Need help with an eMac that won't start up after a software update gone wrong

S

silverthornne

Registered
I've tried Safe Mode but it won't start into it (Apple.com says that you need to hold Shift during boot for Safe Mode in case there's something I've been doing wrong). It won't start from the restore CD either (holding C during start up).

What happened was that I was updating some items from the software update program (one of these was a Safari update). Now I'm used to Windows - this Mac is a work PC, not mine. Anyway during the update I loaded Safari up to search some things we needed and I got the spinning wheel that displays under the apple logo during a start-up and the computer wouldn't do anything else. I left it alone for 2 hours, thinking it would probably work after it was done updating but it wouldn't work. Now at least it would come back from screen saver by pressing . on the numeric keypad (no other key nor mouse input would get it back from screen saver). Anyway I thought I could probably just boot into safe mode or from the CD if the update broke something so I force restarted the Mac by holding down the power key and now it won't boot up in safe mode, from the supplied restore CD or normally.

It's an eMac that shipped with Mac OS X 2.4 and had updated to 2.8 last week. I don't know anything else about it.
 
Hi silverthornne and welcome to the forum.
I would suggest to reset your PRAM: restart your system and hold the keys: apple+option+p+r. Hold the keys until it restarts automatically. Your Parameter RAM in your Macintosh is reset to the default values. The clock settings are not changed.
Now insert your panther/jaguar disk into the drive and boot again while holding "c". Is it possible to enter the installer? If so, repair disk permissions and try to reboot regularly. Good luck!
 
Well, that didn't work - I managed to run the Installer and then repaired the disk permissions (it repaired quite a few of them btw) but it's still hanging during startup. I'm open to more suggestions :/.
 
Would you consider a reinstall? Of course your files won't be deleted. Looks like your broken update messed up with many system files.
That is the only way I see unless you have a system-backup somewhere.
 
Ok I have the Installer up and I can't find a "Reinstall" option. When it gets to the choose where to install part, it tells me that my HD has a more recent version of the Mac OS and thus I need to go into Options to change install settings. So I go into Options and the ones available are:

Archive and Install
Erase and Install

Archive and Install is described as: "Moves existing System files to a folder named Previous System, then installs a new copy of Mac OS X. You cannot start up your computer using the Previous System folder". My worry here is that it says it moves existing "System" files to a separate folder. Does this mean it only preserves the files within the System folder or does it preserve all the files (or maybe it does only if I check the option "Preserve users and Network Settings")?
 
Archive and install is the one that you want, what it does is take the old system that is not working correctly and move it aside, then it installs a fresh system that should work correctly. Your users and their files will not be touched.

Does the eMac have the orginal keyboard still attached?
 
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