Help, OSX doesnt load...

[MaCaDDiCT21]

My computer is a little old...but it still works great...

800MHZ iMac
256MB RAM
80GB HDD
OSX 10.4.(newest)

I booted it up this morning, logged in, and my background loaded but finder didnt...

Ive had this computer for awhile now and its never done this bafore...its has a lot of pictures and important files that I CANNOT lose...id atleast like to back these up and reinstall-10.4 or 10.3....

Anyone have any ideas? I also have a Ubuntu Boot Disk for PPC, if I needed to load an OS to back up files, but i dont know how to change my computer to boot from the CD drive..is there a way to get into the BIOS or something like that???

 

[mduser63]

My computer is a little old...but it still works great...

800MHZ iMac
256MB RAM
80GB HDD
OSX 10.4.(newest)

I booted it up this morning, logged in, and my background loaded but finder didnt...

Ive had this computer for awhile now and its never done this bafore...its has a lot of pictures and important files that I CANNOT lose...id atleast like to back these up and reinstall-10.4 or 10.3....

Anyone have any ideas? I also have a Ubuntu Boot Disk for PPC, if I needed to load an OS to back up files, but i dont know how to change my computer to boot from the CD drive..is there a way to get into the BIOS or something like that???

If you have another Mac, you can use FireWire target disk mode to access the hard drive in your iMac. If you want to boot from a CD, just hold down the 'C' key while booting your Mac. You should be able to do an archive and install to reinstall the OS without losing any of your files, but if I were in your position, I'd personally try to back everything up before doing that.

Before you do any of that, try a few things. Does your Dock load? If so, try holding control and option and clicking on the Finder icon in the dock and click Relaunch. If you have access to the Terminal, (ie. it's in your Dock), open it up and type:

open "/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app"

That will open Disk Utility so that you can repair permissions. That may be enough to get Finder to work again. FWIW, I quit Finder and have typed this whole message with it not running. Finder is not necessary for OS X to work. Of course, it's hard to do anything without using Finder, but if you can open Terminal somehow, you'll be able to launch applications and move, copy and delete files.

 

[aquajet]

Try clicking on the Finder icon in the dock, the one to the far left. Does the Finder load then?

 

[Bear]

Boot off the Tiger install DVD (or CD) and try "repair disk" followed by "repair disk permissions" in Disk Utility.

Also, you should back up your data regularly as needed. Hard drives fail.

 

[MaCaDDiCT21]

Try clicking on the Finder icon in the dock, the one to the far left. Does the Finder load then?

the dock doesnt even load...

the only thing that loads is the background...

 

[Honchy]

Why hasnt anyone answered?! I hae the same problem, Only the Background loads!