Mac mini starts in safe mode when external HD connected

[aurora72]

Hello

Recently I noticed that when I start my Mac mini (C2Duo early 2009 model) with the external HD (ntfs formatted) connected (USB), it often (ie not always) starts in safe mode which takes about 10-20 seconds longer than normal start.

I don't know if what I'm experiencing is technically called "safe mode" but here's what it looks like:


The HD I'm using is a quality and new one, a Seagate external HD, so there can be no problems on the HD.

When started in Safe Mode, some features such as accelerated graphics are not active and ntfs HD cannot be mounted. Therefore I have to restart the Mac mini to make use of these features. When I leave the external HD connected in that moment, it usually doesn't start in Safe Mode, and starts just fine. That means, the Safe Mode starting problem happens when I turn on the computer after it's been shut down for a certain amount of time.

How to get rid of this problem?

[DeltaMac]

You're wishing for a lot, if you expect that a "quality and new ... Seagate external HD" cannot possibly have problems on the hard drive.
If it only does that when the external hard drive is attached, then likely that hard drive has a file directory problem, or perhaps the boot blocks are partly corrupted (need a repair), or the drive electronics are not working as they should.
Run a directory scan on a Windows computer. I don't know if there's a way to do that in OS X, although the NTFS drivers might provide that repair support in Disk Utility (don't know for sure on that)

Do you have to leave the drive formatted NTFS?
Have you checked to see if there is an update to the NTFS drivers that came with your Seagate drive? Other Seagates come with (I think) the NTFS-3G software to install on your Mac, and there may be bug fixes with an update to that driver software, and allow your drive to co-exist with your Mac.

[aurora72]

Am I wishing for a lot? I can't see a reason why should it take longer when an external HD is connected.

That being said, today I noticed that the Mac mini starts in safe mode even when I disconnect the external HD. Actually this morning I tried to add this information to my thread but Hintsforums didn't allow me that.

Consequently, the Mac mini starts in safe mode roughly once out of every 2 startups. It starts in safe mode, particularly after it's been shut down for several hours, i.e. it usually starts up fine when I turn it on after it's been shut down for a short period.

I haven't done any repair check on anything, on file system and on file permissions.

[trevor]

Quote: today I noticed that the Mac mini starts in safe mode even when I disconnect the external HD.

Quote: I haven't done any repair check on anything, on file system and on file permissions.

Then you definitely need to do a file system check immediately. (I very much doubt that permissions are related to this.)

Quote: Am I wishing for a lot? I can't see a reason why should it take longer when an external HD is connected.

I think that you're misunderstanding what DeltaMac said. You're asking for a lot if you think that just because your external drive is new that it cannot possibly have problems. New drives most definitely CAN have problems.

Quote: Actually this morning I tried to add this information to my thread but Hintsforums didn't allow me that.

In what way (please be very detailed, then heap on even more detail), did the forum not allow you to add information?

Trevor

[DeltaMac]

Also, booting into safe boot mode will bring you to a login screen, with Safe Boot Mode (those words) showing on that screen.
If you do not see those words on the login screen, then you are simply getting a type of system scan at boot - another indication that you need to check your hard drive. The external hard drive may simply be coincidental at this point.
Do you get those words "Safe Boot" at the login window? On 10.7 and later, they will be in red, near the top right corner. If not, then it's not Safe Boot mode.

[aurora72]

Hello

I've applied DeltaMac's advice, the file system verify like this:



and after that the problem seems to have gone. The computer starts fast I've tried that several times, whether the external HD is connected or not.

I might have named the slow starting Safe Mode, there are not many documentations about, so I guessed it could be named like that, because many features were not being started such as NTFS-3G, login start-up items and accelerated graphics. The exact screen was like that, I've taken that photo by myself:



Actually, this problem was present for several months and it was hard to identify. But according to DeltaMac's note, it should not be a Safe Boot, because I have never seen Safe Boot Mode words on any part of the screen.

Well trevor, I 've said so because Hintsforums seems to disable editing messages soon after they are posted. I could not edit my message after I posted it. So I wrote another post and sent it but it was no use. It seemed to get lost. Why is there such a restriction? In many other forums there's no such a restriction.

Anyway, I thank you all because that bothering problem is gone now. Thanks.

[DeltaMac]

BTW, that's not a Verify Disk that you did, it's a Verify Disk Permissions, very different test, and not really the results that you were attempting to get.
You appear to be running Lion on your mini, so Boot to your Lion Recovery partition (restart, while holding Command-R), and choose Disk Utility from the choices. Choose your hard drive, then click Repair Disk.

[aurora72]

Yeah it's Lion. I've tried starting with Command-R now and chosen Repair Disk in DU and here's the result:



DU couldn't find anything to repair. Anyway the problem must have been related to the file system verify because it fixed the problem.

Thanks.

[DeltaMac]

and, that's not a file system verify that you did in your post #6, but a file permissions repair. Those are very different tasks, although each can be done in Disk Utility.

The repair that you posted in your last post is actually a verify of the drive, and does not actually do a complete file system repair. You would need to select each partition and run that test again (not just the hard drive). The Repair Disk check will do different tasks, depending on which drive or partition that you select.

[aurora72]

The problem I 've been living is a bug of Lion. That's reported in the official page of Apple: https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0

I have another Mac mini with exactly the same hardware configuration (including the Intel X25-M SSD) and it has Leopard 10.5.8 on it and it never did such a problem. I cannot remember a time when my Leopard Mac mini started up with such a problem. So I also think that it's a problem related to Lion. And that problem persists. The Lion mac mini still starts up with that progess bar sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't. It's random. So, the problem is actually not solved.

[chabig]

What you see is not "safe mode". Here is Apple's documentation:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3148?v...S&locale=en_US

It says there is an issue with your hard drive or the data on it. You should make every attempt to backup that data, then reformat the drive.

[DeltaMac]

And, your Leopard Mac cannot show that boot screen. It does not yet exist in Leopard. Leopard does do disk checks, and if a problem is detected on the hard drive during boot, then you will likely see a similar delay, although without that progress screen.
However, your Leopard system probably is all good, with a correctly functioning drive.

I agree with chabig on this - if you want to solve your issue, backup your SSD, reformat, and restore from your backup.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by aurora72 Well trevor, I 've said so because Hintsforums seems to disable editing messages soon after they are posted. I could not edit my message after I posted it. So I wrote another post and sent it but it was no use. It seemed to get lost. Why is there such a restriction? In many other forums there's no such a restriction.

Yes, the forum does not allow editing of messages for very long after they are posted. This is probably (I say probably because I was not a part of the decision) because some people were asking questions, getting them answered, then going back and changing the question or removing it altogether. As this forum is supposed to be a place for people to get solutions for problems, it is useful for there to be an accurate archive so that OTHER people can see what was asked and how it was answered.

The right thing to do is not to edit the original post, but to write another post. If that's what you did, I can't imagine how it got lost. The moderators are very careful to respect on-topic posts by actual people. You should know, however, that this forum gets spammed constantly. At this point we get probably 30 times as many spams as we do legitimate posts, and the moderators spend hours and hours going through and deleting all this junk.

Trevor

[aurora72]

Quote: Originally Posted by chabig What you see is not "safe mode". Here is Apple's documentation: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3148?v...S&locale=en_US It says there is an issue with your hard drive or the data on it. You should make every attempt to backup that data, then reformat the drive.

In the Apple's documentation it says in the end:

"You may notice the gray progress bar resembles a Safe Mode startup"

That resemblance must have confused and led me to identify it as "safe mode" That problem is really a bit sneaky, cause it doesn't give you any clue about what's wrong, really. Juts a progression bar coming up at random times.

[aurora72]

Quote: Originally Posted by trevor Yes, the forum does not allow editing of messages for very long after they are posted. This is probably (I say probably because I was not a part of the decision) because some people were asking questions, getting them answered, then going back and changing the question or removing it altogether ...

May I kindly remind that many forums do allow editing messages even after long time passes. Just one example: I 'm also a member of forums.freebsd.org and I can edit messages I posted there, even the ones I posted in 2009. (However, I don't do that

~1 hour limit for editing messages is really too short.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by aurora72 May I kindly remind that many forums do allow editing messages even after long time passes. Just one example: I 'm also a member of forums.freebsd.org and I can edit messages I posted there, even the ones I posted in 2009. (However, I don't do that ~1 hour limit for editing messages is really too short.

You are welcome to give that feedback to for the forum administrators in the macosxhints Feedback subforum.

[chabig]

Quote: Originally Posted by aurora72 In the Apple's documentation it says in the end: "You may notice the gray progress bar resembles a Safe Mode startup" That resemblance must have confused and led me to identify it as "safe mode".

I saw that too. The difference is that you have to hold down the shift key to boot into safe mode. If you aren't doing that, it's not safe mode.