2008.
So my problem arose when I tried uploading the OS to a newer version—it wasn’t successful—it had mentioned some error—so I tried it again, the same thing happened. Oh well. I carried on with my day.
With that being said, everything was working just fine, regardless of this error. Then I had packed up my things and went home. That’s where all the fun began! When I reopened my MB at home, it started up, went to the gray Apple logo [with the pin wheel], then to a blue screen and just sat there, going from one flicker shade of blue to another—almost instantly, like it was trying to start up but couldn’t quite get there. It gets stuck. And then the cursor appears—sometimes it disappears. I can movie it around, but the screen is just blue. I’ve been without it for so long, and I have so much on it.
How do I fix this issue?
I’ve researched a bit about it, but haven’t really had any success or any clues as to what to do. :-/ It’s so super frustrating! I have access to nothing. Almost no idea as to what is going on or what I’m suppose to do.
The safe mode [holding down shift upon restarting ] hasn’t worked.
Any help would be great!
Hi Blaine,
Sorry about your troubles on your older MacBook. Let’s try Single User Mode to remove this file: ApplicationEnhancer.bundle
Start up in single-user mode by holding Command-S after restarting the computer. Note that single-user mode always uses the US English keyboard layout.
Type these commands, each on a single line followed by Return:
/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
rm -rf /System/Library/SystemConfiguration/ApplicationEnhancer.bundle
reboot
If that doesn’t help:
Do you have the installation discs that came with the MB? If so, try inserting the DVD/CD and start up from that drive by pressing the C key when powering up. Keep that key pressed until you see a Welcome Screen. Then run Disk Utility and First Aid from that installation disk. Make sure you click on the Repair Permissions button after repairing your disk.
If you don’t see anything, hold down the Option Key when booting up to launch startup manager–see if the DVD comes up as an option.
If you are unable to insert a DVD/CD, restart with the Option Key held down until you see Startup Manager, then try and insert that DVD.
Let us know if one of these works or doesn’t.
Good Luck,
SK
Hi guys. 2012 27” i Mac behaving ‘strangely’. Gets stuck in a boot loop – Apple logo with a progress bar underneath that never makes it to 100%. Internet recovery is the only approach that gets it back working again. It will then work perfectly for about 7 days for the whole issue to repeat. I then need to perform another internet recovery. I’m thinking the harddrive has gone, but strange that I can get a couple of days of use each time after each recovery. Disk repair never finds any issues which adds to the mystery. Any advice?
Hi Stephen,
Have you tried re-installing macOS onto your HD? Of course, backup everything first. But then try to reinstall macOS when using either internet recovery mode or your onboard recovery partition.
SK
Thanks, Liz.
I followed your first suggestion that led to internet retrieval globe symbol. It asked me to choose network. But, my 4 year old mbp remained frozen, therefore I could not select the network..
I can get to the Safe Boot screen, however mbp still remains frozen.
I took the mbp to the Apple store, yesterday were able to unlock/unfreeze the mbp in their store using command+option+R+P combination but it froze again again when I came back and tried to restart.
I will look at the article you suggested. Thanks again for your suggestions.
K
You bet Asghar,
Keep us posted on what’s going on.
Liz
I reached Mac OS X Utilities step on MacBook Pro but my cursor was not able to highlight any of the options in the window. Can you suggest other ideas for a MBP that freezes at start before booting.
Other steps in your article did not resolve the problem.
Thanks.
Hi Asgard,
Sorry about your MB troubles. Have you tried starting up in Internet Recovery Mode by pressing and holding Option+Command+R keys when you restart? Maintain a hold on these keys until the Apple logo comes on screen. Once your laptop starts up, navigate to Disk Utilities and run First Aid if possible.
If that’s not possible, are you able to start-up your MB using SAFE mode and the restart using the ‘Restart’ option in the apple menu? Give this a try and see if it does start up normally. Safe Mode includes an automatic disk check and repair so it could solve some issues.
Finally, if none of these works or is possible OR if you MB boots only in Safe Mode but not in normal mode, it’s likely that third party items are installed in the Macbook and causing problems. You’ll need help identifying those items. For this, a report from Etrecheck often helps you or a tech identify the problems.
Learn more about Etrecheck in this article.
Hope you MacBook gets better!
Liz
Thank you! It worked after running first aid on my IMac. I did the Safari update and it got stuck biut everything’s good now. You rock!
Awesome Sandie!
Thanks for letting us know.
SK
Mine goes to disk utility, but it just sticks on ‘loading disks’ and eventually shuts down. It doesn’t show any disks to select. Any suggestions?
Hi Andy,
Sorry to hear that! Please provide specs of your system, especially what macOS or OS X operating system you’re using and the model of your Mac.
Baring that info, when your recovery partition isn’t working, try Internet Recovery which remotely loads recovery from Apple’s servers. With Internet Recovery, reinstall macOS or OS X to troubleshoot problems when your Mac’s startup disk isn’t working.
Internet Recovery Mode reinstalls the macOS or OS X version that originally came with your computer when purchased. So use Internet Recovery only if your Mac’s internal disk is damaged or otherwise inoperable.
To manually start up from macOS or OSX Recovery over the Internet, hold down Option-Command-R or Shift-Option-Command-R at startup.
Hope that helps.
SK
Boot Loop happened on my brand new 2017 iMac, 27″, i7, 512GB SSD. It happened just one week after purchased. By phone Apple Support recommended many of the things you suggested in your article but to no avail. They said to box it back up and they will deliver a replacement.
Hi Lanny,
I’m sorry that your brand new iMac is doing this behavior. It’s good that they are sending a replacement. Since this happened so early in ownership, it’s possible other problems would surface over time. It sounds like you got the one rotten Apple out of the baskets.
The good news is it’s highly unusual behavior and your replacement NEW iMac should perform fabulously!
Enjoy it,
SK
Hi.
Thank for your advice. However, when i try all your tricks, it keeps crashing. It goes on safe mode-then crashes. Recovery mode-crashes. The screen just goes black. The time I used it was a few hours ago. And now it wont boot. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Hi Phait,
This is a very concerning issue. Take a look at this article and see if those tips help. There’s also a companion video.
If nothing suggested works, it’s best to take it to an Apple Service Center or Apple Store and get it looked at.
I hope something provided works.
Keep us posted,
SK
Tried everything here and my computer just stays on the reboot screen with the little indicator of how far it’s rebooted and it doesn’t load that at all and turns itself off after about a minute but it’s fully charged any suggestions?
Hi Alley,
That problem is the worst! Have you tried starting up with your MacBook plugged into the charger and your charger plugged into a wall outlet? Also, try using Internet Recovery by pressing the Option Key Plus Command and R keys. See if that will launch recovery mode from Apple Servers. If so, then navigate to Disk Utility and try the steps listed in the article.
We have another article that might help as well for folks that find their Macs are stuck on the “white screen of death.” These tips may also provide you some relief.
Keeping my fingers crossed that things work out for you SOON.
Cheers,
SK
None of this worked. Run Disk Utility from Recovery? – no, Safe mode? – no. P/R/option/command? – no. Nothing works. At I click my user login, it goes to a grey screen then right back to login screen. Nothing works. Got anything else? Any way to detect if it’s corrupt files and replace them?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!! I am on a Caribbean Island with no hope of tech support. Recovery mode worked.
Couldn’t find where ‘Repair Disk’ was so couldn’t press the ‘button’ so stumped!
Hi Rosie,
Sorry that there is some confusion around where to find “Repair Disk.” To get to this, try the following:
Choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts and you hear the startup chime, hold down the Command and R keys.
When the Apple logo appears, release the keys.
Click Disk Utility, then click Continue.
In the sidebar, select the disk you want to repair.
Click the First Aid button.
If Disk Utility tells you the disk is about to fail, back up your data and replace the disk. You can’t repair it. Otherwise, continue to next step
Click Run.
If Disk Utility reports that the disk appears to be OK or has been repaired, you’re done. You can click Show Details to see more information about the repairs. Otherwise, you may need to do one of the following.
If Disk Utility reports “overlapped extent allocation” errors, two or more files occupy the same space on your disk, and at least one of them is likely to be corrupted. You need to check each file in the list of affected files. Most of the files in the list have aliases in a DamagedFiles folder at the top level of your disk.
If you can replace a file or re-create it, delete it.
If it contains information you need, open it and examine its data to make sure it hasn’t been corrupted.
If Disk Utility can’t repair your disk or it reports “The underlying task reported failure,” try to repair the disk or partition again. If that doesn’t work, back up as much of your data as possible, reformat the disk, reinstall macOS, then restore your backed-up data.
Best of luck and keep us posted!
Cheers,
Liz
Thank you so much. Disk utility did it even tho nothing showed up amiss.
This was after installing el captain. Who knows? I don’t know much but I’m glad there are those who do!
Thanks! Safe made did the trick. My late 2008 MacBook Pro was definitely struggling for some odd reason. It took a while after booting for the pop up screen for iCloud to load but it appears fine now. Great advice for backing up, etc.