eMac Menu Bar Failure

[Hughvane]

Lengthy post, but the problem and attempted repairs have taken place over several hours ...

The top menu bar in Finder > Desktop fails to load completely. Startup and Login works fine, Dock appears, as do all desktop icons. Mouse is working.

As items load into the top menu bar, at the top right, the Smart Reporter and dialup accelerator symbols appear, followed by Spotlight - and no more. The Spotlight symbol appears for a second or two and then disappears for 5 seconds, only to reappear. The process then repeats continuously.

At this stage the keyboard no longer works. It allows Login after restart however (this thread is being typed on my other Mac). Restarts do not cure the problem, and I cannot use Onyx because I cannot type my password.

I have run Permission Repair from Disk Utility. It has not cured whatever may be wrong. Still no loading of Clock, Volume, Keyboard, Dialup symbols. It gets stuck at the now-you-see-me, now-you-don't Spotlight. Mouse functions continue to work.

The Cause
Trying to Select All > Copy > Paste the contents of the Applications folder to TextEdit, which brought on massive constipation (of the OS). TextEdit seized, Force Quit didn't work, I had to quit all other open applications. Mouse > Restart failed to work, I had to force shutdown. Thereafter, on Restart, the menu bar problem emerged.

Verify Disk provides this message ...
Volume Header Needs Minor Repair
d.",1
Macintosh HD
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Installation Disk > Disk Utility > Repair Disk completed. Not successful. Report as follows:
Reserved fields in the Catalog Record have incorrect data
Extended Attribute File
Keys out of order.
Although Disk Utility from the Installation disk stated HFS Volume Repaired, the problem as posted in detail is recurring. I have changed keyboards but that hasn't made any difference.

And now, to add to the tangled mess, external USB drive(s) won't unmount. I can shut down and then disconnect the drive(s) but that's the only way. It appears some Finder functions are also adversely affected by the Mac HD problem.

Repairs have been attempted (twice) from Single-User mode, using both fsck -yf and fsck_hfs -r /dev/disk0s3 On the second run through, fsck -yf finds no fault, but the original problem remains.

See Fault Report in attachment. Thanks for any help, this is a serious one.

 

[VirtualTracy]

I know this isn't much but I was thinking Firewire Target Disc Mode then if possible, creating a new user account and just seeing whether or not this is a global issue ...

I know the facts are grim and the cold hard facts might be your Hard Drive is failing, but the amount of "stranger than fiction" stories out there bare testimony to sometimes going with an "anything is possible/worth trying" attitude.

I'm hinting at the 'Application Not Responding' message when you know that it's just tackling a tough task and will come good if you just leave it to do its job a little longer before you reach for the "Force Quit" button.

One thing for sure is your files need backing up if you haven't already done this (I bet you have ).

Maybe in TDM, you can type your password and get a little further with troubleshooting this, like even launching OnyX.

It really does look like an "Archive & Install" is inevitable or even a full installation ... we won't really know the severity of this issue until then I feel.

There's always Disc Warrior or the like, but that's an expensive outlay and I realise not everyone has the spare cash on hand even though it's a false sense of economy not to have it for moments like these because of the cost.

Finally, I'm hesitant to download your fault.doc, sorry ....

 

[Satcomer]

Plus maybe deleting the Finder preference file might help too. I know you know how to delete a preference file.