Stuck!!! My Mac powerbook has lost prefs/settings!

M

markmorris

Registered
Hi
I have been in contact via the question/response team over a problem with my Mac. We have come to a dead end. It has now been re pooled but I was also wondering if anybody else could shed some light on the matter.

I am am running Mac OS X ver 10.4.6 on a 1.5 GHz powerPC G4 laptop with 512 MB DDR SDRAM.

Whilst working last week I had bounced down a track from Logic. Went to burn it from Toast. When Toast opened up it ran the intro like I had just installed it for the first time. I then went to open mail and found that it did the same, asking me to set up accounts etc like I had just installed it. I restarted the computer to find that my screensaver had dissappeared as well as all my programs in the dock plus other settings like mouse speed etc! Programs are still in the applications folder but all changes made since installation seem to have been reset? It's like my computer has dementure and cant remember!!!! All info and files are still on desktop.

We have been through the idea of a secondary user account has been made or the home folder has changed name etc but we cant find a second libray within the library folder. I have some info from terminal that I was asked to bring up which I can post if req. I dont want to list a great big essay straight away!

Hoping the best....

Cheers

Mark...
 
This is unforunate that no one has replied to you. I've been scavaging the internet trying to figure out what's happened to my wife's powerbook as well. She basically lost all her settings. She tells me it was a gradual progression, but at any rate, things are pretty bad now. She's lost all of her appoinments in iCal and it almost looks as if her settings are completely gone. What's worse is that when I try to set a couple things up so that she can at least have internet (wireless), when we reboot, it's gone again. This is quite annoying as she does all of her graduate work on the computer. :(
 
It's a very strange and annoying thing. Most of the stuff I can find goes back to a secondary user account or secondary library within the user library. There are solutions to these but I cant find any evidence of these being created! Went through some terminal work with the tech response section but it all came to a dead end. Gonna post up on some other sites and probably pop into my local mac shop for ideas. Far to many prefs and settings in various applications to give it up as a lost cause. Will keep you posted.

Cheers

MArk..
 
I know this might sound cliche here, but have you guys repaired permissions? How about running a Repair Disk from the Disk Utility option once booted from the installation discs?
 
Hi I ran verify permissions in du but left it aat that as I didnt want to do anything making the fault/problem irresversible. This repaired itself or not? Here is the du log.

Jun 6 13:00:06: Disk Utility started.

Verify permissions for “Laptop”
Determining correct file permissions.
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Andale Mono, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Andale Mono, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Andale Mono, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Arial, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Black, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Black, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Black, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Narrow, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Narrow, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Narrow, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Rounded Bold, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Rounded Bold, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Arial Rounded Bold, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Brush Script, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Brush Script, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Brush Script, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Comic Sans MS, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Comic Sans MS, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Comic Sans MS, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Georgia, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Georgia, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Georgia, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Impact, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Impact, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Impact, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Times New Roman, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Times New Roman, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Times New Roman, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Trebuchet MS, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Trebuchet MS, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Trebuchet MS, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Fonts/Verdana, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Fonts/Verdana, should be 80, group is 501
Permissions differ on ./Library/Fonts/Verdana, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x
User differs on ./Library/Perl, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./Library/Perl, should be 80, group is 20
Permissions differ on ./Library/Perl, should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x
Permissions differ on ./Library, should be drwxrwxr-t , they are drwxrwxr-x
Group differs on ./private/etc/authorization, should be 80, group is 0
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/secure.log, should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r-----

Permissions verification complete


User differs on ./usr, should be 0, owner is 501
Group differs on ./usr, should be 0, group is 20
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
 
Try running it again and see if anything changes. If all is well, you shouldn't see any output other than the completion message.
 
Ran repair disk permissions. Re started then ran verify permissions and I get>

The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume

Still got no prefs back or such though???

Is it linked with the start up, ie should I start up from the instillation disc and check the startup.?

Hmmm..

Cheers

Mark....
 
Try starting from the installation disc and run Disk Utility from the options in the menubar.
 
Did a startup from the original install dvd. It came up with a list of user/library permissions that were incorrect. Then repaired these permissions and restarted. Still same, back to basic screen. Any more ideas. Downloaded apple jack but dont if should try or just take to apple store?

Choices, choices!!!

Would love to know why it's done this in the first place let alone how to get my prefs back???

Cheers

Mark...
 
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