themes and boot disk

wibs · 12-13-2002, 03:54 AM

well, i think i screwed it up good this time, but hopefully one of you kind people can help me...

first, here's my setup: 10.2.2, 1 HD with 2 partitions, OS X on the first one and OS 9 on the second one.

i was messing around with different themes, installing them using Chameleon, when i installed ClearAqua. the finder got stock relaunching itself and then System Prefs unexpectedly quit immediately after installing, and no applications would launch. with nothing else to do, i tried logging out. it loaded the login screen for a second but then went to just a plain blue screen, so i shut down the computer and booted again (damn fp imacs don't have a restart button, or an eject button... i could really hurt someone at apple for that...). the same thing happened at the login screen, so i tried holding down command-option on my next startup. the OS selection screen never came up, it went straight to the spinning spindle to load X (and it of course hit the same problem again at the login screen). finally i tried booting into open firmware so i could at least insert a bootable cd, and then i tried running 'boot cd' but it just loaded X again. next i tried holding down the C key while turning on the comp, but it again went straight to X.

so here's what i need to do... i need to 1) be able to pick which system/partition/disk i want to boot from, and 2) figure out a way to disable the OS X themes without using OS X

assuming that none of this is possible (which would be very aggravating, but i shouldn't have been playing with themes in the first place), i at least need a way to be able to boot to the 10.2 or 9.2.2 CD so i can reformat.

thanks for any help you guys can give me...

rusto · 12-13-2002, 08:49 AM

Something similar happened to me recently, ending up with the Finder constantly trying to launch...luckily I was switching themes with Duality 4 (it's a System Prefs panel) and changed to another, uncorrupted theme right away. Then I ran AquaFix and followed that by eliminating all theme related software from my computer.

Not sure what you should do now...it's too bad that AquaFix is not available in a format that could be installed from the command line, then if you could somehow get to single user mode you could download, install and run it. Alas, AquaFix comes as a .dmg.sit file which requires two Aqua based apps to install (Disk Copy and Stuffit Expander).

Here's advice for the future should you decide to continue to mess with themes:

1) Install AquaFix.

2) Keep the Terminal running when you change themes, in case a theme switch fails you can run AquaFix from the command line. It's important that Terminal is running BEFORE you switch themes because if the theme install fails, you won't be able to launch AquaFix.

Baron Bosse · 12-13-2002, 09:03 AM

I'm puzzled as to why pressing 'c' while booting doesn't work. It should always work...

Well, if all else fails, try getting a hold of another harddrive, install os9 or X on it (having removed the other disk first to make it able to start from the CD), then set that disk as the startupdisk and install the old disk again. Then you can remove all traces of the themes from that disk, and switch back to that disk and hope it starts up correctly.

wibs · 12-13-2002, 01:55 PM

no C key and no command option, but command option o f works fine.

hm... i and i don't have another hard drive i can use as a boot disk, and even if i did, how would i set it as the startup disk without command option or c?

wibs · 12-13-2002, 02:49 PM

tried zapping PRAM and resetting open firmware, now i get the little question mark folder that means it can't find a system to boot from when i hold C or command-option-delete, despite having a bootable CD in the drive and perfectly working OS 9 partition.

rusto · 12-13-2002, 05:24 PM

Can you boot to single user mode? If so, maybe I can post unstuffed bits and pieces of AquaFix for you and you could use curl to download them in single user, put them where I tell you and then run it...

Not sure if that would work...but it may be worth a try.

rusto · 12-13-2002, 07:12 PM

Emailed the developer of AquaFix with this message:

Quote:


	I've been trying to help a poor fellow who fouled up his OS X installation while changing themes and AquaFix could possibly be the best way to get straightened out. We are discussing the problem here: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...=&postid=37762 The thing is, he didn't have AquaFix installed before he fouled things up and now he can't boot (normally). Here is my question: if he can get to single user mode and I provide him with the bits and pieces of AquaFix (already unstuffed, etc.) and tell him where to put them...do you think running AquaFix from single user mode would help? Would it even run?

And less than an hour later, I got this response:

Quote:


	This is a fairly common question. Yes, it should run perfectly as long as interface files are in the right place. The command line utility can be run from anywhere as long as you specify the right path for execution. I have a manual install version available from my website or directly at http://gordon.sourcecod.com/software/AquaFix_man.zip This version includes the command line utility and interface files without an installer and with instructions on installing them when you can't login into OS X. Best Regards, Gordon

wibs · 12-13-2002, 07:44 PM

hey guys, thanks for all of your help, and i'm really glad to say that it's fixed now. things kept getting worse and worse, even to the point that the keyboard wouldn't do anything at boot (no command-s, no command-option-o-f, nothing), even the monitor wouldn't light up (and for a flatscreen imac that's a big deal...). so i unplugged the power cord and everything else, called it quits for an hour, and tried again. amazingly things started to work again... not everything all at once, but eventually even C worked again, as did option. i managed to boot into my OS 9 partition, barely squeeze a barebones install of OS X into it (it wasn't a very big partition to begin with), download AquaFix, install it from the good OS X partition to the bad one, then boot up into single user mode to run it from the command line.

and now... it works! thanks guys for all of your help, couldn't have done it without you

12-13-2002, 03:54 AM	#1
wibs Prospect Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 32	themes and boot disk well, i think i screwed it up good this time, but hopefully one of you kind people can help me... first, here's my setup: 10.2.2, 1 HD with 2 partitions, OS X on the first one and OS 9 on the second one. i was messing around with different themes, installing them using Chameleon, when i installed ClearAqua. the finder got stock relaunching itself and then System Prefs unexpectedly quit immediately after installing, and no applications would launch. with nothing else to do, i tried logging out. it loaded the login screen for a second but then went to just a plain blue screen, so i shut down the computer and booted again (damn fp imacs don't have a restart button, or an eject button... i could really hurt someone at apple for that...). the same thing happened at the login screen, so i tried holding down command-option on my next startup. the OS selection screen never came up, it went straight to the spinning spindle to load X (and it of course hit the same problem again at the login screen). finally i tried booting into open firmware so i could at least insert a bootable cd, and then i tried running 'boot cd' but it just loaded X again. next i tried holding down the C key while turning on the comp, but it again went straight to X. so here's what i need to do... i need to 1) be able to pick which system/partition/disk i want to boot from, and 2) figure out a way to disable the OS X themes without using OS X assuming that none of this is possible (which would be very aggravating, but i shouldn't have been playing with themes in the first place), i at least need a way to be able to boot to the 10.2 or 9.2.2 CD so i can reformat. thanks for any help you guys can give me...

12-13-2002, 08:49 AM	#2
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	Something similar happened to me recently, ending up with the Finder constantly trying to launch...luckily I was switching themes with Duality 4 (it's a System Prefs panel) and changed to another, uncorrupted theme right away. Then I ran AquaFix and followed that by eliminating all theme related software from my computer. Not sure what you should do now...it's too bad that AquaFix is not available in a format that could be installed from the command line, then if you could somehow get to single user mode you could download, install and run it. Alas, AquaFix comes as a .dmg.sit file which requires two Aqua based apps to install (Disk Copy and Stuffit Expander). Here's advice for the future should you decide to continue to mess with themes: 1) Install AquaFix. 2) Keep the Terminal running when you change themes, in case a theme switch fails you can run AquaFix from the command line. It's important that Terminal is running BEFORE you switch themes because if the theme install fails, you won't be able to launch AquaFix. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

12-13-2002, 09:03 AM	#3
Baron Bosse Prospect Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 18	I'm puzzled as to why pressing 'c' while booting doesn't work. It should always work... Well, if all else fails, try getting a hold of another harddrive, install os9 or X on it (having removed the other disk first to make it able to start from the CD), then set that disk as the startupdisk and install the old disk again. Then you can remove all traces of the themes from that disk, and switch back to that disk and hope it starts up correctly. __________________ "- But doesn't the bible teach us: Judge not, lest ye be judged? - She's a witch! Burn her!"

12-13-2002, 05:24 PM	#6
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,489	Can you boot to single user mode? If so, maybe I can post unstuffed bits and pieces of AquaFix for you and you could use curl to download them in single user, put them where I tell you and then run it... Not sure if that would work...but it may be worth a try. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

12-13-2002, 01:55 PM	#4
wibs Prospect Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 32	no C key and no command option, but command option o f works fine. hm... i and i don't have another hard drive i can use as a boot disk, and even if i did, how would i set it as the startup disk without command option or c?

12-13-2002, 02:49 PM	#5
wibs Prospect Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 32	tried zapping PRAM and resetting open firmware, now i get the little question mark folder that means it can't find a system to boot from when i hold C or command-option-delete, despite having a bootable CD in the drive and perfectly working OS 9 partition.

12-13-2002, 07:44 PM	#8
wibs Prospect Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 32	hey guys, thanks for all of your help, and i'm really glad to say that it's fixed now. things kept getting worse and worse, even to the point that the keyboard wouldn't do anything at boot (no command-s, no command-option-o-f, nothing), even the monitor wouldn't light up (and for a flatscreen imac that's a big deal...). so i unplugged the power cord and everything else, called it quits for an hour, and tried again. amazingly things started to work again... not everything all at once, but eventually even C worked again, as did option. i managed to boot into my OS 9 partition, barely squeeze a barebones install of OS X into it (it wasn't a very big partition to begin with), download AquaFix, install it from the good OS X partition to the bad one, then boot up into single user mode to run it from the command line. and now... it works! thanks guys for all of your help, couldn't have done it without you