For some reason, every few times (let's say every 5 times) I restart my Mac Mini (running MacOS High Sierra 10.13.3, on an SSD), the startup screen will get stuck on the white loading bar with a black background, with the white bar at 100% full and just sitting there for minutes (the longest I left it on that screen is about an hour, and I wasn't willing to wait any longer).

If the startup screen is stuck, and then I force my Mac off and turn it on, then it just gets stuck there again, once the loading bar reaches 100%. The only way to bypass this is to reset my Mac's PRAM. Then when I start up the Mac again, it loads fine.

Why does this happen? And how can I fix it? Unfortunately, I'm not sure when this started happening, since I rarely restart my Mac, except when I update it. I only Sleep my Mac every night.

My Mac's memory is actually brand new (it's a few days old), and I have already ran a Mac Hardware Diagnostic anyway, and it said there were no problems.

  • How old is the Mac? Is the PRAM battery the same age? – Tetsujin Feb 20 '18 at 19:28
  • The Mac was purchased around August 2013. Yes the PRAM battery is the same age. – Gary Feb 21 '18 at 1:13
  • I've known them last 8 years before needing to be replaced, but it'd guess you have to weigh up the cost [about $£€ 2] against the difficulty - ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+PRAM+Battery+Replacement/… – Tetsujin Feb 21 '18 at 7:27

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