Mac OS X 10.3.9 Update: Top or Flop?

[pipermalibu]

I let my system (Powerbook 17" 1Ghz) do the update to 10.3.9 tonight, now it is hosed. On mandatory reboot, It goes thru the typical starting internet services, etc. messages pretty fast, then freezes for some time at 'Starting Login Window' then after 2 -3 minutes, gives me a login window (I have automatic login to a user set). I tried to log in, but it never does. It basically gives me a beachball, then comes back to login again (after about a minute). I am not near a firewire cable now, so I will buy one in the morning. I will hook up to another Pbook, and try to fix permissions....any other ideas?

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Try restarting in single-user mode and running the fsck routine...

[pipermalibu]

ran fsck in single user mode. fsck -y told me it was journaled and to try fsck -f instead. I did. It found no problems. Still the same problem, a crazy slow system, and won't login.

[paulogdenfletcher]

Personally, I would boot your computer up using the 10.3 install disk. I would then run disk utility. I would repair the disk, and repair permissions. Then I would boot up Disk-Warrior and let that make a replacement directory... Just a thought...

Thanks,
Paul Fletcher

[nixgeek]

Wouldn't that change permissions on files that might have been added by 10.3.9, possibly making it worse?

[pipermalibu]

Added info:
I booted in single user mode, trashed the fontcache that was referenced in some other posts on Fireball. Not the problem. I then renamed the user file via:
# cd /var/db/netinfo
# mv local.nidb local.nidb.corrupted
# reboot
Which gave me the window as if I just purchased the mac. So I decided to creat a new user, and that would not complete either (at least timely). I got clear to the point of creating a password etc, clicked continue and thats it ....nothing.
When I do get a login window (prior to renaming the user list), and typed my password, it would just hang for a while, then return to ask for my password again.

[HateEternal]

You could try and create a new user in single user mode (if all the commands are avaliable) try this:

The quick way to add a user or a group is to feed a record in either the passwd or the group format into niload (commands you type are shown in bold; the ? is used by the here-document syntax that starts with <<EOF and ends with EOF):


% sudo niload passwd . <<EOF
? rothman:*:701:20::0:0:Ernest Rothman:/Users/rothman:/bin/tcsh
? EOF

After you've created the new user, you need to set the password, use the ditto command (a copy command that preserves HFS+ resource forks) to create the home directory, and set permissions correctly:


% sudo passwd rothman
Changing password for rothman.
New password: ********
Retype new password: ********

% sudo ditto -rsrc \
/System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj \
/Users/rothman

% sudo chown -R rothman:staff /Users/rothman

This method does work from the normal terminal, if all the commands exist in single user you should be able to create a new user and try to login.

[vinko]

I now have a dead PB 12" that would not boot up.

This is after downloading the 10.3.9 update via Software Update and letting it install.

Just before it is restarted I went away from the PB, when I came back the screen was black but the power is still on; I can tell from the "Caps Lock" key light still working.

BTW: through out the installation the PB12" was on AC power.

So I press and hold the Power key to force it to reboot. At first it had a strange steady long tone after pressing the Power button.

So I press the Power button again, after a few long seconds of silence, the familiar chime was heard.

Thinking that I can at least get to the desktop to run Disk Utility, I was wrong. After the Apple logo shows up, the PB just stuck there loading and loading.

I then went to get my Panther Installation Disk and attempt to reboot the PB once again with the "C" key held down to boot from CD.

The Installation disk finally booted the PB, so I immediately went to start the Disk Utility.

Disk Utility started and it started to "Gather disk information", but it just keep gathering and gathering without ever returning.

I force restart, via the Power button, a few times more attempting to start Disk Utility from the Panther Installation CD ROM, but still no luck. It just get stuck at the same place every single time.

Does anyone else have similar problem or suggestions?

I will now go and try booting the PB with Diskwarrior. Will report back afterwards.

-- Vinko