Setup Assistant Loop Bug – Endless Misery with Mac OS X Leopard

Posted on January 3, 2008
Filed Under Mac OS X & OS X Software | 56 Comments

Some time last week I’ve updated my Mac OS X to the most recent Leopard distribution. I have to say that I still need to find a real stunning improvement compared to the old version.

leopard osx

The new finder stacks, the time machine backup functionalities and some
additional eye candy just don’t justify the price or the fuzz made
about this new release.

Overall it is as stable as the previous version and for some applications it seems faster – but that might be a kind of subjective feeling more than real evidence.

Now yesterday Apple released new updates and security patches for said OS X Panther. I chose to install them – hey its all about security.

As a nasty little surprise the MacBook would open the setup assistant, that you have to run when you first install OSX. I have to say I was surprised – but little do I know and as I could not quit the assistant – I entered the information asked and the Mac restarted. And guess what it opened the assistant again and again and again… in an infinite loop

After numerous failed attempts to regain access to the dammed &#$&(*^$ , I started my iPod touch Safari and searched for a solution to the bug.

So here are the STEPS if you get caught in the Leopard Setup Assistant Loop Bug

  1. Boot into Safe Mode by holding down the shift key upon boot… Waaaaaaaaaait really really loooooong it will finally work
  2. DO NOT LOG IN
  3. Hit the back arrow key
  4. Then hit the restart button
  5. Wait, it will then run/rerun the updates
  6. Wait, wait, wait and it will finally restart…

Then you are back to normal which for me meant no data loss and everything was back to where I left it…

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    • Comments

    56 Responses to “Setup Assistant Loop Bug – Endless Misery with Mac OS X Leopard”

    1. JasonNo Gravatar on January 3rd, 2008 10:49 pm

      PLEASE HELP! I went through those steps…

      Boot into Safe Mode by holding down the shift key upon boot… Waaaaaaaaaait really really loooooong it will finally work
      DO NOT LOG IN
      Hit the back arrow key
      Then hit the restart button
      Wait, it will then run/rerun the updates
      Wait, wait, wait and it will finally restart…

      I am missing my restart button. When I login to safe mode and hit the back button I only see an option to click on my user name. There is no restart button or it is missing. Am I missing something here? Please help me get out of setup assistant hell!

    2. Frank FuchsNo Gravatar on January 4th, 2008 8:28 am

      Hi Jason,

      the reason is that you should NOT log into your account.

      just boot and hit the back arrow key.

    3. JasonNo Gravatar on January 4th, 2008 3:18 pm

      Thanks for responding. I am not logging in to the account. I am booting into safe mode and get to the login screen where I then hit the back arrow button to find myself with NO restart button. My only option is then to hit the user login where it brings me back to password with login screen. I am stuck in another loop. I have read all of the posts and I guess a few other people are having this problem as well. I am following instructions exactly and there just is no restart button in safe mode from the login screen.

    4. Frank FuchsNo Gravatar on January 4th, 2008 3:33 pm

      Hey Jason,
      now that is a pity. Maybe the reason is to be found in my hardware setup. I’ve got the MacBookPro 3,1 with the 2.2 GHz Intel with Mac OS X 10.5.1 running on it.

      however there is a how to on this page @ apple that might help.

      http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306965

      here the way is using the OS X DVD…

      good luck

    5. JasonNo Gravatar on January 4th, 2008 5:55 pm

      Thanks that worked! What a pain – biggest mac based bug I have ever seen.

    6. Frank FuchsNo Gravatar on January 4th, 2008 10:05 pm

      hey Jason,
      glad it worked for you – and really same here was really quite surprised when my mac locked me out.

    7. Nick coshNo Gravatar on January 11th, 2008 8:54 pm

      many thanks for finding the fix for my wifes imac, my quadcore g5 and our two mac pro’s were not affected. Thanks again….this goes to prove the mac community rules!!!

    8. Frank FuchsNo Gravatar on January 11th, 2008 9:53 pm

      hi nick,
      glad this has been of help to you. And I agree re the mac community.

      have a great weekend

    9. Mike MorehouseNo Gravatar on January 12th, 2008 1:18 pm

      Thanks Frank. You just save me from clicking on the “Restore from a Time Machine Backup”. A 2-3 hour exercise I am sure.

      Really appreciate the help.

      -Mike

    10. Umair on January 16th, 2008 1:07 am

      Thank you so much for this fix.

    11. Jose AyalaNo Gravatar on January 16th, 2008 2:04 am

      Very Helpfull Thanks

    12. richNo Gravatar on January 16th, 2008 2:13 am

      Thank you Frank,

      I just downloaded an update for Quicktime and poof! Very scary. Luckily some googling from my iphone found you and your helpful tips. This note sent from a once-again up and running macbook pro.

      thanks!

      -Rich

    13. dnkNo Gravatar on January 17th, 2008 7:51 pm

      on my machine, I booted into the safe boot, and did not even have a “back” button. However I never logged in and simply pressed the “reboot” button and my system proceeded to install the updates. Once it finished up and actually rebooted, all was normal again. Just posted this as more of a reference for others that may have a similar setup or screen like mine…..

    14. NikosNo Gravatar on January 21st, 2008 4:51 am

      It is impossible for me to boot into safe mode… no matter how long I push the shift button on booting, my iMac still switches on with the setup assistant screen… What can I do?

    15. E.S. on January 24th, 2008 4:20 am

      Thanks for your solution. It solve my problem as well.

      I don’t know if by pressing the left arrow key did any difference, but after the safe mode boot and restarting, it installed whatever it needed and it went back to the proper booting procedure.

      Thanks again.

      E.S.

    16. AstrodustNo Gravatar on January 24th, 2008 9:16 pm

      Thanks! Coincidentally, I found this page on Mobile Safari out of neccessity.

    17. EONo Gravatar on January 28th, 2008 1:53 pm

      Thank YOU for this. I was about to call Apple support but you just solved my problem in less than 5 minutes.

      My setup loop happened after I tried to create a second profile on my 1-week-old macbook 2.0 with Leopard pre-installed. Safe-booting and clicking Restart did the trick.

      Thx!

    18. Never been so scared ;): Labs@flexcoders on January 30th, 2008 8:45 pm

      [...] Beter check it out….. [...]

    19. Jake WiseNo Gravatar on January 31st, 2008 2:25 am

      Thank you soooooo much for helping me out Frank!!!

      Does anyone have any idea which update may have caused this rise in blood pressure?

    20. 5p3k7r3 on February 3rd, 2008 12:11 am

      Thank you soo much! You saved my Weekend! :-)

      Best wishes from Germany

    21. Ben PCNo Gravatar on February 7th, 2008 1:36 am

      I just had the same problem and by sheer luck ended up doing the same steps as above. Since Apple doesn’t have this on their website, how does one go about submitting this to them? And how can I send them a report?

    22. Gabriel JordanNo Gravatar on February 7th, 2008 11:32 am

      Thank you… you saved my sanity this morning

    23. PeterNo Gravatar on February 8th, 2008 11:04 pm

      Thank you THANK YOU! PHEW!

    24. Peter BruceNo Gravatar on February 9th, 2008 7:21 pm

      Thanks a lot – I thought I had lost everything. Your fix worked.

    25. Chris MNo Gravatar on February 9th, 2008 11:27 pm

      You just saved me hours and hours of work. I had the Leopard Loop and your instructions worked exactly as you said.

      Thanks!!!!!!!!

    26. Nigel KNo Gravatar on February 11th, 2008 12:20 am

      Wish I’d seen this earlier. Got the loop after installing Quicktime update, panicked, restarted iMac in target disk mode, got all my data on to a Powerbook and am now in process of a clean re-install on iMac, which has been flaky for a few weeks anyway. This page could have saved me hours…. what an irritating bug.

    27. LukaNo Gravatar on February 11th, 2008 8:45 am

      This method worked, you just saved me from a lot of work ;D.
      Thx alot. Cheers

    28. Mr M. on February 13th, 2008 9:26 pm

      Thank you so much. You saved my day.

    29. NoheadphonesNo Gravatar on February 15th, 2008 12:29 pm

      This also worked for me.

      Does anyone know what causes it.

      I was running a update when it locked up, rebooted and got caught in loop.

      thanx

    30. jerry on February 16th, 2008 11:39 pm

      I am in the middle of trying this. I just updated drivers for my canon mp530 printer so I can scan pictures. I must say I am a recent convert to mac and did not expect to have to deal with manual upgrades and safe mode and other windows type annoyances. I am writing this from my trusty Dell laptop that has not had any issues in 2 years. My old Dell desktop has been good for 4 years.

      Hopefully this fix will work.

    31. jerry on February 17th, 2008 12:21 am

      this step did not work for me. waited 45 minutes with no change in blue screen. Am in the middle of archive and install now.

    32. jaysonNo Gravatar on February 17th, 2008 4:07 pm

      Everything worked as described. This saved me from going spending the afternoon at the genius bar.

      Thanks for your help!

    33. E.ArgusNo Gravatar on February 17th, 2008 6:11 pm

      Bless you sir, I couldn’t get any other method to work om my iMac G5.

    34. iStriz on February 18th, 2008 9:12 pm

      The issue was caused by the recent Quicktime update.

    35. Paul on February 18th, 2008 11:39 pm

      Thanks for this post. This bug really freaked me out. Get on top of that QC and testing, Apple!

    36. kafeneNo Gravatar on February 21st, 2008 6:17 am

      Thanks a bunch!!! Worked as you described. Whew!!!!!!

    37. Jeffrey SuherNo Gravatar on February 23rd, 2008 12:14 am

      What if I do steps 1-4 and then still get the setup assistant and therefore can’t get to step 5

    38. AaronNo Gravatar on February 23rd, 2008 3:30 pm

      omg you saved me from formating and lossing all my stuff, thank you so very very much

    39. Anonymous on March 9th, 2008 3:07 am

      thanks a lot

    40. sheamus on March 30th, 2008 12:41 am

      when you said hold down shift and waaaaaaaiiitt a really long time, i didnt realize just how long this meant. wow.
      thanks for the tip. It was a big help.

    41. John AdamsNo Gravatar on April 22nd, 2008 1:12 am

      Praise jesus and baby jesus for your blog brotha. It’s April now and I just got hit with this harrowing setup experience. Glad I had another computer to look up the problem and you took me right to the solution.

    42. Cynthia-the-gratefulNo Gravatar on May 17th, 2008 10:05 am

      Frank – YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!

      I thought I was going INSANE!!! Or else had expired iun the night and had antered a hell of looping, never-ending Set-Up Assistant hell!

      You just saved me from God knows how much pain over the next few days!

      To all of us out there, having a method of contacting Mac info/blogs at hand is INVALUABLE! This must be the third time it’s saved my skin! Yes, I have a backup, but never seem to keep up and it’s not big enough to run Time Machine on a daily basis. A large back-up drive will without a doubt be my next purchase!

      But cheers to you and all my best!
      Cynthia

    43. DNNo Gravatar on June 24th, 2008 11:39 pm

      Thank you very much. This was a very confusing problem, and you solved it perfectly, saving me a lot of time.

      DN

    44. EW on July 16th, 2008 1:53 pm

      ARGH! Annoying bug licked quickly due to your post. Many thanks!

    45. MaryNo Gravatar on August 20th, 2008 12:36 pm

      now i am having slightly different problems. I hold down the shift key and it goes straight back to the STUPID setup assistant! I can’t even login to safe mode. Please help. I am about to pull my hair out!

    46. JimNo Gravatar on August 21st, 2008 6:42 pm

      Thanks Frank.

      I wasted a few hours on this, without finding the solution. You solved it.

      I too was disappointed by Leopard. Lots of money but little improvement on Tiger. It would have been OK as a ’service pack’ for Tiger. But the price tag was much too high.

      Thanks again. You have helped a lot of people.

      Jim
      ————–

    47. Bradley Fish on November 17th, 2008 2:58 am

      Thanks

    48. CJ on January 1st, 2009 7:30 pm

      Frank,

      A couple of us are unable to reboot in safe mode. It still starts up the setup assistant. Also, when trying to reinstall it again there is no option to archive & install. Only erase and install. Any suggestions on how to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

    49. Bruno on February 12th, 2009 2:38 am

      THANK YOU!
      THANK YOU!
      THANK YOU!
      THANK YOU!
      THANK YOU!

    50. (f) on February 12th, 2009 2:52 pm

      Thanks Fuchs,
      That loop was killing me….
      -(f)

    51. EdwinoNo Gravatar on March 24th, 2009 12:14 am

      Thanks a lot for the tips man, it really done an enormous help!!! :-)

    52. erdemNo Gravatar on May 10th, 2009 7:55 pm

      thank you very very much…

    53. superflycrazy on May 12th, 2009 12:31 am

      lifesaver! i tried everything! perfect fix!

    54. kathryn heathNo Gravatar on July 29th, 2009 4:54 pm

      Thank you very much for your help with this! I have been waiting 3 weeks to get my mac working again and I searched everywhere for a fix and couldn’t find it! I contacted apple and they told me that i just didn’t know my mac very well yet and I needed to get to know my mac!!! I have had a mac for 10 months before I know how to use a mac!!
      Just yesterday my neighbor used a restore disc to try and fix my mac and it didn’t work. I don’t know why… and today I went to look for a solution today and found this! Thank goodness or I would have had to send it back to the manufacturer and wait 4 weeks to get it back.

      Thank you thank you thank you!!!!! I can do my school work again!

    55. nick on September 16th, 2009 5:15 pm

      THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!! You saved my macbook, I was about to throw it out the window. Thank Youuuu!

    56. KaraNo Gravatar on December 22nd, 2009 10:48 am

      Thank you soooo much!!! I wasn’t getting so frustrated after over an hour of getting nowhere. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that my computer’s finally working.

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