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I have a few problem accounts on a mac mini running Snow Leopard. When logging in with some accounts, it hangs forever. Sshing to the box shows that the user has a session, and the system isn't under any load.

I've deleted caches, and the program "little snitch" is not installed.

Since one of the users didn't have much in their account, I renamed their old account, and made them a new one. The only thing I copied from the old account are files on their desktop.

After one session in which all they use is two java programs and firefox, their account gets screwed up again, and they can't log in again.

I've run the same two java programs and firefox in my account without issue (as have all the other users).

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a proper fix?

Updates: Checked and fixed disk permissions, there were issues in /System/Library/Java/ with .jar files that are executable when the system thinks they shouldn't be, but that's it.

Here's a full cycle of logs from bootup, till the user got impatient and forcefully restarted the box.

http://paste.lisp.org/+2NQ6

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    Check Disk Permission?
    – Canadian Luke
    Aug 15, 2011 at 23:49
  • What @Luke said. There's no way to guess what's happening until you know whether those files are in a known state.
    – user3463
    Aug 16, 2011 at 2:24
  • What do the logs say? Mac OS X records a wealth of diagnostic information via the Apple System Log (ASL) system, all of which is available through the "Console" utility in /Applications/Utilities/. Hit the button to show all logs, then select the "All Messages" log stream. Then scroll up to the time where you last had a hang-at-login happen to you. Edit your Question to add the logs, or link to a pastebin or github gist.
    – Spiff
    Aug 16, 2011 at 5:30

1 Answer 1

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1) Take out your Wacom tablet. I found issues with mine until I started and logged in

2) Can you log in as another Admin user? Or a standard user? If so, go to Accounts in System Preferences, click on the username having the issues, and click on Logon Items. You may need to authenticate. Check what programs are trying to start up automatically

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  • The Wacom in question is a wacom cintique (sp?): basically a large monitor with a built-in wacom over the screen. I can't really disconnect it for anything longer than testing. It's the reason my users are using that box. Other accounts work fine, including my own account (which has administrative rights), and another administrative account I have on there. I checked the login items, and there aren't any for my problem accounts, or any other users that I sampled.
    – Kyle__
    Aug 16, 2011 at 21:16
  • What sort of issues did you see with it connected prior to login BTW?
    – Kyle__
    Aug 16, 2011 at 21:16
  • I just saw Wacom so I assumed it was a USB tablet like what I have. It would basically freeze my login for a good 5 minutes if it was left plugged in BEFORE I logged in to my MBP. But since it's part of your screen, I'd recommend running a Permissions check from your disk. Put in the OSX DVD and reboot your Mac while holding the Option key. Select the Mac OSX Install DVD in the boot menu, then select Utilities->Disk Utility. Select your main partition, then click Repair Permissions and Repair Disk
    – Canadian Luke
    Aug 16, 2011 at 21:36

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