help please pb12a will not complete boot

[Low]

i'm really stuck here so im hoping you guys can help me please. over the last few weeks my pb has been running sluggish, so i did the usual, repair disks, fdsck, daily, weekly, month cron file thingy, and did the update sudo bindings and the machine still ran extremely slow. switching from window to window almost took up to 60 seconds, sometimes rebooting took 15 minutes. but yesterday i tried to download 10.3.7 from 10.3.6 and it said it was unable to install .3.7. i knew it tried to install some files but it couldnt do. so i tried rebooting again, but this time, its stuck at the "login window starting" tried doing fsck and repairing from the OS disks but no avail im worried because of some files on there that i have not backed up yet.

i dont mind doing a reinstall, but the most important thing to me now is the files in my documents folder, and some other files on the desktop and probably my mp3 files..hehe. i would appreciate if you guys can help me along the way to get this resolved. i switched over to the mac with my pb12 and iPod 10g but this situation gives me a bitter taste in my mouth only owning a mac for a little yes than two years. someone please help!

i have jaguar and panther disk available. tia.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

i'm really stuck here so im hoping you guys can help me please. over the last few weeks my pb has been running sluggish, so i did the usual, repair disks, fdsck, daily, weekly, month cron file thingy, and did the update sudo bindings and the machine still ran extremely slow. switching from window to window almost took up to 60 seconds, sometimes rebooting took 15 minutes. but yesterday i tried to download 10.3.7 from 10.3.6 and it said it was unable to install .3.7. i knew it tried to install some files but it couldnt do. so i tried rebooting again, but this time, its stuck at the "login window starting" tried doing fsck and repairing from the OS disks but no avail im worried because of some files on there that i have not backed up yet.

i dont mind doing a reinstall, but the most important thing to me now is the files in my documents folder, and some other files on the desktop and probably my mp3 files..hehe. i would appreciate if you guys can help me along the way to get this resolved. i switched over to the mac with my pb12 and iPod 10g but this situation gives me a bitter taste in my mouth only owning a mac for a little yes than two years. someone please help!

i have jaguar and panther disk available. tia.

An "Archive and Install" from the Panther install disc(s) will get you sorted out. You'll have to reapply all the updates again. You will not lose any of your user data, even if you don't check "Preserve Users and Network Settings" (if you don't check that box, the user information also gets archived, but you can easily retrieve anything you need from the archive if necessary).

 

[Low]

An "Archive and Install" from the Panther install disc(s) will get you sorted out. You'll have to reapply all the updates again. You will not lose any of your user data, even if you don't check "Preserve Users and Network Settings" (if you don't check that box, the user information also gets archived, but you can easily retrieve anything you need from the archive if necessary).

thanks for your reply, appreciate it.

i think i got a bigger problem now...i put the panther cd1 in there and when i reboot > hold down c key, its not booting to disk. it goes directly to the "login window starting" window. and if i try to eject the disk, nothing happens jeez, what luck, any other recommendations?? tia

 

[wrldwzrd89]

thanks for your reply, appreciate it.

i think i got a bigger problem now...i put the panther cd1 in there and when i reboot > hold down c key, its not booting to disk. it goes directly to the "login window starting" window. and if i try to eject the disk, nothing happens jeez, what luck, any other recommendations?? tia

Hold down Option with the CD in the drive while the Mac boots and select the CD as the device to boot from.

 

[Low]

Hold down Option with the CD in the drive while the Mac boots and select the CD as the device to boot from.

whoa! cool, im seeing screens that i have never seen before!! this is awesome, learning as i go.. right now im about to perform the archive and install reinstall. im going to go ahead and use preserve users and network settings or should i just uncheck that? is there anything else i should prepare for before moving and throughout the rest of the reinstall? tia!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

whoa! cool, im seeing screens that i have never seen before!! this is awesome, learning as i go.. right now im about to perform the archive and install reinstall. im going to go ahead and use preserve users and network settings or should i just uncheck that? is there anything else i should prepare for before moving and throughout the rest of the reinstall? tia!

The only things I'd suggest doing pre-install are customizing the install options the way you like them (for example, there's no point in installing Internet Explorer if you never use it) and deciding whether or not to preserve the users (unless you KNOW what you need to grab from the archive, I'd go ahead and keep the users - it makes bringing your system back easier. However, if you suspect that a user account-specific issue is to blame for your boot problems, then go ahead and archive the users, then retrieve only what you need from the archive. No matter what you do, delete the archive once everything is set up.

 

[Low]

The only things I'd suggest doing pre-install are customizing the install options the way you like them (for example, there's no point in installing Internet Explorer if you never use it) and deciding whether or not to preserve the users (unless you KNOW what you need to grab from the archive, I'd go ahead and keep the users - it makes bringing your system back easier. However, if you suspect that a user account-specific issue is to blame for your boot problems, then go ahead and archive the users, then retrieve only what you need from the archive. No matter what you do, delete the archive once everything is set up.

cool im going to preserve users and network settings...*crossing fingers*

 

[Low]

"Checking Target Volume Consistency: 99% Completed"

its been there for almost 20mins? although i can hear the HD crunching away..i guess i should be more patient.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

"Checking Target Volume Consistency: 99% Completed"

its been there for almost 20mins? although i can hear the HD crunching away..i guess i should be more patient.

Normally that check finishes instantly. You might just have a filesystem corruption problem. If possible, back out of installing and choose "Open Disk Utility" from the Installer menu. Have it check your disk and repair any problems it finds.

 

[Low]

Normally that check finishes instantly. You might just have a filesystem corruption problem. If possible, back out of installing and choose "Open Disk Utility" from the Installer menu. Have it check your disk and repair any problems it finds.

oh jeez, funny when i refreshed and read your reply, i clicked on Installer to see if i could back out and choose open disk utility, and about right when i did that, it proceded to Preparing....*still crossing fingers*

 

[Low]

whoa weird.

it just finished installing disc1 and then it rebooted?

im at the Mac OSX screen now, but have no users to choose from? again, the HD is crunching away??

edit: oh wait, here it goes...oh please get me a logon screen!!

 

[Low]

okay cool, asking for disc2!!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

So far, what you're experiencing is 100% normal for an Archive & Install. Let's hope this continues.

 

[Low]

So far, what you're experiencing is 100% normal for an Archive & Install. Let's hope this continues.

okay cool! im back in! a couple invisible question marks at the dock but they were for programs i coulda cared less about. still seems a pretty slow, however. i thought archive and install puts a file of the old installation in a file somewhere?

 

[Sun Baked]

Norton is known for killing machines along with performace.

But if you have a USB printer or scanner with a touch to copy/scan buttong -- some of the drivers will hog resources as they sit there and look at the button.

Also try a new user to see if there is something in your current user folder slowing things down.

You could also try a safe-boot (holding shift key) to see if there is something else that is slowing you down -- this is like OS 9s booting with extensions off.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

okay cool! im back in! a couple invisible question marks at the dock but they were for programs i coulda cared less about. still seems a pretty slow, however. i thought archive and install puts a file of the old installation in a file somewhere?

It sure does - look in the root of your hard drive. You'll see a folder called "Previous System" - in there is the stuff it archived.

 

[Low]

Norton is known for killing machines along with performace.

But if you have a USB printer or scanner with a touch to copy/scan buttong -- some of the drivers will hog resources as they sit there and look at the button.

Also try a new user to see if there is something in your current user folder slowing things down.

You could also try a safe-boot (holding shift key) to see if there is something else that is slowing you down -- this is like OS 9s booting with extensions off.

no scanner or printer hooked up and not using nortons...this is just weird. it all started happening a few weeks ago when i tried get to my computer but it froze and kept my screensaver up, so i rebooted and then noticed everything was just downhill after that.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

no scanner or printer hooked up and not using nortons...this is just weird. it all started happening a few weeks ago when i tried get to my computer but it froze and kept my screensaver up, so i rebooted and then noticed everything was just downhill after that.

If I were you, I'd boot from the Panther CD again and check the hard disk for filesystem errors using Disk Utility as I mentioned earlier. Do NOT repair permissions from there - that should be done while booted into the system you're repairing permissions for.

 

[Low]

If I were you, I'd boot from the Panther CD again and check the hard disk for filesystem errors using Disk Utility as I mentioned earlier. Do NOT repair permissions from there - that should be done while booted into the system you're repairing permissions for.

okay lets do that...i am having technical difficulties with safari too..seems like i cannot open a valid browser. when it opens one, its blank and if i try to type in the url box, i cant. so i guess i cant break out the champagne just yet.

 

[Low]

oh jeez , even more bad news..i popped in my panther cd, now my cd rom is making this loud annoying buzzing sound when it spins up!! oh woooo is me....*sigh(

 

[Low]

still really slow and safari isnt working like its supposed to. i guess i should try to install the updates again. i already did repair permissions in the OS and then ran the Repair disk after that through booting the panther disks. now i think im going to run the updater and hopefully get this bad boby back up and running.

a quick note..i looked into my activity monitor and i see WindowServer and its taking up anywhere from 2.80 to 20.00% of the CPU. i have remote desktop and VP6 installed but arent opened. WindowServer does not pertain to MS does it?

 

[Littleodie914]

still really slow and safari isnt working like its supposed to. i guess i should try to install the updates again. i already did repair permissions in the OS and then ran the Repair disk after that through booting the panther disks. now i think im going to run the updater and hopefully get this bad boby back up and running.

a quick note..i looked into my activity monitor and i see WindowServer and its taking up anywhere from 2.80 to 20.00% of the CPU. i have remote desktop and VP6 installed but arent opened. WindowServer does not pertain to MS does it?

Haha nope, WindowServer is a Mac thing. It's basically (correct me, as I know I'm at least a bit wrong) what keeps track of the windows, and is in charge of making sure the OS remembers what windows are where, what they contain, etc. It's completely normal for this process to take up the majority of your processing speed, unless you're doing something intensive. Good luck with everything else, btw!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

still really slow and safari isnt working like its supposed to. i guess i should try to install the updates again. i already did repair permissions in the OS and then ran the Repair disk after that through booting the panther disks. now i think im going to run the updater and hopefully get this bad boby back up and running.

a quick note..i looked into my activity monitor and i see WindowServer and its taking up anywhere from 2.80 to 20.00% of the CPU. i have remote desktop and VP6 installed but arent opened. WindowServer does not pertain to MS does it?

Running Software Update should help with some of your issues, although I don't know if it'll help with the buzzing CD.

 

[cluthz]

Is it only me that think maybe the HD is failing ?
Installation problems, HD noise, system still sluggish after new OsX install..

 

[Mechcozmo]

Is it only me that think maybe the HD is failing ?
Installation problems, HD noise, system still sluggish after new OsX install..

That occurred to me as I read this thread. It sounds as if you have done everything possible to your 'book without actually sending in to Apple.

When you open Disk Utility and click on your hard drive, what does it show as the S.M.A.R.T. status? The disk is the one on top, volumes are below and indented. It shows you the S.M.A.R.T. status in the bottom of Disk Utility.

If that is failing... that ain't good. It means that you should be calling in AppleCare. Heck, at this point, you should do that anyway.