So i just got done beating the still in the dark quest, the one where you have to do certain tasks to "prove yourself" to elder McNamara, and i think i have encountered a bug or glitch. Upon completion i realized i wanted to make head paladin Hardin the new elder. After talking to him about "evidence" i found about McNamara on the chain that binds rules, he says he will need a few days for preparation to rule out McNamara and tells me to come back in a couple of days. So i then slept for 3 - 12 days and he is still saying he needs more time or his hands are full and he can't talk right now.i also tried talking to McNamara and he says he needs to make preparations in order to counteract Hardin's action towards him of being an unfit leader and to give him a couple of days . i have searched everywhere on the forums and i still can't find a solution to my problem. Is this one of the issues Bethesda is going to fix in the next patch update or am i unable to complete this quest forever? Should i continue playing other quests in hopes of it being patched or should i just wait? Please respond.

I had the exact same bug happen. They get stuck in the permanent loop you mentioned. I am not sure why it happens, but the only way I found to fix it was to reload a previous save before you speak to McNamara the last time. I know I lost over 10hrs real time doing other quests and stuff. I waited around 30 days game time and they were still stuck in the loop. It svcks, but thats the only way I found to get past it. Just side with McNamara and forget about Hardin and the quest will work. There have been several other posts about this, so we are not alone in our frustration.

Took your advice and the "glitch" was fixed, i guess you could say, i decided that i have waited long enough for power armor training and decided to side with McNamara since his quest was easier. Thank you for providing a valid solution to my problem, and hopefully others don't encounter this fault. ALSO, I was just exploring the highway and discovered the I-88 trading post (northeast of novac) where i found a companion named Veronica. Brought her into the bunker and she talked to the elder thus, fixing the bug and allowing me to talk to him to continue the quest line.

Please, tell me more about Veronica fixing the bug. I tried to bring her at the bunker but nothing happened.

I was having the same problem, where I would click him and he wouldn't talk. I had to either bring Veronica in, or have her wait in another part of the bunker so I could go talk to him. Then he would continue talking to me.

Are you sayng that simply having Veronica around the bunker "unlocks" McNamara or Harding? I tried to bring Veronica there but nothing happened.

Sorry if I said it in a confusing way. What happened to me was I started the BoS questline and along the way I found Veronica and got her as a follower. Her quest started then as well. After that, McNamara wouldn't talk to me. What I had to do was bring Veronica directly to him. They began a dialogue. When they were finished talking, I was able to talk to McNamara again. Once I kept going with Veronica's quest (the second time she needed to go talk to McNamara), he again wouldn't talk to me until he finished talking to her. I can't remember the exact circumstances, I just remember that bringing her directly to him made it so he would talk to me again. I'm not sure if it's a bug, or if it is supposed to be like that. Good luck with getting it to work. I almost thought I'd have to reload an earlier save, but it ended up working out.

Thanks for your explanation.
Are you sure that you encountered the glitch and that McNamara wasn't "locked" because of the needed waiting of 24 hours to continue the brotherhood quests?
I will try to do Veronica's quest, I hope to unlock the situation (keeping my fingers crossed).

I'm having the same issue, both of the people wouldn't talk. I found Veronica but the side quest did not start for me. I have been to all of the locations where Veronica's quest gets triggered but I had no luck.

Mmm, I don't think so because I would try to talk to him, and then run and grab Veronica where I had her waiting, and then he'd talk to her and me. But to be sure I'd have to go back and do it again. Let me know if it works!

He talked after completing Veronica's quest? I went with Veronica to Hidden Valley after starting her quest, and Veronica talked to McNamara. But after their conversation, McNamara didn't talk with me.


Pretty strange, in my game she started the quest just visiting Madrid Apartments and Vault 3. Remember that to start the quest you need to talk with her every time after she says her sentence about the brotherhood.

Update: unfortunately in my game Veronica didn't help me... even if I completed her quest, McNamara still won't talk to me and he continues to say only "come back later". Damn.

I had that same problem. Let me know if you find out anything.