Can't reboot after using first time

[Robinmb]

I installed yesterday, ran program, rebooted as required, and can't reboot. It stops about 2/3 way through progress bar. In safe boot it stops about 80% through the progress bar. My OS is up to date, so the problem is with Malwarebytes. I am unable to use my Macair and really unhappy that this company does not offer phone support. It also doesn't reply on Twitter

[alvarnell]

Afraid I can't offer any help, you'll have to wait for somebody from Malwarebytes to get to work and reply here or on Twitter, but I'm curious to know why you rebooted after installation? I've never done so and I don't see anything in the documentation or installer that instructs you to do so.

It does require that you Open System Prefrences->Security & Privacy to approve installation of an extension, did you do that?

[Robinmb]

I was told to restart to complete the elimination of all the relevant files

[treed]

Restart in recovery mode by holding down command-R at startup. Once you're in recovery mode, open the Terminal app from the Utilities menu.

In the Terminal, enter the following command:

ls -al /Volumes/*/L*/App*/Mal*/MBAM/Quarantine/

Then press return. Take a photo of the output in the Terminal window using your cell phone and post that photo here.

[Robinmb]

[treed]

There's nothing showing there as being quarantined that shouldn't have been removed, or that would cause your system to fail to boot. However, I notice the top of the listing is off the top of the Terminal window. Would it be possible for you to enlarge the Terminal window so that all quarantined items are visible, up to the line where you executed the "ls -al" command?

[Robinmb]

just saw I omitted on character, Just a sec

 

[Robinmb]

[treed]

Okay, that helps. Those are definitely all bad things, and removing them should not cause your Mac to fail to boot.

However, several of those things are bad "cleaning" apps. "Cleaning" apps in general are not a good thing, much less "cleaning" apps from an unethical and irresponsible developer. Such apps have been known from time to time to cause damage to the system. I'm not aware of any ongoing incidents with any of those programs, but it's possible they might have interacted in a bad way.

Since the computer won't boot in safe mode either, that means that it's not a problem caused by the presence of any third-party software, and is likely caused by some kind of system damage. My recommendation is to reinstall the system from recovery mode. This should simply install a fresh system over the existing system, replacing any missing or damaged files. It will need to download about 4-5 GB of data from Apple's servers in the process.

If reinstalling the system doesn't work, the issue at that point is likely to be a coincidental hardware issue, such as a failing hard drive. In this case, I'd advise contacting Apple. Preferably, make an appointment at the Genius Bar at the nearest Apple Store and take the machine in for Apple to diagnose.

[Robinmb]

Thanks. Does the system reinstall in recovery mode eliminate my data?  There are a few files not back up

[treed]

It won't, not unless you erase the drive with Disk Utility first. If you just reinstall the system, it should just replace the current system files with new ones, and all your apps and data will be left alone.