IBook G4 Login Window

Ryan R · #1 March 23rd, 2007, 11:20 AM

I've tried searching threads for a solution, but I haven't found one to do exactly what I need. A few weeks ago while I was on my computer, and an update was running, my computer froze up. I did a hard restart and ran into a problem.

I tried restarting normally, but I just get a spinning wheel that just keeps spinnning.
I tried again in safe mode. This time, The teal screen with the white box "Max OS-X" came up and the blue bar loaded almost all the way. It reached "Login Window Starting" and then the screen fades and the command line screen appears. It immediately asks for Username and then Password. I type both in, and it lets me into the system as 'admin.'

I ran diskutil to try and repair or verify and disk that might have had problems. I kept getting errors such as (-10000 Error). I was then looking for another solution.

I tried this time in single user mode, following the instructions of the forum thread I found here:
http://macosx.com/tech-support/ibook...zing/5118.html

(Go to the last post)

I followed the instructions and it says the HD is ok. I typed the command to mount and then onto SystemStarter. I runs though and finally says "Startup complete." I try to type the remove files as I saw on the instructions, but the files are not recognized. I.E.:

rm /Users/admin/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist : No such file or directory.

I then tried to look up the user names, but the command line came to a halt and didn't compute the command. I really think the problem has to do with the Login Window at startup.

When my computer froze up, it was during an update, so I don't know what effect that would have. I'm limited on knowledge and was wondering if anyone could offer me some help with my situation.

Thanks,
Ryan

powermac · #2 March 24th, 2007, 08:49 AM

It sounds as if you did everything I know to do. My PB also froze during the last update from Apple. I tried to repair HD, etc. Nothing worked. My solution was to re-install the system software.

dsr · #3 March 24th, 2007, 12:26 PM

Yeah, a reinstall is probably your easiest option at this point. fsck indicates that it's not a permissions problem, so you probably have corrupt data in your /System folder. You can reinstall Mac OS X with the "Archive and Install" feature, which only replaces your /System folder (and maybe /Library as well) while preserving your user data.

Satcomer · #4 March 24th, 2007, 07:31 PM

I posted this before and i will do it one more time:

Do these steps:

1) Find another Mac to use.
2) Get a FireWire cable and connect to each Mac
3) Boot you sick Mac into FireWire Target disk mode and then once the sick Mac boots with a FireWire symbol mount it on the good Mac (on the other end of the FireWire cable)
4) On the Good Mac run /Applications/Utilties/Disk Utility and Repair the Disk and Repair Permissions on the the sick Mac
5) Then download the sick Macs current Combo update and install it on the sick Mac
6) See if you now can boot the sick Mac now
7) Cross your fingers