I realize this is a bit of a long shot...
I've got a 2009 iMac running El Capitan that now gets stuck on boot on a white screen. It was running fine recently, and nothing new was added to the machine (hardware or software). The machine _does_ boot ok in Safe Mode.
Things I've tried:
- OSRecovery and Disk Util, repaired disk, no change
- Running DiskWarrior on the disk, appears fine
- Reset SMC, no joy
- Reset PRAM/NVRAM, no joy
- Re-install El Capitan from bootable USB -- this gets as far as copying the files over, re-booting, at which point I'm stuck on the white screen again (I've let it sit on this for several hours, just to be sure).
The only other clues I have are:
- EtreCheck run in Safe Mode gives me just this error: "[failed] com.apple.watchdogd.plist (Apple - installed 2018-06-29)"
- Checking for errors in Console (again in Safe Mode), shows just a WindowServer + Watchdog failure (excerpt below)
=====
Date/Time: 2018-11-16 08:47:27 -0800
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.11.6 (Build 15G31)
Architecture: x86_64
Report Version: 22
Command: WindowServer
Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Resources/WindowServer
Version: ??? (???)
Parent: launchd [1]
PID: 144
Event: service progress watchdog
Duration: 1.00s
Steps: 10 (100ms sampling interval)
Hardware model: iMac11,1
Active cpus: 4
Fan speed: 1000 rpm
....
Heaviest stack for the main thread of the target process:
10 start + 1 (libdyld.dylib + 13741) [0x10cefa5ad]
10 ??? (WindowServer + 3966) [0x109ce0f7e]
10 CGXServer + 4075 (CoreGraphics + 2677555) [0x109f73b33]
10 CGXCreateSystemWindows + 18 (CoreGraphics + 1555290) [0x109e61b5a]
10 CGXUpdateBackgroundWindows + 2536 (CoreGraphics + 1558340) [0x109e62744]
10 cinematic_boot_update_windows + 1251 (CoreGraphics + 3643133) [0x10a05f6fd]
10 MPHWWait + 53 (CoreGraphics + 5261920) [0x10a1eaa60]
10 IOAccelWriteLockSurfaceWithOptions + 76 (IOKit + 69686) [0x10b0df036]
10 IOConnectCallMethod + 342 (IOKit + 24880) [0x10b0d4130]
10 io_connect_method + 384 (IOKit + 416801) [0x10b133c21]
10 mach_msg_trap + 10 (libsystem_kernel.dylib + 69490) [0x10d0cff72]
*10 hndl_mach_scall64 + 22 (kernel + 2018694) [0xffffff80003ecd86]
*10 mach_call_munger64 + 410 (kernel + 1806026) [0xffffff80003b8eca]
*10 mach_msg_overwrite_trap + 197 (kernel + 861861) [0xffffff80002d26a5]
*10 ipc_kmsg_send + 184 (kernel + 796920) [0xffffff80002c28f8]
*10 ipc_kobject_server + 259 (kernel + 914115) [0xffffff80002df2c3]
*10 ??? (kernel + 1671056) [0xffffff8000397f90]
*10 is_io_connect_method + 487 (kernel + 7208663) [0xffffff80008dfed7]
*10 IOUserClient::externalMethod(unsigned int, IOExternalMethodArguments*, IOExternalMethodDispatch*, OSObject*, void*) + 816 (kernel + 7220816) [0xffffff80008e2e50]
*10 shim_io_connect_method_scalarI_structureO + 278 (kernel + 7214470) [0xffffff80008e1586]
*10 IOATIR600Surface::surface_lock_options(eLockType, unsigned int, IOAccelSurfaceInformation*, unsigned long long) + 1855 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 94999) [0xffffff7f81d68317]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000::waitForTimeStamp(unsigned int) + 59 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 145507) [0xffffff7f81d74863]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000HWChannel::waitForTimestamp(unsigned int, unsigned long long*, bool) + 203 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 388369) [0xffffff7f81dafd11]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000HWChannel::timeStampEnableInterruptAndSleep(unsigned int) + 406 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 390226) [0xffffff7f81db0452]
*10 thread_block_reason + 175 (kernel + 986671) [0xffffff80002f0e2f]
*10 ??? (kernel + 1000220) [0xffffff80002f431c]
*10 machine_switch_context + 316 (kernel + 1875900) [0xffffff80003c9fbc]
=====
I've searched around and I seem to be out of options, but I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations. My gut says there's a GPU problem, but if so, why does Safe Mode work fine? Thanks for any advice.
I've got a 2009 iMac running El Capitan that now gets stuck on boot on a white screen. It was running fine recently, and nothing new was added to the machine (hardware or software). The machine _does_ boot ok in Safe Mode.
Things I've tried:
- OSRecovery and Disk Util, repaired disk, no change
- Running DiskWarrior on the disk, appears fine
- Reset SMC, no joy
- Reset PRAM/NVRAM, no joy
- Re-install El Capitan from bootable USB -- this gets as far as copying the files over, re-booting, at which point I'm stuck on the white screen again (I've let it sit on this for several hours, just to be sure).
The only other clues I have are:
- EtreCheck run in Safe Mode gives me just this error: "[failed] com.apple.watchdogd.plist (Apple - installed 2018-06-29)"
- Checking for errors in Console (again in Safe Mode), shows just a WindowServer + Watchdog failure (excerpt below)
=====
Date/Time: 2018-11-16 08:47:27 -0800
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.11.6 (Build 15G31)
Architecture: x86_64
Report Version: 22
Command: WindowServer
Path: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/Resources/WindowServer
Version: ??? (???)
Parent: launchd [1]
PID: 144
Event: service progress watchdog
Duration: 1.00s
Steps: 10 (100ms sampling interval)
Hardware model: iMac11,1
Active cpus: 4
Fan speed: 1000 rpm
....
Heaviest stack for the main thread of the target process:
10 start + 1 (libdyld.dylib + 13741) [0x10cefa5ad]
10 ??? (WindowServer + 3966) [0x109ce0f7e]
10 CGXServer + 4075 (CoreGraphics + 2677555) [0x109f73b33]
10 CGXCreateSystemWindows + 18 (CoreGraphics + 1555290) [0x109e61b5a]
10 CGXUpdateBackgroundWindows + 2536 (CoreGraphics + 1558340) [0x109e62744]
10 cinematic_boot_update_windows + 1251 (CoreGraphics + 3643133) [0x10a05f6fd]
10 MPHWWait + 53 (CoreGraphics + 5261920) [0x10a1eaa60]
10 IOAccelWriteLockSurfaceWithOptions + 76 (IOKit + 69686) [0x10b0df036]
10 IOConnectCallMethod + 342 (IOKit + 24880) [0x10b0d4130]
10 io_connect_method + 384 (IOKit + 416801) [0x10b133c21]
10 mach_msg_trap + 10 (libsystem_kernel.dylib + 69490) [0x10d0cff72]
*10 hndl_mach_scall64 + 22 (kernel + 2018694) [0xffffff80003ecd86]
*10 mach_call_munger64 + 410 (kernel + 1806026) [0xffffff80003b8eca]
*10 mach_msg_overwrite_trap + 197 (kernel + 861861) [0xffffff80002d26a5]
*10 ipc_kmsg_send + 184 (kernel + 796920) [0xffffff80002c28f8]
*10 ipc_kobject_server + 259 (kernel + 914115) [0xffffff80002df2c3]
*10 ??? (kernel + 1671056) [0xffffff8000397f90]
*10 is_io_connect_method + 487 (kernel + 7208663) [0xffffff80008dfed7]
*10 IOUserClient::externalMethod(unsigned int, IOExternalMethodArguments*, IOExternalMethodDispatch*, OSObject*, void*) + 816 (kernel + 7220816) [0xffffff80008e2e50]
*10 shim_io_connect_method_scalarI_structureO + 278 (kernel + 7214470) [0xffffff80008e1586]
*10 IOATIR600Surface::surface_lock_options(eLockType, unsigned int, IOAccelSurfaceInformation*, unsigned long long) + 1855 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 94999) [0xffffff7f81d68317]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000::waitForTimeStamp(unsigned int) + 59 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 145507) [0xffffff7f81d74863]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000HWChannel::waitForTimestamp(unsigned int, unsigned long long*, bool) + 203 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 388369) [0xffffff7f81dafd11]
*10 ATIRadeonX2000HWChannel::timeStampEnableInterruptAndSleep(unsigned int) + 406 (ATIRadeonX2000 + 390226) [0xffffff7f81db0452]
*10 thread_block_reason + 175 (kernel + 986671) [0xffffff80002f0e2f]
*10 ??? (kernel + 1000220) [0xffffff80002f431c]
*10 machine_switch_context + 316 (kernel + 1875900) [0xffffff80003c9fbc]
=====
I've searched around and I seem to be out of options, but I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations. My gut says there's a GPU problem, but if so, why does Safe Mode work fine? Thanks for any advice.