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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Os 10.4 Install Question
Dinobot73 - Aug 12, 2005 - 12:11 pm
I have a iMac G4 800 MHz with 512MB of RAM and when I upgrade from panther to tiger and use setup assistant the iMac will not completely boot to the desktop. It stops and I only get the spotlight icon part of the taskbar(not the complete taskbar),plus when I move the pointer to it the pointer become the spinning wheel. I need to know what I can try next.
Fire - Aug 13, 2005 - 4:06 pm
Hi, David! My name is Wes and I'll be assisting you today.
1) Restart the computer while holding Command-S. This will put you into single user mode.
2) type fsck -f and hit enter. This will run a file systems check on your boot disk.
3) If it asks you to fix anything, tell it "yes". Keep running the command until it reports an "OK" message at the end and finds nothing wrong with the disk. You may only need to run it that once, or you may need to run it 3 or so times. It all depends.
4) Type mount -uw /
5) Hit enter. It will mount your disk.
6) Type rm /Users/[your username here]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
7) Hit enter. That will delete your Finder preferences. That will hopefully stop your spinning beach ball problem.
8) Type reboot and hit enter to restart.
Let me know how this works,
Wes
1) Restart the computer while holding Command-S. This will put you into single user mode.
2) type fsck -f and hit enter. This will run a file systems check on your boot disk.
3) If it asks you to fix anything, tell it "yes". Keep running the command until it reports an "OK" message at the end and finds nothing wrong with the disk. You may only need to run it that once, or you may need to run it 3 or so times. It all depends.
4) Type mount -uw /
5) Hit enter. It will mount your disk.
6) Type rm /Users/[your username here]/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
7) Hit enter. That will delete your Finder preferences. That will hopefully stop your spinning beach ball problem.
8) Type reboot and hit enter to restart.
Let me know how this works,
Wes
Dinobot73 - Aug 13, 2005 - 5:09 pm
Let me say you guys are great and I really appreciate your help.
I did what you said and after I typed:
rm /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
I got this response:
503/staff for /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist?
I typed "y" because I'm impatient like that and this came up:
rm /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist: Read-only file system
so I dunno if there is something else I need to change any file settings or what
I did what you said and after I typed:
rm /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
I got this response:
503/staff for /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist?
I typed "y" because I'm impatient like that and this came up:
rm /Users/kevinmartinifuller/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist: Read-only file system
so I dunno if there is something else I need to change any file settings or what
Fire - Aug 14, 2005 - 11:07 am
Ok, it seems clear to me that the rm function isn't working because of an error in mounting the disk. Hopefully this is because you just accidentally typed something wrong or forgot to type a command.
When you boot into single-user mode, the drive is set to Read-Only. This means you can't remove or modify files (which is what the rm command does).
To mount the drive with Read and Write, We need to use the "mount -uw /" command. Make sure you type that command exactly as it appears and let me know if it executes properly. It should say nothing if it does. If there is a returned message, we might have a problem.
Also, try running fsck -f again. It can never hurt.
When you boot into single-user mode, the drive is set to Read-Only. This means you can't remove or modify files (which is what the rm command does).
To mount the drive with Read and Write, We need to use the "mount -uw /" command. Make sure you type that command exactly as it appears and let me know if it executes properly. It should say nothing if it does. If there is a returned message, we might have a problem.
Also, try running fsck -f again. It can never hurt.
Dinobot73 - Aug 17, 2005 - 3:26 pm
Sorry it takes so long for me to respond.
When I type mount -uw it says:
root_device on / (loacl, read-only, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
then I type in the rest and it does the same thing again
When I type mount -uw it says:
root_device on / (loacl, read-only, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
then I type in the rest and it does the same thing again
Fire - Aug 18, 2005 - 12:42 am
Make sure you are typing a "/" at the end of the mount -uw command. The command should look *exactly* like this:
mount -uw /
You're getting a list of mounted drives which shows me you haven't specified a volume to mount. To fix that, all you need is the forward slash following the command.
I'm sorry this has become so confusing! However, I really think if this command is typed exactly as it appears here and in my previous replies, it should execute as I expect it to.
Hope this clears things up!
Wes
mount -uw /
You're getting a list of mounted drives which shows me you haven't specified a volume to mount. To fix that, all you need is the forward slash following the command.
I'm sorry this has become so confusing! However, I really think if this command is typed exactly as it appears here and in my previous replies, it should execute as I expect it to.
Hope this clears things up!
Wes
Dinobot73 - Aug 22, 2005 - 10:55 am
I finally did everything right and when I get to the deskstop it does the same thing as before. I am sorry it takes me so long to respond to your replies
Fire - Aug 22, 2005 - 6:40 pm
David, my man,
I really had this issue almost exactly as you describe it on my G4 (except using 10.3 not 10.4). It was partially fixed by the steps I described, but was still having serious issues.
The way I finally fixed it was starting fresh. I was planning on moving my startup disk to a new, bigger hard drive anyway so I just did a clean install of OS X and I've had zero issues since then.
Re-installing the OS is a little extreme for some people because of all of the software they've got installed, but for others its really no big deal. If its easy for you, booting from the OS Install CD and doing an install over your current system or an archive install while importing your Users would be a good idea and a sure fix.
If re-installing is too involved for your setup, then I'm not sure exactly what else will help. If you want, I can easily re-submit this ticket to the open support pool and another volunteer support agent can pick it up and help you further!
Where we go from here is your decision. I can help you install a new system from your OS CD or I can pass you on to someone else who knows more things you can try.
I hope we can help you fix your problem!
Wes
I really had this issue almost exactly as you describe it on my G4 (except using 10.3 not 10.4). It was partially fixed by the steps I described, but was still having serious issues.
The way I finally fixed it was starting fresh. I was planning on moving my startup disk to a new, bigger hard drive anyway so I just did a clean install of OS X and I've had zero issues since then.
Re-installing the OS is a little extreme for some people because of all of the software they've got installed, but for others its really no big deal. If its easy for you, booting from the OS Install CD and doing an install over your current system or an archive install while importing your Users would be a good idea and a sure fix.
If re-installing is too involved for your setup, then I'm not sure exactly what else will help. If you want, I can easily re-submit this ticket to the open support pool and another volunteer support agent can pick it up and help you further!
Where we go from here is your decision. I can help you install a new system from your OS CD or I can pass you on to someone else who knows more things you can try.
I hope we can help you fix your problem!
Wes
Dinobot73 - Aug 22, 2005 - 7:28 pm
Thanks for your help Wes. I've been thinking about trying to back everything up to a portable HDD and just doing a clean install. I really didn't want to do that but it seems like thats the best option. Do you think I can back up data in safe mode?
Fire - Aug 22, 2005 - 8:50 pm
Sorry I couldn't easily remedy your situation, David.
Backing up would be a good idea. If you're going to do it, there are some things you can try that will possibly allow you to boot your computer semi-normally.
1) Unplug ALL unessential external devices, especially USB. This includes the external HD, your keyboard, and that neat other USB thingy you may/may not have.
2) Start up holding Shift to turn kernel extensions off.
If your computer boots, you can plug in a keyboard and try to use it normally to back up data. If it doesn't login all the way, you can not-so-easily use Single-User Mode (Command-S at startup) to backup your data.
Note that Single-User Mode is certainly NOT a "Safe" mode by any stretch. Single-User Mode is pretty much the polar opposite of Safe Mode (OS X doesn't really have a "Safe Mode" I don't think). So it's important to be extremely careful when using it as you can do serious damage with it since you're given root privileges.
You'll need to use mount commands to mount both the original hard drive and the drive your using as a backup.
In case you didn't know, to find out more about a command type "man [command]" and hit enter. So, to find out more about the mount command, type "man mount". This will show you a manual page. Press q to leave it, down arrow to scroll a line at a time, or space to scroll a page.
You can use the ditto command to copy files from one place to another.
Let me know if you need more help! I'd be glad to give you any information I can!
Backing up would be a good idea. If you're going to do it, there are some things you can try that will possibly allow you to boot your computer semi-normally.
1) Unplug ALL unessential external devices, especially USB. This includes the external HD, your keyboard, and that neat other USB thingy you may/may not have.
2) Start up holding Shift to turn kernel extensions off.
If your computer boots, you can plug in a keyboard and try to use it normally to back up data. If it doesn't login all the way, you can not-so-easily use Single-User Mode (Command-S at startup) to backup your data.
Note that Single-User Mode is certainly NOT a "Safe" mode by any stretch. Single-User Mode is pretty much the polar opposite of Safe Mode (OS X doesn't really have a "Safe Mode" I don't think). So it's important to be extremely careful when using it as you can do serious damage with it since you're given root privileges.
You'll need to use mount commands to mount both the original hard drive and the drive your using as a backup.
In case you didn't know, to find out more about a command type "man [command]" and hit enter. So, to find out more about the mount command, type "man mount". This will show you a manual page. Press q to leave it, down arrow to scroll a line at a time, or space to scroll a page.
You can use the ditto command to copy files from one place to another.
Let me know if you need more help! I'd be glad to give you any information I can!
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