Black console screen shows up during boot (verbose mode not turned on) Over the past few months when my Mac boots up, the grey screen with the apple disappears and is replaced with a unix style console screen, which scrolls like a linux PC booting up.

I have tried reinstalling the OS (10.13.6) (and restoring my account from a Time Machine backup using the Migration Assistant) and booting in Safe Mode.


Recovery Mode (Apple-R) - does not appear. 
Fresh install prior to Time Machine restore - did not appear. 
Normal boot after Time Machine restore - appears.
Safe Mode boot (Shift key) after Time Machine restore - still appears.


Verbose mode is not turned on: sudo nvram -p does not show a boot-args parameter.

Hardware test (booting with D key) shows no issues.

My guess is there is perhaps some kernel driver or add-on that is doing this that was carried over from my time machine restore.  What is interesting is this continues even during a Safe Mode boot.



(apologies for the reflections on my screen when I took the image).

I'd like to know if it is possible to fix this without repeating a reformat and reinstall but with more selective Time Machine restores (using trial and error).  Thanks in advance!
I know this may sound silly because it seems like you have a grasp with unix and Macs so you've already done this. try a pram reset and smc reset. I'm thinking something in nvram is doing this right? Could be way off and I know PRAM is so overused for the wrong reasons.