Can't login to Lion 10.7.2

[Padraig]

I can't login to my user accounts. If I click on a user it begins to load but then shows a Gray screen and returns to the login screen. Any ideas on what I should do?

 

[karacho]

I can't login to my user accounts. If I click on a user it begins to load but then shows a Gray screen and returns to the login screen. Any ideas on what I should do?

Reboot in Single User Mode (at the Bootscreen just type -s and hit Enter). When the Admin Terminal arrives type:

fsck -fy and repeat the fsck Command like it tells you the Filesystem appears to be OK. Then type...

mount -uw /
rm -rf /var/audit
reboot

 

[Padraig]

I ran the commands and repaired the boot drive but the problem is still occurring.

 

[karacho]

That's strange, normally it should work. I can provide another command if you want, but after that you have to setup a new User Account. You then should have access to the other existing Accounts and you can get your Files. But 1st, if i were you, i would do the Steps i mentioned again. Perhaps you've had a typo at your 1st try.

fsck -fy and repeat the fsck Command like it tells you the Filesystem appears to be OK and the ****Filesystem was Modified**** message is gone.

Then type...

mount -uw /
rm -rfv /var/audit the v stand for verbose and you'll see what happened
ls -la /var/ to controll if the audit Folder is really wiped
reboot

 

[mcoufi]

Hey, I'm having the same problem. I have 10.7.3 and one admin account. Yesterday I had power failure in my city and my UPS kicked in, I was home so I turned it off (it was on screen saver asking for password to login while I shut it down). When the power came back while login it accepted my password and ask me if I want start when the computer was before I shut it down last time... and here we go - infinite loop. It accepts my password and goes to login screen again...

So far I did:
- commands from previous posts - nothing changes
- created new user account by removing .applesetupdone - in wizard turn off ask for password on startup - but it looks like it is not superuser account so I cannot access my locked account files... when I try to with user i'm locked from both ...

did I get into some kind of lion bug ?

 

[mcoufi]

ok i did manage to recover - here is how:

after disabling login on startup all I was getting was grey screen - looked like my startup account was somehow corrupted.

1. i created new admin account
2. changed permissions for all hdds (had to use original login name and password - yes the one that is not working) and copied all my infos, preferences from lib.
3. so it is some kind of solution unfortunately:
I cannot delete corrupted account.

 

[gleedsta]

I am having the same issue. I returned to my machine after accessing remotely via LogMeIn on the iPad. All three of my monitors were displaying the gray pattern associated with the login screen but there was no login box or sleep/restart/shutdown buttons. Just all monitors displaying the same pattern. Once I unplugged one of the monitors, the login box and buttons appeared. But of I try and login, it flashes white briefly before sending me back to the login screen. I can keep trying but it won't let me login.

I tries the commands listed in this post without any luck. I can't get into safe mode with -x or verbose. That only leaves me with the apple logo and spinning thing for some time followed by the small no entry circle over top the apple logo.

How do I create a new admin account? Any reason why safe mode isnt loading?

Really getting desperate. Thanks for your help.

 

[karacho]

How do I create a new admin account? Any reason why safe mode isnt loading?

Really getting desperate. Thanks for your help.

Boot up in Single User mode by typing -s at the Chimera Bootscreen. If you arrive the Admin Terminal do fsck -fy and take care of output like ***The Filesystem was modified***. If that message appears, repeat with that fsck -fy command until osx tell you that your Filesystem appears to be ok. Than type mount -uw /

After that type: rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and reboot. Now you should be able to setup a new User Account.

 

[mcoufi]

after some time, I was able to create new user, but it turned out my main admin account was corrupted. After deleting old admin I had troubles with installing new apps, was unable to run terminal commands. Finally I reinstalled the system... good luck.