Macs incorrectly searching for network startup volumes
In some cases, after applying a security update or other major installation, Mac OS X can unexpectedly begin searching for a non-existent network server at startup. MacFixIt reader Lynne LaMaster writes
"One of my clients used Software Update to do the latest security update. When she went to restart her computer, she said it made an awful noise (she has a dual 1.8 G5) and she was afraid something really bad was about to happen.
"She restarted it again, but got a blinking world icon, and couldn't get to her hard drive. As a new Mac user, she was pretty panicked.
"Here's what we did: Restarted holding down the option key, which found the correct system. We selected that, and it started up correctly. Then, in System Preferences, we clicked on the Startup disk, and found that it was searching for the network server (which doesn't exist). We reselected the correct system, and all was fine."
On a related note, if you are noticing that your Mac OS X system is starting up more slowly than usual, and seems to stall for a long time on the network initialization phase, you may need to disable some unused ports.
Open System Preferences, and go to the Network pane. Then use the pull-down menu next to the word "Show:" to select Network Port Configurations. Disable any ports that are not in use.
If you have two or more connection types regularly (for instance, if you use an AirPort connection but sometimes link directly to Ethernet), place the most often used configuration above the less used configuration so that Mac OS X will recognize and utilize it without waiting. The configurations can be dragged and dropped.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Resources
solution.
on FCP. One has to use an old USB -to-Serial adapter
(or Keyspan PCI card) to control professional Betacam
decks. (Still have no clue why the haven't converted to
USB). Too often we loose deck control and I have to go
into FCP and 'remind' its preferences that the serial port
is the deck control.
Apparently, OS X sees those ports (which was listed
above the ethernet port in Network settings) and leaves
them open for networking.
Now that I have switch those settings in Network, I'll
see if that fixes our little inconvience.
JR
- by gerritdewitt April 19, 2004 10:58 PM PDT
- The flashing globe at network startup was introduced in Apple Firmware
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(4 Comments)4.1.7, and indicates that the computer is using its built-in Ethernet port to
look for a NetBoot server, first using the DHCP protocol, then using the
bootstrap protocol (BootP).
Unfortunately, I think that this can be a default search state when the IO
registry string for the default startup device changes.
The typical "searching for a startup device" icon would be the alternating
question mark and Mac OS face icon on a blue folder at startup. (The flashing
question mark on a diskette indicates that a Mac OS 9 driver has been loaded
for a volume, but that the System file cannot be found. Newer Macs won't
show this icon ever.)
I think that some Mac OS X updates change the path for the selected startup
volume, as the IOKit gets updated. For a moment during such an update,
Mac OS X does not see a valid startup device, so the IO Registry is changed:
With no other bootable devices, it is set to "Network Startup." (Notice how the
Network Startup option is the first to appear in the Startup Disk preference
while other folders are being searched. Also note how IOKit always changes
with major Mac OS X Updates: IOKit 7.3 corresponds to Mac OS X 10.3.3.)
Resetting the PMU or NVRAM could also result in the same effect. Holding
the [N] key at startup will also effect a network startup on most post-1999
Macs.