OS X Panther Login Problem

[birdboatboy]

I recently ran into a login problem with Panther on a friend's imac. I can enter the password to login, but once it has accepted the password, the login screen just sits there and spins and does not actually login. I have tried to repair permissions from the start up cd but that doesn't work and I have also reset the passwords, including system administrator but to no avail either. If anyone has any ideas on how to fix this or at the very least retrieve some information before re-install, please let me know. Thanks!

[amnesiac1984]

Not Sure how to fix this but even though you are not logged in you can log in over a network from another machine and retrieve data that way. Or you could do an archive install which means all your old files will be put aside for you examine later.

[Doctor Q]

How many login names (i.e., accounts) are defined in the Accounts system preference? Of those, is yours the only one that has this problem? Does yours have any Startup Items defined?

Maybe we can find a cure for the problem, but instead of looking for the solution you can also use a workaround: define a new account to use instead of the account that is broken. If you do, it would be possible to move your existing folders from the old home directory to the new home directory and change their ownerships. I'll post some details if you decide to do that, but maybe you won't have to.