Mac won't boot normally

[Susanne.dabney]

I followed your instructions today and dock came up, but not docs. Tried again & followed instructions on screen: type mac-boot and press return and it came up.

Your instructions were: type reset-nvram, and enter. I didn't see OK. Typed set-defaults and enter, then reset-all and enter.
I'll try again. If I don't come back, it won't start at all!
susanne
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PLEASE NOTE! I kept answering, and received messages asking for answer! I hope this gets through!

Trying again to answer --

Situation same as above -- comes up for <mac-boot> and return, but not for
reset-nvram + enter, no OK or
set-defaults + enter or
reset-all + enter.
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4.25.2007
GOOD NEWS!
THE ANSWER! I noticed that the icon for the scanner was up each time I booted up with <mac-boot> & return, so I removed the cable from the computer. Now it doesn't look for the scanner, and boots up normally. Whew!

Thought you might like to know.

Thank you for being there. I'll surely need you again.

susanne.dabney@Gmail.com

Shall I keep trying the same, or is there another approach?

I seriously depend on this Mac (Don't we all!)

WHAT DO I DO IF IT DOESN'T COME UP AT ALL? THE 866-691-1393 # DOESN'T WORK!

Feeling helpless,
(but grateful)
susanne

[Satcomer]

Well it is good you found the culprit. To see what is starting up when you log in just open System Preferences->Accounts and in the left column highlight your account. There select "Login Items" and you can see if a third party manufactures snuck their application in there.

Now if you want to "clean" you Mac it is relatively simple and good to do once a month or so. To understand what OS X is going you have to understand OS X is built upon BSD Unix which has its Unix parts spread throughout OS X. BSD unix has an extensive log system and a system script that "cleans" those logs (you can see these logs in /Applications/Utilities/Console) in a system called cron. To understand what cron is going and when it does it's thing by reading Running the Mac OS X maintenance scripts.

Now some enterprising youngsters made some important free "maintenance" programs one can run (about every month) that can run cron as well as clean some cache files. The two programs (that are free) that do this are Yasu or Onyx and either one while run cleaning routines. It is just smart to reboot your Mac twice after running any cleaning program to rebuild you startup and shutdown caches in OS X (to make OS X run the fastest).

Now running on the thread of fixing/cleaning your Mac you can use BSD Unixes' fsck (file system check) program to try to fix malfunctioning hard drives. Apple supplied an article on how to fix a Mac (including running fsck) called [url=Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck[/url]. This article will explain things much better then I could write.

We will make you a Mac power user someday that fix almost any broken Mac.