This may be a first for me, but I have one dev machine that boots up to the desktop and starts loading all the systemui stuff. Not sure what the hitch is but eventually, the machine logs out to the user screen, I can login again but upon loading something...it keeps happening. I'm hunting for what might be installed (thought it was some remote control package ala logme in i might have had on this one) Can anyone suggest other items or areas to hunt in safe mode to find the culprit? Thanks.
User login loop
I don't follow. You say it boots to the desktop and then starts loading the System User Interface? As I understand it, the desktop can only be rendered when the SystemUIServer process is already running.
Also, just for my clarification, User screen is the log in screen for the local Accounts on your Mac, right?
Finally, could you give an example of what you might load that sends you back to that Account login screen?
Sorry for the delay as I had to run out and then foolishly wasted a few hours trying to troubleshoot.
I've tested with multiple accounts ...even the guest account. It seems that something causes the machine to go back to the user account screen. The machine freezes and then the monitor gets slightly lighter before it happen. A few times, it actually rebooted. The loges are filling up so fast that I can't pinpoint what it is but guessing it's not a user issue given it happen in all accounts. Safe boot works so I just need to figure out what things I could search for to hopefully put this machine back in working order.
Well it's almost certainly one of the core processes that's crashing and when the crash is detected, you're kicked back to the Account login page (you'll see the same behaviour on a properly functioning OS X if you force quit SystemUIServer I mentioned above).
My guess is that you installed 10.11 over Yosemite because it's likely that some configuration or 3rd party installation on Yosemite is the cause of this issue. A clean install onto another drive or freshly erased partition will give it a higher chance of success - if you want, you can then migrate settings and data from a TM backup using migration assistant.
100% accurate on the root cause. I would like to attempt to resucitate ... I feel like i've managed thourgh these even back to pre OS X days. Where could I dig for the 3rd party processes? I do see mtr and xpc processes crashing so if I could find the config files and trash them, that "might" be the issue.
Whilst I credit your tenacity, my experience of this kind of thing is that the patient's prospects are bleak and that even the most skilled of surgeons can rarely unravel the complex web of cause and effect between the original malefactor and the body's attempts to adaptively install around it. In most such cases a DNR really is the kindest thing all round.
If you're keen on trying nonetheless, I'd suggest starting with rogue kexts. You may have to disable SIP first.
In Safe Mode look particularly in /System/Library/Extensions/ , but bear in mind those sneaky kexts could be hiding in other places too.
Two in particular that have been causing bother are:
- SXUPTP.kext
- fuse4x.kext
They can be safely deleted, but others you're better of just moving for testing purposes.
Good Luck! 🙂
Watson is ready for any Holmes who has a diagnosis. Could use some help here:
First off, before the machine kicks out to login screen, there are a crazy array of graphical anomolies akin to a kid smearing paint. I have seen this when Apple updates things for certain graphic cards but the two cards in this machine are Nvidia installed by Apple. Second, mrt agent (via Java update) seems to be a culprit and some articles suggest you can toss the whole thing but a few of the files are locked. Finally, pkd launchservices received xpc_error is flooding the consoles.