Applications Quit. Restart. Same Problem. Restart. Now Darwin Comes Up.

[Donny]

On my Mac G5 I am having the following problems:

The problem began when Applications such as Safari, Mail, Graphic Converter, and several others just started quitting every time they were opened. I restarted the computer. Nothing changed. I restarted again...

Now every time the computer is started up it appears to be going to OSX as normal, right up until it's almost time to log on. Then it goes to a black screen that has says

Darwin (computer name) (console)
Login:

I have no idea what to do or what the problem may be.

[eric2006]

Someone with a similar problem fixed it by:

I connected it to my other laptop via target disk mode, killed receipts, re-ran the security update and the 10.2.4 from laptop #2, booted from Panther disk and repaired permissions twice..... all is back to normal.

[barhar]

Consider the following:

01. Reboot your Mac via the 'Panther Install Disc 1' CD or 'Tiger Install' DVD (no MacOS X version was provided).
02. Select the 'Installer, 'Open Disk Utility...' (or equivalent) menu item.
03. Click on the Mac's internal boot drives' icon, in the left side list.
04. Click on the 'First Aid' tab.
05. Click on the 'Repair Disk' button. Perform at least twice.
06. Click on the 'Repair Disk Permissions' button. Perform at least twice.
07. Reboot the G5 to its internal boot drive.

Try launching (opening, running) your applications; and, reply with your results.

[macworks]

You might also try installing the latest Mac OS X combo updater. If you're on 10.4.x (which you probably are with a G5), download the Mac OS X 10.4.8 Combo update and install it. Do this after you have repaired permissions on your drive and then repair permissions again after the update has been installed.

[Donny]

Originally Posted by barhar

Consider the following:

01. Reboot your Mac via the 'Panther Install Disc 1' CD or 'Tiger Install' DVD (no MacOS X version was provided).
02. Select the 'Installer, 'Open Disk Utility...' (or equivalent) menu item.
03. Click on the Mac's internal boot drives' icon, in the left side list.
04. Click on the 'First Aid' tab.
05. Click on the 'Repair Disk' button. Perform at least twice.
06. Click on the 'Repair Disk Permissions' button. Perform at least twice.
07. Reboot the G5 to its internal boot drive.

Try launching (opening, running) your applications; and, reply with your results.

I tried this. Got as far as steve 5. It runs the repair all the way to the end and then I get this message:

Checking volume bitmap.
Volume Bit Map needs minor repair
Checking volume information.
Repairing volume.
The Volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit.



1 HFS volume checked
1 Volume could not be repaired because of an error
Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 Volume could not be repaired

I tried twice. Same result both times.

[Donny]

After doing what I wrote above (post #5), I tried to reinstall Tiger doing an archive and install. That failed also.

[barhar]

Attempt to access to the troubled (iMac or PowerMac) G5 by connecting it to another Macintosh, via a FireWire cable, and booting the G5 into 'Target Mode'. If successful - copy all possible data to the 'other' Mac.

Whether successful, or not, (with transferring data from the G5 Macintosh) boot from the 'Tiger' installation DVD, erase the G5's hard disk drive, perform a 'Repair Disk', and then install MacOS X via 'erase and install'.

A 'volume bit map' error is typically the result of a MacOS X hiccup (politely speaking). I have seen such before; numerous times.

[macworks]

Reinstalling is a bit like smashing a fly with a sledgehammer. It would be best for you to acquire a copy of DiskWarrior or TechTool Pro and run either of those to repair the problem. Apple's Disk Utility is a "light weight" when it comes to a lot of volume or file-system repairs.