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EnVoy · 04:53 PM

When I try to start-up (or restart) in single user mode by holding cmd-S, nothing happens. I mean nothing. The machine just sits there, power light on, but nothing else. No monitor, no sound of the hard-disk spinning, nodda. I hold cmd-S for a bit, and even when you let go of the keys, the machine still stis there, doing nothing. So, what gives? Anyone know what's going on?

KidRed · Jan 22, 2003, 04:06 PM

It's apple+'S' not '3'.

malvolio · Jan 22, 2003, 04:06 PM

To start up in single-user mode, you need to hold down Command-s, not Command-3.

EnVoy · 04:54 PM

I meant cmd-S. I'll change it above to read cmd-S...

KidRed · Jan 22, 2003, 07:15 PM

Very wierd. Try some of the oterh commands, like holding down option which will show startup drives. You're holding the buttons and you don't here the chime? Try waiting til you hear the chime before pressing the buttons.

gorickey · Jan 22, 2003, 07:22 PM

Are the caps locked? Keyboard plugged in?

wataru · Jan 22, 2003, 07:29 PM

Sure sounds like you just neglected to press the power button or something.

EnVoy · Jan 22, 2003, 07:29 PM

Caps are not locked, key board is plugged in.

Yes, when I hold down the buttons I don't here the chime. I'll try waiting untill the chime, then hold the keys.

The_Equivocator · Jan 22, 2003, 10:02 PM

Do you see absolutely nothing on the monitor? Is it black, or is it gray?

EnVoy · Jan 23, 2003, 11:46 AM

The monitor is absolutly black, with no power.

I tried waiting until after the start-up sound, and got the same thing. However, this time, while the monitor was black, I typed "fsck -y" and the machine came to life. The hard drive started making noises. When it was done, I typed reboot (screen still black), and the machine restarted.

So, it appears that the computer IS going to single-user mode, but the monitor is not getting a signal/power. I wonder if the video card gets power last, after the machine boots into the OSX operating system.

Any thoughts?

The_Equivocator · Jan 23, 2003, 12:09 PM

Hmm, I had a similar problem, as did someone else on this board. You can find the thread here .

I never got the issue resolved, though. I think it has something to do with ATI sucking at releasing good drivers for my Radeon.

chris v · Jan 23, 2003, 12:49 PM

My Cube does this. It must have something to do wiith ADC video cards not getting power early enough in the boot cycle, or something. No idea why it's random here and there on a few machines. There doesn't seem to be any common factor.

Since 10.2, I can't drop into single-user using sudo shutdown now, either because of the "bootstrap lookup error."

A tad irritating.

CV

bstone · Jan 24, 2003, 12:03 AM

Try doing Cmd-V (verbose mode) which should boot it all up showing just the Unix. If this also doesn't work then we know there's a deeper problem.

EnVoy · Jan 24, 2003, 12:37 PM

bstone: OK, I'll try it tonight and let you know.....

rlorenc · Jan 24, 2003, 02:23 PM

Yeah I have never been able to boot into single-user mode or verbose mode on my SuperBook. Weird.

EnVoy · Feb 6, 2003, 09:17 PM

In case anyone is interested I have a work around to the problem. I got this from another post here in MacNN (can't remember which).

You can drop into Single User mode through the CLI by using the shutdown command:

sudo shutdown now

This brings you to SU mode, and since the video card already has power, the monitor stays on. I am then able to run fsck without having to type in the blind, and stick my ear to the box to hear when it is finished.

One question: Does anyone know if using this command is safe, or can it cause harm when executed?

JellyBeen · Feb 6, 2003, 09:33 PM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
In case anyone is interested I have a work around to the problem. I got this from another post here in MacNN (can't remember which).

You can drop into Single User mode through the CLI by using the shutdown command:

sudo shutdown now

This brings you to SU mode, and since the video card already has power, the monitor stays on. I am then able to run fsck without having to type in the blind, and stick my ear to the box to hear when it is finished.

One question: Does anyone know if using this command is safe, or can it cause harm when executed?

Her is something to consider,
I get the same problem but get a WHITE screen that makes unreadable the words/commands on ther screen.
The answer to that problem is that I had a different Boot X screen installed.
I can reproduce this problem at will.
Do u have the stock Bootx resource installed?

EnVoy · Feb 6, 2003, 10:14 PM

Yep, I have the stock one...

JellyBeen · Feb 6, 2003, 10:35 PM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
Yep, I have the stock one...

Thats too bad, that would have been easy!

Detrius · Feb 7, 2003, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
In case anyone is interested I have a work around to the problem. I got this from another post here in MacNN (can't remember which).

You can drop into Single User mode through the CLI by using the shutdown command:

sudo shutdown now

This brings you to SU mode, and since the video card already has power, the monitor stays on. I am then able to run fsck without having to type in the blind, and stick my ear to the box to hear when it is finished.

One question: Does anyone know if using this command is safe, or can it cause harm when executed?

You should mount / as read only before doing this. If the drive is changing while you are trying to fix it, you can cause some pretty nasty problems.

Detrius · Feb 7, 2003, 10:31 AM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
The monitor is absolutly black, with no power.

I tried waiting until after the start-up sound, and got the same thing. However, this time, while the monitor was black, I typed "fsck -y" and the machine came to life. The hard drive started making noises. When it was done, I typed reboot (screen still black), and the machine restarted.

So, it appears that the computer IS going to single-user mode, but the monitor is not getting a signal/power. I wonder if the video card gets power last, after the machine boots into the OSX operating system.

Any thoughts?

When you boot the machine normally, do you see the black and white apple, or does the screen stay black until the blue background OS X startup screen?

EnVoy · Feb 7, 2003, 11:43 AM

When you boot the machine normally, do you see the black and white apple, or does the screen stay black until the blue background OS X startup screen?

It stays black until the blue background comes up.

You should mount / as read only before doing this. If the drive is changing while you are trying to fix it, you can cause some pretty nasty problems.

If it is mounted as read only, how will fsck be able to fix it? Or am I missing something?

K++ · Feb 7, 2003, 03:27 PM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
If it is mounted as read only, how will fsck be able to fix it? Or am I missing something?

Yes you are, In Single User Boot, the hard drive is mounted as read only so that you can't try to write to any files while fsck is running.

fsck works its magics in a eay that doesn't vare oabout how the HD is mounted. Just for the safety of your data mount the HD as read-only.

EnVoy · Feb 7, 2003, 04:18 PM

OK, understood, sort of. So then, how do I mount the drive in read-only in this scenario, or is it already mounted in read-only when I get into SU mode?. I'm guessing I would do it in this order:

sudo shutdown now

Once I am in SU mode:

(some command to mount in read only mode here)

fsck -y

reboot

Is this right? And what's the command for mounting in read only?

Detrius · Feb 8, 2003, 08:13 AM

Originally posted by EnVoy:
It stays black until the blue background comes up.

Your machine doesn't have any video drivers for your card until OS X loads them. In OS X, this doesn't happen until the blue background screen comes up. There are several possible causes, and several possible solutions. But what it boils down to is that 'sudo shutdown now' is going to be your best option for single user mode.

To mount read only:

mount -ur /

if you forget that, you can look it up using man:

man mount

chabig · Feb 8, 2003, 09:20 AM

You don't have to mount or unmount anything before using 'shutdown now'. After all, that's the purpose of shutdown. It brings the system down in an orderly fashion.

Chris

besson3c · Feb 8, 2003, 05:47 PM

does anybody have a workaround/explanation for why I've seen these crazy bootstrap errors on several machines when I do a sudo shutdown now?

chabig · Feb 8, 2003, 06:11 PM

Originally posted by besson3c:
does anybody have a workaround/explanation for why I've seen these crazy bootstrap errors on several machines when I do a sudo shutdown now?

You've got to be more specific. What crazy bootstrap errors?

Chris

EnVoy · Feb 9, 2003, 05:14 PM

I get this:

bootstrap_look_up() failed (ipc/send) invalid destination port
bootstrap_look_up() failed (ipc/send) invalid destination port
bootstrap_look_up() failed (ipc/send) invalid destination port

Any ideas?

besson3c · Feb 9, 2003, 05:18 PM

me too.. I've seen this on several different Macs.

chabig · Feb 9, 2003, 11:34 PM

I don't know exactly what those three lines mean. But they're normal in Jaguar. Just ignore them. Every machine has them.

Chris