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OSX Start Up Help

B

BenWakin

macrumors member
Original poster
May 27, 2003
73
0
San Diego
I was recently using the program Onyx to verify and repair permissions when my iBook G4 crashed. I tried rebooting, but instead a black screen with the the following messages came up:

Jun 3 13:40:37 init: can't exec /bin/sh for single user: Exec format error
Jun 3 13:41:07 init: can't exec /bin/sh for /etc/rc: Exec format error

I have no idea what happened to my iBook! I tried restarting from the tech tools cd that came with the AppleCare, the Software Install, and the OSX cd. None of them worked. When I put in the Software Install cd, it told me to type in "mac-boot" or "shut-down." The other two cd's didn't boot up at all. I also tried Safe-Boot. Nothing is working right now. I've been trying to troubleshoot this problem all night and I've had no luck. Do I need to take it to a shop? Will the AppleCare Warranty cover software related problems? I don't think it's my hard drive. Well, I hope I can get some feedback on this problem. Thanks.
 
Try zapping PRAM and have the OS X CD in and boot from it using C. Otherwise hold down Option and choose what to boot from. I had this problem with my iMac. When I did so in running total maintenence, it wouldn't even boot up to Verbose mode, it would just crash. I had to reinstall X.
 
Yeah, I forgot to mention I tried zapping the PRAM. That didn't work either. Hopefully booting up with the option key held down will work. Tryin' it now. If not I hope someone can answer my questions in this thread!
 
No go. I'm running out of ideas and patience. I'm reluctant to call AppleCare because a handful of people told me they had to wait and wait, but then again they were idiots, as where I am not ;).
 
I tried booting from the Software Install Disc 1, Norton Utilities, Tech Tools (AppleCare), OSX 10.2 CD, OSX 10.0 CD, and Disc Warrior. When I try booting from the Software CD, it goes to open-firmware and when I type "mac-boot" and enter, it goes to the same black screen as when I am booting normally.
 
BenWakin said:
I tried booting from the Software Install Disc 1, Norton Utilities, Tech Tools (AppleCare), OSX 10.2 CD, OSX 10.0 CD, and Disc Warrior. When I try booting from the Software CD, it goes to open-firmware and when I type "mac-boot" and enter, it goes to the same black screen as when I am booting normally.
Click to expand...

When you tried to zap pram, did you do it by the cmd-option-p-r way, or by the open firmware way? I'm not 100% sure they're completely equivalent. Try the commands to reset pram/nvram instead of mac-boot at the OF prompt.

The commands are:

reset-nvram
reset-defaults
reset-all
 
mkrishnan said:
When you tried to zap pram, did you do it by the cmd-option-p-r way, or by the open firmware way? I'm not 100% sure they're completely equivalent. Try the commands to reset pram/nvram instead of mac-boot at the OF prompt.

The commands are:

reset-nvram
reset-defaults
reset-all
Click to expand...

Yeah. Tried both ways. Nothin. I'm thinking there's a problem with the system folder? Although when I hold down the option key at start-up, it recognizes my hard drive, "The Drive of Terror," and when I choose it to boot up, it goes to the black screen with the error text in what I'm thinking is the SUM.
 
yellow said:
Won't boot from CD, huh.. do you have the Open Firmware password set?
Click to expand...

No. I have never fooled around with Open Firmware. I'm assuming if I haven't set or designated a password, there isn't one?
 
yellow said:
Shooting in the DarK: What about File Vault or the "Master Password"?
Click to expand...

Well, I set the master password on open firmware, but to my knowledge and fishing around on my damned computer, It still won't boot up correctly. I still give the command "mac-boot," and from there it says:

invalid memory access at $SRR0 056`094c %SRR1:00003030

and then from there give again the command "mac-boot" and the flashing folder with the question mark appears.
 
I wasn't looking for you to turn it on, quite the opposite. Sorry if that led you down the wrong path.

What version of OS X are you running? Maybe we can fix the permissions on /etc/rc. Do you have access to another Mac? Maybe we can boot the CD on it and put the iBook in target mode and reinstall the OS.
 
I have OSX 10.3 freshly installed on my iBook, but when I boot my iBook up the Apple logo appears, and then a pixellated box covers the Apple logo and doesn't load up anything more from there. When I target-mode my iBook, the hard drive appears normal and I can remotely control it too. But my iBook won't boot up past the Apple logo.
 
You did a clean install? Did you erase the disk first (after backing up your data)? You're having a lot of problem with this. If you've done a clean install and you're still having problems, chances are that this is a hardware problem and requires a trip to a Certified Apple Repair Specialist.
 
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