Log in window hung (won't boot)

[iBlue]

help please!

i have searched for this repeatedly (with no applicable solutions) and have asked a few questions in other peoples threads about this, no answer. now i am having a genuine problem, i'm royally pissed off and need help. no to mention typing this on my XP machine is a pride swallowing and frustrating endeavor. [grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr] now that THAT is out...

summary:

this is a rev C - 17" powerbook G4 running Panther (10.3)

events:
i notice in my activity monitor that my log in window is hung - this only seems to bother the system when i need to shut down.
then by (i think) coincidence something (weeks later) causes almost all of my applications to hang and they need force quitting.
i try to reboot. it won't. it just sits there.
i have to force shut down. it does.
it won't boot back up - it sits on the last step, the "starting log in window" and goes no further.
here is where i am at, again. :rolleyes:

i have had my log in window "hang" (crash, whatever you want to call it) twice now. from my limited knowledge of macs this seems a near unrecoverable problem... at least not without a MASSIVE pain in the ass to get it booted.

first time i had to use the system restore disc to get it to boot up. it would sit there at the log in window starting page and never move past it. (doing this again) i am sure i don't need to explain what a horrible hassle it is to restore your damn operating system when your computer crashes. :mad: i know no other way though.

i have done nothing strange (that i know of) to cause this problem, it seems random. either way i have seen the log in window hang in the activity monitor click for screenshot taken weeks ago (http://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=34755&d=1132014349) and had a bad feeling i would be dealing with this again. back when i saw the log in window hung (a couple weeks ago) i ran OnyX but didn't reboot because i was afraid this would happen. sure enough, something caused my applications to crash and i was forced to reboot. now i just can't boot it back up.

any ideas? i'm completely at a loss here and desperate for some info on what to do. :confused:
thanks.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Have you tried the easy one: Repairing permissions?

Also, find the file ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.systemuiserver.<gibberish>.plist (where ~/ is your users home folder) and trash that, and reboot.

<Removed because of stupidity>

[yellow]

I have a different take on fixing/dealing with it:

I would boot in Single User Mode, mount the drive as writable, and move /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist to another name.. say com.apple.loginwindow.plist.BAK, then reboot.

[iBlue]

Have you tried the easy one: Repairing permissions?

Also, find the file ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.systemuiserver.<gibberish>.plist (where ~/ is your users home folder) and trash that, and reboot.

If this doesn't help. Log in from another account on your Mac, make one if you have to, and see if everything behaves better from that.

thank you for the prompt response.

i haven't gotten it running yet because it won't actually get to the log in window, it sits there (blank light blue screen background) at the progress bar stating "starting log in window" - but it never does.
i am hoping i don't need to reload the operating system again just to turn the thing on. that takes about 20 minutes, the restore. i guess i'm just hoping there is an easier way. :confused:
i can do that though, if there isn't another way.

i did use the repair permissions when i ran OnyX - no change. but like i said, i was scared to reboot because the log in window was still hung at the time. here weeks later when i was forced to reboot the problem just didn't correct itself the way i had hoped :p dang!

what does deleting that file do by the way?

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I have a different take on fixing/dealing with it: ...Not necessarily, although I forgot to say anything about single user mode... nice catch.

I would also get rid of both preference files, just in case... ;)

what does deleting that file do by the way?Some times the preference files get corrupted, and when that happens the application (or process) that owns that plist file can crash, hang or generally misbehave... ;)

Deleting it will (often) fix this.

It's a bit tricky from commandline (like Terminal) but if you get into single user mode, I'm sure we can guide you through it... :)

[iBlue]

I have a different take on fixing/dealing with it:

I would boot in Single User Mode, mount the drive as writable, and move /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist to another name.. say com.apple.loginwindow.plist.BAK, then reboot.

not sure what that means (sorry :o ) but i'm willing to try. i can't get it to boot at the moment though. unless i hear another way i only know to put in the restore disc and get it on that way. :confused:

i really appreciate your help though, very much.

[eva01]

wait isn't SystemUIserver the top right bar where all the icons are?

It is, i just tested it by killing that process and restarting it.

You have something up in there causing it to hang.

It isn't really the login window server i believe but some startup program in your UIserver that is crashing

First remove all 3rd party programs from that UIserver, and from startup

[yellow]

EDIT: Re-read the original thread.. I'll hold off posting prompts until the LOGOUT issue is dealt with first.

[eva01]

also from looking at your screenshot is Gmailstatus something that goes into that icon bin at the top right?

If it is i notice it was taking 67% of your CPU during screenshot, which is probably not good and possibly causing computer to hang

[iBlue]

wait isn't SystemUIserver the top right bar where all the icons are?

It is, i just tested it by killing that process and restarting it.

You have something up in there causing it to hang.

It isn't really the login window server i believe but some startup program in your UIserver that is crashing

First remove all 3rd party programs from that UIserver, and from startup

i have Gmail status and Meteo (a weather thing) there. i wonder why it would take down the whole log in process though. it's weird that the application itself doesn't just freak out, i mean why my log in window? really weird.

[eva01]

i have Gmail status and Meteo (a weather thing) there. i wonder why it would take down the whole log in process though. it's weird that the application itself doesn't just freak out, i mean why my log in window? really weird.


Kill Gmail status boot into single user mode and get rid of it, it had 67% CPU and 487 threads. That is bad really bad.

I think that will fix everything

[iBlue]

Kill Gmail status boot into single user mode and get rid of it, it had 67% CPU and 487 threads. That is bad really bad.

I think that will fix everything

this is going to sound incredibly stupid (teminology is going over my head) how am i to boot in single user mode? is all of this assuming i restore the operating system? (this is the ONLY way i currently know how to get it to go past that log in issue) the powerbook is off and won't load because it sticks at "starting log in window" and won't proceed)

:o

P.S. i will ditch gmail status though as soon as the PB is running again, gmail status is a piece of crap

[eva01]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106388

when you press the power button hold down Command + S

[iBlue]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106388

command + S

oh my god, i'm glad i asked but boy do i feel like a dumbass. :o

thank you... going to try it now...

[yellow]

Reboot, hold down Cmd-S

AT the prompt type:

mount -uw /

then

cd /Library/Preferences

then

mv com.apple.loginwindow.plist com.apple.loginwindow.plist.BAK

then

reboot

Does it reboot normally? If not, you should reboot (again) and hold down Cmd-V to boot in verbose mode so you can (hopefully) see where it dies.

[eva01]

oh my god, i'm glad i asked but boy do i feel like a dumbass. :o

thank you... going to try it now...


I hope it works, good luck. Don't use Gmail Status anymore :P

Make sure you remove it from startup

[iBlue]

damn, no cigar. still stuck at log in window starting

yellow: i did exactly as you wrote too.

dang this is frustrating

[eva01]

damn, no cigar. still stuck at log in window starting

yellow: i did exactly as you wrote too.

dang this is frustrating

did you remove gmail status?

if you did....then hmmm interesting

boot into verbose mode. Did the computer boot fully into single user mode?

[iBlue]

did you remove gmail status?

if you did....then hmmm interesting

boot into verbose mode. Did the computer boot fully into single user mode?

no i can't get in there AT ALL. it will not move past that "log in window starting" progress thing.

i tried singel user mode with the commands yellow suggested and it did the same thing (stuck at log in)

verbose threw so much text out so fast i could not read a bit of it (other than "no login" which i noticed right away) then it just sat at a blue screen and did nothing at all. i had to force it off again, when i hit the power button to tell it to "shut down" it then gave me a blank black screen with a white square in the upper left corner. so i held the power button down for 5 seconds to force it off.
it's truly bizarre

i tried (in vain) after that to boot normally and same thing)

i guess i can just do the damn restore and throw that gmail status thing as far away as possible.

crickey, macs seldom have problems but when they do (or when mine do) it is just a nightmare. ugh

i can't tell you all how much i appreciate your help though. it's embarrassing but i'm always willing to sacrifice pride when it comes to making sure my mac is running. :p

[eva01]

weird....really weird o_O

[840quadra]

Mine did this once (my iBook) when I didn't detatch from a network drive (correctly) before putting my computer to sleep. In my case zapping the Parameter ram fixed the issue with my system not booting.

It is worth a shot.

Reboot.. After the chime press and hold Command(Apple)+Option+P+R until you hear the apple chime again.

It may not fix your issue, but it is quick, and worth a shot.

HTH
840

[iBlue]

i don't even know what to do - i am beyond furious. i want to throw that overpriced piece of crap into the snow! it won't do a damn thing! after an hour of trying to update the OS to get the friggin thing to just boot up, it now hangs on "waiting for update settings". i am SO sick of this... i just want the <insert massive swearing> thing to BOOT UP! is that so much to ask?! god this pisses me off!

sorry, i really needed to vent. i might need to set it aside for the night because i am so pissed i want to smash it to bits.

[Sun Baked]

sorry, i really needed to vent. i might need to set it aside for the night because i am so pissed i want to smash it to bits.Go beat the crap out of a newbie, it'll make you feel better. :p :eek:

[iBlue]

Go beat the crap out of a newbie, it'll make you feel better. :p :eek:


HAHA thanks, this post alone made me feel better - SWEET! http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8299/napoleondynamitedance6jq.gif

[yenko]

not sure what that means (sorry :o ) but i'm willing to try. i can't get it to boot at the moment though. unless i hear another way i only know to put in the restore disc and get it on that way. :confused:

i really appreciate your help though, very much.

Use the system restore disk to run disk utility: don't use it to re-install.
Run repair disk from your install CD/DVD and reboot after you've finished.
Don't repair permissions from the installer disk!

[iBlue]

Use the system restore disk to run disk utility: don't use it to re-install.
Run repair disk from your install CD/DVD and reboot after you've finished.
Don't repair permissions from the installer disk!

i didn't see that option - i wonder if it's on disc 2 :confused: :o can't hurt to try again, i think i've calmed down enough that the poor powerbook is in no physical danger.

[mad jew]

I think Disk Utility is in the Installer menu ad it should be on the first disk. :)

[iBlue]

I think Disk Utility is in the Installer menu ad it should be on the first disk. :)

ah thank you! learn something every day, i didn't even notice the option. i ran the repair permissions, still stuck on the newest annoyance "waiting for update settings" man all i wish is that i could tell it to stop looking/waiting and just friggin BOOT already. <tears hair out>
it's probably my fault for stupidly trying to re-install the OS when there was a log in issue. i'm not that experienced in this, what can i say? :o

it's a genuine tragedy when something happens to my mac, it's like waiting to hear back from a doctor about a sick family member or something. stressful.

all the help is sure appreciated :)

[mad jew]

Repair the disk (on the right hand side of the Disk utility screen), not the permissions. :)

It's the greyed out one on my screen shot (because I'm not running from the install disks).

[eva01]

I really hope that you get this fixed T_T *hugs* don't get too stressed out just remember to never use gmail status ><!

[iBlue]

ok, i ran the repair disk and it says this:

repair attepted on 2 volumes

1 HFS volume repaired
1 volume could not be repaired

and the volume it couldn't repair is "Volume Bit Map"

whatever that means.

so i tried after that to reboot and it is again still stuck on "waiting for update settings" - what is that? bloody hell, this looked so promising too. :confused:

[mad jew]

Okay, try running fsck (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214) then. I seem to have more luck with fsck than Disk Utility. :)

This sucks, hopefully it'll get fixed soon. :)

[iBlue]

i love how changing one letter of that word [fsck] seems a fitting name. ;) :D

i am reading the article and about to do it as soon as i understand what i am doing :p

thanks again, you're awesome!

[iBlue]

done. same crap. it came back with "the volume appears to be ok" well apparently not. :mad: still stuck at the "waiting for update settings" part of log in (or lack thereof)

i googled that phrase and someone had the exact same problem but i have no idea what they are talking about with the solution.

Solved!
It was either the low-level reformatting of the drive, or the "empty Cache" in XPF the did it. Boots reliably now.
link (http://forum.macsales.com/viewtopic.php?t=1694&sid=291caed06ee7370f7e3d875f67ee7ef0 )

i want to cry

[eva01]

well Empty Cache in XPF refers to XpostoFacto

So that has nothing to do with you. and reformatting is well yes

[iBlue]

well Empty Cache in XPF refers to XpostoFacto

So that has nothing to do with you. and reformatting is well yes

ok, thanks :)

i'm totally baffled as to what i should do now with it, but i can tell you that it sure sucks to be on a mac site using windows.

poor me http://mysmilies.com/images/sad.gif

[mad jew]

Are you backed up or do you have another Mac to try Target Disk Mode (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583)? If we can get in using Target Disk Mode, then we may be able to either repair some of the errors or more ideally get your files off the drive, ready for a format and install. :)

Before attempting Target Disk Mode, reset your PMU (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449). I've seen it not work sometimes on faulty systems (like yours) until the PMU is reset. I don't understand the relationship, but it seems to work. :)

[iMeowbot]

When you install a system update that requires a reboot (as so many do), there will be a settings update thing that has to run during that reboot, and it needs to finish before the update is complete.

If you see the system hanging on this, let it sit for up to 5 minutes or so to see if it can finish. After it completes, it should remove itself (until the next software update adds a new one).

If the "update settings" thing never completes, you can try rebooting into single user mode and removing the script that runs that part. (but try giving the wait 5 minutes thing a shot first).

In single user mode,

mount -uw /
rm -rf /System/Library/StartupItems/UpdateSettings/UpdateSettings
exit

See if that gets you a little further along.... it should at least eliminate the pesky message.

[iBlue]

Are you backed up or do you have another Mac to try Target Disk Mode (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583)? If we can get in using Target Disk Mode, then we may be able to either repair some of the errors or more ideally get your files off the drive, ready for a format and install. :)

Before attempting Target Disk Mode, reset your PMU (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449). I've seen it not work sometimes on faulty systems (like yours) until the PMU is reset. I don't understand the relationship, but it seems to work. :)

scary stuff - and i'm not totally backed up but i would not lose my mind if everything were wiped clean. i would lose a profound amount of photos in iPhoto but it's not the end of the world... but of course i would rather not lose all that. ;)

i wish i had another mac:) but you know i am about ticked enough to go buy another one if it meant i could crack in and solve this issue. <shrugs>

i'm just really happy there are people out there that know more than i do about this, i'd be totally screwed without you all. <insert mushy affectionate phrases here>

now....


<helpful and successful advice here>

See if that gets you a little further along.... it should at least eliminate the pesky message.

it did! :) [phew, getting somewhere] it got me back to the log in window starting thing, where it proceeds to stick. at least it got there though.

maybe i will try a couple of the previous tips again since the 'update settings' thing is not in my face right now.

THANK YOU!!!

[mad jew]

Okay, well it's promising that we're getting somewhere but is there any chance of borrowing a Mac just to start from to back things up before we go too much further? :)

[iBlue]

Okay, well it's promising that we're getting somewhere but is there any chance of borrowing a Mac just to start from to back things up before we go too much further? :)

yes, actually as rare luck would have it (i normally have horrible luck) my neighbors across the street have a G4 desktop; they are actually friends of ours from before we moved here (total coincidence they moved across the street from us) and i am sure they'd be fine with me using their mac for this. of course they are asleep right now but there's always tomorrow :) - it's 9:30pm here
i hope you're still so willing to help tomorrow. <crosses fingers> thanks again, you guys are seriously awesome. such patience! :)

[mad jew]

Winner! Nice find. :)

Do you have the appropriate Firewire cable? You'll need one that'll fit into both machines (6 pin). Also, no guaranties that this'll work but I think it's your best bet at the moment. Fingers crossed. :)

[iBlue]

Winner! Nice find. :)

Do you have the appropriate Firewire cable? You'll need one that'll fit into both machines (6 pin). Also, no guaranties that this'll work but I think it's your best bet at the moment. Fingers crossed. :)

i'll have to buy one but that shouldn't be a problem. (famous last words) :D i agree, i think this is a wise step too.

if no other quick ideas come up in the meantime, i will go with this plan. :)

[CanadaRAM]

Log in window hung
And stockings by the mantle stacked
In hopes that St. Nicholas
through the chimney had backed...






This bit of randomness brought to you by the CCAPL
Christmas Carol Anti-Proliferation League

[mad jew]

He's finally lost it. It's what you get for using third party RAM... Eh?


:D

[iMeowbot]

if no other quick ideas come up in the meantime, i will go with this plan. :)
I have one last idea, related to a quick fix people had used in the past to deal with slow Panther boot times.

Once again in single user mode,

mount -uw /
mv /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl.arrgh
reboot

This might get you up and running again, depending on which of various Panther ills you have run up against. If it doesn't help, you can safely rename it back again with

mv /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl.arrgh /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl

(should mention that this probably won't help if you did get updated back to the latest Panther updates after your earlier problems.)

[iBlue]

I have one last idea, related to a quick fix people had used in the past to deal with slow Panther boot times.

Once again in single user mode,

mount -uw /
mv /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl.arrgh
reboot

This might get you up and running again, depending on which of various Panther ills you have run up against. If it doesn't help, you can safely rename it back again with

mv /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl.arrgh /usr/sbin/BootCacheControl

(should mention that this probably won't help if you did get updated back to the latest Panther updates after your earlier problems.)


haha, yeah i tried it but no cigar. i imagine i better change that name back now. :p

[iMeowbot]

haha, yeah i tried it but no cigar. i imagine i better change that name back now. :p
Yeah, might as well ;)

Your best bet as this point, given that OS X isn't telling you much about what is happening, would be to get those files backed up tomorrow and do and archive and install. It will be quicker and easier than fumbling with individual files and settings by trial end error.

[mad jew]

...and do and archive and install.


I think you may as well do a format and install. Since you'll be backed up (hopefully), you may as well make it as clean as possible. Plus, a reformat should fix that disk error. :)

[iMeowbot]

I think you may as well do a format and install. Since you'll be backed up (hopefully), you may as well make it as clean as possible. Plus, a reformat should fix that disk error. :)
That part got fixed after a couple more fscks, didn't it?

[mad jew]

That part got fixed after a couple more fscks, didn't it?


Not sure. Even so, I've seen fsck not pick up errors that Disk Utility finds so maybe check with the install disks once more.

[iMeowbot]

Not sure. Even so, I've seen fsck not pick up errors that Disk Utility finds so maybe check with the install disks once more.
The verify and repair in Disk Utility just forks and exec's fsck. Verify is /sbin/fsck_hfs -fn -g <volume> and repair is /sbin/fsck_hfs -y -f -g <volume> . The -g flag is an undocumented helper that provides percentage cues for the progress bar.

[mad jew]

Yeah, but for some reason when I run it from my iBook's disks (repair from Disk Utility) I get errors yet fsck claims to fix them and says it's all fine. I've never understood this because I always thought they were identical.

[iMeowbot]

Yeah, but for some reason when I run it from my iBook's disks (repair from Disk Utility) I get errors yet fsck claims to fix them and says it's all fine. I've never understood this because I always thought they were identical.
If the install disks are older than the on-disk OS, I'd be suspecting a bug in the older version of fsck (or an fsck that's unaware of newer features).

[mad jew]

Yeah, good point. However, I didn't think anything had changed from 10.4 to 10.4.3.

[iBlue]

silly question but if it works...

do you think that getting Tiger on there would help? (just to buy a tiger disc and update to it) ? i have been meaning to get myself upgraded to it and if it produces a login window for me, well then it would be worth it and then some. :)
what do you think?

i tried running the disk utilities again and tried botting in safe mode, etc - it still sticks at the login window starting phase. <sigh>

i am going to buy a firewire in about an hour so i can backup my data; i had to wait for my perpetually sleeping musician husband to wake up. :mad: it's snowy and ice is covering the roads and i don't feel like taking the 3 year old out with me. i want to move to hawaii right about now.

is there any way to manually force a login window to appear? ;) i am baffled as to why it is so difficult to get a login window to load. :confused:

[mad jew]

I don't think it'll make a difference whether it's Tiger or Panther. Either way, a clean install should fix it. :)

[rem7]

hello everyone. I am having the same problem as iBlue, I installed Tiger thru target mode because my computer doesn't have a DVD (G4 Digital Audio 2x533Mhz). The first time I started everything was fine, but I got an error sayin something like the computer was shut down before the OS, or something like that. since then i haven't been able to log in normally. I am able to log in in safe mode (holdin' shift) but after 5 minutes or so the machine just freezes, (I can't do anything even the cursor doesn't move) I ran fsck and I got no errors, I just got the machine on targeted again (my laptop hosting this, and I ran the disk utility and everything seems fine "No Repairs were nessesary" I also renamed that com.apple.plist thing (cant remember the rest). hummm... any ideas?
I don't have any important info on that comp, as I did a clean install of tiger OSX, but I really want to get Tiger runnin on that machine. Thanks in advanced.

[iMeowbot]

Yeah, good point. However, I didn't think anything had changed from 10.4 to 10.4.3.
fsck for hfs+ definitely received some substantial fixes in 10.4.2. More here (http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/08/05/os1042analysis/index.php).

[mad jew]

fsck for hfs+ definitely received some substantial fixes in 10.4.2. More here (http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/08/05/os1042analysis/index.php).


Thanks for that. Slipped by me, so it's very much appreciated. :)

[iBlue]

hello everyone. I am having the same problem as iBlue, I installed Tiger thru target mode because my computer doesn't have a DVD (G4 Digital Audio 2x533Mhz). The first time I started everything was fine, but I got an error sayin something like the computer was shut down before the OS, or something like that. since then i haven't been able to log in normally. I am able to log in in safe mode (holdin' shift) but after 5 minutes or so the machine just freezes, (I can't do anything even the cursor doesn't move) I ran fsck and I got no errors, I just got the machine on targeted again (my laptop hosting this, and I ran the disk utility and everything seems fine "No Repairs were nessesary" I also renamed that com.apple.plist thing (cant remember the rest). hummm... any ideas?
I don't have any important info on that comp, as I did a clean install of tiger OSX, but I really want to get Tiger runnin on that machine. Thanks in advanced.

that sucks! i wish i had a better answer for you. it's still a problem for me - thankfully this thread is here, tons and tons of good info! [awesome people here]

i picked a rather odd way of dealing with this though... i bought an iMac yesterday (which due to being overly busy i have yet to even get out the box) i will use it to back up my data. i have been wanting one for some time and used this as an excuse. :) more on that later though, i am off to go out to breakfast.

there's a light at the end of my tunnel here :)

[rem7]

so I started an i stayed in single user mode just to see how far it goes, i got to:

"Dec 4 10:43:27 rem7s-g4 ntpd[132]: sendto(17.254.0.28): Bad File descriptor"

and then just "Lastest crash infor for cpu 1:..." and a bunch of info, and it stopped.

[rem7]

Ok, I got it fixed. It was my ram, I think one of my modules is messed up cos right now I'm only running with 256, instead of 384 and its running smooth. I think I'll muy some more ram during the week so that it runs better.

[iBlue]

ok after a month (and chaotic holidays) i've finally decided to address the issues and get the powerbook working again. i love the new iMac but i want my laptop back. it isn't looking good. :mad:

target disk mode is a bust, even after resetting the PMU - it just won't read those files or something. i got error messages, which i screenshot.

play by play:

target disk mode. (connect iMac to target powerbook) PB boots ok in target disk mode (i assume)
orange firewire "macintoshHD" icon appears on iMac's desktop
i click it and sees partially what is on the powerbook... it knows something is there.
(the powerbook's name is Seraphim) when i go to click the Seraphim HD icon, it takes me immediately back to the iMac's HD
it will not copy any files out of it and doesn't show me anything inside the powerbook's system... well not the files anyway. that error comes up on the areas i can see and the rest is not accesable or something.
i repaired permissions on both computers. still nothing doing.

i don't know how to explain this but i am at my wits end and ready to smash that thing. help save my powerbook. :o

screenshots...

[mad jew]

Bizarre. I've heard a lot about error -8058 from people trying to duplicate CDs using Finder in Tiger but I hadn't heard anything about it happening with drives. FWIW, I'm pretty sure it's a bug related to Apple trying to make it harder for people to copy disks and eliminating that functionality from Finder however thankfully it's still in Disk Utility.

Anyway, there's a pretty naked article here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302908) that doesn't really help, sorry. :o

Does Disk Utility on the iMac recognise the PowerBook? Could you repair the disk from there? :)

[iBlue]

Bizarre. I've heard a lot about error -8058 from people trying to duplicate CDs using Finder in Tiger but I hadn't heard anything about it happening with drives. FWIW, I'm pretty sure it's a bug related to Apple trying to make it harder for people to copy disks and eliminating that functionality from Finder however thankfully it's still in Disk Utility.

Anyway, there's a pretty naked article here (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302908) that doesn't really help, sorry. :o

Does Disk Utility on the iMac recognise the PowerBook? Could you repair the disk from there? :)

yeah it didn't let me eject it a couple of times, so that sounds like the problem. <sigh>

the iMac's disk utility did see the firewired PB and it let me repair disk, but the permissions was greyed out. the repair disk said nothing needed repairing. (the fsck from last time said it was ok too) :confused:
after "repair" it still won't read that PB's data

i am crushed that a year after buying a $3000 laptop it is basically a hunk of junk; my luck is inevitably horrible - i would get the lemon of the apple bunch. :rolleyes:
(sorry, just really ticked off and frustrated)

[iBlue]

i am still having this problem and officially HATE that powerbook. now all i want is to get my data off of it and erase the whole system and start over. all i want are my files, namely pictures, i don't care in the slightest about secondary applications.

but TARGET DISK MODE will not work. i assume this is because of friggin file vault (boy do i regret that now) :confused: my iMac seems to see that the powerbook's HD is there but it won't let me gather any data from it.

please please please someone tell me how i am supposed to get this data off of that PB with all of my unfortunate conditions. :( :o
what exactly would archive and install do (?) if it would even help. would the files be retrievable after archive & install? how so? (and how/what options do i use for this?)

any more tips desperately wanted before i try to find someone to take tons of my money in this stupid little town to fix my "rare" computer. :rolleyes: friggin whole town is a windows town. :mad: i am really getting upset having a powerbook that is non-functional.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

what exactly would archive and install do (?) if it would even help. would the files be retrievable after archive & install? how so? (and how/what options do i use for this?)Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120)

Basically, yes, all your data should be available after an archive and install, and although I normally would recommend that a complete backup is performed before an A&I, in your case this might be vavered... ;) It's worth a try since resetting (zapping) PRAM, running fsck from singel user mode and all the other attempts didn't solve anything...

[ITASOR]

I have absolutely no clue why this would work, but connect the PB and iMac with FW Target Mode (start powerbook with T held down) and then once the powerbook's HD icon appears on the iMac, go to system preferences>startup disk and find the powerbook's HD.

Then you could click restart and it would try and boot from the powerbook's HD....

Again, I don't know how that could help, but it's worth trying I guess.

See if anyone else thinks there's even a remotely small reason for doing this.