help! my whole system is hosed!!!

[cwoody222]

(posting via my backup PC)

OK...I'll give the whole story just in case it's relevant.

In order to get the Big Brother Real Network WebCams tonight on their no-Mac-version program I started investigating options for VirtualPC OR a Router to share my DSL connection.

For the first night (tonight) I just decided to UNhook my DSL from my Mac and hook it into my PC laptop which I brought from work.

WebCams worked on PC but not Mac. I decided to try Classic just for the hell of it so I changed my StartUp Disk to OS 9 (my disks are NOT partitioned) and restarted.

OS 9 WILL NOT START AT ALL.

I immediatedly get this flash of white and then where the happy Mac face should be I get a blue file folder with a Question Mark on it that flashes with a distorted picture of the Mac Happy Face / Finder logo. It looks 'distored' in a way that makes me think it's some virus!

Anyone know what's going on?!?!

I am running 9.2 but I only have that CD as an Update so I grabbed my 9.1 and did Startup from the Disk. I can get to System Repair but I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to lose all my Music / Doc files.

I also have a 10.0 CD which I can start from. Unfortunately that just brings me to OSX's installation prompts. I cancel that and went to Disk Utility - First Aid but it hung.

I haven't yet tried to start from my UPGRADE 10.1 or 9.2 Disks.

I should mention that I RARELY use Classic and it's usually not even running. I haven't booted into Classic directly in WEEKS.

OSX have been working without a single problem (don't even turn it off at night) for weeks and weeks.

So, this weird virus/problem sure comes as a shock.

I'd like to solve it without losing major amounts of stuff.

Has this happened to anyone else? Can anyone help??? PLEASE!?!?!?!

[xaqintosh]

You can reinstall OS X (but then you'll have to re-upgrade) and not lose any files (unless you did a lot of system hacks like changing the system icons or the boot panels) and you can also reinstall OS 9 w/o losing files (I suppose)

[cwoody222]

I'm not TOO worried about losing any APPS because they're all free and I have broadband to get them again.

But will I wipe out my, say, Documents or Music folders???

Any idea what caused this???

[xaqintosh]

1. the Mac OS X install doesn't wipe out anything except OS X Files, and maybe some system hacks, it is very smart.

2. No, sorry

[edX]

while booted from your os 9 cd, did you try using the startup disk control panel and switching back to your os x?

[dsnyder]

That's a good idea, Ed. I believe you can also hold down command-X at startup to force it to boot into OS X. It's been a while since I've done that though, so I can't say for sure that it works in 10.1.

As for reinstalling, as long as you use the original disks that say "Install" on them and NOT the ones that say "Restore," you will be OK. The "Restore" disks that ship with new computers will replace the contents of the hard disk with the original factory install image.

You should also try to run some sort of disk checking utility. If the OS X version of Disk First Aid is hanging, boot from the OS 9 CD and try the version on there. It is in the Utilities folder. If Disk First Aid continues to hang, freeze etc. when checking the disk, this could be a sign of a physical disk failure. Usually this is also accompanied by odd sounding noises from the hard disk. If this is the case, I hope you have an external firewire disk or some other removable storage. The OS 9 boot CD has enough firewire drivers to mount a hard disk. It might also be able to work with ZIP disks if you have one of those. I'm probably being a bit of a pessimist here, but over the last two years at work I've had to deal with more failed Mac hard disks than I care to think about.

[Natobasso]

I had a similar thing happen to me on my new iMac G4/700. Long and short my logic board and Ram went bad which made it impossible for me to boot up from a cd or from either OS X or OS 9. You seem to have it better since your OS X still functions.

Try using a hardware test cd if you have one to determine if your RAM is bad or some other hardware inside your system. DO NOT reinstall your system software as I have heard it wipes your drive and starts over. If you can boot up your computer to either system, use an ethernet cable (one specially made for networking, they are about $17) and connect your Mac to another one, transfer the data, and then try to fix your computer.

The best program I have ever seen for your problem is Disk Warrior from Alsoft. It's the best $60 you will ever spend, and no--I don't work for the company nor am I affiliated with them in any way. Disk Warrior is your best/last line of defence for when things go wrong on your computer. If it's a software thing, even Disk First Aid can possibly solve the problem or at least give you the chance to boot up your computer normally to make repairs.

Two other things to try are zapping your PRAM (hold option + command + shift + p + r and wait for the restart tone to happen three times, then rebuild your desktop with command + option key until you get the message, "are you sure you want to rebuild your desktop?")

Let me know if any of this helps you. To choose which system you want at start up, hold the option key when booting and you will see a basic blue screen with your available hard drives/cd drive shown. Choose the one you want and hit the arrow on the right. The arrow on the left lets you choose the system you want.

[cwoody222]

Thanks for the help guys. Here's what happened.

Well, OS 9 wouldn't boot. I was able to get to 9 using a boot CD. I ran Disk First Aid. It said it found errors and fixed them. I was able to boot into 9 without a CD just ONCE before the problem came back.

Once in 9 I tried to switch back to 10 using the Startup Disk control panel. 10 would not start either

I could get to 10 using a 10 boot CD but when I would run Disk First Aid in 10 it would stall.

The next day (this was about two weeks ago) I went to my local Apple store and they suggested buying Disk Warrior. I did.

When I used that I was able to 'fix' 9 but I had already re-installed the system over a few times (not losing any data) so my system was already kinda messed up. Disk Warror had no effect on fixing 10

So, since I was able to at least get into 9 now I decided just to take a bunch of files, burn them onto a CD and wipe the system clean and do a fresh reinstall of both OSes.

It's just a home computer - nothing super important is on it.

My biggest loss was my pirated version of Quicken and all my Quicken data. I got another pirated version and have started getting some of my accounts set back up - not a big deal.

I was able to save most other frivolous files - like MP3s and stuff.

I still don't really know what caused it...but I learned to backup and to use something like Disk First Aid more often just in case. I'll pop that Disk Warrior CD in every once and awhile too.

Thanks again for all the help!