there appears to be a virus for the mac

[killwill169]

Mac Virus/Malware Info


You don't say what version of Mac OS X you're running.

If you're running Leopard or Snow Leopard, you don't have a virus, as none exist in the wild that run on these platforms.

This could be part of the problem, as most Chinese movies I've seen weren't very good. The subtitles just ruin everything!

Problem #2. Norton AntiVirus isn't going to detect a Mac virus, since there ARE none that exist in the wild that run on Mac OS X. NAV can't detect a Mac virus because it doesn't know what to look for. It does, however, do a great job of needlessly consuming your system resources, making your Mac run slower.

It's a bad practice to ignore error or warning messages. Pay attention to them! They're there for a purpose.

As for your other statements:




You make it very difficult for people to help you when you don't offer specific, accurate information. Don't say, "I got a message about something that sounded kinda like...." Quote the exact error message, word for word. In fact, many times you can find solutions if you simply Google the exact error message.

Being vague and general is like going to a doctor and saying, "I've got something wrong with me somewhere", and leaving the doctor to do guesswork to determine if you have cancer or a splinter in your finger.

Maximizing your MacRumors troubleshooting experience. (if you really need help, this is valuable to know!)

okay so today it says

"launchd: com.symantec.navapdaemonsl : exited abnormally: bad system call"

and importantly "launchd: com.apple.nibindd: respawning too quickly! throttling"

"localhost:/ i have no name!# registering for 802.11 events"

"AFH is supported"

"Adding browse domain local"

"localhost Symantec Daemon[78]: could not install new vulnerability protection engine. vulnerability protection will attempt to use an older, out-of-date engine"


This is not really in the correct order, but it kinda went really fast, and also, its on a black screen with white text with my operating system being 10.4.11 and the current message saying "mDNSResponder: Adding browse domain local"

also, thanks to all for replying and attempting to help

You can try Data Rescue.

but there's absolutely no way to do that when it wont safe boot, wont do target disk mode, wont accept boots off install disks, and wont boot normally, as i have tried over and over again, and either gets stuck on the black screen or gets stuck on the apple logo screen with a gear thing.

therefore, it is impossible to use an application on it when i cant even access the login window.

 

[r.j.s]

but there's absolutely no way to do that when it wont safe boot, wont do target disk mode, wont accept boots off install disks, and wont boot normally, as i have tried over and over again, and either gets stuck on the black screen or gets stuck on the apple logo screen with a gear thing.

therefore, it is impossible to use an application on it when i cant even access the login window.

Then there are professional recovery companies, but they charge an insane amount of money.

 

[honem]

but there's absolutely no way to do that when it wont safe boot, wont do target disk mode, wont accept boots off install disks, and wont boot normally, as i have tried over and over again, and either gets stuck on the black screen or gets stuck on the apple logo screen with a gear thing.

Oh there might be

Disc Warrior as well as Data Rescue I believe will scan the chain of hard drives you have connected and present a device even if it's not mounting or booting.

Sometimes a hard drive will have something wrong with it's boot record , directory file or some other header file on the disc so while it doesn't mount it's technically still there.

They can be "seen" by the system but not mounted. If it can be seen by the system then you might be able to recover stuff off it. That and there's always firewire target mode from another Mac.

Also both have a mountable disc image you can download. This is something you can download then burn to a CD or DVD. You then use this CD or DVD to start up your computer and then go into the diagnostics steps necessary to fix the thing (hopefully)

 

[WytRaven]

is there any way i can recover the hard drive data? i could care less about the computer, but i need the data.

Yes you just plug your handy Timemachine backup into your new mac and off you go...you did have a Timemachine backup right?

 

[spinnerlys]

What about extracting the HDD from its shell and putting it into one of those external enclosures for 2.5" S-ATA HDDs?

 

[chaosbunny]

Yes you just plug your handy Timemachine backup into your new mac and off you go...you did have a Timemachine backup right?

Since he is running 10.4.11 he obviously doesn't have a Time Machine Backup. Time Machine was introduced with 10.5.

@ op: Do you have another Mac around - either yours or maybe a friends? Then you maybe could get your files via target disk mode. Just connect your iMac to another Mac with a firewire cable and press & hold "T" during your iMacs startup. Your iMacs HD should appear just like a regular external HD on the other Macs desktop.

 

[spinnerlys]

...
@ op: Do you have another Mac around - either yours or maybe a friends? Then you maybe could get your files via target disk mode. Just connect your iMac to another Mac with a firewire cable and press & hold "T" during your iMacs startup. Your iMacs HD should appear just like a regular external HD on the other Macs desktop.

-->>

...
but there's absolutely no way to do that when it wont safe boot, wont do target disk mode, wont accept boots off install disks, and wont boot normally, as i have tried over and over again, and either gets stuck on the black screen or gets stuck on the apple logo screen with a gear thing.
...

 

[killwill169]

-->>

yeah i feel like shooting myself, heres a FULL report of everything that happened:

Ok, so yesterday I started my iMac with operating system 10.4.11 and it worked perfectly well, except recently the keyboard has been having some malfunctions. Also, previously, I had accidentally renamed my home folder. I had removed the new home folder and then replaced it with the old, and deleted all the files associated with the new home folder because I read somewhere online that a change in name could be disastrous.

Anyways, when I turned on the mac, everything seemed to be fine so I went and finished an asian movie I was downloading. I opened it, checked the subtitles to make sure they were working, then closed it. I then went into Keychain Access to check some key that I had forgotten and accidentally deleted the Symantec Norton Antivirus keychains. Therefore, I went and reinstalled Symantec Norton Antivirus. After doing this and restarting, I went to Live Update and it started downloading the newest updates for Norton Antivirus. However, the progress bar showed nothing except 0kb although I could obviously see that my mac was downloading. Sometime between this and the next item of business, I went to the Trash and deleted all of the files inside, but it said something about not being able to finish as one of the items was locked. I found a spools file and unlocked it, then deleted it.

Then, I went to work on a Powerpoint for class and sometime during this I attempted to open iPhoto. It gave me the question mark when I clicked on it, so I assumed that Finder could not find it. I went to the Applications folder and found that all of my applications were being removed from the folder, one by one. Because I wanted to preserve data, I immediately force shut down the mac by pressing and holding. the powering button.

Then, I attempted to turn on my mac using safe mode, but the computer will not start up. I have attempted to boot from the CD, but the install disk just got stuck inside and wont come out anymore, even when I press eject on the keyboard. I have attempted to use firewire cables to start the iMac in target disk mode, but this has failed as well. I have attempted to start in single user mode, but this has failed as well. Over time, I have realized that the keyboard doesn't work during startup until the apple logo and the gear both appear on the screen. However, the apple logo and the gear appear on the screen for a long time and I am unable to reach the login screen. A black screen with white text also appears, telling me these messages and more:

"launchd: com.symantec.navapdaemonsl : exited abnormally: bad system call"

"launchd: com.apple.nibindd: respawning too quickly! throttling"

"localhost:/ i have no name!# registering for 802.11 events"

"AFH is supported"

"Adding browse domain local"

"localhost Symantec Daemon[78]: could not install new vulnerability protection engine. vulnerability protection will attempt to use an older, out-of-date engine"

Now I also read "I have no name!" on the screen, which is probably very bad.

I have done some research and conclude that my hard drive is probably dead/dying or that I have a virus. As many experts claim that mac viruses do not exist, it is probably a hard drive problem.

Also, on the black screen, I have realized that it works exactly the same as Terminal, and find that my files are still on the computer, but that I can not access them (I used the command "ls" to see the directory).

What I need to do is to access my files from the computer or perhaps copy all of the contents to a separate hard drive (which I am ready to do), perhaps with ditto, using the launchd Terminal thing, but I do not know how to do this as I am an extremely basic Terminal user. I want to copy ALL of my files, so basically replicate the hard drive, including the hidden files and folders. How would I be able to do this?

Thank you all for replying.

Will

 

[killwill169]

ok so i fixed the problem.

heres what i did:

1. remove the hard drive from the computer, using ifixit.com instructions
2. buy a SATA to USB cable, connect the hard drive to a computer
3. backup all my data

some notes:
– permissions for my home folder were all messed up, inside, desktop/documents/music/movies/pictures and other folders could not be accessed until i changed it back to read/write
– looks like all the previous applications were almost all deleted

now its all good. thank you for your help people.