Some program won't start

[iDreamStudio]

Hi,

Weird things are happening and I've done all I can do. I'm trying to avoid a total reformat and install.

After a reboot, I try to start Mail and it just sits there. If I try to open Disk Utility, System Preferences, Text Edit or try install something, they also just sit there.

I started from CD and fixed permissions, ran disk repair, which found "overlapped extent allocation" errors. I deleted them through single user mode and ran disk repair again. No errors found this time. Problems still happening. I've done the trash mail prefs tricks. Didn't work. I had Cocktail already installed and ran that, followed by a reboot. Things worked fine. I shut my computer down for the night and after it started back up, the problem returned. I ran Cocktail again, so that I could install AppleJack. I ran that per it's advice. Reboot. Same problems.

When I read the garble after booting in Single User Mode, there are a couple of lines of text that I don't understand and may lead to a solution. It says "Apple CPUThermo couldn't parse platform functions" and "BSD root: disk0s9, major 14, minor 12"

I did a search on google and there are lot's of people that get the "major 14" but a different "minor". But these people are having a hard time booting up. My computer boots fine, I just can't run certain programs.

I also ran fsck and everything shows that it's fine. I would like to be able to shut my computer down at night and not have problems in the morning. One more thing. Before I ran the Cocktail program, my fan was reving up all the time. I don't know if this helps or not.

If anyone can help me out I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Chad

[Frida]

What type of machine and OS are you running? If you have a G5 you may want to check this:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341

[iDreamStudio]

I have a dual 1.25 G4 (mirror door - FW 800) running OS X 10.3.9 with all update current. I don't know if the fan issue is bothering me as much as the fact that I can't open quite a few programs after a restart. I've been keeping my Mac alive by just putting it to sleep and everything is working fine, but as soon as I have to restart, I'm in trouble. The only thing I haven't done is reset PRAM. From what I understand that only clears certain visual aspects. Now that I think about it, yesterday I installed AppZapper and after install it wouldn't start. I just left it alone. I installed it because I wanted to get rid of some programs like Linotype FontExplorer X. I was not impressed with this program like others that reviewed it. Anyway, does this help you?

Thanks,

Chad

[Frida]

You wouldn't happen to have Norton Utilities, including NAV, installed, would you? It can cause all kinds of problems. It would seem that something fails during the startup and it could be either your system or the HD itself. The only utility I use, part from Disk Utility, is Disk Warrior. It often picks up problems other repair utilities miss. DON'T USE NORTON! If you have it installed, get rid of it by using the uninstaller. Norton causes more problems than it fixes. It was OK for OS 9 but they could never get it to work for OS X. And just in case the HD is sick, back up everything now.

[iDreamStudio]

I've been using Macs since 1992 and have never used any anti-anything. I definitely wouldn't install Norton. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, especially for PC's. I don't have any disk fix programs other than disk utilities. That program finds nothing wrong. I installed DriveGenius Demo and it didn't find any bad blocks, but I couldn't use Repair Drive unless I spend $99 on the program. I don't plan on spending $99 to have it tell me the same thing Disk Utilities tells me. I don't know if there's a program out there that finds corrupt files or something? I'm about to give up. I don't have any other ideas.

Thanks,

Chad

[Satcomer]

All hard drives will fail eventually, some faster than other and environmental (flakey power and such) factors do affect hard drives (which are mechanical) life span. That is why you should ALWAYS have a viable backup! Your hard drive is dying an old Hollywood style death and the hard should probably be replaced. Now is the time you should have backup, so take this as lesson learned.

Sorry to be the deliver of bad news.

[iDreamStudio]

I've been using Retrospect for all my backups, so that isn't a problem. It's just a pain to have to reinstall all programs and lose their setting. I have a lot of programs and custom settings. I don't think it's my hard drive though. There isn't any sign of it going bad. I've had other drives that start to make a high pitched sound or show bad blocks or can't be repaired by disk utility. That's when I've seen them go out. I have other accounts on my computer and they work just fine. I think the problem is isolated but what it is I don't know.

Thanks for your help anyway.

Chad

[Frida]

The only disk utility I use part from Apple's own is DiskWarrior. It rebuilds the hard drive directory and fixes a lot of problems Disk Utility can't fix or doesn't even pick up. It has saved me from a HD reformat once which was worth every penny. Now I use SuperDuper to clone my HD once a week - more often if I make major changes. In case of a crash I can just install a new disc, clone back and pick up where I left off. No resetting program preferences or anything. Try DiskWarrior if you know anyone who can lend it to you but, as Satcomer said, your drive is probably on borrowed time. Anyway, good luck!