mac pro only boots safe mode

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Level 1

8 points

mac pro only boots safe mode

Mac Pro 1,1 running 10.6.8. Running Pro Tools 9. I haven't installed anything new. Computer ran fine for years. One day, screen flickered, froze, and computer froze. Since then, it ONLY boots in safe mode. It won't boot to recovery, won't boot to the other hard drive i have with the os installed. Any other way i try to boot I get the infinitely working hard drive with the spinning wheel. I ran diagnostics, ran target disc mode. It tells me drives are fine. What would make this happen? Someone suggested that the graphics card is bad. Anything else I can do or look for? Why can't I boot in recovery and use my time machine backups? Help. Why is safe mode the ONLY way this computer will start?

Posted on Jan 4, 2020 8:09 AM

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Answer 1

lzolner

Level 1

95 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:24 AM in response to sleshnyc

Have you tried resetting PRAM/NVRAM?

Restart the Mac, then immediately hold down Command + Option + P + R keys together

Keep holding the Command + Option + P + R keys until you hear the boot chime a second time, or for Macs without a boot chime until you see the Apple logo  flicker a second time, often this is around 20 seconds or so. This may help. It's odd that you cannot boot into the recovery OS. Are you using Command + Option + R? My other thought is that if you are using a wireless keyboard it may not have connected during the boot process, so you cannot use it to issue commands to the computer during boot. Let me know if this helps!

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,602 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:24 AM in response to sleshnyc

It probably is the graphics card, Safe Mode is the mac stripped down to the bone and doesn't utilise the full

capability of the graphics card, so that's possibly why you cannot boot up in any other manner.

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Answer 3

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,602 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:56 AM in response to sleshnyc

It's the graphics card, it's the graphics card, it's the graphics card, it's the graphics card, it's the graphics card.

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Answer 4

sleshnyc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:35 AM in response to Eau Rouge

but would bad graphics card cause the spinning wheel of doom?

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Answer 5

lzolner

Level 1

95 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:36 AM in response to sleshnyc

The OS could be lagging due to limited graphics performance. It's very odd that you are unable to boot into recovery though.

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Answer 6

sleshnyc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:38 AM in response to lzolner

I have zapped pram. nothing. when i try to boot in recovery i get spinning wheel and you can hear the drive endlessly spinning.

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Answer 7

sleshnyc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2020 8:39 AM in response to lzolner

If I thought it would fix it i would just buy another computer and swap my drives into that one. My problem is i don't know yet if this is hardware or software.

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