New updates problem - machine won't boot without option key

I noticed that there were new updates so I went ahead and installed them. On restart, the gray screen came up and just sat there. I shut down and started up a few times and same thing. I restarted and held the option key down and it gave me the OS menu and I'm able to boot Mac OSX from there.

I'm going to try to set the default OS using Boot Camp to see if that fixes the problem.

 

Well I went through the software update process over again and a few funny things happened along the way but the system appears to be autobooting now. So everything is back to good again.

One minor aside: I picked up a Microsoft KB/Mouse combo (model 1000) at Staples. It's a nice wireless combo and I really like the keyboard and mouse and having it wireless. The keyboard feels great (soft, long-travel keys, very quiet) as does the mouse.

 

Congratulations! Glad you were able to fix your problem!

 

The first reboot after a version update or a security update is supposed to be slow, because it needs to update system components before the OS starts up otherwise they are in use and can't be overwritten. If you disrupt the first reboot while it's updating system components, you could corrupt the OS. This is the same in Windows or any other software that requires you to restart in order to make sure the components it is updating are not active.