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punkvideoguys · Nov 5, 2006, 11:46 PM

Hey Guys,

So here's my problem:

On friday My powerbook froze up, i tried to shut it down, but it refused to. I left it there for 30 min to see if it would fix itself. It wouldn't so i (gasp) held the power button until it turned off, since then it's had MAJOR problems, it keeps freezing at various points during start-up for like hours at a time...

Does this sound familiar to anyone?? I run my business off this computer, and if i cant do what i need then i am majorly screwed...thanks guys.

ibook_steve · Nov 6, 2006, 03:24 AM

Try resetting PRAM (cmd-option-p-r) then boot off your install CD or DVD and do a clean install of the OS.

Steve

phobos · 02:53 AM

boot in to safe mode by pressing apple key+s. After a bit you will be able to type commands.
Try: fsck -y
It will start checking the file consistency of the hard disk and it will repair it at the same time.
Type the command as many times as it is required.

To get out of this mode type reboot

Hope this helps.

seanc · Nov 6, 2006, 04:51 AM

Personally, i'd think that the hard drive was on it's way out, make sure you have backed up everything that's important to you.

pcummins · Nov 6, 2006, 08:17 AM

Second Sean C.'s opinion. Check it out with your Mac OS X installer disc to check if SMART is failing. If you can boot off another computer in Target disk mode, you can try running SmartMonTools to check the disk's SMART registers for read errors, bad blocks etc which would conclusively prove the disk is on the way out. Either way, you can use Disk Utility on the installer disc to fsck/fix the disk or check SMART.

macdevil · Nov 6, 2006, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by pcummins

Second Sean C.'s opinion. Check it out with your Mac OS X installer disc to check if SMART is failing. If you can boot off another computer in Target disk mode, you can try running SmartMonTools to check the disk's SMART registers for read errors, bad blocks etc which would conclusively prove the disk is on the way out. Either way, you can use Disk Utility on the installer disc to fsck/fix the disk or check SMART.

I concur. I had similar problems when my hard drive was nearly completely full. Target mode is a wonderful thing if you have another mac with firewire around.

phobos · Nov 7, 2006, 12:19 AM

Either way, you can use Disk Utility on the installer disc to fsck/fix the disk or check SMART.

Running disk utility from the installer disk isn't such a good idea. With new updates all the time the ownership and permission of os files keep changing. Repairing to the older os state would sometimes make things even trickier to fix.

Fsck-ing in single user mode and running smartmon tools will probably fix your disk.
After that you can boot up backup all your stuff and maybe get a new drive.

This thing has happened to me when I was short on space and I was using because all of the remaining hard disk as virtual memory. This made some of the preferences of programs to be deleted and the os not being able to write it's own files. So if you were doing something like that you know what to blame.

analogika · Nov 7, 2006, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by phobos

boot in to safe mode by pressing apple key+s. After a bit you will be able to type commands.
Try: fsck -y
It will start checking the file consistency of the hard disk and it will repair it at the same time.
Type the command as many times as it is required.

To get out of this mode type restart

a) That's SINGLE USER mode, not safe made. Safe mode is accessed by holding "Shift" at startup and turns off most kernel extensions and many drivers for emergency booting after a botched install.

b) on 10.4 Tiger and 10.3 with journaling turned on, you have to force the fsck by typing fsck -fy, or else it won't do anything.

c) run fsck again and again until it says that the disk appears to be ok TWICE in a row. Sometimes, fixing the disk can uncover other errors that weren't visible before.

d) you can also type exit to get out of single user mode.

MrN79 · Nov 7, 2006, 04:28 AM

I had a similiar problem on my 15" PB 1.5. I ran DiskWarrior and the HD was bad. Ordered another one from PBParts.com (100GB Hitachi 7200), installed it myself and it's been running flawlessly. The old HD i removed was placed in an external case and I ran DiskWarrior on it again. It fixed whatever ailed it and i'm using it to store my not so important crap.