Generic OS X Troubleshooting List - Page 9

chenjen · 03-18-2007, 01:41 AM

OK, so where is the *final* Troubleshooting List for Tiger? Also why does this thread stop in 12/06?

bioes · 03-18-2007, 05:56 PM

My ibook screen has been continually going grey for the last year or so. Usually, if I waited until the computer went to sleep, I could open screen and I would get back to my desktop. Today, I was forced to try to restart the computer. Unfortunately, it would never get to the desktop. So, I did some research on apple.com and it suggested I do the following:

/sbin/fsck -fy

This is the response I received:

/dev/rdisk0s6
Root file system
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
disk0s6: 0x8 (UNDEFINED).
invalid node structure
(4, 916)
Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.
disk0s6: 0x8 (UNDEFINED).
The volume Shanon could not be repaired.

While I have done a back up, nothing in the last two months and would loose considerable business info if I can't save things:

Q1. Is there any way to back up my computer through fsck?
Q2. Is there any way save my computer and get back to the desktop?

If there is anyone who could help me resolve this issue I would be eternally grateful. Thanks.

tlarkin · 03-19-2007, 02:38 PM

here is what I would do. First I would make sure the data is backed up. There is a very nice app I use several times a month called data resuce II. You can purchase it here:

http://www.prosoftengineering.com/pr...e6b2d5dbde7409

You can boot off it and then push your data to another hard drive. I have used it plenty of times in the past, it is a very nice little program.

Then I would try a third party utility called diskwarrior to see if it can rebuild your HD. You can find that application here:

http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

This app can rebuild when the OS can not. It is a very useful utility. The problem seems that your HD is either corrupted so bad that it can not mount it to run diag, or you have a failed HD.

I'll help write and updated troubleshooting list with intel addons and Leopard when it comes out. Leopard should be out pretty soon.

AndreasvanHaren · 05-18-2007, 04:10 AM

how do I boot from the installation dvd? Which key combinations do I need to press when restarting my imac?

André

yellow · 05-18-2007, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndreasvanHaren


	how do I boot from the installation dvd? Which key combinations do I need to press when restarting my imac? André

Hold down the C key.

belac · 05-21-2007, 01:26 PM

Anyone know how to restore aqua from Single User mode? I screwed up my iBook baaad.

yellow · 05-21-2007, 03:14 PM

that depends on how you screwed it up.. but this thread isn't really the palce to ask for such help. Create a new thread in the System subforum with the details and what you've done to troubleshoot the situation.

cholopat · 07-15-2007, 04:42 AM

what does fragmentation mean?

i am used to defragging pcs for ages, but on a os x ... it’s not "system based" ?

yellow · 07-16-2007, 10:07 AM

A hard drive has "blocks". Data is stored in these blocks. A block is a fixed size. Data that is larger than a single block, is broken up into as many blocks as it takes to save the data. For data to be considered unfragmented, the blocks are written contiguously, meaning, one after the other. For data to be considered fragmented, the blocks are written out of order, which makes the OS and the disk work harder to find all the blocks and reassemble them as your data.

So, as an example (and these numbers aren't correct, they are simply to illustrate the point), say we have a MS Word file, and it's size is 25KB. Our disk's block size is 5K. So, for the best results, the file's 5 blocks should be written one after the other:

[Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k]

If the file was fragmented, it would be more like this:

[Word 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k]

So.. a defragmentation will move the blocks of like data as close to the data's other blocks as is possible.

tlarkin · 07-16-2007, 10:50 AM

yes and just to make it a simple statement (even though yellow's example was great), its like organizing your file cabinet. Lets say not everything is filed in order in your filing cabinet, so you take out the incorrectly placed files and put them back in place.

In the case of a hard drive it just organizes data so they are physically near each other on the hard disk

greggles · 10-02-2007, 06:21 PM

Hi guys
i have recently purchased my first mac laptop and already had massive problems. after setting up tiger i copied all my saved music onto the hard drive. it run fine for 2days until tried to rename the 'home folder' (which had an automatically generated shortname of a combo of my sure and last name) and suddenly the music folder emptied and other icons like documents, movies, pictures disappeared off the sidebar. the dock set its iconsizes to default and one of the apps (i think it was idvd) had a big question mark on there instead of its icon.
i am not sure if the renaming caused the problem which i researched but did not find any help so i reinstalled tiger which is running stabil now, but im very courious what could have happened. has anyone come across this thing before?
last question: how can i take off the hard disk free space info which is below the macintosh hd icon?

regards

Greg
(macbook pro/2.4Ghz/2GB/160GB)

yellow · 10-03-2007, 10:35 AM

Your should start a new thread with your questsions.

codsterh · 10-11-2007, 04:01 AM

I’m pretty much new to Macs and discussion forums, so sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place or don’t use the right language.

I just bought a couple iBooks off of ebay and am having some trouble installing OSX 10.3 on one of them. I have a G4 that is completely working with OSX 10.4 and a working G3 that does not have an OS installed.

Here is the problem. When I put in the OSX 10.3 cd into the G3 with the flashing folder and little computer icon, it starts to run the cd; then after about two or three minutes it says the installer has unexpectedly quit (error 1). Then it says to press Return to restart and keeps doing the same thing.

Just to test if it was a cd problem I put it into my G4 and and everyhting pops up just fine and it opens to the desktop. I’m kind of familiar with SUM, so I used that to start up the G3 with the cd inserted. My question I guess is whether or not I can install the cd through SUM to the hdd?

Any advice or help would be appreciated.
thanks

knowmad · 12-06-2007, 01:37 PM

um, codsterh, this should be its own thread....

knowmad · 12-06-2007, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chenjen


	OK, so where is the final* Troubleshooting List for Tiger? Also why does this thread stop in 12/06?*

Good question, anyone want to take a stab at editting this thread into a usable file/web page?

hayne · 12-06-2007, 10:06 PM

Here's what I usually suggest:

Quote:

Originally Posted by hayne (in many other threads)


	You should try the standard troubleshooting suggestions: http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/ (see the "My Mac needs help" section) http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...04011205473937 http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269 http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html In particular, be sure to try logging in as a different user to see if the problem exists there. (Create a new user via the Accounts preference panel if you only have the one user account so far.) Also be sure to do "Repair Disk" (different from "Repair Disk Permissions"!) in Disk Utility when booted from the Install CD/DVD. I.e. you restart from the Install CD/DVD, then run the version of Disk Utility that is available from one of the menus there. See this Apple doc: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

knowmad · 12-11-2007, 01:12 PM

This was redone by a co-worker of mine. I know he has a handle on macosxhints but I have no idea what it is, so he will have to settle with incognito recognition....

Please note this was written for a corporate intranet twiki site (with company name removed) so some of the suggestions lend themselves more to that environment than a stand alone machine.

(too big to be viewed here, attached as text file, rename to HTML to view)

fabadelic · 01-11-2008, 10:00 AM

(QUOTE=Craig R. Arko;72748]All in all, a very fine list. In fact, I'm going to sticky this to the top of the forum for a while so it can be worked on, and then maybe turn it into a FAQ when there's a consensus it's ready for that.[/QUOTE]

Ummm, so where is the final product?

P.S. Sorry to be e-v-e-r sooo b-a-s-i-c but I for one would appreciate a How To for every point on the list! Where could I find that sort of thing?

Anti · 03-06-2008, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fabadelic

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig R. Arko

All in all, a very fine list. In fact, I'm going to sticky this to the top of the forum for a while so it can be worked on, and then maybe turn it into a FAQ when there's a consensus it's ready for that.

Ummm, so where is the final product?

P.S. Sorry to be e-v-e-r sooo b-a-s-i-c but I for one would appreciate a How To for every point on the list! Where could I find that sort of thing?

You could possibly google the stuff for now. I'm working to write a how-to for every item on that list. (I needed something to do...too much free time)

tlarkin · 03-06-2008, 07:26 PM

One of these days I will have a tech blog, hopefully soon, I just haven't had the time as of yet to toss one together that I like. I have standards lol, and I can't live up to them web development wise just yet.

03-18-2007, 05:56 PM	#162
bioes Prospect Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6	Volume Could Not Be Repaired My ibook screen has been continually going grey for the last year or so. Usually, if I waited until the computer went to sleep, I could open screen and I would get back to my desktop. Today, I was forced to try to restart the computer. Unfortunately, it would never get to the desktop. So, I did some research on apple.com and it suggested I do the following: /sbin/fsck -fy This is the response I received: /dev/rdisk0s6 Root file system Checking HFS Plus volume. Checking Extents Overflow file. Checking Catalog file. disk0s6: 0x8 (UNDEFINED). invalid node structure (4, 916) Rebuilding Catalog B-tree. disk0s6: 0x8 (UNDEFINED). The volume Shanon could not be repaired. While I have done a back up, nothing in the last two months and would loose considerable business info if I can't save things: Q1. Is there any way to back up my computer through fsck? Q2. Is there any way save my computer and get back to the desktop? If there is anyone who could help me resolve this issue I would be eternally grateful. Thanks.

10-02-2007, 06:21 PM	#171
greggles Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1	lots of troubles Hi guys i have recently purchased my first mac laptop and already had massive problems. after setting up tiger i copied all my saved music onto the hard drive. it run fine for 2days until tried to rename the 'home folder' (which had an automatically generated shortname of a combo of my sure and last name) and suddenly the music folder emptied and other icons like documents, movies, pictures disappeared off the sidebar. the dock set its iconsizes to default and one of the apps (i think it was idvd) had a big question mark on there instead of its icon. i am not sure if the renaming caused the problem which i researched but did not find any help so i reinstalled tiger which is running stabil now, but im very courious what could have happened. has anyone come across this thing before? last question: how can i take off the hard disk free space info which is below the macintosh hd icon? regards Greg (macbook pro/2.4Ghz/2GB/160GB)

01-11-2008, 10:00 AM	#178
fabadelic Prospect Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Western Australia Posts: 6	Isn't there supposed to be a final list around here somewhere? (QUOTE=Craig R. Arko;72748]All in all, a very fine list. In fact, I'm going to sticky this to the top of the forum for a while so it can be worked on, and then maybe turn it into a FAQ when there's a consensus it's ready for that.[/QUOTE] Ummm, so where is the final product? P.S. Sorry to be e-v-e-r sooo b-a-s-i-c but I for one would appreciate a How To for every point on the list! Where could I find that sort of thing?

03-18-2007, 01:41 AM	#161
chenjen Prospect Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 5	OK, so where is the final Troubleshooting List for Tiger? Also why does this thread stop in 12/06?

03-19-2007, 02:38 PM	#163
tlarkin League Commissioner Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 11,352	here is what I would do. First I would make sure the data is backed up. There is a very nice app I use several times a month called data resuce II. You can purchase it here: http://www.prosoftengineering.com/pr...e6b2d5dbde7409 You can boot off it and then push your data to another hard drive. I have used it plenty of times in the past, it is a very nice little program. Then I would try a third party utility called diskwarrior to see if it can rebuild your HD. You can find that application here: http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/ This app can rebuild when the OS can not. It is a very useful utility. The problem seems that your HD is either corrupted so bad that it can not mount it to run diag, or you have a failed HD. I'll help write and updated troubleshooting list with intel addons and Leopard when it comes out. Leopard should be out pretty soon.

05-18-2007, 04:10 AM	#164
AndreasvanHaren Prospect Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 13	how do I boot from the installation dvd? Which key combinations do I need to press when restarting my imac? André

05-21-2007, 01:26 PM	#166
belac Prospect Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 2	Anyone know how to restore aqua from Single User mode? I screwed up my iBook baaad.

05-21-2007, 03:14 PM	#167
yellow Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,677	that depends on how you screwed it up.. but this thread isn't really the palce to ask for such help. Create a new thread in the System subforum with the details and what you've done to troubleshoot the situation.

07-15-2007, 04:42 AM	#168
cholopat Prospect Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Lima (Brussels if not) Posts: 4	what does fragmentation mean? i am used to defragging pcs for ages, but on a os x ... it’s not "system based" ?

07-16-2007, 10:07 AM	#169
yellow Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,677	A hard drive has "blocks". Data is stored in these blocks. A block is a fixed size. Data that is larger than a single block, is broken up into as many blocks as it takes to save the data. For data to be considered unfragmented, the blocks are written contiguously, meaning, one after the other. For data to be considered fragmented, the blocks are written out of order, which makes the OS and the disk work harder to find all the blocks and reassemble them as your data. So, as an example (and these numbers aren't correct, they are simply to illustrate the point), say we have a MS Word file, and it's size is 25KB. Our disk's block size is 5K. So, for the best results, the file's 5 blocks should be written one after the other: [Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k] If the file was fragmented, it would be more like this: [Word 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k][Word 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k][Data 5k][Word 5k] So.. a defragmentation will move the blocks of like data as close to the data's other blocks as is possible.

07-16-2007, 10:50 AM	#170
tlarkin League Commissioner Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 11,352	yes and just to make it a simple statement (even though yellow's example was great), its like organizing your file cabinet. Lets say not everything is filed in order in your filing cabinet, so you take out the incorrectly placed files and put them back in place. In the case of a hard drive it just organizes data so they are physically near each other on the hard disk

10-03-2007, 10:35 AM	#172
yellow Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,677	Your should start a new thread with your questsions.

10-11-2007, 04:01 AM	#173
codsterh Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1	I’m pretty much new to Macs and discussion forums, so sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place or don’t use the right language. I just bought a couple iBooks off of ebay and am having some trouble installing OSX 10.3 on one of them. I have a G4 that is completely working with OSX 10.4 and a working G3 that does not have an OS installed. Here is the problem. When I put in the OSX 10.3 cd into the G3 with the flashing folder and little computer icon, it starts to run the cd; then after about two or three minutes it says the installer has unexpectedly quit (error 1). Then it says to press Return to restart and keeps doing the same thing. Just to test if it was a cd problem I put it into my G4 and and everyhting pops up just fine and it opens to the desktop. I’m kind of familiar with SUM, so I used that to start up the G3 with the cd inserted. My question I guess is whether or not I can install the cd through SUM to the hdd? Any advice or help would be appreciated. thanks

12-06-2007, 01:37 PM	#174
knowmad Major Leaguer Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: NY Posts: 259	um, codsterh, this should be its own thread....

03-06-2008, 07:26 PM	#180
tlarkin League Commissioner Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 11,352	One of these days I will have a tech blog, hopefully soon, I just haven't had the time as of yet to toss one together that I like. I have standards lol, and I can't live up to them web development wise just yet.