Problems starting up Mac OS 10.4

I

inabut

Registered
Hi, I'd really appreciate any responses to this, since i can't even use the computer at all!!

Problem: When I power my G5 with Mac OS 10.4 it loads up until it shows a tiny piece of the finder in th upper right hand corner and gives me a beach ball..

...The last time I was able to use it I was installing several fonts in Font book. I had about 93 but I finished with 2000 fonts..I suspect that this is making my computer slow...or not even start up right!

Please help! Thanks..

P.S> when repairing the disk with the installation disk, it said nesting folders past the limitation of 100
 
thanks eric for that tip...unfortunately my impatience got the better of me, and so i decided to reinstall the OS again. First I did archive and install with the user and network settings checked., and I still didn't get the finder to fully complete itself so again I couldn't use the computer at all. But then I decided to reinstall without the user and network settings checked.

This time it worked like a charm. I am not even daring to shutdown right now for fear of the same problem happening but I think it's fine. I burned all the info I needed already so I am happy.

Anyways, I now have more space taken up by these previous systems. Would it be okay to just completely delete the previous systems?

I still am fuzzy about what the cause of what the problem really was. I suppose it was something to do with the user and network settings that I had before the reinstall. I still wonder if that huge quantity of fonts I installed was the problem at all - it was 2000 fonts total and added 40 GB...I think I am going to burn it all and use when needed) but I did notice that the computer was slowing down after this - well now, after reinstall it's working great.. And then there was that red type after I pressed Repair Disk in the disk utility of the installation disk: 'Nesting of folders has exceeded the recommended limit of 100.' Actually, there was something else I installed previously, Shake 3.5. And after this I ended up getting a message everytime I started up the computer:

'An item in the Startup Items folder ("/Library/StartupItems/Qmaster") does not have the proper security settings. Using this item may cause problems. If you trust this item and want to fix the security settings, click Fix. To always prevent tis from being used, click Disable. To skip using this item and show this message again, click Decide Later.'

I just kept saying Decide Later...I wondered if it was clashing with some Qmaster application from the Final Cut Studio disc I installed.

Anyways, now I just hope the same issues don't pop up and that is why I am elaborating a little on all the little scary messages so if anyone catches what the problem is...and of course greatly appreciated for the help...and this will definitely serve as a great guide to whoever this problem affects as well!!

P.S. how does Safe mode help? What's it used for? Saving info I suppose...

Thanks again !!
Isis
 
In safe mode, the computer automatically runs a disk check, disables all but necessary fonts, and extensions are not loaded, so you could delete some fonts, or change settings. It's possible that you have a bad font, so you may want to stagger font importing to isolate it.

More on Safe Mode:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

You may delete older system files if you have their information backed up.
 
okay --how do i know which is a bad font? I just opened the font book application and noticed the fonts are not there.....of course they are preserved in my user account from the 2nd previous system folder. i also forgot to mention that when i installed the fonts I noticed they were being placed in the "all fonts" section even when I selected "user." So I copied the "all fonts" section and pasted them to the "user" section because I thought I wouldn't be able to see them under my user account. Now I realize that the 'nesting of folders has exceeded the recommended limit of 100' message might be refering to the fact that the fonts were being copied over unnecessarily and there were multiple folders nesting all over each because of this?

Anyways, thanks so much...man you're quick!

isis
 
I'd create a secondary account and import the fonts on that. Make sure that you import the fonts on a user level, and and the test account is not the account that comes on when the computer boots. If it works, go for it on the main account and delete the test one. Here's one way to find bad fonts:
http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/badfonts.html
 
will try it, sounds like a great idea. thanks so much....:cool:

troubleshooting ...it probably takes 1/3 off of my life.:rolleyes:

-isis
 
from terminal:
sudo find / -maxdepth 100 -mindepth 100

That should show you any directories or files at exactly 100 depth.
 
just wanted to say thanks again for your help! The last trick can come in handy in case this happens again.

Would you know if it's okay to delete the previous system folders? Would this affect my applications and current system folder?
I suspect not, anyways you really did point out the problem for me.
 
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