Finder broke? Really need help!

[BulmaSMG]

I was trying to get SheepShaver up and running and one thing I had to do is lock an .img file of OS9. When I was trying to do that my computer crashed and I had to restart. So I did. First thing I noticed is that my Macintosh HD icon is gone. I also can't open any folders or a new Finder window. I can't open the trash either.

So what's going on? How do I fix it?

If the solution is reinstalling OS X then that's something I cannot do. My CD drive went out and based on research I think it's because of a bad backup battery.

edit:

When I click the desktop I just get a dot. When I right click the finder crashes and restarts.

 

[benwiggy]

What Mac and what OS?

Ideally, you need to have an installer disk, recovery partition or alternate bootable volume. Otherwise, you can't really do much when things go bad.

Try booting up in Safe Mode. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
It's unlikely that you need to reinstall the OS. It may be that SheepShaver has filled the disk so there's no room left.
You also need to find out why your Mac crashed. Was it related to SheepShaver, or was it incidental? If so, that needs fixing.

Do you have a backup?

 

[BulmaSMG]

What Mac and what OS?

Ideally, you need to have an installer disk, recovery partition or alternate bootable volume. Otherwise, you can't really do much when things go bad.

Try booting up in Safe Mode. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
It's unlikely that you need to reinstall the OS. It may be that SheepShaver has filled the disk so there's no room left.
You also need to find out why your Mac crashed. Was it related to SheepShaver, or was it incidental? If so, that needs fixing.

Do you have a backup?

It's 10.4.11.

I have the Tiger discs for my model but like I said my drive doesn't work.

I'll look into safe mode.

What happened was is that I was doing a get info on a .img file of OS9. I also had a video running while I was doing it. I think I may have left SheepShaver open as well.

 

[BulmaSMG]

What Mac and what OS?

Ideally, you need to have an installer disk, recovery partition or alternate bootable volume. Otherwise, you can't really do much when things go bad.

Try booting up in Safe Mode. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
It's unlikely that you need to reinstall the OS. It may be that SheepShaver has filled the disk so there's no room left.
You also need to find out why your Mac crashed. Was it related to SheepShaver, or was it incidental? If so, that needs fixing.

Do you have a backup?

According to http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24054 I can't boot into safe mode and to fix it I need my CD. Ugh, really wish my drive still worked.

 

[benwiggy]

Looks like you have serious problems with your hard drive. Not entirely unexpected for a machine of that vintage.

Do you have a backup?

 

[BulmaSMG]

Looks like you have serious problems with your hard drive. Not entirely unexpected for a machine of that vintage.

Do you have a backup?

Nope.

 

[BulmaSMG]

Looks like you have serious problems with your hard drive. Not entirely unexpected for a machine of that vintage.

Do you have a backup?

I tried repairing the drive in single user mode and it told me the file system was changed and that the repair was successful. Although my problems still exist.

I created a new user account to see if it would do anything but it's still not working.

I have something that can connect a IDE or SATA CD/HD to a USB but OS X didn't mount any of the CD's I tried with a few drives.

My best bet is to get a new battery to fix my internal CD drive and reinstall OS X.

If you have any ideas please share them with me.