Powerbook given up? PLEASE HELP... I'm panicing!

windsor_richard

windsor_richard

Lekker
Friends at macosx...
My powerbook has given up.
Basically it all started with iTunes going (not sure if it's related? i have dropped a post earlier in this forum), i had an unknown error -51 and it didn't show up any of the music in my library.
Following this (all in the space of a day or two), the rest of the system gave up. Simple applications like safari would show the beachball of death, i'd try to force quit and then the whole thing would freeze.
I'd shut everything down, restarted and tried to get onto macosx to write this message and it gave up on opening safari (i'm writing this from a flatmates working powerbook).
I don't know what to do, only a day ago i was using top heavy applications like the cs2 suite and macromedia suite.
Where do i start? What do i do?
I have tried disconnecting everything from it (dual screen, ex hard drive, tablet, printer etc...).
Whats my next step?
Thanks for your time, HELP ME, i didn't think this sort of thing happened to mac's!
Rich
 
Hey don't panic yet....
Tried safe boot? Start your Mac, after startup chime ("pling"), hold down the shift key until you'll see the startup screen with text "safe boot" or similar. Then release the shift and log in normally.
Would that fix it? If not let's try something else after that step...
 
Hey,
Still panicing...
Waited for the 'ahhhhhh' startup noise and held shift, the apple logo and loading sign showed up (still holding shift), then it went black and turned on again... 'ahhhhhh', still holding shift at this point. When do i let go? No sign of the Safe mode text?
When i loged in (normal mode) i checked activity monitor...
Between 94 and 99% of my CPU usage is used by the system and most of it is used by 'loginwindow' on my user?? Thats not normal? Does that help solve the problem?
Thanks for your speedy response.
Rich
 
I have tried to use disk utilities and check my disk permissions and such but once again i don't have the memory to do it and it freezes.

It must have something to do with the 'loginwindow' process but i have no idea what to do, i have tried to quit and force quit the process and it states that it will log me out but it doesn't actually do anything?

???!?
 
Hm...
Tried disk utlity as from booted in os x, or from the install dvd 1?

If it freezes as badly even when booted from the install dvd... might be worth following http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106464
Single user mode could do something to fix the issues, then if not follow up to the point 7 and so on. The steps start with least intrusive.
 
Ok.. now it's gone completely nuts.
Tried what you suggested and somewhere along the line it now cannot start up from the right place. Whenever i startup, whatever keys i'm holding it gives me the 'flashing question mark'. When i start with dvd 1 in, it boots fine without me holding any keys which suggests when the cd isn't in its trying to boot from there with no luck. So, i have repaired all my disk permissions from the startup dvd and now have tried to change the startup disk...
I have three options:
Mac OS X, 10.3.3 on Powerbook Software,
Mac OS X, 10.3.9 on Macintosh HD and
Network Startup

I selected the second option so it boots without the disc but when it restarts it displays the question mark, as soon as i pop the disc in, whether im pressing any keys or not it boots with the installer?????

I'm so confussed, and also being a student, seeing a mac man will cost me money i don't have. I really didn't expect this from my beautiful powerbook.

What do i do?

Thanks again for your responses.
Rich
 
Another note:
I verified the disk permissions and repaired them without any problems but when i tried to do the same with the disk (verify and repair disk) in first aid it threw up an error both when verifying and rerpairing?
 
I hit the button and the following occurs:
--
Incorrect block count x2
Overlapped extent allocation x2
--

Then the fun really begins...
--
Invalid key length
Volume check failed

ERROR: The underlying task reported failiure on exit (-9972)

Repair attempt on 1 volume:
0 HFS volume repaired
1 volume cound not be repaired
--

Then a message box pops up and states:
--
First aid failed
The underlying task reported failiure on exit.
--

Does that make any sense?
Is it related to my other issues?
How do i startup back into my user using my HD?
Thanks again all.
Rich
 
Silly question, but you /have/ tried calling Apple support, right? They are actually quite helpful most of the time.

If your disk is screwed up, your first priority is (obviously) to get your files off to something else. Havd you copied your home folder and various other stuff to CD, DVD or external harddisk?
 
I would give them a call but my powerbook is out of it's complimentry applecare range and i'm a student. Money is really hard to come by at the moment.
How would i copy over some of my more important files to a CD if i can't log in and when i can that 'loginwindow' process is using all my memory so i can't run anything else?
Many thanks, Rich
 
They will still help you with a lot of stuff even without Applecare.

Perhaps you can borrow or buy a FireWire HD, install a system on it (from another Mac, perhaps), boot on it and use this as a platform for copying your stuff.

Right now you NEED TO CALM DOWN and NOT DO STUFF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT DOES TO YOUR DATA OR COMPUTER!!!!! Seriously! Most of the times data loss is either caused or compounded by panicked actions, and you—understandably—sound pretty panicked right now.
 
Ok, starting to calm down, just panicing because the drive holds some of this years uni work which isnt marked yet. I'm, cool!
Ok, so applecare... what number can i call? (UK Based)
And what steps do i follow to get hold of the data on my HD?
Bearing in mind i'm good with computers but i'm a novice when it comes to looking under the surface level.
I'll check s.m.a.r.t status.

Many thanks, Rich
 
I can't see anything down there with the rest of the stats that says: S.M.A.R.T?
Am i looking for the right thing?
Sorry to draw things out, i'm a novice when it comes to all of this.
Thank you.
 
Should look like this;

Disk Description : Maxtor 6Y060L0 Total Capacity : 57.3 GB (61,492,838,400 Bytes)
Connection Bus : ATA Write Status : Read/Write
Connection Type : Internal S.M.A.R.T. Status : Verified
Connection ID : Device 0

Click on the drive on the left side. If this is the 12" in your sig, you should have S.M.A.R.T Status
 
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