problems restarting Black Macbook (10.5.8)

[processor93]

i got a new optical drive about a month ago, tried installing it myself following instructions but messed up in reassembly - HD not recognized. so i took it to tekserve, they did it right, and all was supposedly good.

then last week i had two restarts getting the circle/slash after the apple. i realized i was restarting with a 3rd party peripheral connected (just a USB audio in/out stick), and restarting without it solved the issue.

then i started having this issue: starting up hangs on the apple and spinning wheel. i zapped the PRAM a few times and that did the trick at first. but then back to the same issue.

i was able to start up in safe mode just fine last week. rescued a few files off of it, then was able to restart normally.

while i had it on, i tried to install apple's recent update for the flashback trojan. it said there was no application to update. so i downloaded and tried to install the original update (which i thought i had). neither the normal installer nor pacifist would install the files. i got an error with a long number.

since then, it won't start up. i tried doing the "reset" (powering off, unplugging, removing the battery for a minute, then trying again, but no luck.
in fact right now i tried safe mode and it hangs.

but get this: my drive is half bootcamp, and windows starts up and works just fine.

the mac side starts off the install disk just fine. disk utility says the drive and all permissions are fine (fixed one permission).

also, i was able to start up in firewire mode and see the contents from another computer. but here's the catch to that, which could be part of the overall problem:

for some reason, there has always seemed to be two different sections of my mac, that have identical folders of everything, except the contents are different. if i use the shortcuts in the left menu, i get what i use 99% of the time. if i just go to the HD and look, the folders are all the same, but some files are missing because i created/copied/modified them through the left menu.

maybe the main section is under my username? that is inaccessible via firewire. the part that is firewire-accessible is maybe some kind of public folder?

anyone have any ideas as to the cause and possible solution?

[DeltaMac]

One reason that you might see very similar sets of folders twice on your MacBook, that you have reinstalled OS X, using an Archive & Install option. That will leave a folder with much of your system files. They will all be inside another folder named "Previous Systems". If Tekserve needed to reinstall OS X, possibly that's when that happened. You could simply trash that folder "Previous Systems", and be sure to empty the trash. Right now, it may only be confusing you....
Finally, that "prohibited" symbol at boot often means that there's a problem with the system software. An OS X reinstall (again using that archive & install option) will probably take care of that issue. And, make sure that your hard drive is set as the default in your Startup Disk pref pane.

[processor93]

thanks for the advice. tekserve did not reinstall OSX, and the dual versions (depending on how i looked at them) were that way long before this issue. they are not my system files, they are document files.

for example, let's say i have a shortcut folder on the left called "WORK". if i click on that as i usually do, i see all the subfolders i've been working on. but if i look at the same folder by navigating to it another way (such as from the HD icon). not all the files/folders are the most recent versions or even there at all.

since i do still have my 10.5.2 install disks and a working optical drive, i guess i can try the "archive and install" option tonight and hope that works.

i'll keep this thread updated, thanks!

[DeltaMac]

Probably just little misplaced alias. That sidebar WORK icon is likely taking you to a different location, probably down in a sub-folder somewhere.
If the sidebar icon "WORK" takes you to the correct files, you can right-click on that sidebar icon, and choose "Open Enclosing Folder", which will then take you to that location, with your actual "WORK" folder selected.
If you boot to your OS X installer DVD, first step is to open Disk Utility (from the Utilities menu), and click on the hard drive, then click the Repair Disk button (different from Repair Disk Permissions)). If that Repair Disk completes without problems, then continue with the OS X reinstall, click the Options button on the screen where you select the destination drive. Choose Archive & Install, along with the option to save your files and settings. That reinstall will take you back to 10.5.2 - so run your Software Update after the first restart, until your system is back up-to-date!

[processor93]

thanks! i think actually already ran "repair disk" but not from the install disk. will do that first.

i'm not really sure about your alias idea. when i did a search on the whole computer for a file i KNOW is there inside that folder, it did not find it. and it is not in the version of the folder i could get to when i mounted the drive with firewire from another machine.

[DeltaMac]

Keep in mind that "Repair Disk" is NOT the same as "Repair Disk Permissions"(which is NOT what you want to do, and permissions will not likely help your situation). You must be booted to a different system (like your installer DVD) to run a Disk Repair.

You said that you can see all your files when you click on the WORK icon in your sidebar.
Is that still correct?
Where do you go when you right-click on that sidebar icon, and click Open Enclosing Folder? That should take to you to the folder that has your WORK folder - and that should be the correct one.
Your Spotlight, by default, does not go into system file folders, nor into the Library. The WORK icon should NOT point to one of those locations - but it's still a possibility. That would explain why a normal search does NOT find what you want.
Does the right-click (Open Enclosing Folder) on the WORK icon help you at all?

[jbarley]

Do yourself a favor and download and install "EasyFind".
Once installed, run it and do a search for a file, one you suspect you have duplicates of.
EasyFind will show you every instance of this file, complete with location paths.
A right click on any file will take you to the files location.
As a bonus, there is no better way to completely uninstall any application then with an EasyFind "search, select all, destroy", this will remove all traces and support files for the application selected, far more thorough then any of the so-called app-remover applications.

[processor93]

ok. so i reinstalled OS 10.5.2 off the original disks using archive&install. everything went smoothly, the computer gave me two gongs and made it to the desktop with all my files and settings intact. lovely!

but of course, i was back in 10.5.2. so i immediately checked for software updates and of course saw the Combined 10.5.8 update package (as well as itunes 10.6.3). so i said yes to both.

it went through the update, restarted, and...now i'm back to the stage where it gets past the apple, then goes to a blue screen (which usually precedes it going black, the color of my desktop)...then the blue screen shuts off...and comes back for 30 seconds...and keeps doing that.

i guess i should have checked out that duplication issue while i had things up and running in 10.5.2. but i've been running 10.5.8 this whole time and had no reason to think an apple update would send me back to this startup loop hell.

i guess i will try it AGAIN tonight, and then use this "EasyFind" to try to solve any duplication/conflict problems.

maybe i can also install/run the Flashback virus finder/remover and updater in case that is one of the issues.

thanks for all your help everyone.