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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Boot Disk Won't Mount

calstudios - Jul 23, 2005 - 11:47 am

Suddenly, my boot disk won't mount, although it will mount as a slave. Upon looking at the desktop folder, two .exe files are there which were not before I began having the problems:

ujw8yubz.exe
5mqg818s.exe


Disk Warrior was not able to solve the problem, I know macs can't read these files, but I have no idea how they got there as I would have no reason to download a PC file, and never would download and .exe about which I know nothing.

Very bizarre, and google returns no hits on these. I'd like to open this question up to see if anyone else has seen these files show up on their machines.

Thanks,

Quicksilver 867, 10.3.9

Scott

bobw - Jul 23, 2005 - 11:50 am

Hi Scott

I would just trash those files. most likely came with an email, spam or PC virus email. I get some occassionally. Can't hurt your machine.

You say the boot drive won't mount, but does as a Slave. If it mounts as a Slave, then it's mounted.

Have you tried reselecting it in the Startup PreferencePane?
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Bobw - Macosx.com Tech Support

calstudios - Jul 23, 2005 - 12:47 pm

Thanks Bob. My old startup disk will mount as a slave, but not as a startup disk. It will boot, but the drive will not mount on the desktop, nor will any other folders or files I have on the desktop. They are there and I can access them if it mounts as a slave, which is how I found the .exe files. When it is the boot disk, it is fully functional except for the desktop, which makes me think the desktop folder is somehow corrupted, although it works just fine as a slave. All the applications work, even though the desktop is missing/hidden.

Scott

bobw - Jul 23, 2005 - 1:03 pm

Scott

Repair Permissions from Disk Utility in your Utility folder.

Then try running 'fsck';

To run fsck, you first need to start up your Mac in single-user mode. Here's how:

1. Restart your Mac.

2. Immediately press and hold the Command and "S" keys.

You'll see a bunch of text begin scrolling on your screen. In a few more seconds, you'll see the Unix command line prompt (#).

You're now in single-user mode.

Now that you're at the # prompt, here's how to run fsck:

1. Type: "fsck -f" (that's fsck-space-minus-f).


2. Press Return.

The fsck utility will blast some text onto your screen. If there's damage to your disk, you'll see a message that says:

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

If you see this message--and this is extremely important-- repeat running fsck. It is normal to have to run fsck more than once -- the first run's repairs often uncover additional problems..

When fsck finally reports that no problems were found, and the # prompt reappears:

3. Type: "reboot" to restart,

or type "exit" to start up without rebooting.

4. Press Return.

Your Mac should proceed to start up normally to the login window or the Finder.


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Bobw - Macosx.com Tech Support

calstudios - Jul 25, 2005 - 3:31 pm

Thanks Bob.

I wasn't able to run fsck--I booted into single user mode but I could not enter anything into the command line. Almost as if the keyboard was not attached, but of course it was. I did see the unix commands and instructions, but could do nothing else.

Several diagnostic tools identify that the drive mounts, but it does not (that's the problem). When it's a slave in another machine, all the data is acceessible. I will try again to see what DW can do when it's a slave. I will also try installing Tiger over 10.3.9, which I will receive in a week or two. That might do the trick.

Scott