How do I stop a MBP rebooting on a start up error

Hi all,

I've done a quick search on this to try and find an answer and having a little difficulty.

I currently have a problem with my MBP where it starts up and then reboots halfway through the load up and on the second boot it starts normally.

I've tried a "verbose" start up to try and find out the error it's spitting out to google it to fix - however it restarts so quickly after the error I don't get a chance to read it.

Is there a way I can halt the operating system on reboot when it receives and error on start up?

A bit like the BSOD for windows - you can stop it from rebooting to note down the error to work out whats wrong.

Cheers chaps
Al

Have you checked your console logs to see what the error was? Copy the portion of the log which shows the error and post it here. Maybe we can see what's causing it to happen.

I've taken a look in the console logs and have posted a portion of them on the apple support communities.

This following log is just as the first boot fails and the second boot starts from the system.log;

Dec 18 18:28:03 Shockwave UserEventAgent[11]: servermgr_certs[11] -[CertsRequestHandler(HelperAdditions) identitiesFromKeychain:]: SecItemCopyMatching (err = -25300)

Dec 18 18:28:03 Shockwave com.apple.UserEventAgent-System[11]: SecItemCopyMatching: The specified item could not be found in the keychain.

Dec 18 18:28:03 Shockwave UserEventAgent[11]: CertsKeychainMonitor: ready to process keychain & timer events

Dec 18 18:28:21 Shockwave fseventsd[19]: Logging disabled completely for device:1: /Volumes/Recovery HD

Dec 18 18:28:22 Shockwave configd[16]: SCNC: stop, type PPPSerial

Dec 18 18:28:22 Shockwave mDNSResponder[13]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-320.10 (Aug 2 2011 19:56:51) stopping

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: starting CaptiveNetworkSupport as SystemEventAgent built Jun 13 2011 17:29:21

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CertsKeychainMonitor: configuring

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: WirelessAirPortDeviceNameCopy(): no BSD interface name found for object 12807

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptiveSCCopyWiFiDevices:388 WiFi Device Name == NULL

Dec 18 18:28:59 localhost bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1324232939 0

Dec 18 18:29:01 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***

Dec 18 18:29:01 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** Verbose boot, will log to /dev/console. ***

Dec 18 18:29:44 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon): Unknown key for boolean: HopefullyExitsFirst

Dec 18 18:29:52 localhost airportd[27]: _processDLILEvent: en1 attached (down)

Dec 18 18:29:53 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CreateInterfaceWatchList:2788 WiFi Devices Found.

Dec 18 18:29:53 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptivePublishState:1211 en1 - PreProbe

Dec 18 18:29:53: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

Dec 18 18:29:53 localhost mDNSResponder[12]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-320.10 (Aug 2 2011 19:56:51) starting OSXVers 11

This next portion is from around the same time from the kernel.log;

Dec 18 18:27:36 Shockwave kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1

Dec 18 18:27:39 Shockwave kernel[0]: AppleBCM5701Ethernet: 0 0 setFixedSpeed - logic error, speed any?

Dec 18 18:27:42 Shockwave kernel[0]: Previous Shutdown Cause: 5

Dec 18 18:27:42 Shockwave kernel[0]: NVDANV50HAL loaded and registered.

Dec 18 18:27:43 Shockwave kernel[0]: DSMOS has arrived

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost kernel[0]: Darwin Kernel Version 11.2.0: Tue Aug 9 20:54:00 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1699.24.8~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost kernel[0]: vm_page_bootstrap: 941609 free pages and 33239 wired pages

Dec 18 18:29:50 localhost kernel[0]: kext submap [0xffffff7f8072e000 - 0xffffff8000000000], kernel text [0xffffff8000200000 - 0xffffff800072e000]

I've tried resetting the SMC and I've tried a "safe boot" - however the problem still persists in the "safe boot"

If you require the whole log - I won't be at my computer until later this evening...

Its wierd - if I reboot the machine and it starts up, it'll fail and restart itself and then start normally. However, I have the "password on boot" enabled, so if the computer restarts on a failed boot and then at the password screen I select shut-down the next time I boot up my machine is boots fine, it only appears to happen if I shut down from the full boot of the operating system.

I also have a bunch of messages appearing about "PID" just before the restart and I can't find those messages in a log anywhere to find out what the error message that appears to make the laptop restart.

Thanks for your help.
Al

The next time you get a normal boot, open your Keychain Access.app and click on the Keychain Access menu item, then select "Keychain First Aid". It looks like you may be either missing an item in the Keychain that it's looking for or it may be corrupt. Let's see what happens.

The keychain appears to be fine from the First Aid - and its still double booting.

Does this mean anything to you guys?;

Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:298 powerStateWillChangeTo: flags=82 stateNumber=3
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:299 powerStateWillChangeTo: found flag=kIOPMPowerOn (2)
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:304 powerStateWillChangeTo: found flag=kIOPMRestartCapability (80)
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:298 powerStateDidChangeTo: flags=82 stateNumber=3
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:299 powerStateDidChangeTo: found flag=kIOPMPowerOn (2)
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: /drv/ MacModule.cpp:304 powerStateDidChangeTo: found flag=kIOPMRestartCapability (80)
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: Previous Sleep Cause: 5
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: EIR is supported.
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: SSP is supported.
Oct 21 18:43:10 Shockwave kernel[0]: Sound assertion "0 == fAudioEngineArray" failed in AppleHDADriver at line 3163 goto Exit
Oct 21 18:43:14: --- last message repeated 2 times ---
Oct 21 18:43:14 Shockwave kernel[0]: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:4b:20:03 MAC AUTH succeeded
Oct 21 18:43:14 Shockwave kernel[0]: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP
Oct 21 18:43:14 Shockwave kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en1
Oct 21 18:43:14 Shockwave kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to 00:26:f2:4b:20:03
Oct 21 18:43:14 Shockwave kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1
Oct 21 18:44:02 Shockwave kernel[0]: 0 0 AppleUSBCDC: start - initDevice failed
Oct 21 18:44:02 Shockwave kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 57584E5930384E4331383836 0x1058 0x1010 0x105
Oct 21 18:44:15 Shockwave kernel[0]: en1: 802.11d country code set to 'GB'.
Oct 21 18:44:15 Shockwave kernel[0]: en1: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140