No users - now what?

B

BlueThunderArmy

Registered
So, am I just an idiot?

After much travail, I managed to stop my newly-installed OS 10.2 from booting into a command prompt, but it seems in the process of all the upgrading my user accounts have vanished.

Basically, I've got no way to log in. I tried booting from the install cd and resetting the password, but there are no available users to reset. No past combinations of users and pwd's work, I've tried. The login screen still says it's my computer, but I can't actually get in to it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Try running "fsck"

To run fsck, you first need to start up your Mac in single-user mode. Here's how:

1. Restart your Mac.

2. Immediately press and hold the Command and "S" keys.

You'll see a bunch of text begin scrolling on your screen. In a few more seconds, you'll see the Unix command line prompt (#).

You're now in single-user mode.

Now that you're at the # prompt, here's how to run fsck:

1. Type: "fsck -y" (that's fsck-space-minus-y).

2. Press Return.

The fsck utility will blast some text onto your screen. If there's damage to your disk, you'll see a message that says:

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

If you see this message--and this is extremely important--repeat Steps 1 and 2 again and again until that message no longer appears. It is normal to have to run fsck more than once -- the first run's repairs often uncover additional problems..

When fsck finally reports that no problems were found, and the # prompt reappears:

3. Type: "reboot" to restart,

or type "exit" to start up without rebooting.

4. Press Return.

Your Mac should proceed to start up normally to the login window or the Finder.
 
Is that just a way to keep your computer bug free and to keep it running at tip top shape. If not, what is it? Should I do this :confused: (there is nothing mager wrong with my computer)
 
From;
http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=2118

Running fsck is similar to running Disk Utility's First Aid, only better. First, it doesn't require a CD, so it's faster than the Disk Utility way. Second, when it's done running, you don't have to reboot if you know the magic word (hint: it's"exit.")

Any time you think your Mac isn't acting quite right, give it a try. DiskUtility and fsck are supposed to do the same exact thing, but there are times when fsck may be preferred. For example:

* Your CD-ROM drive is broken or otherwise unavailable.

* Your Mac OS X Install CD is not handy.

* You are a UNIX hound, and you like the command line.

Apple implies that Disk Utility runs the same tests and repairs disks the same way as fsck. But my experience has been different. Several times in the past few months, Disk Utility has given my hard disk a clean bill of health, but when I ran fsck immediately there after, it found and repaired multiple issues. So I prefer to run it first, then Disk Utility if necessary.

Apple says you should run the Disk Utility application on the Mac OS X CD before fsck, but I am going to go against the grain by stating that I believe your chance of success is greater if you run fsck first.
 
Thanks all.

I tried the fsck thing, which solved one of my older problems but has taken me about as far as it's going to with the latest thing, it seems.

Here's the new deal: I managed to get to Setup Assistant to create a user so I could log in. I typed in all my info, blah blah blah, and then it told me that "an unexpected error has occured. Unable to create standard user." Ugh.

So, I try to reinstall the OS. It looks at the disk for like an hour, then says "Sorry, there's been an error while installing the software. Please try installing again." This process repeats when I do try.

Now. There's not enough space left on my system disk to do an archive/install, but I could install on the other partition and try booting from that. Will this work, or just mess things up further? I would be fine wiping the disk clean and starting over, if I could just get to my files for two seconds to back up.

Thanks.
 
Quick fix.:) I hope you have an OS 9 bootable Mac. Boot to your OS 9 install CD ( or another OS 9 bootable CD) So that you can get to the Desktop. Find the folder named 'System' ( not the one named 'System Folder', that has your OS 9 system) and trash it. Also trash the Library folder. These should both be at the root level of your HD. Be sure to empty the trash! Open the Users folder, you should see your user folder. You could back that up now, or just the files that you need. If your files are somewhere else on the HD, get what you need. Simple backups should be OK. Trash the User folder, Trash the Applications folder. trash any folders that you see that begin with a '.' (dot) Again, empty the trash. If you have a separate partition for the OSX stuff, good for you! Now reinstall OS X 10.2, without formatting the HD, unless you have that separate partition; you can then choose to format that partition (best results that way)
 
I do, in fact, have an OS9 cd, and I had thought of this. However, when I tried booting to the cd, my ibook was having none of it and went into OSX setup assistant anyway. I think this is because it's 10.2, my understanding anyway. I had been able to boot into 9 before the upgrade. Maybe I'll try the disc again.

Thanks for the tip, though. If anybody else has anything, please please let me know.
 
Yeah, that's old, before 10.1 even. Probably won't work since Jaguar. But you've got a clue, your partition is probably too full to complete the setup. Use the OS 9 bootup, backup your files that you want. You may need to just re format totally and reinstall everything. that will certainly take care of problem :)
 
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