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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts System
If you've installed a software update (the recent Security Update 2006-007 (#2) is reported to cause this) and experienced the following...
  1. The update is installed successfully but requires a restart.
  2. You restart successfully.
  3. You log in and the Finder seems to appear, but then you see the STPOD (Spinning Technicolor Pizza Of Death) and it won't go away. You can experience the STPOD in the Finder, Mail, iTunes, or any number of other applications.
...then the culprit is most likely a stalled automount process. You will find this process running on your machine:
/usr/sbin/automount -f -m /Network -nsl -mnt /private/var/automount
You need to kill it, or prevent it from starting, to solve the problem. It's possible that if you wait long enough (say 10-15 minutes), you will get access to your system again.

To prevent this problem in the future, you need to edit the file /etc/hostconfig, and change this line...
AUTOMOUNT=-YES-
...to this instead...
AUTOMOUNT=-NO-
As for how to make this change if you're currently stalled, you can:
  1. Go to a Terminal window, find the automount process and sudo kill it.
  2. Login remotely via ssh, find the automount process and sudo kill it.
  3. If you can't use either of the previous solutions, forcibly shutdown the computer, restart in single user mode, and edit the hostconfig file as described above. Then restart and all will be well.
SIDE EFFECTS

This change has side effects. The process you'll be killing and/or disabling is responsible for populating the Network listing in the Finder. (Finder Go -> Network menu item). You will still be able to connect to servers, you will just have to enter them manually using the Finder Go -> Connect to Server option.

However, once you have made this change and then successfully started up (without experiencing the STPOD), you can most likely re-enable the AUTOMOUNT option in hostconfig (just set it back to -YES-) and restart with no problems -- until you install the next Software Update that requires a restart. Thankfully, this is typically only Security Updates or System Software Updates that ever cause this problem.

I do not yet understand why some machines are almost always affected by this problem after an offending update is installed, while some others are only occasionally affected, and yet other machines never seem to have this problem. However, killing the automount process has always eliminated the stall and the applications that were stalled with the STPOD immediately begin responding again.

[robg adds: I have never experienced this issue on any of my machines, but I have heard about it before. I would recommend following the 'set it back to -YES-' option if you opt to try this fix.]
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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts | 5 comments | Create New Account
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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts
Authored by: inertia186 on Dec 03, '06 07:05:57PM

I have either the the spinner issue or it just locks up within 10 minutes of restart. After one or two restarts, the problem disappears for months, until I have to reboot again. So software updates always make me cringe. I'll certainly try this.



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powersaving mode...
Authored by: jhirbour on Dec 06, '06 11:06:40AM

I also had a simlar problem when I started using an external USB Harddrive. I found that in power saving mode if you have "poweroff harddisks when possible" checked... finder didn't always know what to do.

I'd get the STPOD and would have to reboot.

After turing off the setting in powersaving... it's find now.

BTW: STPOD is possible one of the funniests acronymns EVER!.



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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts
Authored by: müzso on Jun 23, '07 04:50:03AM

I had the same problem just a couple of hours ago. I've used "Software Update" to upgrade the OS from 10.4.9 to 10.4.10. The upgrade went smoothly, without problems. I rebooted and everything was OK. I used the Mac for a couple of hours, then turned it off and went to sleep. The next morning I started the Mac, logged in and no app would start, nothing was responding. I booted into single user mode (via pressing Cmd+S combo during boot) and found the automounter messages in /var/log/system.log. Turning off the automounter in /etc/hostconfig helped. I've rebooted a couple of times, then turned the automounter on again and it broke everything ... again. :-( It seems that I've lost the ability to use the automounter with this OS update. :-((( It's not a big deal since I've never used any sort of network shares, but it could easily become a serious issue if I bought a NAS to come up for my file storage needs.



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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts
Authored by: Dimarc67 on Jul 18, '07 11:22:51PM

Our network experienced this across all Macs with AD users configured for SMB home folders. This solution cleared it immediately (knock wood). Thanks.



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A fix for startup stalls after Software Update restarts
Authored by: marius63 on Mar 20, '08 04:58:44AM

Had the same problem (STPOD after update), but this fix (automount) did not solved it. Had to reinstall the OS from the original disks. Then I did the software update and this time it worked! The STPOD appeared again, but I let it spin. It went on for several minutes until normal function. Maybe on the first time I got impatient and reset the computer. So just in case my advice is: let the STPOD spin for many minutes after an update before you do anything.



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