FSCK it!

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Okay - I screwed myself again. I mistakenly installed another OS 9 driver without first booting in OS 9. Realizing this I decided to correct the problem. So I wiped the install data, rebooted in OS 9, installed, and then rebooted in OS X. But I coulnd't get past the spinning rainbow at the startup screen. "No problem," I says to myself, I'll just "fsck -y" it like I did last time. But I can't get that far.



I start single user mode (cmd s) and get the command line interface and it starts to run through its routine line by line. But it gets to "BSD root: disk0s5, major 14, minor 5" and the next line "devfs on/dev" It then locks up so that I don't ever get a command prompt where I can type fsck -y. One time the boot process got all the way to "localhost#" before it locked up.



So I'm trying to fsck -y it, but I can't get that far. Any ideas? Do I need to do a OS X reinstall? If so do I lose all of my apps and data files?



Gobble Gobble
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 2 of 23
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    [quote]Originally posted by AirSluf:

    <strong>Have you tried Disk Utility from the CD yet? How about DiskWarrior or some other disk utility?



    I don't know about a specific fix for your problem, but if it does need a reinstall (which it really shouldn't, but lack of community knowledge may make that easiest) you will not loose apps or data as long as you do not reformat.



    [ 04-08-2002: Message edited by: AirSluf ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Unfortunately, that's not true. If you have to reinstall, the only way is with a reformat. When Apple released some update or other, the ability to reinstall without a reformat was LOST. It sucks. Hopefully it won't get to that point. What I'd recommend, if you have to go that route, is find another mac and use target disk mode to salvage what you can. Sorry I don't have better news.



    <a href="http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20011024133925384"; target="_blank">link to macosxhints article</a> <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 3 of 23
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 4 of 23
    I booted from the Apple Hardware Test CD and ran the full test - no problems found. I can not boot from the Mac OS X Install CD (yes, I know to hold down the "c" key, that how I ran the hardware tests). So I think I'm screwed. I can't do anything in OS X, including booting from the install CD. I realize that most of this is my fault, but shit, Apple should have made OS X more idiot proof by having a warning message pop-up whenever you try and install OS 9 drivers without first booting in OS 9.



    I don't know a thing about partioning a disk and am afraid I'd just end up wiping everything if I tried that. So I think my only option is to drag my iMac down to the Apple Store Genius Bar and let them fiddle with it.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Good luck. :/



    In the mean time, I'm going to drag this thread over to the Genius Bar and see if anyone lurking there has any ideas.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    [quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:

    <strong>I booted from the Apple Hardware Test CD and ran the full test - no problems found. I can not boot from the Mac OS X Install CD (yes, I know to hold down the "c" key, that how I ran the hardware tests). So I think I'm screwed. I can't do anything in OS X, including booting from the install CD. I realize that most of this is my fault, but shit, Apple should have made OS X more idiot proof by having a warning message pop-up whenever you try and install OS 9 drivers without first booting in OS 9.



    I don't know a thing about partioning a disk and am afraid I'd just end up wiping everything if I tried that. So I think my only option is to drag my iMac down to the Apple Store Genius Bar and let them fiddle with it.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    BTW, what do you mean OS 9 drivers? I've installed stuff through classic without a problem. They are just extensions, after all. Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying? Could you explain exactly what you did (just for curiosity's sake).
  • Reply 7 of 23
    Amorph, thanks.



    Torifile - The first time I had a problem I was installing the drivers for a Canon scanner, which are only available in OS 9. See <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000494"; target="_blank">http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=2&t=000494</a>; for that experience.



    At another point I had problems with the Starcraft OS X app quiting on me and learned the fsck -y trick. See <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000503"; target="_blank">http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=000503</a>; for my experience on that one.



    In this latest problem I was trying to hook up my new iBot camera, which again, only works in OS 9, although you can purchase a generic OS X driver from a third party company.



    When I use the word "driver" I'm referring to the software that allows the hardware to interact with the iMac. I'm not technical at all so it's quite possible that I'm misusing the term.



    The Canon scanner episode was fixed by the apple Store by booting off a CD and then repairing OS X on the hard drive. I also learned that you can do this in single user mode with the fsck -y command. I've tried both methods so far and didn't get far (see above). I don't know what else to do, other than throw my hands up and take it back to the Apple Store in the hope that they can help. I love Apple and will never leave it, but this OS 9/OS X transition is killing me.



    Thanks for any help.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    Airsluf - I ran the Disk First Aid in OS 9 and it didn't find any problems. I also ran the Apple Hardware Tests off of the CD, and again no problems. Because I couldn't get the iMac to boot off of the OS X install CD, I can't run Disk Utility. I don't undertand why the Hardware Test CD will boot but not the OS X Install CD. I think that there's a software problem here with OS X on my machine.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    gobble gobble, do you have access to two machines with OSX and firewire?



    this may be a crappy solution, but you could boot your broken machine (holding the "t" key while booting) as a firewire drive to the other OSX machine.



    then take and copy the system folder from the working machine to the broken machine. or try doing an install from the working machine to the firewire disk.



    not sure if either of these will work, but it would be pretty quick to try it. while you're at it, you could back up your key data to boot.



    -alcimedes



    lol, and <a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=10&t=001356"; target="_blank">they</a> think i'm way off base when i say OSX has some issues. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />



    [ 04-09-2002: Message edited by: alcimedes ]</p>
  • Reply 10 of 23
    Alcimiedes - I do have an old Tangerine iMac but I do not have OS X installed on it. I also don't have a 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable. All I have is an old crossover cable. Is it possible to use a crossover cable in target disk mode? I don't think so - I think that it's firewire only.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I'm just having some trouble understanding exactly what's causing the problem. I've never heard of this happening before (fsck -y thing was a separate issue) and I can't figure out why it would occur at all. I've installed all kinds of extensions for OS 9 through classic mode without ever once experiencing a problem. :confused: BTW, I don't think that this is an OS X thing. Maybe a problem with g.g.'s install, but not an OS X thing.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    If you have a superdrive iMac, it's probably the firmware. It needs to be updated. If you took it in, it'll get fixed. There was a problem between the superdrive and the HD (don't ask me what) but the symptoms you describe are the same as ones I've heard before. I hope I'm right, otherwise I'll be scratching my head for days until I figure this thing out (or maybe not, but it's still curious nonetheless )
  • Reply 13 of 23
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    ok, here's another idea, but not sure it will work.



    boot the broken machine off an OS9 cd.



    boot your tang. iMac normally.



    share between the two with a crossover cable.



    either



    A. put an OSX cd into the tang. iMac and try to install on the broken machine,



    or



    B. put an OSX cd in the iMac and just do a straight system folder copy. (called plain old 'system' in OSX)



    see if either one of those would work.



    again, make sure to pull off important data first.



    none of these are pretty fixes, and there's a decent chance they could totally hose something.







    -alcimedes
  • Reply 14 of 23
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 15 of 23
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I'm convinced that it's a firmware issue. AirSluf, how do you reset the OF? <a href="http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=46&t=004807&p=4"; target="_blank">Link on MacNN</a>. If you can get through all the crap in that thread, you'll see that the symptoms are extremely similar to what's going on here. At least you didn't initialize your HD like that moron kelly did.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    omg, read that thread and that guy's an idiot.



    didn't feel like registering, but someone might want to point out to him that this supposed firmware update is a rumor, not a fact.



    what a putz.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    Okay - I took my machine to the Apple Store in Clarendon and they fixed it, sorta. Actually it worked the second they plugged it in - like nothing had ever been broken in the first place. The Apple Genius Bar guy said that whatever the problem was it probably disappeared when I unplugged all of the cords/peripherals and just brought in the CPU. I was pretty embarrased so I grabbed my machine and ran out of the door. He also told me about something called "verbose" mode, which you enter by holding down cmd-v. I guess it's similar to cmd-s but a little more detailed in what's happending on the machine.



    Thanks you guys for trying to help. Your efforts were not in vain since I'll remember your suggestions, and you may have helped someone else who read the posts.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    Stop the presses! The story doesn't end there. I just plugged in all of my peripherals except the iBot and everything works fine. I plug in the iBot to the Firewire port and everything freezes. Literally everything. Even the cursor locks up. I unplug the iBot and everything returns as normal. I tried both Firewire ports and got the same result. It's like some kind of weird security lockout feature - LOL.



    My next step is to wipe the iBot software and reinstall. Then I'll see what's what.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by gobble gobble:

    <strong>Stop the presses! The story doesn't end there. I just plugged in all of my peripherals except the iBot and everything works fine. I plug in the iBot to the Firewire port and everything freezes. Literally everything.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That's definitely a bad driver.



    Try reinstalling it, and if it doesn't work complain to the iBot folks.
  • Reply 20 of 23
    I reinstalled everything and got the same problem again. I guess its the driver. I know that XOperts makes a third party driver for the iBot that's OS X native. Maybe I should try that. And I will definitely complain to OrangeMicro. Thanks all.





    p.s. I always keep the software on my iMac up to date. I even have the new security install from a couple of days ago. I'm currently running OS X 10.1.3.



    [ 04-09-2002: Message edited by: gobble gobble ]</p>
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