Yosemite System stuck on boot at Apple logo progress bar

[o0Ampy0o]

Have an old build Hackintosh running Yosemite 10.10.5. Had to replace Bluetooth keyboard damaged by coffee spill. System did not recognize new keyboard (identical keyboard just not yet paired) and I could not enter password at log in prompt. Looked in Apple Support Forum and someone recommended Power Button + CMD. After doing that combo I could not get further than the Apple logo progress bar at its halfway stage.

I purchased a wired keyboard and with a lot of attempts managed to get to the password prompt and inside the operating system. However it was unstable and limited functionality. For instance, I could not run video files with Quicktime. The typical keyboard combos for true Apple systems did not get me to safe mode or verbose mode. It was by chance that I managed to get inside the running operating system a few times but when attempting to duplicate what I had done it has not worked consistently.

**Currently I have not been able to get back in for two days. The last time I was inside I moved as much content as I could off the main (boot) drive. I was not finished screen capturing everything for future reference. Before I attempt to reinstall Yosemite I need the make a complete record of everything. It has been years with this system and I have forgotten and not used many things.

I have a copy of the original 8GB USB bootable drive content. Looking through it I do not see the operating system which should be at least 5GB. I only see the installer. I could not download the operating system on my other computer because it is a Mac Mini M1 and a message said Yosemite was not supported on that system therefore it would not download the file even though I did not intend to install it there.

I can trigger motherboard options with F keys. But I cannot trigger safe mode or verbose mode. FWIW the wired keyboard is Windows but being USB it worked. I was able to pair the system to the new Mac keyboard and I have been trying things out using both. The keyboards do not seem to be factors.

The first time I got into the motherboard options when I exited that I was able to get to the password prompt of Yosemite. But when I have tried that since then it has not worked.

The last time I got to the password prompt for Yosemite it was after I triggered a couple of kernal panics doing the same things I had done when I did not cause a kernal panic previously. After the kernal panics I somehow got past the halfway stage of the progress bar at the Apple logo. But yesterday I could not even cause a kernal panic.

Also related is that the first times I got into the running operating system the Shift key was being held down. I think I also was alternating with the Esc key at some point. But the Shift key just temporarily stops the boot process now. Pressing Esc releases the pause. It may be obvious I am not clear of what exactly got me to the password prompt and everything I have done again to recreate the trigger may not be exactly what I did that triggered it ever. When I carefully try things individually giving them time and attention they do not get me to the password prompt. It could be that some random sequence created a hiccup that got past whatever is stopping the boot sequence at the Apple logo progress bar.

I have tried leaving it at the progress bar Apple logo stage to see if it is just very slowly loading instructions and finding its way eventually but after a couple of hours I believe it is truly stopped at that stage.

I welcome advice and guidance.

Thank you!

**EDIT: I was able to get in again today and am in the process of making a record and copying everything that is at risk of being lost in the process of correcting this problem.

Corrections: Typo "CMB" was meant to be CMD aka Command

 

[c-o-pr]

Review...

The problem is that you have a Yosemite box that you haven't used in a long time
And the bluetooth keyboard that used to work is now dead
You want to pair another keyboard but can't log in to pair
You tried a reset of some kind using (literally) Power+CMB —is that a typo for CMD?
You got a USB keyboard and got it started, then ran into many more problems...

So is this a Mac or hack? Because it looks like you're mixing and matching lore that works differently depending

 

[o0Ampy0o]

Review...

The problem is that you have a Yosemite box that you haven't used in a long time

Until I spilled coffee on the keyboard last month I used the system weekly since its build years ago. It just has not been updated because I did not want to risk causing a chain of problems rendering it inoperable. Over the years I have installed and saved many different things but have also not used many applications for a long time so I do not remember everything that is on the system.

And the bluetooth keyboard that used to work is now dead

The coffee damaged keyboard has been replaced. I have both a wired USB keyboard that works except it has Windows keys but those coincide with Mac keys so not a problem. I also now have the new Mac keyboard paired and usable.

You want to pair another keyboard but can't log in to pair

I was able to log in and pair the new keyboard. See above.

You tried a reset of some kind using (literally) Power+CMB —is that a typo for CMD?

Initially when the new Bluetooth keyboard replacement arrived I tried to set it up but the computer did not automatically reach out for a Bluetooth keyboard. The original was out of commission and would not turn on so invisible to the system. But the anticipated search for a Bluetooth keyboard did not take place. I read in the Apple Support Forum to try CMD + Power Button. That caused the system to stall during the boot up process. I later researched that the CMD+Power Button is only an option to turn off the system. Somehow that corrupted somthing because ever since I did that it has presented a problem booting up.

You got a USB keyboard and got it started, then ran into many more problems...

I got an identical keyboard replacement and paired it. Just having a working keyboard is not the resolution to the boot up problem. I am not clear which if any "Apple" keycoard combinations should work in a Hackintosh which has non-Apple components. They are all compatible with this Hackintosh build spec but it is not an Apple MB. SO maybe the typical triggers for safe mode and verbose mode do not work ever in Hackintosh's. I don't know.

So is this a Mac or hack? Because it looks like you're mixing and matching lore that works differently depending

This is a Hack. I figure everything here is Hackintosh so did not specify it. I have now edited the OP and added that detail.

I was looking for the cheapest wired keyboard because I only needed it for situations like this. The cheapest by far was Windows PC based and I read any USB keyboard would work with a Mac. You just had to think about the key labeling because it is not Mac-centric. That has turned out to be true. What I am not certain of is whether Mac-centric key combinations work in a Hackintosh, like accessing safe and verbose modes.

Thank you for responding. Please ask if you need to know more details.

BTW I was able to get in again today and am in the process of making a record and copying everything that is at risk of being lost in the process of correcting this problem.

 

[c-o-pr]

Booting into Recovery can allow a keyboard to be paired. It seems that once the pair is negotiated the BT devices store the association so it works from BIOS up. But resetting NVRAM or cold boot may disrupt until the next OS boot to reset pairing config. Apple Mac firmware has additional juju.

Holding the Shift key on hack is iffy for me. There's a Open Core boot option to engage Safe Mode but I don't recall. z must be the similar in Clover. A big stall during Safe Mode is normal because caches are cleared / rebuilt.

Hanging progress bar can mean so many things.
A keyboard issue shouldn't require a reinstall.

My feeling is you've forgot how your system works and the keyboard hazard got you pressing lots of buttons which caused side-effects and you got flustered.

But trying to reinstall is fine, and it might even help, except if the previous install got damaged that's a sign of a HW issue, eg failing drive, so will the reinstall just push the problem around?

Why your old existing installer would not work anymore is odd not something i can make any sense of based on the description.

Mac OS Installers are packaged in various ways for various install approaches, and the installer typically can introspect to assemble itself in various ways as needed.

If it's super important I can look up my lore but PITA. This is covered as a side concern by DosDude1's Unsupported Installer for Catalina. From it you can see how parts are obtained from Apple and sewn together. Nerd alert!

My point is the technology is out there. On github there's a command line tool for assembling arbitrary Mac OS installers with data sourced from Apple. I don't know if it can reach back to Yosemite. This site is reluctant to discuss details because they don't want Apple to have cause to spoil the scene. But strictly speaking these approaches are legit. Just not something most users want to go into gory details.

Good luck!

 

[o0Ampy0o]

For sake of anyone reading the thread, to clarify:

This is not a keyboard problem. When the original keyboard stopped working the system still booted up to a password prompt as it normally does.

What caused the problem was doing the Power Button + Command key combination. As soon as I did that the trouble started. That action may have corrupted a file essential in the boot process. IDK? ***

*** Also, thinking back I had not yet paired the new keyboard to the system and it was days later that I had a wired keyboard in my possession. It might not have been the Power Button + Command combination that triggered the problem. It probably was just using the Power Button alone to shut down the system that triggered this problem. I did do the combination but the keyboard would not have been able to communicate anything to the computer. When I read the suggestion to use the Power Button + Command combination on the Apple Support Forum I did not know what that was supposed to do. I thought it was related to the keyboard and a way to get the system to look for the new Bluetooth accessory. Later I found out from Apple that the combination is just another way to shut the system down.

When I initially set up the Hackintosh I used Multibeast. There is also Kextbeast on the boot drive. I could not use Clover because it was too difficult for me to understand. That is also why I never updated the original installation. The update process at that time used Clover.

The Mac OS Installer is fine. The problem is that I cannot use my alternate computer to create a new boot drive because it does not support Yosemite and Apple has things set up so you cannot even download the file without installing it. Maybe it is a more recent change but my Mac Mini running Big Sur reads the Yosemite installer as unsupported and does not allow me to go further. But I had copied the contents of the flash boot drive to a folder back when I first set up the Hackintosh and I think I can just copy that content to a drive then change the boot drive to that USB port. So I do not need to download Yosemite to the USB boot drive ....is that correct? Yosemite was not in that content. Just the installer was there.

I did get the Hackintosh operating system running again and have not shut down the computer since. I looked inside the Yosemite Installer folder "OS X Installer Data" folder that is on the main drive and the OS file appears to be there if that is in fact what that file is. It is labeled "InstallESD.dmg" and is about the size Yosemite should be 5.72 GB. I also never deleted the installer on the system and in Applications there is an application icon called "Install OS X Yosemite."

It has been years. I joined this forum in 2015 and built the Hackintosh within a year. I have forgotten a lot. I suspect the USB boot drive never had the OS on it and the process only required the installer to initiate the download in process of booting from that flash drive. I may have the original instructions saved somewhere in my multiple TB drives but another side effect is that although I am inside the running operating system it is running in some form of limited mode. I cannot view videos with Quicktime and I cannot use the search tool. The search tool produces zero results which means I have to manually scour through all of the folders and files looking for things. The instructions I found online recently (here I believe) required that in order to create a boot drive I had to download Yosemite first not just the installer.

I guess my next step is to see if I can locate the original instructions for guidance.

Thank you again.

 

[c-o-pr]

I am confused from your descriptions.

What am I reading is that you are stuck during startup,
but you are also started up and accessing needed files.

Can you be more clear about precisely what is the problem at this time?

And if the keyboard isn't the problem, please don't keep discussing the keyboard! :&

 

[o0Ampy0o]

I am confused from your descriptions.

What am I reading is that you are stuck during startup,
but you are also started up and accessing needed files.

Can you be more clear about precisely what is the problem at this time?

The Problem: The computer does not boot up consistently. It stalls at the Apple logo with the progress bar at the halfway stage.

But a few times I have managed to get past the stall stage and to the password prompt to get the operating system running. When I get into the system it is unstable and with limited functionality. If I exit the operating system and shut the computer down I am back to square one with it stalling at the Apple logo again.

I need it toboot up reliably and with the operating system running with full functionality.

I do not know what has gotten me past the stall stage. It has been random. But just getting past the stall stage and into the operating system is not enough. I need to fix the boot process so it consistently gets to the password prompt and inside the operating system with full functionality not unstable and limited functionality.

And if the keyboard isn't the problem, please don't keep discussing the keyboard! :&

Let's forget about the keyboard. I have a usable keyboard. That much has been resolved.

 

[c-o-pr]

That sounds like a read failure on hard drive. Consumer drives are programmed to keep retrying reads forever until data can be obtained. Sometimes the data read are wrong. As drives go bad the develop regions that can be read reliably. When you tried you cmd shutdown / safe-boot options this probably exposed the problem area which lives under macOS files. Caches we're cleared and when rebuild the bad zone was uncovered. It will get worse with age.

If you have a spare drive make a clone asap.

Re-installing could help because files will be placed elsewhere, to a dune zone is not suffering read errors. When the bad area gets rewritten with other data, it might work again too. But once you see any failure... time to scrap drive. If it's SSD you can using vendor until to do secure erase which may reset bad blocks. But your system sounds like it's been around the block and old age just hurts.

Your system predates SSV so Carbon Copy Cloner can do a standard clone which will tell you what files are affected by the read errors if any.

If the are errors to just a small number of files, you can fix these by hand to get system stable again. Just rename the bad files so those blocks don't get reused

If you have errors in critical personal data, you boot ubuntu in tryout and run gnu ddrescue (an enhanced form of dd) to make a block-for-block copy to another raw drive or image file. It can do amazing things to work around bad blocks and recover data nearby. This is nerdy job, but it can save you.

The the ddrescue faq well tell you all about it.

You have some work ahead but you can succeed.

Best to you