sammyman said:
No. I am going to the little blue apple in the top left and choosing restart. Then it brings up a page that tells me to hold the power button down. I have no choice.
That's serious.
You need to run some repair utilities and get that straightened out!
Apple Sez:
When the computer cannot start up normally, you may need to use a disk repair utility. Mac OS X includes two utilities for this, Disk Utility and fsck. Tip: For Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you should use Disk Utility.
In some situations, file system errors may prevent the computer from starting up to a normal state. This could occur after improper shutdown, forced restart, or power interruption.
These symptoms indicate you should use a disk repair utility:
Partial start with command line
The computer starts up partially then pauses in a command-line (text only) environment. A message such as "file system dirty, run fsck," may appear. Below the message, there is a command line, indicated by a number sign prompt (#). Commands you type in this environment appear next to the prompt. When this happens, run fsck from the command line.
System starts up partially but does not display a command-line prompt
The computer may start up but fail to reach the login screen, or it may reach the login screen but fail to reach the Desktop after you log in. In this case, you must start up in single-user mode.
Try a Safe Boot
Mac OS X 10.2 can Safe Boot. If you have not yet upgraded to 10.2, 10.3 or later, then skip to the next section. A Safe Boot may allow you to restart successfully using a reduced version of system software. In Safe Mode, an automatic disk check and repair may resolve your issue. Follow these steps:
Start up in safe mode.
After the system is fully started up, restart again normally.
If the computer successfully restart, you do not need to do any more troubleshooting. If the issue persists, go to the next section.
Try Disk Utility
In most circumstances, you check and repair the disk using the Disk Utility application included with Mac OS X.
Steps for using Disk Utility
Insert your Mac OS X CD-ROM disc or Restore DVD disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
Once started up from CD or DVD, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu.
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from disc to access Disk Utility.
Click the First Aid tab.
Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
Select your Mac OS X volume, if necessary.
Click Repair.
Disk Utility checks the disk.
Always start up from the disc to use Disk Utility. Otherwise, you might see some disk error messages.
If the Verify and Repair buttons are dimmed in the Disk Utility window, make sure you have selected a volume to check.
When to use fsck instead
Starting with a Safe Boot or using Disk Utility while started up from CD or DVD eliminates the need to use fsck, but there are situations in which fsck may be necessary.
Your Mac OS X disc is not immediately available.
Your CD-ROM drive is not immediately available.
You can't start with a Safe Boot.
The fsck utility may be able to verify and repair a disk in such a situation.
Tip: If you use a Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) formatted volume, such as with Mac OS X Panther, you will probably not need to use fsck. If you do use it for some reason, be aware that benign error messages can appear.
Tip: If you're not sure how your volume is formatted, and you can't start from your Mac OS X volume to check, type: "diskutil info /". If you see "File System: Journaled HFS+", then it's a Journaled volume.
How to use fsck
The fsck utility is run from the command line. This means that you must type a text command at a prompt (#), rather than using the mouse pointer to open an application. Examples include the Terminal application and single-user mode.
Start in single-user mode to reach the command line.
Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, this is generally achieved by pressing the reset/interrupt button, which is marked with a triangle. On portable computers, this is generally achieved by pressing the Command-Control-power keys. If a portable computer does not respond to this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
At the command-line prompt, type: /sbin/fsck -fy
Press Return.
The fsck utility will go through five "phases" then return information about the disk's utilization and fragmentation. Once the check is finished, if no issue is found, you should see "** The volume (name of volume) appears to be OK."
If fsck alters, repairs, or fixes anything, it will display the message:
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command until it no longer appears. It's OK if you need to do several "passes" of fsck, because first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues.
When fsck reports that, "** The volume (name of volume) appears to be OK.", type: reboot
Press Return.
The computer should start up normally and allow you to log in.
Additional information
This extra information is provided for users interested in UNIX-style command-line syntax.
The -y flag:
This tells fsck that you want to answer "yes" to all questions about fixing, repairing, or salvaging information. This is the optimal approach, as answering "no" to any question causes fsck to stop. You cannot determine that all necessary repairs have been made until fsck completes and gives its final report.
The -f flag:
Forces fsck to check "clean" filesystems when preening.
If this seems overwhelming, get a copy of "DiskWarrior" or "TechTools Pro"
to boot from and repair your disk/directory.
