No restart nor shutdown via apple menu.

Gambit

Gambit

MacManiac
Hi.
My problem lies with not being able to go to apple/finder menu to shut down or restart my G4 800 Mac.
Panther is installed and every possible upgrade is made.

I am forced to shut down by pressing the power button on the G4 box for it to work.
I can log out and do a sleep via the finder but the others just...nothing happens.

I have tryed to reboot via holding down the C button when starting the puter with the installation CD in the CD-Drive. That results in nothing. The puter only starts the OS again.

I have tryed at least 5-8 times to do a disk utillity repair and there's always at least 1 repair done each time. I've even used Cocktail.

I've checked by the Console to see what has happened and it gave me some lines about some 3rd party software and they are now trashed but no go...

Finally I've tryed to do a /sbin/fsck -y via the Terminal AND trying to do it via starting in Single user mode. With Terminal nothing happens. With trying to start in S-mode...no go...the puter only starts the OS over again. Can't get into S-mode.

That's my history of trying some troubleshooting.

Any ideas because I'm out of them...exept reinstalling which would be a pain in the *** for me at the moment

Help needed!

Cheers,

Gambit
 
Sounds like the user name you are using is not set to Admin. Go to the System Preferences>Accounts>Security. At the bottom check the box next to allow user to Administer this Computer. Log out, then log in. Now go to Utilities and run Disk Utility to repair permissions.

You can create a new user and make sure it has Admin permissions. See if that works smoother.
 
My heroinne!
It worked! :)
Gosh, I've gained some gray hairs wondering what the heck is going on.

I bow to your higher knowledge and say THANKS! :D

/G
 
Actually...I jumped for joy too soon. I thought it worked but missjudged it too early.

The thing is...when i try out what you said I found out that the checked box was already checked but greyed out.
When I've added another user I had no way to log out via the new one nor shut down, nor restart and also...as admin. No way to delete the new user (mabye the latter thing has to do with that that user is still logged in and all I have to do is restart the puter via the power button to fix it...at least I think that will work).

No, I'm starting to suspect that my main password for the puter or the admin name is wrongly linked somehow.
Because I can make a new master password but it doesn't affect anything.

When I do a diskutility repair permissions theres always something that has to be fixed.
Mabye I can do yet another one and post the result here?

I need to find out where the prob. is. Then I can at least try and fix it. When I don't know...I don't know where to begin, of course.

PS: how come the /sbin/fsck -y won't work? Is there a new Unix command in Panther that has replaced the good ol´"fsck"?

:rolleyes:
/G
 
The 'fsck' command tells you why it won't work in Panther (journaling is enabled) - so, modify that command to: /sbin/fsck/ -fy
Then it will work! If fsck repairs anything, then run the same command again, continue until no problems are found. If the same problems are found and 'repaired' several times in a row, then you need a third party utility like DiskWarrior to repair the directory on your drive.

Just a question - What DOES happen when you choose shutdown or restart, and have you waited for several minutes (up to 10-15 minutes) for anything to happen? Do you see any type of error message?
Does the same thing (not) happen when you choose to Logout? Any other result of any kind? Any change if you repeat the same shutdown (or whatever) 2 or 3 times?
 
Thank's deltamac for that info. Down here you can see what probably is going on. And no...nothing happens when I try to restart, shut down or log out via the apple menu...

So here's what's happend:

I think I now know where the problem lies.
It doesn't lie with permissions but with where I have deliberately placed my home directory and muddled with the shortname.

When I installed OSX I wasn't happy with the short name it gave me so I tryed to change it by creating a new folder plus name and took all of my home files and folders and dragged/dropped them into the new one.
Somewhere there the problem started, I know that much.

When I tryed to redo it backwards, so to speak, it didn't go so well so I changed back again to what is now (still corrupted path).
I then did a disk utility permission repair and got this:
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume.

Then I rebooted (via the power button) and made another D.U permission repair and got this:
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume.

So, I'm back at square one exept now I know where it all started.

I will need some help on how to fix this or...
have to either live with not being able to reboot, shut down or have sertain probs. as admin.....or reinstall.

G
 
Gambit said:
When I installed OSX I wasn't happy with the short name it gave me so I tryed to change it by creating a new folder plus name and took all of my home files and folders and dragged/dropped them into the new one.
Somewhere there the problem started, I know that much.

When I tryed to redo it backwards, so to speak, it didn't go so well so I changed back again to what is now (still corrupted path).
I then did a disk utility permission repair and got this:
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume.
Click to expand...
As you have discovered, the short name is 'protected' and Apple has a support page HERE that will take you through a 40 step process to get a short name that you prefer. Most of those here would recommend that you just put up with the existing short name, as it becomes a 'hobby' just to change it, and have your new user folder operate like you expect. Or, someone with some unix background, and good instructions can do it for you.
You are right, your problems have little to do with permissions, but with Ownership.
The permissions repair that you see (the 'special' permission) is very common, and Apple says to simply ignore it, and a couple of other 'special' repairs, it's just a minor glitch in the permissions repair process.
Something that MAY help you: Download the 10.3.4 Combined Updater, and install on top of what you have now. If you have already done this, do it again. Updating with the COMBINED UPDATER has been known to fix a wide variety of problems in 10.3.x , so give it a try.
 
Hmm...the restart stuff might be because of that, but some of the other stuff wouldn't be affected by that. I'll go through some of this...

1) fsck - it will only run on a read-only file system. So even if you do fsck -yf, it won't run in the Terminal because the file system is read-write. You pretty much have to do this either when booted from the install CD or single user mode (command-S when you boot).

2) Booting... this is really strange. Is your keyboard connected directly to the G4? This could be your problem. If you have it connected to some USB hub or something similar, try connecting it directly to the back of the G4. The hub may not be activating soon enough for boot load commands to be going through before the OS boots up.

3) Your user problem. I can help you out with this one, so long as your Terminal (and sudo) works. ;) Load it up, then issue the command nidump -r /users/your-REAL-short-user-name . (don't forget that . at the end!). It'll give you some stats on the user. What you want is the gid and uid numbers. Now go to /Users and move your home directory to some other name - just backing it up here, so it doesn't matter what so long as it's not the same as your short user name. Then issue the following commands to recreate the home directory from scratch:

sudo cp -R /System/Library/User\ Template/English.lproj/ short-user-name
sudo cp /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Caches short-user-name/Library/Caches/
sudo cp /System/Library/User\ Template/Non_localized/Library/Preferences/com.apple.scheduler.plist short-user-name/Library/Preferences/
sudo chown -R UID:GID short-user-name

(Replacing short-user-name, UID, and GID by your own username, uid, and gid.)

This will remake the home folder for the user, similar to making a new user. Log out then log back in and see if things are fixed. If they are, you can copy the stuff back from the old home folder, but I'd be careful about copying the preferences over - don't overwrite any of the preferences you just recreated. You may have to set some things over doing that, but it's easier than having to go through that again. ;)

Hopefully, some of that helps you out. :)
 
Thank you Darkshadow for the Terminal tips.
I suspect I will find the fix there if I can do it right. I'm not a Unix fantast but I did think that that must be the only thing I can use to solve my problem or...reinstall the whole darn OS again. I have fixed other stuff via the Terminal before with a little help of my friends online.

When I changed my given shortname I had no idea it would make so much trouble. Figures. It's not until afterwards unfortunately one knows what is a "no-no, don't mess with that" thing and if unlucky one can screw up stuff for good.

To arkayn and Deltamac: No and yes :) That is: I do not have the kb hooked up to the G4 but to the monitor and yes, I do have an Apple Pro kb.

Thank's guys and fairy...I'll give the unix tip a try and hold my thumbs. I will get back to you and tell you whatever happens.

Now I at least have some hope.

Many thanks! ::love::
G
 
Put on your shopping list: one USB extension cable, so you can connect your keyboard directly to the computer, and not to a hub (your display is, in fact, a USB hub). That will assure the best chance of a successful startup key command, such as command-S for single-user mode, or holding a 'C' to boot from a CD.
 
Darkshadow:

Opened Terminal and did a sudo and then the first command nidump -r/users/my-real-short-user-name.

What I got was a list of:
aliases
bootptab
bootparams
ethers
exports
fstab
group
hosts
networks
passwd
printcap
protocols
resolv.conf
rpc
services

No numbers nor any "gid" or "uid". Btw, I don't know what these two mean :D
So there are numbers that should be seen in this list?

Did I do something wrong here?

G
 
There should be a space between your user name and the (period) at the end
correct is:
nidump -r /users/your-REAL-short-user-name .

NOT:
nidump -r /users/your-REAL-short-user-name.

then you'll see the numbers !
 
sounds like you have open firmware password enabled on your computer.
This means you cant boot into single user mode and wont be able to use any of the start up commands.

When you start up hold down option. If you get a picture of a padlock and a password field you have indeed got open firmware password enabled. To disable you will need the password and the utility which may be in your utilities folder. You can then use the startup combinations like single user - verbose - firewire target mode - cd startup - open firmware - zap pram etc...
 
DeltaMac: aaah, that's why it didn't work. Every darn space, dot and slash is vital when typing. A lack of a space makes all the difference.

profx: never heard of that. interesting, but what utility are you speaking of that I need the password to? If what you mentioned is correct then I probably could fix everything at once!
I'll check it out.

Bbl :)
G
 
Even if you don't like it: I strongly suggest you'll reinstall your Mac completely. Fiddling with short-usernames can do very, very, very strange things to a system. Fiddling things back does not have to reverse the strange things but could lead to another round of very, very, very strange things. And even if you'd GET things back to running normally, I'd still suggest to reinstall, because you might run into other (yet unknown) problems.

Many people are afraid of reinstalls for some reason or other, but it's really no big deal. The only thing you really need to completely erase your harddrive, reinstall and apply a backup is a backup. Best: An external FW drive. If you don't have one and lack the money for buying one, you might find a friend or a friendly Mac dealer that lends you one for the purpose.
 
profx: nope...that didn't work. The puter just restarted.

fryke: I'm not afraid of a reinstallment. It's just a big nuissance, that's all. Reinstalling all the programs and prefs all over again. I asure you that these have grown in size in very little time ;)
But on the whole; yes...you're totally right!
I have small backups, only the important stuff. One of these days I am going to invest in an external drive.
I use the puter more and more professionally and should do things "right".
This will probably not be the first time I get problems (besides, it's not the first time anyway. I've had to reinstall before, of course).
It's just dull to sit and fiddle with it.

I think I'll let this go for now and stay with things as they are untill i really HAVE to reinstall or upgrade.

I thank everyone who has given me tips.

Cheers all :)
G
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top