Slow startup and sleep problems on MacBook Pro 2,2

Posted on January 17, 2010 by Dae

Once I noticed that the booting process of my MacBook Pro 2,2 extended to 5-7 minutes (the longest phase of the startup process was the blue screen which usually appears right before the desktop) and additionally, sleep (hibernate) mode stopped working. Both problems appeared simultaneously, so right from the start it was clear that they’re related.
To diagnose the problem, I booted in verbose mode (hold Cmd + V when it starts booting, later you may find the logs in Console.app) and noticed these lines:

Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: Busy services : Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2 [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0 [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E/IOPCI2PCIBridge [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E/IOPCI2PCIBridge/FRWR@3 [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E/IOPCI2PCIBridge/FRWR@3/AppleFWOHCI [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E/IOPCI2PCIBridge/FRWR@3/AppleFWOHCI/IOFireWireController [1] Jun 21 03:02:15 Dae-MBP configd[36]: InterfaceNamer: MacBookPro2,2/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PCIB@1E/IOPCI2PCIBridge/FRWR@3/AppleFWOHCI/IOFireWireController/IOFireWireLocalNode [1] Jun 21 03:06:20 Dae-MBP /usr/libexec/hidd[27]: Timeout waiting for IOKit to be quiet

Obviously something was wrong with the firewire. I checked my firewire 400 port and it appeared to be broken. Quick search revealed that the problem of dieing firewire ports is not uncommon for this generation of MacBook Pros, and the only way to repair it is to replace a logic board. I confirmed all of these by contacting a technician of a local Apple reseller.

Since my MacBook was out of warranty and I didn’t want to spend 350€  on a new logic board for a quite old computer, I decided to minimize the consequences. The solution was easy: to move IOFireWireFamily.kext out of /System/Extensions. I as well have to repeat this operation after installing system updates. The sleep problem was gone as well.

Update: you may also want to try to repair your firewire on your own.

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51 Responses to Slow startup and sleep problems on MacBook Pro 2,2

  1. Jamie says:
    August 24, 2010 at 17:26

    So I know I’m bringing up a older post, but I first wanted to say THANK YOU! This worked to fix my issue of my computer taking forever to boot and freezing up when the screen went to sleep.

    HOWEVER, I now have a new issue. I need the firewire port to import video from my video camera. Obviously I can’t do that through the existing firewire on my macbook pro. I purchased an Express card that has firewire to use in the express card slot. The problem is when i remove the kext file it says driver is not installed for the express card in the information section of my mac. When I put the kext file back in the extensions folder, the problems come back but, then the driver shows up as installed for the express card.

    So my question is there any way possible at all to disable to firewire port or remove the kext file, but keep the express card working in order to use firewire?

    Any help would be FANTASTIC!

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      August 25, 2010 at 23:31

      Hey Jamie,
      I don’t think such thing has ever been done before, but I suspect that it is possible.

      Perhaps there should be some sort of a codeless kext that would handle the built-in firewire port and do nothing other than distract it from being handled by the firewire driver.

      Could you please provide all information available about your firewire stuff from System Profiler? You will have to put the old kext back to do that.

      Reply
  2. Dan Diakiw says:
    January 10, 2011 at 23:47

    Slow startup and sleep problems on MacBook Pro. Confirmed! This fix worked perfectly. My logic board is mucked as it has no FireWire 400 or 800. Don’t forget that the “IOFireWireFamily.kext” must be moved out of /System/Extensions after every System Update. Start up and sleep issue is no more. Thanks for this post.

    Reply
  3. ZAF says:
    January 11, 2011 at 16:39

    appreciate a step by step guide on how to “to move IOFireWireFamily.kext out of /System/Extensions”.

    Reply
  4. cate says:
    January 25, 2011 at 16:11

    the IOFireWireFamily.kext is located in /System/Library/Extensions hence it is not allowing me to move the file. I am running OS X 10.5.8

    Please advise

    Reply
  5. Sherry Brizendine says:
    January 26, 2011 at 18:59

    I have an iMac Core Duo (early 2006) model. I just upgraded from Tiger 10.4.11 to Snow Leopard 10.6.6 yesterday and my boot time was about 10 minutes. I thought maybe it was a memory problem at first. Then I noticed my system log had some IO Kit problem and was timing out. I’ve looked at so many discussions and finally found the answer. I followed your advice. Problem solved! I can’t thank you enough!

    Reply
  6. Mike Murphy says:
    February 6, 2011 at 20:50

    Thanks for all the posts here, they are pointing me in the right direction. I have a 2007 mbp 10.6.6- and I’ve just fried the firewire port. However, rather than just a slow boot, my mouse button and keyboard freeze for a good five minutes after boot. They come back though, but with a VNC into the computer I can operate the machine with my phone. (Not a great work around) I’ve tried PRAMing it, and taking out the IOFireWireFamily.kext to no avail. I’ve also tried ONYXing and a bit of APPLEJACKing also no success.

    Any other thoughts on the matter? I can live without firewire, but I hate this booting issue.

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      February 6, 2011 at 21:21

      Hmm…

      1. Did you analyze logs? If not, do that via Console.app right after the reboot.

      2. Try removing all IOFirewire*.kext stuff (so not just IOFirewireFamily) from /System/Extensions.

      Reply
  7. Mike Murphy says:
    February 6, 2011 at 21:56

    Hi Dae,

    Thanks for getting back. I will try that tomorrow and let you know if it works.
    Cheers!

    Reply
  8. Mike Murphy says:
    February 13, 2011 at 14:11

    Hi Again,

    Ripped out ALL firewire .kext files. Success! My MBP is working away again, without the lag time. (firewire dead and gone, but that’s ok) I am very grateful for your advice. I’d actually posted the symptoms on macforums and got no help.

    Thanks!!

    Reply
  9. Carrie says:
    February 17, 2011 at 04:30

    Just wanted to leave a huge THANK YOU for this post! Totally fixed the problem!! My ‘Book is back to being a speed demon!

    Reply
  10. Zoran says:
    May 10, 2011 at 21:26

    thank you, now mac book works as “normal”. …no firewire but i can live with it…thank you again….Powerbook g4

    Reply
  11. Annette says:
    May 11, 2011 at 09:46

    Wow, thanks! I have been having very similar symptoms to Mike Murphy’s. I just deleted all the IOFireWire kext files. Now, I don’t have to wait 7 full minutes after macbookpro boots up to get my mouse and keyboard to do stuff.

    I still have a 2 minute boot up…but obviously there is other stuff I need to do….

    Thanks for finding this fix. I never use firewire anyway.

    Happy macbook camper. :)

    Reply
  12. Annette says:
    May 11, 2011 at 10:25

    Ok, I just have to add another comment. This ALSO allowed my macbook to actually SLEEP when I close the display. Now the little white sleep light pulses (rather than shining solidly) and when I open the lide, the desktop returns (rather than giving me a black screen, to which the only response was to power down, power up (taking about 15 minutes each cycle!).

    Wow, after 5 days of almost solid troubleshooting, internet research, this has been a HUGE relief.

    Reply
  13. Lottery Ryan says:
    May 18, 2011 at 06:26

    Wow! Thank you. Ive had this problem for 18 months.. i scoured soooo far and wide to find out what the heck was causing this and i could not find an answer.. this was about 8 months ago.. I was seeing in the console that mine was getting hung up on a protools related anti-piracy service. My old protools interface was firewire and my new one was usb.. i didnt realize until i tried to plug a camera into my computer that my firewire no longer worked either. So I guess by the sounds of it my logic board is toast.. common problem… is there a way to definitively tell if your logic board is fried?

    Reply
  14. marco says:
    May 26, 2011 at 16:38

    Hi Dae, this fix worked with my macbook pro1,3 too (2,4 Intel Core 2 Duo 17″).
    Thank you!!

    Reply
  15. Matt says:
    June 12, 2011 at 15:24

    Has anyone tried upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard after removing the ktex file? Will it cause any issues?
    I’m about to upgrade so i can get lion next month.

    Reply
    • reversed says:
      June 27, 2011 at 15:50

      I’ve been using Snow Leopard since the release and it works just fine.
      You still have to remove the kexts tho.

      Reply
  16. daniel says:
    June 28, 2011 at 15:18

    I confirm this works also for a MacBook Pro 4,1 Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, with Snow Leopard.

    Same symptoms: very long time to boot and freeze on sleep. Firewire does not work

    Removed all the iofirewire kext files from system\library\extensions (5 kext files in total).

    Boot time is now normal and the Mac seems to awake happily after a nap.

    A big thank to Dae!

    Daniel (from Barcelona, Spain)

    Reply
  17. Lacey says:
    July 20, 2011 at 16:22

    does this work for the 2010 Macbook pro? As of yesterday, my computer decided to stop reading my external hard drive and now gets stuck loading up. I have to shut the computer down repeatedly. Then after booting it gets hung up for about 4 minutes before i can use the mouse, etc. help?

    Reply
  18. Wouter says:
    August 2, 2011 at 12:51

    i managed to fix my MBP 15 (early 2008) with this tip – so first of all thank you.
    Problem I was having is best described as the computer getting “confused” suding start up while searching for the broken FW ports. With them disabled it skips the step.

    So now: installing Lion on a computer with this…
    Launch from installer, then it RESTARTS (presumably with a new FW kernel looking for the broken firewire port) so it never boots properly in Lion.

    You’d have to get it to work to remove the kext again surely?

    Anyone got the Lion update to work ?

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      August 2, 2011 at 13:37

      You may try to boot from a Snow Leopard DVD (of course you’d have to wait 10 minutes or so) and use it’s Terminal to remove the kexts from Lion partition. Not sure if it works though, but its worth trying.

      Reply
  19. Lars Ole Nielsen says:
    August 3, 2011 at 11:31

    This problem has pestered me for month – thanx a million for your solution!

    Reply
  20. Daniel Diakiw says:
    August 7, 2011 at 20:47

    My 2006 MBP 15″ is still going strong minus the FireWire ports. I’m still leery of installing Lion though. Has anyone had a LogicBoard repair/replacement? I found a place that claims they can repair it for around $500.00 U.S. I’m am seriously considering having this done and getting the fans cleaned of dust at the same time. Will keep you posted.

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      August 7, 2011 at 20:59

      If I were you I wouldn’t bother — I’d sell MBP 15″, add those $500 and buy a used (or even new) MBP 13-15″ from 2009 or later, which would be way faster than your 2006 machine, plus LED backlit display, plus unibody.

      Reply
      • Wouter says:
        August 7, 2011 at 23:49

        is that the complete hardware fix this would require? (rather than the software patch) ~ an entire logic board replacement?

        I realise it may well be cost prohibitive but just interested to know

        thanks guys

        Reply
  21. Charles Goodwin says:
    October 12, 2011 at 15:25

    Thanks a million.

    This issue has been plaguing me for months. My Firewire 400 only works when I wedge the cord at an angle. I can live without it and only activate it if and when I need it.

    Reply
  22. John says:
    December 30, 2011 at 18:48

    Hi Dae,

    Thanks a million this resolved the booting problem I was having since past a month and I was being very lazy to find a solution for it.

    After reading several forums it here where I finished my search. However there is still the same problem if I install a fresh OS X snow leopard on this machine…

    Any one has gone through the same problem? Is there only a solution to install the OS X on this hard drive on different machine and then fit it back to this one?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      December 30, 2011 at 19:00

      Hi John,
      I have reinstalled SL several times since the problem occured on my MBP. The procedure takes longer than normally, but eventually it succeeds.

      Could you describe the problem in detail?

      Reply
      • John says:
        December 30, 2011 at 19:07

        Ok I will try with patience then. I dont mind if it takes an hour to install.. And I know what to do later just delete the firewire files.

        But I read somewhere everytime when the updates are installed these files are restored?

        Because my friend (not technical)wants to use this machine for a few months and I dont want the problem to occur in future after updates are installed?

        Thanks

        Reply
        • Dae says:
          December 30, 2011 at 19:23

          Normally only major updates (ones that change the system version number, i.e. 10.6.7 to 10.6.8) bring back the kexts.

          Seeing Lion is now the priority for Apple, I don’t think there will be any major updates for Snow Leopard.

          You may want to create a simple script for your friend, so in case the problem returns they would be able to fix it themselves.

          The script such as this:

          #!/bin/bash
mkdir /System/Library/DisabledExtensions
echo "PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD BELOW. CHARS YOU ENTER WILL NOT BE SHOWN."
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWire*.kext /System/Library/DisabledExtensions

          Save it as “fix.sh” to your Desktop, then open Terminal.app and type “chmod +x ~/Desktop/fix.sh” — that will make it executable.

          The drawback: your friend has to have a user account password set, otherwise it won’t work.

          Reply
  23. jose says:
    January 26, 2012 at 19:00

    its amazing to me that you’re the only one on all of google that knows what my problem is. and it fixes the infamous sleep problem. my comp is back to normal thanks again.

    Reply
  24. John says:
    March 26, 2012 at 16:39

    Hi Dae,

    Its John again. I managed to solve this issue a few months back but now having the same problem in one of my other machine. Could you tell me all 5 kext filenames individually please (I will move/delete all of them)? Sorry about that but I cant find that folder from where I deleted those file previously..Or else if you can send me the command that I need to type in terminal in order to direct me to these files would be great. I am using snow leopard 10.6.8 at the moment and would like to upgrade to OS X Lion soon after this problem is resolved.

    Thank You.

    Thanks very much for your help again.

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      March 26, 2012 at 16:53

      Hi John,

      navigate to the folder with the kexts: open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G, type /System/Library/Extensions, press Go. Once you’re there, in the search bar type “firewire”, then make sure Finder is searching “Extensions” and not “This Mac”. You’ll see all those five kexts.

      Alternatively you can use the script from my message above. Just paste it to the Terminal.app.

      Reply
      • John says:
        March 26, 2012 at 19:46

        Hi Dae,

        Thanks but tried all that already. It gives error below as “The folder can’t be found.” Just to let you know I installed fresh os x snow leopard on this machine just today. I was able to move (and then delete) 1 kext file by the command you specified above

        sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireFamily.kext ~/Desktop.

        But now cant install OS X lion on it and hence want to delete the rest 4 files and then try installing Lion on it.

        I hope the lion would again have the same procedure.

        Thanks

        Reply
  25. John says:
    March 26, 2012 at 19:55

    Hi Dae,

    It goes till the end say 99% install but then says 5 hours left for installation to finish. From 1 to 99% it takes 20 mins. Its definitely not the logic board fault as snow leopard now works a charm and with good speed after deleting the IOFireWireFamily.kext file.

    Thanks

    Reply
  26. John says:
    March 26, 2012 at 20:34

    Hi Dae,

    No. But after like half hour of waiting from that 99% it gives error saying cant update.

    If you have the rest 4 file names then it would be helpful. I can try deleting them and I am sure the problem will be resolved. I deleted all those 5 files previously and everything worked fine after that. I cant find the folder for now but with the sudo command I will move the files to desktop first and then delete them.

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      March 26, 2012 at 20:37

      Well, that’s the commands (from my own message above):

      mkdir /System/Library/DisabledExtensions
echo "PLEASE ENTER YOUR PASSWORD BELOW. CHARS YOU ENTER WILL NOT BE SHOWN."
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWire*.kext /System/Library/DisabledExtensions
echo "Done"

      If all you want is to open the folder in Finder, you could do

      sudo open /System/Library/Extensions
      Reply
  27. John says:
    March 27, 2012 at 21:37

    Hi Dae,

    I found all the 5 files in the extensions folder and they are

    IOFireWireFamily.kext
    IOFireWireAVC.kext
    IOFireWireIP.kext
    IOFireWireSBP2.kext
    IOFireWireSerialBusProtocolTransport.kext

    In case someone comes across the same problem in future then they dont have to again waste so much time that I have already spent.

    Thank you Dae, the information you provided again worked. This was the command I used to find the folder- sudo open /System/Library/Extensions

    Much appreciated.

    Reply
  28. Aaron says:
    April 6, 2012 at 03:37

    Help! I solved the slow boot up in Snow Leopard using Dae’s brilliant suggestion, but now I am stuck trying to upgrade to Lion. I don’t understand John’s process about deleting all of the Firewire extensions. My Macbook Pro is hung up trying to start up in Lion and I don’t know how to get to the extension folder when I’m mid-boot up?

    If I do get this figured out, will Lion re-hang up on every update?

    Thanks for helping out a non-techie.

    Always,
    Aaron

    Reply
    • Dae says:
      April 6, 2012 at 11:43

      I don’t know how to get to the extension folder when I’m mid-boot up?

      Two options came to my mind:

      1. If you can boot into the Recovery partition (hold Cmd + R when restarting your Mac) OR Lion installation drive — open Terminal from the “Utilities” menu.
      2. Otherwise boot into Single user mode (ignore the last command, you dont need directory services). Make sure to run fsck as it suggests (as far as I remember the actual command is fsck -fy).

      From Terminal in Recovery mode or single user mode, type the following commands exactly as seen here:

      cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/"
mkdir System/Library/DisabledExtensions
mv System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWire*.kext System/Library/DisabledExtensions
      Reply
  29. Aaron says:
    April 6, 2012 at 21:23

    Dae,

    Thanks for the command script. I cloned a copy of Lion from another computer of mine and then copied onto my MBP. So I’m up and running, even with the broken Firewire ports. When the next big Lion update comes along, I will try running your script to see if Lion will load.

    I will report back, hopefully with positive news.

    Thanks,
    Aaron

    Reply

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