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Ever see this? Finder confused by failing HD.

S

settledown

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 28, 2003
246
0
pittsburgh
The hard drive in this dual 866 power mac (MDD) has a physical fault. It sounds like someone hits it with a ball peen hammer when it is accessed.

Anyway, I did a full erase (zero all data) and did a fresh install of Tiger.

Here is what it looks like. Finder is thoroughly confused
 

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settledown said:
The hard drive in this dual 866 power mac (MDD) has a physical fault. It sounds like someone hits it with a ball peen hammer when it is accessed.

Anyway, I did a full erase (zero all data) and did a fresh install of Tiger.

Here is what it looks like. Finder is thoroughly confused
Click to expand...
Sounds like that HD is toast!
 
I am getting a kick out of it

Although Finder is borked. Most of the Apps run ok. It is only the OS text. The text in the apps is fine. So as long as I can remember the Menu locations, I can operate.

However this HD IS messed and will be landfill soon. (once I am done playing)
 
settledown said:
Although Finder is borked. Most of the Apps run ok. It is only the OS text. The text in the apps is fine. So as long as I can remember the Menu locations, I can operate.

However this HD IS messed and will be landfill soon. (once I am done playing)
Click to expand...
Man that is interesting, I have never seen that. And i have seen some messed up s***. I have seen 20 HD's fail but none like that!
 
settledown said:
Although Finder is borked. Most of the Apps run ok. It is only the OS text. The text in the apps is fine. So as long as I can remember the Menu locations, I can operate.

However this HD IS messed and will be landfill soon. (once I am done playing)
Click to expand...

That does sound kinda neat! :)

maybe I can pick up an old, failing Mac. :)

since everything is a boxed A, maybe it's just fonts didn't install?
 
settledown said:
Here is what it looks like. Finder is thoroughly confused
Click to expand...

Looks like finder has had a problem loading the display font so has fallen back on the OS X glyph font. I recently read something about this in the apple developer docs. (Or maybe the service documents for a Bondi iMac.)

Effectively, OS X loads a font containing mainly symbols for finder which contains the symbol for the command key, option key and control key, the icons for the sound and airport symbols in the menu bar etc. Then the normal display font for the finder is loaded. If for some reason the display font doesn't load then a symbol from the glyph font is used instead.
 
hmmm...

well im game to try to fix it (just for kicks) and to learn about how the finder does its thing.

any hints on getting the font in there?

I wonder if the damaged part of the HD (i think the platter is scratched or damaged somewhere) is the same place that the fonts were installed
 
settledown said:
any hints on getting the font in there?

I wonder if the damaged part of the HD (i think the platter is scratched or damaged somewhere) is the same place that the fonts were installed
Click to expand...

My guess is that a some bad blocks have corrupted the section of the disk that stores the fonts. And you have no way of knowing what other files are also messed up with bad blocks.

Generally I'd suggest a full format and verify of the drive using a disk repair tool such as Drive 10. This type of application will write data to each block on the drive and read it back, if there is a problem with the block then that block is added to a list of bad blocks stored on the drive so that when the drive is reformatted the bad blocks will not be allocated. Then you should be able to reinstall OS X without any disk corruption.
 
interesting...
so dont eat the bruise on the banana, eat around it.

i wonder if i would still hear the nasty noises coming from the HD? If the actual read arm is the culprit, then quarantine-ing the nad blocks wont help?
Perhaps I could duplicate the Fonts (assuming they would be put into a different part of the HD) and then point the OS towards the new fonts?

(remember this is just for info/fun, a new Hd is ordered)
 
I had some problems with finder recently too.

I had some problems with finder recently too.

The menu bar disappeared on me. Just my account. Everyone else's was normal on this machine.

Tossing out the finder plist fixed it.

I suppose your case is different with the Tiger re install, but it may be something to try.

Roger
 
The same thing happened to me. Is there any way to fix this? It's really annoying. I'm running Mac OS X 9. Here are some screenshots, including the Finder, Destop and top bar (last one at bottom) I've posted this on numerous forums but no one seems to know what's going on. Thanks for any help.
 

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Natz said:
The same thing happened to me. Is there any way to fix this? It's really annoying. I'm running Mac OS X 9. Here are some screenshots, including the Finder, Destop and top bar (last one at bottom) I've posted this on numerous forums but no one seems to know what's going on. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

What you are seeing is that the font file for the system font has been corrupted. Since the font file is corrupted then the individual letter glyphs cannot be loaded and so you are getting the symbol you are seeing.

There are a couple of reasons why the font file may have been corrupted. Assuming that you have not done anything that would have modified system files then the most likely cause is a bad disk block. You could use something like DriveX to verify all your disk blocks and then copy the font file back into place but that requires a lot of messing about. The easiest way to fix this is to copy your data off the machine, boot from the install CD, launch Disk Utility and erase *and verify* the disk, then reinstall OS X. (Note that a full erase and verification of the disk will take a very long time.) You may also want to use DriveX or a similar disk block checker after you format the drive to ensure that the bad block(s) are marked bad in the block map.
 
mrichmon said:
What you are seeing is that the font file for the system font has been corrupted. Since the font file is corrupted then the individual letter glyphs cannot be loaded and so you are getting the symbol you are seeing.

There are a couple of reasons why the font file may have been corrupted. Assuming that you have not done anything that would have modified system files then the most likely cause is a bad disk block. You could use something like DriveX to verify all your disk blocks and then copy the font file back into place but that requires a lot of messing about. The easiest way to fix this is to copy your data off the machine, boot from the install CD, launch Disk Utility and erase *and verify* the disk, then reinstall OS X. (Note that a full erase and verification of the disk will take a very long time.) You may also want to use DriveX or a similar disk block checker after you format the drive to ensure that the bad block(s) are marked bad in the block map.
Click to expand...

Alright, thanks I'll try and see if the DriveX thing works. IF it doesn't then I'll go ahead and do the erase and reinstall OS one. Thank You!
 
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