Serious system error, console login (merged)

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I was traveling and now that I am back, I checked for updates via system pref update. There were six that I selected: iTunes, iPod, airport, quicktime, two others I cannot remember. During the last update duration, the computer froze. I could not launch force quit so I had to restart the computer manually.



Of course, the downloading went alright except the last part of airport. My concern was that my computer never got the chance to optimize the system to complete the software updates. When my computer restarted, it appeared fine until it reached the user desktop level. My auto launch of Norton Personal Firewall started as usual but then I have no desktop icons! There is no icon of my beloved CUBE HD! I do have the icon bar so I launch PS just to see what would happen. It would not launch.



I target disk mode to another computer to run disk utility and would not show my HD icon. I then started Panther CD and ran Disk Utility and it did mount my CUBE HD. I began repair disk... said something like "key...error" CUBE HD cannot be repaired!



I tried to do a panther archive and install but it tells me that a higher version is installed on the CUBE HD, therefore cannot be installed.



I don't know what to do. I launched OS 9 and was able to find and open my CUBE HD as normal so I began to copy the whole drive by drag and drop copy. This is a desperation act.



Is there a way to go back, undo, or optimize the system for the updated software since I'm sure that's where the prob. started.



Please help!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    I have run Disk Utility under OS 9 and it says that the Volume error: "Keys, out of order. This cannot be repaired"



    Any suggestions, please.....?!?!?!?!
  • Reply 2 of 13
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    So you were able to make a complete backup?
  • Reply 3 of 13
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Restart your computer with the system disc that came with it in the CD drive. Hold down the 'C' key after the startup chime.



    Once the installer loads, go up to the Installer menu and select 'Disk Utility'. Under the First Aid tab select 'Repair Permissions'.



    After that's over, restart your machine and see what happens. You *may* need to manually download the Airport update and reinstall it just to be on the safe side.



    I hope this helps.
  • Reply 4 of 13
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Yea, try to repair permissions. I once logged in as a second user on my G5 and needed a file on my first user's desktop. I changed the permissions to access the file and when I was done using my computer an hour later I logged out. (Forgetting to fix the permissions) When I logged into my first user, the screen was blank! Nothing, not even a hard drive! Fortunately, I remembered changing the permissions and it was an easy fix.
  • Reply 5 of 13
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    the keys broke once on my bosses powerbook we called tech support and we had to complete reinstall. Make sure you had journaling turned on apparently they said it helps to keep that from happening. We had back ups though, so I don't know what you're going to do.
  • Reply 6 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    CosmoNut, Ebby and all,



    Thanks for your input. I alrteady did run the repair permissions from the Panther CD. It told me "keys, out of order...This disk cannot be repaired." I have also tried archive install but it won't even let me because it says "cannot install in this volume because there is a higher version." I found this message to be strange. It should always allow me to reinstall no matter what version I have.



    Kraig is on the right track, though I do have journaling on. What happened was that the software update got interrupted (froze) and the computer was not able to optimize and so it corrupted my system finder. I went to the SoHo Apple store and talked to one of the employees and he suggested disk warrior, and if no success, reinitialize!



    Right now I'm in the middle of Disk Warrior repair...will update the result.
  • Reply 7 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    Progress report: Disk Warrior OS 9 version totally repaired my Finder system. I then started from Panther CD and did additional permissions repair, then Disk repair. The Disk Utility verified that disk is now okay.

    I restarted the computer but the only problem now is that rather than my usual multi-user login with password option, I get darwin login. How do I change that so that I go back to user id and login?



    Thanks for inputs!
  • Reply 8 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    At start up (booting) my computer now goes straight to console (darwin) and I cannot get out of it. Normally, it would load in Aqua's user log in and password. How do I get it to revert back to Aqua startup log in?
  • Reply 9 of 13
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Zapping the PRAM is the easiest to explain.



    Reboot holding apple-p-r, wait for the computer to chime a third time, release, and let it finish booting.
  • Reply 10 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    Brad,



    I'm glad you are around and well! The pram zapping did not resolve my problem. By the way my problem began as I stated in the other thread a few dow "System error prob."



    For the life of me I cannot get out of darwin at start up.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I haven't had my surgery just yet; that's this Friday. In the mean time, I'm taking exams here at school.



    I didn't see that thread. Since this is clearly an extension of that problem, I'm merging the threads together...



    That said, a quick skim over the old thread leads me to believe that your hard drive filesystem has been hosed pretty badly. Since it's at least *working* now, I would suggest using the original Mac OS X Install CDs to reinstall the system, backup anything you need, and reformat that baby clean.



    edit: Oh, I see you had problems getting the system to reinstall. This is quite unusual. Do you have the full retail version of the 10.3 CDs or do you have the Upgrade CDs? If the latter, that would explain why you can't properly reinstall. In that case, you will need to get your older system CDs and reinstall using them first.



    Try this from the command prompt: simply enter the command "exit" and tell us if that does anything.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    kwondokwondo Posts: 217member
    Brad,

    Thanks for your time during your study. I do have the original CD 10.3, at least that's what I'm aware of. It black with a giant X and have three disks that makes it a complete set.



    You are right about my system disk. It did get hosed during the software updater with six updates while freezing during the system optimization. I am pretty impressed that Disk Warrior was able to rebuild THE system so that if I tried Target Disk mode or network connect, I do see all of my files again.



    As far as exiting the console mode, I still cannot figure it out. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right but I have logged in as my usual user id with password, which I do have admin control. I also have logged in as "root" id with its password. When I run fsck and do it til HD appears OK, then "reboot" ti restarts but goes right back to console mode. When I exit, it logs out and goes back to console mode.



    When it gets restarted console apprears, I do see all my extensions being launched and network being started (as console lists what's going on). The one message I see that has me scratching my head is that it says "login disabled" and I'm suspecting that this has something to do with why I can't revert back to Aqua's usre login window.



    Any further ideas would be great.

    Happy studing!
  • Reply 13 of 13
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kwondo

    I am pretty impressed that Disk Warrior was able to rebuild THE system so that if I tried Target Disk mode or network connect, I do see all of my files again.



    Ah! So, you *have* been able to access the files to make a backup? If not, make that backup right now! Then, we can erase and reinstall a clean system.



    Here's how to erase and reinstall done:



    1. Reboot from the Install CD.

    2. When the first regular screen for the installer appears, choose Open Disk Utility from the Installer menu.

    3. Select your drive from the left column.

    4. Click the Erase tab.

    5. Enter a name for your drive and click Erase.



    Once completed, exit the Disk Utility program and you will be returned to the installer. From there, you should be able to install the OS okay since the drive is totally blank.



    Quote:

    When it gets restarted console apprears, I do see all my extensions being launched and network being started (as console lists what's going on). The one message I see that has me scratching my head is that it says "login disabled" and I'm suspecting that this has something to do with why I can't revert back to Aqua's usre login window.



    Honestly, I don't know what could be causing this. It could be among a hundred different files that could have been damaged in your filesystem that is preventing Aqua from properly loading. I suppose we could meticulously track down each individual framework if you have a second Mac handy, but, frankly, that would be exceedingly time consuming and much more difficult than backing up, erasing, and reinstalling.



    I hope this helps.
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