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zterm

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 1, 2018
74
9
Trying to use Disk First Aid on a MacPro 5.1 SSD boot drive, I noticed that single user mode has stopped working.
After pressing cmd-s the boot is slower than usual, stopping halfway but completing the progress bar after a few minutes. Thereafter, the bar remains stationary.
In normal mode, the computer boots perfectly.

I have also tried running Disk First Aid in recovery mode, but it doesn't work, saying the disk cannot be unmounted.

I have removed the other drives from their bays (except for one NVME drive) and disconnected the external drives thinking that the delay could be due to another drive failing, but the same thing happens.

No FileVault/Firmware Password are activated, AFAIK.

Any idea what could be the cause?
 
Last edited:
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Reactions: Basic75

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,584
Hong Kong
May I know what problem you are actually experiencing which makes you need to do first aid in single user mode?

Also, which OS you are running? Your graphic card can display boot screen natively. Is that correct?

The last time I use single user mode is quite a few years back, I really can't remember if there is any "progress bar", but from memory, it should boot straight to text-based environment.

Annway, you may also use the -s boot argument to boot to single user mode (if the hotkey seems doesn't work).
 

zterm

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 1, 2018
74
9
I am suffering from very frequent spinning wheels when performing simple tasks. So I thought it was time to do some maintenance.

First tried to run Disk Utility First Aid in normal mode, but my startup drive could not be unmounted. I am using Mojave.
So I tried to boot into Safe Mode and the progress bar stops right at the end, sitting still for hours.
Then I tried to boot into Single User Mode but the process didn't even work as after pressing CMD-s the result was the same as booting into Safe Mode.
After my first post, have run Onyx and did the default maintenance.

After running Onyx, I was able to run Disk Utility First Aid in normal mode and the drive seems to be fine.
I have also noticed that single user mode boot works again now but I still can't boot into Safe Mode. ?????

Will make a full backup before investigating further.

Can't still comment on the drive's performance.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,584
Hong Kong
I am suffering from very frequent spinning wheels when performing simple tasks. So I thought it was time to do some maintenance.

First tried to run Disk Utility First Aid in normal mode, but my startup drive could not be unmounted. I am using Mojave.
So I tried to boot into Safe Mode and the progress bar stops right at the end, sitting still for hours.
Then I tried to boot into Single User Mode but the process didn't even work as after pressing CMD-s the result was the same as booting into Safe Mode.
After my first post, have run Onyx and did the default maintenance.

After running Onyx, I was able to run Disk Utility First Aid in normal mode and the drive seems to be fine.
I have also noticed that single user mode boot works again now but I still can't boot into Safe Mode. ?????

Will make a full backup before investigating further.

Can't still comment on the drive's performance.

Any suggestions would be welcome.
It's not necessary the SSD's issue, but can be Finder's issue, or WindowServer's issue, etc. Or even some other hardware's issue, which interrupted the whole system (waiting for that hardware's I/O return), and show you the beach ball.

You may create another user account, and completely logout the existing one (or even better, start from cold boot, and only login the newly created account). If no spinning wheel issue. Then it shouldn't be the SSD.
 

zterm

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 1, 2018
74
9
Thanks. Now I would like to know why I can't boot Safe Mode. :)
 
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