Help!my iMac 06 won't start!!!

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Can someone help! My 06 iMac was playing up when I hooked a seagate external drive the other day. The online registration screen for the product would appear in 3 windows and could not be deleted.



I found the files relating to the drive in plugins and deleted the file.



Photoshop then froze as i was working on it and I could not close any programs. I reboot the computer and all I got was a black screen with the following message...



/etc/master.passwd: No such file or directory

-sh-2.05b# CSRHIDTransitionDriver::stop

IOBluetoothHCIController:: start Idle Timer Stopped



What does this mean!!! Have I lost all my files!

How can I fix this, I don't want to try anything until I know what has happened.



Please help!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    parttimerparttimer Posts: 250member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dtburgess View Post


    Can someone help! My 06 iMac was playing up when I hooked a seagate external drive the other day. The online registration screen for the product would appear in 3 windows and could not be deleted.



    I found the files relating to the drive in plugins and deleted the file.



    Photoshop then froze as i was working on it and I could not close any programs. I reboot the computer and all I got was a black screen with the following message...



    /etc/master.passwd: No such file or directory

    -sh-2.05b# CSRHIDTransitionDriver::stop

    IOBluetoothHCIController:: start Idle Timer Stopped



    What does this mean!!! Have I lost all my files!

    How can I fix this, I don't want to try anything until I know what has happened.



    Please help!!



    Start up your iMac from the installation DVD while holding "C", then run Disk Utilities from that DVD.



    Quote:

    Have I lost all my files!



    If your HD has crashed and you don't have a backup... yes.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Parttimer View Post


    If your HD has crashed and you don't have a backup... yes.



    If the hard drive itself is physically BROKEN, yes.



    If the thing still works, you can recover some/most of it with software called StellarPhoenix. Look into it. Also look into buying a cheap external hard drive so that this can't happen again.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    If the hard drive itself is physically BROKEN, yes.



    If the thing still works, you can recover some/most of it with software called StellarPhoenix. Look into it. Also look into buying a cheap external hard drive so that this can't happen again.



    Majority of the drive is backed up but there is a few weeks of work that isn't (I back up manually, I'm not that computer savvy)

    I've run the install disk ad the drive is intact, somehow I've deleted part of the oxs file so it won't startup.

    Thanks for the help, I'll trans the harddrive to another computer via firewire and reinstall oxs.



    Would you agree that's the best course of action?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    parttimerparttimer Posts: 250member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dtburgess View Post


    Majority of the drive is backed up but there is a few weeks of work that isn't (I back up manually, I'm not that computer savvy)

    I've run the install disk ad the drive is intact,



    YAY!



    Quote:

    somehow I've deleted part of the oxs file so it won't startup.



    Huh?



    Quote:

    I'll trans the harddrive to another computer via firewire and reinstall oxs.



    Would you agree that's the best course of action?



    If you mean you'll transfer your documents to another HD and then reinstall OSX on your internal HD, yes, that's what I would do.

    After that reinstall you may even find that all your documents/files are completely untouched, and as available as they always were.



    When you've reinstalled OSX, connect to the internet and check for software updates. There will be a couple. Just follow directions.



    Keep us posted.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    themindthemind Posts: 19member
    If you are going to reinstall the OS then can I suggest you partition the disk into 2, a system and a data partition? Doesn?t help if your disk dies but if you ever just need to reinstall the OS then your data will still be on the disk so you won?t need to recover it from a backup. I do this automatically on and Mac / PC I own and it can save a lot of time.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by themind View Post


    If you are going to reinstall the OS then can I suggest you partition the disk into 2, a system and a data partition? Doesn’t help if your disk dies but if you ever just need to reinstall the OS then your data will still be on the disk so you won’t need to recover it from a backup. I do this automatically on and Mac / PC I own and it can save a lot of time.



    I have hope, the drive is already partitions and I have all the operating systems and apps on one and all my files on the other. I'll wait till I get all the info backed up, just incase, before I reinstall the os, But does this mean I will have to reinstall all my apps?? I'll keep you all informed. Thanks for the help!
  • Reply 7 of 7
    parttimerparttimer Posts: 250member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dtburgess View Post


    does this mean I will have to reinstall all my apps??



    No. Just like your personal data files, you should find all your apps are still there.



    When you have it all up and running again, install an external HD and set up Time Machine (in your Utilities folder) to automate the backup process! Once you hit the button it is a strictly hands-off affair. Couldn't be simpler. Or safer.
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