os X update screwed my iMac!

[pauld]

help help help help help!

i did the most recent os update on my (G5 non-iSight) iMac through the software update thing but instead of restarting immediately i procrastinated, went on the internet a bit, deleted my trashcan and then restarted (i think there may have been an error message after deleting my trash).
now when i power up all i get is the apple logo followed by a blue screen with welcome to Mac os X with a space for a progress bar (yet no bar appears) where it just seems to eternally hang.

safe mode doesn't help anything, neither does starting from a jaguar CD, although i can access the iMac through firewire target disc mode.


anyone have any suggestions?! it's my presumption that i have somehow deleted esssential start-up files by emptying my trash before restarting (despite not having put anything like that in my trash - is this even possible? if so, what an incredibly bad system!!!)

thanks a lot mac community!

 

[dartzorichalcos]

Try to create a new user account and see if the problem carries over.

 

[pauld]

i have two user accounts already - problem is that i can't even get as far as the log-in screen

thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[rdowns]

Since you can access the iMac through target disc mode, try running the (combo) update to it again. Grab the update from here:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1049comboupdateppc.html

 

[pauld]

good idea - although when i tried to reinstall panther on it (in target mode) via cd it seemed that panther was going to be re-installed on the iBook i was targeting through - i'll give it a go when i get home, thanks again.

 

[pauld]

Since you can access the iMac through target disc mode, try running the (combo) update to it again. Grab the update from here:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1049comboupdateppc.html

this worked a treat. thanks a lot!