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i just totally F'd over my mac.....

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MadSkillzMan

Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Location
Cleveland OHIO
ok guys. i wass screwing around on my mac (sorta newbie) and i went into startup disk, and selected osx 10.1. apparently someone half loaded it on here, i got this error that it couldnt locate finder, and that if i reboot i may not be able to start my computer. So i tried setting it back to OS 9.1, only it didnt show up. '
Well i wasnt gonna just avoid the problem and not shut down. its been acting up anyways. I reboot, and it hits the screen with the happy mac. then it just shuts off. Ok, so i try to boot from CD...the CD thing spins in the top left...the happy mac turns into a folder thats busted in half and it just sits there.

Ok, fine, i found an OS 8.5CD lying around. Booted from that, installed that flawlessly. ....Now i cant even access that....once i bootup the CD, i try to access my HDD, but it only shows me the OS8.5 install. i cant boot to os8.5 at all other than CD.

so....what the heck can i do guys? id hate to reformat it now because i dont have a copy of os9.1 or osx, but i gotta buttload of software that runs on os9.1-osx, so unless DarwinOS can run premeire, photoshop..etc..im kinda screwed.

i got this mac from my photography teacher. she was gonna throw it out. she gave me the software that she had, so os9.1 i guess she cant find.

Also its pretty old, and wont take osx.3, simply because of no usb. I have a newer ATI card in it, hella ram, huge HDD, and i belevie the CPU has been OC'd
 
I have no clue, but I know someone who has a little bit of knowledge about macs. ;)

I'll send him a link to this thread and maybe he can help out.
 
thank you. Id go use *nix or darwin on it...but id hate to have all this software to go waste. Also i used this mac to copy my movies to TV, so i dont know if darwin would do that.
 
My ears are burning....

Did Dugans mention my name? ;)

Hello. Sorry to hear about your Mac problems. They are so rare, but occasionally happen. I've been using Macs for over 15 years without any major problems at all. (shameless jab at Rogerdugans.... poke poke...)

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste... no wait, wrong subject... you need some Mac help. ;)

Well, it sounds to me like the machine is having a hard time booting the OS from the drive, probably because of the "partial" install of OS X. Another reason could be the formatting mix of Journalized and non Journalized partitions on the drive. (Part of the X install process). The broken folder indicated the Bootable OS is damaged in some way.

One thing might be as simple as the need for a PRAM battery replacement. If it's an older Beige Mac, (which I assume it is.) It could be past the 5 year life span of the battery. You can get a replacement at your local Radio Shack for under $15. It is on the Mobo and should be easy to spot. It's about half the size of a AA battery. 3.6 volts, and is usually purple and black.

Now, one thing that might help me help you is getting some info on the Mac itself. If you are unsure, you can go here and look online to double check:

http://www.everymac.com

Double check and see what OS's the machine supports. They have the pictures, and stats on every mac ever made. Now if it's a old 8.5 system install, with parts from 9.1 and X, my guess would be that it's pretty much a formatting mess right about now. The easiest thing would be to put in another spare drive you have lying around, put it in, install a clean OS, and use the built in disc utilities on the new drive to fix the other broken one. Problem being, is I doubt you have an old 50 pin SCSI drive around. (worse comes to worse, you could send me the drive, and I'll try to work my magic.)

One thing you might want to look for is called a "CUDA" switch. It varies in place from machine to machine, but it is on the logic board ("Motherboard" to you PCer's ;) ) It's small round button that is black and silver. Press it down for about 10 seconds, then try to restart the machine. This resets all the instructions on what you would call the "BIOS" on the mobo.

Also if you have a lot of third party stuff, it changes the map a little. There may be conflicts with an ATA card (if you are using one), or the OC'd processor, ram type, vid card, etc. Sounds like a lot has been done to the machine over the years, so getting it back to stock until the repairs are complete might help. Also, are you using a replacement processor, a ZIF or on a daughter card? That also might be a reason. OS X does not like a lot of older third party processors like NewerTech and Powerlogic used to make.

But, since the OS 8.5 install CD works, there should be an option in the upper left menu that says Disc Utilities, or "Disk First Aid", or if you open the CD after it is mounted, there should be a folder on it somewhere saying "Util" or "Utilities". Open that and it should be there. Launch it and see if the Hard Drive shows up in the program. If it does, run Disk First Aid and see what it says. (don't reformat the drive though, you will ERASE ALL THE DATA.) You should also have the option to try and repair it. If it is successful, you should see the hard Drive show up on the desktop. If Disc First Aid launches and you only see the install CD, it means that the machine can't even see the drive. Or it could be the older Disc First AId can't fix the repairs on a newer OS. (Prolly dude to the different OS's that were installed were goofed up in some way.)

The other thing you might try is get your hands on one of two diagnostic programs. One is Norton Disc Utilities, the other is Tech Tool Pro 2 or 3. I would recommend Tech Tool, simply because it does hardware tests, as well and hard drive maintenance, where Norton is basically HD oriented. They both can be booted from the CD to fix your machine.

Try this, and let me know the specifics of the machine, and I'll see if there is anything else you can do. ;) If all else fails, give me an email, and we'll see what we can do.

Good luck.

-Blackstar

[email protected]
 
Last edited:
I FIXED IT!

i got osx.2 on there..it runs great actually...cant run too may backround apps..but i like it much over the 9.1 install.

You were right Blackstar, install VERY easy.

i need to clean up this HDD ....time to post!
 
For my next trick...

Glad it worked out. ;) If there are any older programs that can't, or won't run in Jaguar (10.2) check out http://www.macupdate.com for either replacements, or updates so they will.

And above all, ENJOY IT!. :santa:

- Blackstar
 
i am man...the only thing i cant get to work is windows media player. its in stix format...i had an old stuffit 5.5 delux, but that doesnt work (it can run classic mode somehow)..i needa play a bunch of my WMV9 encoded videos over to my vcr...although i think i needa firmware update on the SCSI card.
 
for sitx files you can get stuffit basic for X for free, and then you can expand whatever you need to. just look on one of the sites that deals with mac software and you should find it easily.
 
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