Comments on: Merry freakin' Christmas http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/ the blog that is not dansdata.com Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:16:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: tomsk http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-522 Fri, 29 Dec 2006 22:18:25 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-522 Phew. I did a very similar thing a couple of years back with my mother-in-law's OS 9 iBook when installing software updates. I got it fixed in the end with the help of an old-skool Mac guru friend. It was a chilling day. On the upside, I don't get asked to provide her with free tech support anymore. Phew.

I did a very similar thing a couple of years back with my mother-in-law's OS 9 iBook when installing software updates. I got it fixed in the end with the help of an old-skool Mac guru friend. It was a chilling day. On the upside, I don't get asked to provide her with free tech support anymore.

]]> by: Jaymis http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-519 Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:45:33 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-519 You forgot to add "Backups in progress". Congratulations. Drives borking themselves is scary. Drives borking themselves while filled with stuff you know your mum spent days two-fingering her way through is apocalyptic. You forgot to add "Backups in progress".

Congratulations. Drives borking themselves is scary. Drives borking themselves while filled with stuff you know your mum spent days two-fingering her way through is apocalyptic.

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-511 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 11:28:36 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-511 <b><big>W00t.</big></b> It worked. Computer is back up. Drive is not toast. User data appears to be intact. Thanks, everyone! W00t.

It worked. Computer is back up. Drive is not toast. User data appears to be intact.

Thanks, everyone!

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-510 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:31:59 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-510 Cancel (most of) that last; DiskWarrior's problems would appear to have been because the crusty old external drive didn't like spinning up again after the Mac helpfully spun it down. So, after giving the drive a few of the old wrist-flicks to get it to spin up at <i>all</i>, I turned off the Apple power saving stuff, ran DiskWarrior, and it made it to completion! The Mac still can't actually boot from its repaired drive (yea, the list of stuff that couldn't be fixed was long), but at least now I get a folder-with-a-question-mark before the broken boot procedure. So now a not-totally-destructive reinstall may actually be possible. Hurrah, I guess. Cancel (most of) that last; DiskWarrior's problems would appear to have been because the crusty old external drive didn't like spinning up again after the Mac helpfully spun it down.

So, after giving the drive a few of the old wrist-flicks to get it to spin up at all, I turned off the Apple power saving stuff, ran DiskWarrior, and it made it to completion!

The Mac still can't actually boot from its repaired drive (yea, the list of stuff that couldn't be fixed was long), but at least now I get a folder-with-a-question-mark before the broken boot procedure. So now a not-totally-destructive reinstall may actually be possible.

Hurrah, I guess.

]]> by: Daniel Rutter http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-507 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 09:27:23 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-507 When I boot from the external drive and run DiskWarrior, it says "This disk does not appear on the desktop" about the internal drive (I haven't dug in any further, but mounting the thing seems to be out of the question; the very presence of the drive causes the hold-Option-on-startup boot device selector to hang, too...). I've let it sit for some time twice now, with zero progress past that end part of Step 9. The computer just hangs. I'll give Drive Genius a try, though. There's no big rush, at least; I won't be taking the computer back down the mountain (and across the plain...) to my mum until the new year, whatever happens. When I boot from the external drive and run DiskWarrior, it says "This disk does not appear on the desktop" about the internal drive (I haven't dug in any further, but mounting the thing seems to be out of the question; the very presence of the drive causes the hold-Option-on-startup boot device selector to hang, too...).

I've let it sit for some time twice now, with zero progress past that end part of Step 9. The computer just hangs.

I'll give Drive Genius a try, though. There's no big rush, at least; I won't be taking the computer back down the mountain (and across the plain...) to my mum until the new year, whatever happens.

]]> by: therealbartron http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-506 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 07:10:16 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-506 I hate to say it but it sounds like the drive is screwed. OS X shouldn't sleep if it's doing an update so it's quite probable that the drive was going to die anyway. If it was a drive data error then you should be avle to boot off your firewire drive and at least 'see' the drive. When the hard drive in my G4 Mini died though I couldn't see a thing (not even the CD drive) until I removed the dead drive, then all was hunky dory (except my data). If you 'can' at least see the drive then try something like Data Rescue II on it and see what yopu can recover. There is a demo version that will go through the motions for free and let you know if it can do anything with your drive (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/datarescueii.html) Bart I hate to say it but it sounds like the drive is screwed. OS X shouldn't sleep if it's doing an update so it's quite probable that the drive was going to die anyway.
If it was a drive data error then you should be avle to boot off your firewire drive and at least 'see' the drive. When the hard drive in my G4 Mini died though I couldn't see a thing (not even the CD drive) until I removed the dead drive, then all was hunky dory (except my data).
If you 'can' at least see the drive then try something like Data Rescue II on it and see what yopu can recover. There is a demo version that will go through the motions for free and let you know if it can do anything with your drive (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/datarescueii.html)
Bart

]]> by: DanC http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-505 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 07:01:09 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-505 Dan, you may have already tried this, but I've found some odd problems regarding hard drives in the new Intel iMacs at a company I work for. I found the best combo, was to take the original Tiger (or supplimental CDs), and boot from them. Then, after the installer picks a language, one can find the "hidden" top menu bar, and select Disk Utility. After entering the Disk Utility, I've found an oscilating combination of the "single user mode fschk hokey pokey" and the "Repair Disk / Verifiy Disk" and about 5 reboots usually brings it back from the dead. FYI, the "Mac Genius" people use Drive Genius. Only other thing is find a Mac Boot Cheat Sheet and try and boot it with "Extensions Off" that will ignore the startup items and such. best of luck! Dan, you may have already tried this, but I've found some odd problems regarding hard drives in the new Intel iMacs at a company I work for. I found the best combo, was to take the original Tiger (or supplimental CDs), and boot from them. Then, after the installer picks a language, one can find the "hidden" top menu bar, and select Disk Utility. After entering the Disk Utility, I've found an oscilating combination of the "single user mode fschk hokey pokey" and the "Repair Disk / Verifiy Disk" and about 5 reboots usually brings it back from the dead. FYI, the "Mac Genius" people use Drive Genius.

Only other thing is find a Mac Boot Cheat Sheet and try and boot it with "Extensions Off" that will ignore the startup items and such.

best of luck!

]]> by: Moetop http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-504 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 04:00:27 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-504 When I say your Linux box I mean any PC that had a bootable CDrom drive and the CD bootable distribution of Linux that would support the OSX filesystem (Maybe Yellowdog). I have used Knoppix several times in this capacity for PC rescue. When I say your Linux box I mean any PC that had a bootable CDrom drive and the CD bootable distribution of Linux that would support the OSX filesystem (Maybe Yellowdog). I have used Knoppix several times in this capacity for PC rescue.

]]> by: Moetop http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-503 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 03:40:27 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-503 AT this point I useualy go into "Rescue Mode". Since I probably know a little less than you about MAC's im going to pretend they make versions of Linux than can read OSX partitions (not actualy knowing if they do or not). I would take the drive out of the MAC and put it in a Linux box and then copy all of the contents off to a safe place. Double check to make sure you have all the important data, then nuke the drive from orbit (clean format / reinstall) AT this point I useualy go into "Rescue Mode". Since I probably know a little less than you about MAC's im going to pretend they make versions of Linux than can read OSX partitions (not actualy knowing if they do or not). I would take the drive out of the MAC and put it in a Linux box and then copy all of the contents off to a safe place. Double check to make sure you have all the important data, then nuke the drive from orbit (clean format / reinstall)

]]> by: AndyF http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-502 Tue, 26 Dec 2006 02:08:28 +0000 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2006/12/26/merry-freakin-christmas/#comment-502 this sucks, but your best bet overall will probably be to replace the drive. note that this is not a fun time with the eMac. Once you've gotten the old hard drive out, you might have a better chance getting it mounted on an external adapter... Before you do that though, you may want to run the apple hardware test, as it could be a logic board or IDE controller problem. (disk 1 of your restore DVDs, or a separate and labeled cd. For the DVD, hold the option key immediately after turning on the machine and choose the AHT boot option.) this sucks, but your best bet overall will probably be to replace the drive. note that this is not a fun time with the eMac. Once you've gotten the old hard drive out, you might have a better chance getting it mounted on an external adapter...

Before you do that though, you may want to run the apple hardware test, as it could be a logic board or IDE controller problem. (disk 1 of your restore DVDs, or a separate and labeled cd. For the DVD, hold the option key immediately after turning on the machine and choose the AHT boot option.)

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