eMac Freezing on "Login Window Starting"

riccbhard

riccbhard

Tech
At school, one of the 1Ghz eMacs are freezing when getting to the boot step "Login Window Starting". It normally would load a list of user names from I believe the server. I was wondering how to repair permissions from an OS X disc.

Thanks in Advance! :cool:
 
if i remember correctly:
just insert the install cd/dvd, and, in the menu, opent disk tools. the rest is obvious.
Good luck! but maybe the fault is with the connection to the server so it freezes when it tries to establish a contact.
 
Thanks! I'll try the repair permissions with my OS X Disc. I did it here on my own Mac so I know how to do it. I'll also mess around with the hub (there are three other computers connected to the same hub that it is.) and see if there is anything wrong with it or the way things are connected. BTW the hubs they use are Netgear 5 port auto-sensing hubs. These are used in rooms that have computers, which is almost every room.
 
Repair Permissions form Disk Utility in your Utilities folder, not from the CD.
 
@bobw:
The computer can not boot to the point where I am able to login. That's ok, you just must've misread my post :)

@Decado:
Yea, I know it needs upgrading :eek: . When I get the money it will be upgraded to 512MB.
 
I realized that you cannot boot an eMac with a Mac Mini OSX cd (the eMac ejects the cd tray when holding C during boot). I'm making an emergency os x boot cd with BootCd. It includes the Disk Utility that I can repair permissions with. Toady I made a little more progress. The computer does not "freeze" (progress bar stops moving.) anymore, but it sits, and sits forever at "Login Window Starting" with the progress bar constantly spinning but not moving. There is also the spinning pinwheel cursor. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow.
 
I was also wondering, would the eMac reject the CD by opening the tray? or is that something else that could be wrong :confused:.
 
Good news! I tried the BootCD I made in my Mac Mini and it works!. In fact I am typing this post from Safari running on the BootCD. :)
 
Good! what will you do now? i would change the startupfolder/disk to the emac internal (i presume it was previously starting from a server?)
 
the eMac will not boot from the CD drive, it just ignores me pressing the "C" key and goes on with a normal boot, and freezes. :( I should also note that it will not start in verbose, single user, or safe mode.
 
but what does it try to boot up from? From the internal hard-drive or the network. if the network, then you should change that to see what happens.
 
I would think that it boots from the network because it gathers the list of usernames from the server. How would I change it to boot from HD?

but i'm not sure because if i unplug the network cable and then boot it, it will stop at the step "Waiting for Network Intilization" (excuse spelling).
 
i have a swedish os, so i'm unsur about the proper englisg names for it but roughly this is what you do:
1) boot up with the bootcd.
2) go to system preferences
3) chose Startdisc (lower right corner).
4) there yo can chose between networksstart or the os installed on the hd (and maybe the bootcd too).Choose the Os on the hd (if there is any).
 
Have you checked the network cable going from the eMac to the hub? Also, my eMac had bent pins in it's ethernet socket when I got it from the factory, you might want to check that as well.

I've also noticed that OS X is pretty slow when it starts while connected to a network via ethernet (my finder takes about 2 minutes to start after login on my net.)
 
Well I made a little more progress. If I unplug the ethernet cable while the computer is off, and power on the computer, it will stop at the step "Waiting for network intilization." for about 20 seconds and then continue loading. When I boot it this way (without network cable connected) it does not even stop at "Login Window Loading" and continues to the login screen with the options "Administrator" or "Other...". I'm beginning to think this is network related, not OS related, because the "Sleep" "Restart" and "Shutdown" functions and the login window work without the ethernet cable connected. But I can't login because it can't get the user list from the server.

I also had a question. When you connect two computers together with a firewire cable, does the one that you want to read from have to be logged in? If not I could connect the broke mac and the working one next to it and run repair permissions on the broken one's disk from the working one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top