Urgent help. User account disappeared. Now not booting up.

[Huddsmac]

MacBook pro 13" 2011. 10.7.?
16gb. 500hd.

Slowly been getting worse. This morning when I opened lid and I normally just put password in and straight in as I leave on sleep. But it totally restarted. I thought that was strange. It did the same thing 2 hours later. But 3rd time I pulled the power cable out before I pressed sleep mode and IT turned off. So thought maybe just the battery.
1 hour later I get home. Open lid and knowing it will start a fresh. So out my password in 10 times and it's not taking it. It's befoming annoying at this point. Then it just won't let me in at all. I tried other user. Then I had to put password in which was strange as I don't think it had one.
No it's really bad. I had to restart as it would not let me go back
To log in screen. Now it won't load up. It's just stuck on that grey screen with Apple logo and spinning wheel. That's all it's doing. Don't know what to do now. As like everyone I have a lot of work on here and other important files. What can I do? Please someone help me.

 

[Tolien]

From all of the symptoms it sounds like your hard drive's died - if you have another Mac it might be worth taking it out and sticking it in an external enclosure to see if you can access anything on it but start planning to restore any files you care about from backups.

If you don't have backups...try the drive to make sure it isn't the SATA cable but be prepared for bad news.

 

[DeltaMac]

You could also try booting to the recovery system (assuming that your system is 10.7.x or higher)
Boot while holding Command-R
You should boot to the recovery system. Disk Utility will then either be on the screen (with 4 or 5 other items), or in the Utilities menu at the top of the screen.
In Disk Utility, try a Repair Disk.
Chances are good that test will fail, which is also not good news.

 

[ifrit05]

Where does the system hang when you boot into verbose mode? (Command-V held down)

 

[Huddsmac]

hi. I have held cmd v.

A black screen comes up with loads of White text. It scrolls for some time. Then the last 2 lines gives me some hope.

It says 'runtime corruption detected on 'my name'. Fsck will be forced on next mount. Launch message. Socket is not connected.'

Does this mean my hard drive is not plugged in?

Is it possible my ex girlfriend had used black magic as just 1 week before we split I messed Her mac login details by mistake and she thought she'd lost everything?

I tried cmd-r. Took a while to load up. It got me away from the loading wheel screen.

I'm in disk utility now and on restore but confused. I have 3 options. Super drive. 'My name. HD' and one called '500.11 GB' which just sounds like my drive. What am I doing here. Trying to fix my HD or recovering files to a new HD?

Thanks for your time.

Just looked around the disk utility. And managed to view all files on my hard drive. Good news I think?

I clicked on 'image' tab which then takes me to my files via a few folders.
But then what next?? I can't seem to highlight any folders. There's no next command.
What is next step? Am I restoring it saving to new place?

Also. How does this explain the battery issue. Restarting every time I put on sleep. Or disconnect the power cable and the mac turning off?

Like I say I can view all files in disc utility but what now??

 

[DeltaMac]

...I have held cmd v.
...
It says 'runtime corruption detected on 'my name'. Fsck will be forced on next mount. Launch message. Socket is not connected.'

Does this mean my hard drive is not plugged in? No

Is it possible my ex girlfriend had used black magic as just 1 week before we split I messed Her mac login details by mistake and she thought she'd lost everything? I don't know your girlfriend
...
I'm in disk utility now and on restore but confused. I have 3 options. Super drive. 'My name. HD' and one called '500.11 GB' which just sounds like my drive. What am I doing here. Trying to fix my HD or recovering files to a new HD?

In Disk Utility - select the drive "My name.HD", or whatever line is directly underneath the '500.11 GB' line.
Next, click the "Repair Disk" button. Tell us if that passes with no problems.
...
I clicked on 'image' tab which then takes me to my files via a few folders.
But then what next?? I can't seem to highlight any folders. There's no next command.
What is next step? Am I restoring it saving to new place?
No, you can't do much with files and folders from Disk Utility. The important task right now is to try the Repair Disk, and see if that reports any problems.
How does this explain the battery issue. Restarting every time I put on sleep. Or disconnect the power cable and the mac turning off?
Finally, if your battery is original to your MBPro, then it may simply be nearing the end of its useful life.
How many charge cycles do you have on the battery? You can find that out in your System Information, then the Power tab.
Like I say I can view all files in disc utility but what now??

You could continue with a Restore. You would drag your hard drive (the My name.HD) to the Source line, then drag the destination drive to the "Destination" line. You will need an external drive, large enough to hold everything, for the restore destination.
The restore can take a long time, an hour or more. If your hard drive is mostly full, then it can take several hours. That will at least get you a full backup, if you don't already have one.
If you DO have a current full backup, then you don't need to do anything with the restore. Better to test your hard drive (the Repair Disk in Disk Utility), then you can also boot to your hardware test. That is also simple - just restart, while holding the D key. Your MBPro will boot to the hardware test.
Run both the standard and extended tests. Your memory will take the most time, particularly with the large amount of memory that you have installed.

 

[Huddsmac]

Ok thanks. My friend downloaded disk warriors. It's meant to fix all errors. It was a lengthy process. Then it said issues half way through. It's new years eve so we didn't have all day sadly.
Tomorrow I will run disk warrior again and see if it works.

Two things.

I tried to salvage the files drag n drop etc but had no luck. Can someone clarify how I can do this given my situation.

Also the battery situation. This is what's caused my HD to mess up. As it suddenly ceased to work halting my hard drive mid way. It still won't work now without the power source. Can I replace battery easy? Would you suggest this before I move forward?
All I need is reassurance of my files right now.

Thank you for your help so far.

 

[DeltaMac]

If you want to replace the battery, that's not difficult, and only takes a couple of minutes.
Just unscrew the bottom cover, remove a couple of screws that hold the battery in place. There's a plug to disconnect. The screws are tri-lobe (unusual), but that's not much of a challenge to get the right tool. A site like iFixit.com sells the tools that you need.
Install the replacement battery. Done.

I suggest this sequence.
1. Get the files backed up that you need to keep.
2. Repair the drive with Disk Warrior, etc.
3. Replace the battery, if you need to.

If you struggle with getting your files backed up, then you may want to do the Disk Warrior first.
I have had Disk Warrior run for more than 48 hours in certain situations, so a long process is not unusual when attempting to repair the existing directory.
If that stops with an error, you can come back here with that error - or, even better - contact support at Alsoft. They are a good source for information about errors and problems with Disk Warrior.

 

[Huddsmac]

Hi. Is there a chance if disk warrior goes wrong it could risk me loosing my files?
I guess I should be looking to just get my files and then move forward with a new battery and hard drive?
Is there any other methods to get my files or is disk warrior the best way?

 

[Huddsmac]

Hey. Good news. Disk warrior worked. I think.

But. After restarting and going to login screen my normal 'my name' account is missing. Only the other named account I added a long time ago is present. So I read if I log into that and create a new account with my previously lost 'my name' account it should reinstate it. Is this true? However.. The password box under the users and groups setting is messed up, because I have tried all
User account names and password combos to authenticate the 'add new user' command and none of them working. The password I used to log into this default 'my name' account is not working. Hmmm. Any ideas. So close now guys! Please get me across the line

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes.
If you can log in to your older account, then look on the hard drive, in the Users folder. You should see a folder for any account that you have made on your Mac, plus one folder called "Shared", and might even be a "Guest" folder.
If you see your "my name" folder, then check in your System Preferences, Users & Groups pane, which will show every account that you have available. If you see your "my name" account, then you can try just changing the password for that account. Log out, then log back in to your My Name account.

I suspect that you will still have problems, if the hard drive is failing.
Or, Disk Warrior may have helped. Then, your next step can be reinstalling OS X. That may get your login passwords working again (or not!) At least you shouldn't lose anything more, and your system should end up working better.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Do you have a backup of any kind?

If not, NOW is the time to start thinking of one.

If you had a bootable, cloned backup, getting up-and-running again would have been far easier.
You could have just connected the backup and booted from it.

All you need is an external drive (2.5" will do), and either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

When you get into an "I can't boot!" situation, a cloned bootable backup is worth its weight in gold.

 

[Huddsmac]

Yes.
If you can log in to your older account, then look on the hard drive, in the Users folder. You should see a folder for any account that you have made on your Mac, plus one folder called "Shared", and might even be a "Guest" folder.
If you see your "my name" folder, then check in your System Preferences, Users & Groups pane, which will show every account that you have available. If you see your "my name" account, then you can try just changing the password for that account. Log out, then log back in to your My Name account.

I suspect that you will still have problems, if the hard drive is failing.
Or, Disk Warrior may have helped. Then, your next step can be reinstalling OS X. That may get your login passwords working again (or not!) At least you shouldn't lose anything more, and your system should end up working better.

Hi, I can,'t log into my old account?? Only the temp one I set up, are you saying I can access those old files through this account I am on right now?

Can I just set that account back up? or re connect to it??

I can not see my old account anywhere??

I got to users and accounts and i try to unlock it, but can't, my normal admin account is missing, so that is the only user name and password that will work i think? So that's not working?

 

[Huddsmac]

OP:

Do you have a backup of any kind?

If not, NOW is the time to start thinking of one.

If you had a bootable, cloned backup, getting up-and-running again would have been far easier.
You could have just connected the backup and booted from it.

All you need is an external drive (2.5" will do), and either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

When you get into an "I can't boot!" situation, a cloned bootable backup is worth its weight in gold.

No back up no? my friend said its possible to do what you said, a carbon copy, so if anything happens I just press play in effect, I have a 500gb hard drive with about 200gb spare, but important files.

What are you suggesting? I do a carbon copy now while i seem to have access?

I still can not access my older account and any files, del all the important files with that account that I need so bad.

Thanks for help so far...

I think it has been resolved now, i need a new battery i think, as that was what caused this, my battery failing and cutting my mac out instantly, no shut down or anything, i think disk warrior has sorted that now??

Although strangely I can access all my applications like adobe and other installed software?

 

[DeltaMac]

Go to the root level of your hard drive (where you will see folders such as Applications, System, Library, and Users
If you go in to the Users folder, do you see a folder with your old account name?
Your files should be in that folder, and it's a good sign.
Add your user account (with exactly the same spelling as your old user). Make sure that it adds it as an admin user. Log out, then log in to your old user. Should work (unless you don't see your old user name in the Users folder... which probably means that you have lost everything except what you have already backed up)
Your APPLICATIONS - Adobe apps, and other installed software are not installed in your user folder, but are normally installed in the main Applications folder.

Do you see your OLD user in the Users folder? You should see (as a minimum) your new user folder, the old user folder (which is what you want to see), and also a Shared folder - as a minimum. There may be other folders in the Users folder, but your old user folder is the one that you want to find.

 

[Huddsmac]

Go to the root level of your hard drive (where you will see folders such as Applications, System, Library, and Users
If you go in to the Users folder, do you see a folder with your old account name?
Your files should be in that folder, and it's a good sign.
Add your user account (with exactly the same spelling as your old user). Make sure that it adds it as an admin user. Log out, then log in to your old user. Should work (unless you don't see your old user name in the Users folder... which probably means that you have lost everything except what you have already backed up)
Your APPLICATIONS - Adobe apps, and other installed software are not installed in your user folder, but are normally installed in the main Applications folder.

Do you see your OLD user in the Users folder? You should see (as a minimum) your new user folder, the old user folder (which is what you want to see), and also a Shared folder - as a minimum. There may be other folders in the Users folder, but your old user folder is the one that you want to find.

hi how do i access the root level?

 

[DeltaMac]

If it is not immediately obvious to you (and I understand why that might be the case), here's how I do it quickly.
click anywhere on your desktop, or you can click the "Smiley" face icon at the end of the Dock.
Now, press Shift-Command-C. You will then see your connected drives, and any network drives or volumes that are attached or internal to your Mac. One of those will be your hard drive. Double-click your hard drive to view it.

Your finder window will now show the folders at the root (highest) level of your hard drive.
Double-click the "Users" folder: All those folders are user folders for the various users that you have made on your Mac. There will also be one named "Shared", which can hold files that are shared by all users. The important one for you is your old user folder.
Do you see your old user name there?

 

[Huddsmac]

I see it!!! I clicked it and all folders are there -

desktop, docs, downloads, movies, music, pics, public..

There is a red line/dash on the folders and says i can't view them because i don't have access..

So, how do I get access?

I set up a new account using old name of 'my account' and when I log in it is just empty.

 

[DeltaMac]

Fix the ownership of your user folder.
Here's one way to do that...
Open your terminal. At the prompt, type in the following command. Replace myaccountname with the actual name of your user in both places.

sudo chown -R myaccountname /Users/myaccountname/

spaces are important. The capital R in the -R is also important.
press enter. The terminal will ask for your password. type in your password. The terminal will NOT show your password as you type, so just type it correctly, then press enter again. The prompt will return. may take a few seconds, or as much as a minute to complete, so just wait for the prompt to come back. You can quit the terminal then, and your next step is to log out of your account, then log back in to the same account. You should be back to a normal appearing desktop.

My suggestion now (if you are working again) is to, next step, reinstall OS X. You did say that you are running OS X 10.7.5
Is that correct?
Easy to do, just restart while holding Command-R. You will boot to a menu showing as one choice: Reinstall OS X. You will need a working internet connection to do that, as it will download your present OS X system install files direct from Apple, then proceed with reinstalling OS X. You won't lose any of your own files and apps.
The reason I would do that - your OTHER problems, leading to some problems with the disk directory may have also left you with some corruption of the system files that may or may not be apparent now, but could continue to cause problems as you continue to use in its present condition. Better to go ahead with a system file repair by reinstalling OS X.
Easy-peasy. You just get to wait while the reinstall completes - which can take an hour for the download, then most of another hour to complete the reinstall. It's a good time to get something to eat, or find something else to do for an hour or so.

 

[Huddsmac]

hi when i put password in it says 'jamessmith is not in the sudo folder, that is my temp account...

 

[Huddsmac]

Fix the ownership of your user folder.
Here's one way to do that...
Open your terminal. At the prompt, type in the following command. Replace myaccountname with the actual name of your user in both places.

sudo chown -R myaccountname /Users/myaccountname/

spaces are important. The capital R in the -R is also important.
press enter. The terminal will ask for your password. type in your password. The terminal will NOT show your password as you type, so just type it correctly, then press enter again. The prompt will return. may take a few seconds, or as much as a minute to complete, so just wait for the prompt to come back. You can quit the terminal then, and your next step is to log out of your account, then log back in to the same account. You should be back to a normal appearing desktop.

My suggestion now (if you are working again) is to, next step, reinstall OS X. You did say that you are running OS X 10.7.5
Is that correct?
Easy to do, just restart while holding Command-R. You will boot to a menu showing as one choice: Reinstall OS X. You will need a working internet connection to do that, as it will download your present OS X system install files direct from Apple, then proceed with reinstalling OS X. You won't lose any of your own files and apps.
The reason I would do that - your OTHER problems, leading to some problems with the disk directory may have also left you with some corruption of the system files that may or may not be apparent now, but could continue to cause problems as you continue to use in its present condition. Better to go ahead with a system file repair by reinstalling OS X.
Easy-peasy. You just get to wait while the reinstall completes - which can take an hour for the download, then most of another hour to complete the reinstall. It's a good time to get something to eat, or find something else to do for an hour or so.

hi when i put password in it says 'jamessmith is not in the sudo folder, that is my temp account...

 

[Huddsmac]

We done it! somehow.. ha..

I went to users and accounts, and tried to unlock, i just used a password I made up earlier when setting up a new account to think i twas my old one, password was bobby (temp)... and not sure why but I put ROOT in user name, i mustvhave read some thing earlier on, then i made that account admin and logged out and logged in and there i have it..

thanks, at least now i think i can get saving all my work..

I need to come back and ask about the carbon copy back up....

am i safe to carry on using this for now?

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes
Reinstall - that's my opinion. For the same reasons that I posted above.

 

[Huddsmac]

would a carbon copy be the way forward with this? what's the best way to do so?

Can I some how just go bak to the way it was.... because I've found that I have lost all my bookmarks in firefox as well, i need to get them back.... how can i just go back in the old account mode??

 

[DeltaMac]

...
I went to users and accounts, and tried to unlock, i just used a password I made up earlier when setting up a new account to think i twas my old one, password was bobby (temp)... and not sure why but I put ROOT in user name, i mustvhave read some thing earlier on, then i made that account admin and logged out and logged in and there i have it..
...

I can think of only one reason that you would be using the word "ROOT" in the user name.
That would be when you have enabled the root user (which is a step above the admin user in unix systems.)
That's why the sudo won't work - because sudo is not needed when you are logged in to the root user.
The root user allows you to make a lot of changes without needing an admin password. It's also a relatively insecure way of using your computer (because the rest of your computer is easy to access when the root user is enabled.)

You still need to fix the ownership of your normal user. You can use the same command that I posted earlier, but, you don't need the sudo in that command. Be sure to use the correct username both places in that command, so that your old user is the one that gets corrected. When you have got that task done, log out of your present user, and log back in to your usual account. If that is a successful log in, then you need to disable your root account, as you should never leave your root user enabled.
More info about the Root user here.