Another iBook problem

paulpaul
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
This time it is my sister's bottom of the line 12" 600 CD...

and it is my fault this time...



i did a sw update for QT 6.2 iTunes 4 iPod 1.3 and Airport 3.0.4 or whatever....

anyways, after the restart... the finder refuses to load...

i can load basicly anything from the dock except the finder... i havent tried the terminal, ill do that now...

i want to repair permissions... but i cant get to the app...



anyone have suggestions? she needs the computer for work tomorrow

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ok terminal works... how do i open apps (disk utility) from the terminal?
  • Reply 2 of 19
    skalmanskalman Posts: 42member
    Hi,

    go into Applications/Utilities/Disk\\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/

    here you type in ./Disk\\ Utility

    and Disk Utility will start.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    thanks... im not too savvy with the terminal... but how do i "go" there?
  • Reply 4 of 19
    skalmanskalman Posts: 42member
    ok sorry



    type as line below

    cd /Applications/Utilities/Disk\\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/



    and then



    ./Disk\\ Utility



    to start the application



    Hope this helps
  • Reply 5 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Skalman

    ok sorry



    type as line below

    cd /Applications/Utilities/Disk\\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/



    and then



    ./Disk\\ Utility



    to start the application



    Hope this helps



    okay, she took it to work with her and it says command not found...



    i am typing: 

    Code:




    cd /Applications/Utilities/Disk\\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/

    ./Disk\\ Utility









    actually, no im not getting to the 2nd line because it spits out "command not found" after the first line is typed...



    will this even fix it?



    help please
  • Reply 6 of 19
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Ok, to find your way to the disk utility application, you just have to learn how to navigate the filesystem using text commands. It's actually pretty easy. Whenever a command line is opened, the location is your home directory. The command "cd" means "change directory" to whatever you type after that. "LS" will list the contents of your current directory. So here's what you should do: first type ls to get your bearings. Then type "cd .." (including the space, and two periods) to go back one directory. Type ls as needed to get your bearings. Eventually, you'll get to your hard drive's root directory and you can go cd Applications, then cd Utilities, then cd Disk\\ Utility.app (you put a backslash + a space when there's a space in the name), cd Contents, cd MacOS, and finally ./Disk\\ Utility. Or the easier way, once you get to your Applications folder, would be to just type cd Utilities/Disk\\ Utility.app/Contents/MacOS/ and then ./Disk\\ Utility.
  • Reply 7 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    gotcha... too complicated to do over the phone... will have to wait until after work...



    thanks
  • Reply 8 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    well, i got disk utility to repair permissions... but was still having the same probelm....

    so i rebooted into Target FW mode and tried running disk utility from my end.... repair disk worked great (no changes)... but 10 min after i tried repairing permissions (it seemed like EVERY file was being repaired...) it locked up on me... nothing worked on my computer until i disconnected the iBook from mine...

    not good....

    so i decide to attempt to backup my sister's home folder before I went any further...

    not working either... toast just got "stuck"

    something is seriously messed up with this iBook.... I really wanted it to get looked at at the apple store on friday, but the GB was closed!

    SONOFABITCH

    any ideas on how to backup?

    i just had to force quit toast...

    GAH machine locked up again and was forced to unplug it!!!

    and now i cant get this coaster out of my computer!!!!!!
  • Reply 9 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ok, i got the disk out.... but i can't get a sustained read from the iBook's hard drive...



    looks like im going to need to buy disk warrior...



    what disk utility comes with applecare?



    do the apple stores carry disk warrior?







    I can't think of anything else I can do... (for free)



    I really need to save this data tho



    my sister will NOT be happy...
  • Reply 10 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ok... this isn't good...

    we took the iBook to the GB in Roosevelt Field...

    the genius on duty basically tried to do all the same things that i tried and could not fix the problem... so he told my sister that he will send the machine out and that if they needed to do a data transfer or erase the HD for any reason that they would call her... well... they called today saying the iBook was back...



    she went to pick it up... but the HD was completely reformatted... her data was gone... ***(I SAVED A BACKUP--of most of it--BEFORE WE SENT IT OUT, but thats not the point)*** the point is she refused to pay the $54.26 for the data transfer, because it never took place... so her iBook is sitting in the back of the store... they told her to call apple care tomorrow and speak with the dispatch department... \



    what are the chances of her getting her data back?

    if she does not get her data back, what course of action would be the most prudent? (considering this...)

    obviously she should not have to pay the fee for the data transfer that never happened, right?



    I'm really disappointed that this happened. I was hoping to be able to use this example of good customer service as a point to prove to my uncle that macs are still very viable and should be considered if only for his house rather then the office (my sister is working for him making a website for the business... THE WHOLE THING WAS ON THE iBOOK...)





    why do so many people have problems with apple's repair services?! I mean granted, some of them may be blown a bit out of proportion... but still problems like this should not be happening in the first place... all this does is create problems for Apple... I mean they are going to have to pay to send the iBook BACK to the depot, get fixed and then BACK out to the store again--for something that was completely avoidable...
  • Reply 11 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ok, just talked to a technician... basically they have the hard drive if we need it... very good... my sister was flipping out.



    BUT the problem still stands... the 'genius' told us we would be notified when and if a data transfer would happen... and we weren't... bad form... who do we get to chew out? (my sister really wants to yell at someone... \ she doesnt get that hard drives can just 'become' corrupted and she wants to put the blame on someone for breaking her computer...)



    I know it isnt going to fix the HD and I know it wasn't the genius' fault that we weren't notified... but I'm not even sure if that is SOP, so maybe he shouldn't of said that?



    well I'm sure this is the first report of the over the phone people being more helpful then the people in the store... \



    that data transfer should not have been on the reciept either...



    so we have 2 legitimate beefs... but otherwise the service was very good... I'll just be happy when we get the data off the iPod and back in working order...



    it is good to know that even if i didn't keep a backup of the HD the data could have possibly been recovered (I think what pissed off my sister was the fees they quoted over the phone for data recovery: $2000!!! )



    it could have been much worse...
  • Reply 12 of 19
    toweltowel Posts: 1,479member
    I'd say your beef is with the people at the Apple repair site. Charging you for data transfer and then not doing it is simply wrong. When I had my iBook fixed (twice) the phone tech each time asked me if, should the HD be replaced/wiped, would I want to be charged $50 for the data transfer. I said "yes", and neither time did it happen. Presumably the Apple GB guy forwarded your preferences as "yes" also. The people at the repair site, it seems, ignored your request but charged you for it anyway - two very bad sins in my book. Not the GB guy's fault, though. And they wouldn't normally notify you if they do the data transfer. You just find your data in a folder on the new HD, along with a bill on your card. The proof, though, is how they handle it from here - accept blame, rescue your data, and remove the charge.
  • Reply 13 of 19
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    I would delete the Finder preferences first.

    from ~/Library/Preferences, look for com.apple.finder and delete it then reboot.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by robster

    I would delete the Finder preferences first.

    from ~/Library/Preferences, look for com.apple.finder and delete it then reboot.



    well the old HD is gone... (it was seriously corrupted and thats what the problem was) so I don't really have that option unless I asked them to send the HD back...
  • Reply 15 of 19
    formerlurkerformerlurker Posts: 2,686member
    Disk Utility is not worth a shit if you run it from the hard drive you are trying to fix (except when booted in single-user mode).



    I can't believe this is the "Genius Bar" and no one gave you the very simple technique for restarting in UNIX or "single-user" mode by holding down Cmd-S at startup, and then typing 

    Code:


    fsck -y





    and hitting the return key

    \



    If you had tried that first, you might have had a chance to at least get a complete backup done.
  • Reply 16 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Towel

    I'd say your beef is with the people at the Apple repair site. Charging you for data transfer and then not doing it is simply wrong. When I had my iBook fixed (twice) the phone tech each time asked me if, should the HD be replaced/wiped, would I want to be charged $50 for the data transfer. I said "yes", and neither time did it happen. Presumably the Apple GB guy forwarded your preferences as "yes" also. The people at the repair site, it seems, ignored your request but charged you for it anyway - two very bad sins in my book. Not the GB guy's fault, though. And they wouldn't normally notify you if they do the data transfer. You just find your data in a folder on the new HD, along with a bill on your card. The proof, though, is how they handle it from here - accept blame, rescue your data, and remove the charge.



    yeah, in the past I have had good experiences with this option... what I think happened was that the genius should not have offered the data transfer... but at this point it doesn't matter....



    the iBook had to be sent out AGAIN because it refused to sleep when closing the lid.



    also note the iBook had 10.1.2 installed on it (with iTunes 2! complete with blue notes!), so when it comes back again i'll have to do a clean reinstall of everything.... I think I will zero the drive... maybe it will convince me to finnally do some spring cleaning on my computer and do a reformat...



    oh well... now i have to start a thread about my powerbook peeling... i want to get that fixed, but the genius guy called it "normal wear and tear" aparantly he wont budge on it either... (don't respond here, i will make a new thread with pics...)
  • Reply 17 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by FormerLurker

    Disk Utility is not worth a shit if you run it from the hard drive you are trying to fix (except when booted in single-user mode).



    I can't believe this is the "Genius Bar" and no one gave you the very simple technique for restarting in UNIX or "single-user" mode by holding down Cmd-S at startup, and then typing

    Code:


    fsck -y





    and hitting the return key

    \



    If you had tried that first, you might have had a chance to at least get a complete backup done.



    that was the first thing i did
  • Reply 18 of 19
    formerlurkerformerlurker Posts: 2,686member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Paul

    that was the first thing i did



    I should have guessed, since you were trying to repair permissions.



    I would have booted from a Jaguar install CD and repaired permissions from Disk Utility there.



    I make a great Monday morning QB.....
  • Reply 19 of 19
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    well we got the book back a second time.... and everything is peachy (except for the data...) but I have most of it loaded now and it looks pretty good so far...



    also it looks like when they replaced the HD they gave us a 30 gig HD instead of a 20 gig.... I guess they just don't stock the 20 anymore!



    it worked out pretty well, and anything that we really need I will try to salvage from the original HD. (Anyone have any good 2.5 cases they can point me to?)



    all in all I am satisfied with apple's service..... now I just hope they fix my pb paint...
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