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TICKET ARCHIVE -> System Preferences : Startup Disk : Question Mark : OS X 10.3.9

sourpoodles - Jul 20, 2006 - 10:35 pm

I've searched for a posting that addresses my problem but I can't find the right one.

The other day I turned on my Mac (PowerMac G5, OS X 10.3.9, all software and firmware updates installed). It booted to the light grey screen with the dark grey apple and the circular progress meter spinning. It hung for a long time (3 minutes). I manually powered off, waited a few minutes, restarted and it started up fine.

After some digging around I realized that in System Preferences the Startup Disk icon had a question mark in it. I clicked on it, selected the correct startup folder (Mac OS X 10.3.9 on G5) and clicked Restart. After booting up I clicked System Preferences and the question mark was still there. I repeated the same steps, selected startup volume, clicked restart and after booting up the Startup Disk icon still had a question mark.

I then ran through the usual diagnostics:

Ran fsck -f >> "Volume appears to be OK"

Ran Disk Utility from the installation CD >> "Volume repaired" in green

Repaired disk permissions

I even reset the PRAM and updated the prebinding with Terminal (though I don't think those could have helped anyway)

Every post I come across says to select the correct Statup Disk in System Preferences and you're good to go. But it keeps reverting to a question mark. Also I never see the question mark icon while the computer is starting up. I only see the grey apple. But after starting up the icon in system preference shows a question mark.

Thanks for any help you can provide. And I hope it's not "Do a clean install"

DeltaMac - Jul 20, 2006 - 10:56 pm

Is that the only problem that you have - that the startup volume appears with a question mark? Are you selecting the 10.3.9 boot? or the network boot?
Are you still having a boot time that is too long? (more than 3 minutes)
Or, is your boot up now normal?
- Dale

sourpoodles - Jul 21, 2006 - 2:08 am

When I open System Preferences and click on the Startup Disk - which has a question mark in it - I'm shown two icons:

1) Folder labeled "Mac OS X 10.3.9, on G5" (My hard drive is named G5)

2) An icon labeled "Network Startup" that has a question mark in it

I select the first icon and click restart. After my computer starts up it takes about 30 seconds to boot. After that, I open System Preferences and the Startup Disk has a question mark. I've repeated the same steps about 4 times now - each time it still has a question mark. Any ideas?

sourpoodles - Jul 21, 2006 - 2:16 am

I uploaded a jpeg that shows what I'm talking about.

DeltaMac - Jul 21, 2006 - 7:33 am

Sorry, your jpeg file isn't here, and no link to it.

But, is that the only problem that you have? Just the appearance of the icon in Startup Disk? Boot is normal, otherwise? I think you should choose to ignore the appearance of the icon, as it may not indicate any problem.

Have you moved your System folder into a different folder? or is the System showing at the root of your hard drive (which is normal).

Have you tried reinstalling the OS X 10.3.9 combined updater?
download from this link - http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...pdate1039.html
reinstalling the combined updater is well known to fix strange little problems that show up from time to time.
Let me know how it goes...
- Dale

sourpoodles - Jul 21, 2006 - 8:15 am

Hmm, when I look at my posting

http://www.macosx.com/help/qview.php?questionid=27006

under File Attachments it says "StartupDisk.jpg" and when I click that it shows the jpeg I uploaded. Can you not see that?

"I think you should choose to ignore the appearance of the icon, as it may not indicate any problem."

That doesn't make me feel much better. Unless I choose to restart my computer through the System Preferences Startup Disk pane, my computer takes an unusually longer time to boot up. That's not normal behavior.

"Have you tried reinstalling the OS X 10.3.9 combined updater?"

If my computer is already at 10.3.9, how do I "reinstall" the update? Do I need to revert to 10.3.8 first? How does that work? I've always let the computer update itself through Software Update.

DeltaMac - Jul 21, 2006 - 1:28 pm

If you download the updater at the link that I gave you, you can install that, It will 'retune/repair' the system for a variety of issues. It will install on top of your present 10.3.9 with no problems.

This forum/site is presently undergoing a complete overhaul, and some features that seem to be available, in fact are not available. One of those is someone else (like me) viewing your attachments. I see no trace of that at the same link (which is the one that I use to add this comment)

I really don't need to see the image. You have described it quite well...

Just so I get this right - If you set the startup drive correctly in the Startup Disk pref pane, and you close the pref pane (don't restart from there, but close, then do a normal restart), then your next reboot is still the long boot, but choosing restart while still in the Startup Disk, you get a more normal 'short' boot?
If you do nothing else, but shutdown (don't restart, choose shutdown)
Then start the system in the normal way, then that boot will take the long boot??
Let me know what you find out...
- Dale

sourpoodles - Jul 25, 2006 - 12:25 pm

I installed the 10.3.9 updater at the link you provided and I still had the same problem. The Startup Disk icon in System Preferences still had a question mark. Then, things started to get seriously worse. My Finder functions, like opening a window, selecting a folder, emptying the trash, began to stall with the spinning color wheel. Very abnormal behavior.

When I shutdown and powered up I got the flashing question mark folder during startup. This was the first time I had seen this. It stayed like this for about 10 minutes until I got the message to shutdown. I turned it back on trying to start in single user mode. I got to the grey apple with spinning progress meter but it never got past that. I had my fingers on Apple+S for 15 minutes with no result. I manually powered off and rebooted. This time flashing question mark folder during startup. I opened the CD tray and inserted my installation disc. I turned off and back on holding down C. I got to the Installer, opened Disk Utility and selected to Repair my hard drive. I noticed that the name of my hard drive was greyed out, something I'd never seen before. I selected to Repair Disk and I got the following error in red:

Invalid B-tree node size.
Volume check failed.
Error: Underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)

When I quit Disk Utility and Installer it asked if I wanted to select a Startup Disk. I selected this and the only 2 icons it showed me were Network Startup with a question mark and my installation disc.

What is going on here? This has gone from an error you said I could "ignore" to my computer not starting up. And my system got significantly worse after I installed the 10.3.9 updater. Can you or somebody else please provide some help?

DeltaMac - Jul 25, 2006 - 5:41 pm

Ah yes, I understand your problem now. The question mark on the Startup Disk icon would be an early warning (and I have not seen that mentioned anywhere as a feature in Startup Disk). My guess is that the SMART reporting from your hard drive was triggering that.
the Error: Underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972)
is a typical error meaning that your hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced.
I would recommend that you do not make any more attempts to use your computer, until you try to back up your important files.
Then, have your hard drive replaced.

- Dale