won't go beyong gray screen

[ja2661]

I have a mac mini - 10.6. my kid saw a file she thought was bogus, so she threw it in the trash (I don't know what it was, she said it was grayed out, so probably a system file)

Next time she tried to reboot, the computer won't go beyond the grayscreen with the spinning wheel at the bottom


Safe boot doesn't get me anywhere (control shift v shows that it stops at Boot Cache Control could not create temporary playlist file)


I can use Disk Utility and we run Disk repair and it says the HD is ok

PRAM has been reset



is there ANY way to start up off a disk and get to the trash and put the mystery file back where it belongs - so I can start the mini regularly?

thanks

 

[MisterMe]

I have a mac mini - 10.6. my kid saw a file she thought was bogus, so she threw it in the trash (I don't know what it was, she said it was grayed out, so probably a system file)

...

Your daughter cannot just Trash a System file. She would have to navigate to the file, select it, Trash it, authenticate her actions with your administrative password, and then delete the Trash. Unless you were doing something incredibly dumb like running as root and giving your entire family access to the computer while running as root, your scenario is virtually impossible.

The fact that your daughter Trashed a file and that your computer subsequently won't boot may be just a coincidence. The only thing that I can recommend based on your limited information is to boot your Mac from its System Restore disc. Run Disk Utility>Disk First Aid to see if that fixes things.